{Transcriber's note: ~Bold~ text is surrounded by tildes ~, _italic_ text by underscores _. The use of é and è to indicate stresses is inconsistent in this text, as is the use of œ and æ ligatures. No changes have been made to the original. }

 MILTON'S COMUS

 WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES

 BY WILLIAM BELL, M. A. PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY AND LOGIC, GOVERNMENT COLLEGE, LAHORE

 London MACMILLAN AND CO AND NEW YORK 1891

 [_All rights reserved_]

 First Edition, 1890. Reprinted, 1891. 

CONTENTS. 

 PAGE INTRODUCTION, vii COMUS, 7 NOTES, 38 INDEX TO THE NOTES, 113

INTRODUCTION. 

Few poems have been more variously designated than _Comus_. Miltonhimself describes it simply as "A Mask"; by others it has beencriticised and estimated as a lyrical drama, a drama in the epic style, a lyric poem in the _form_ of a play, a phantasy, an allegory, aphilosophical poem, a suite of speeches or majestic soliloquies, andeven a didactic poem. Such variety in the description of the poem isexplained partly by its complex charm and many-sided interest, andpartly by the desire to describe it from that point of view which shouldbest reconcile its literary form with what we know of the genius andpowers of its author. Those who, like Dr. Johnson, have blamed it as adrama, have admired it "as a series of lines, " or as a lyric; onewriter, who has found that its characters are nothing, its sentimentstedious, its story uninteresting, has nevertheless "doubted whetherthere will ever be any similar poem which gives so true a conception ofthe capacity and the dignity of the mind by which it was produced"(Bagehot's _Literary Studies_). Some who have praised it as an allegorysee in it a satire on the evils both of the Church and of the State, while others regard it as alluding to the vices of the Court alone. Somehave found its lyrical parts the best, while others, charmed with its"divine philosophy, " have commended those deep conceits which place italongside of the _Faerie Queen_, as shadowing forth an episode in theeducation of a noble soul and as a poet's lesson against intemperanceand impurity. But no one can refuse to admit that, more than any otherof Milton's shorter poems, it gives us an insight into the peculiargenius and character of its author: it was, in the opinion of Hallam, "sufficient to convince any one of taste and feeling that a great poethad arisen in England, and one partly formed in a different school fromhis contemporaries. " It is true that in the early poems we do not findthe whole of Milton, for he had yet to pass through many years oftrouble and controversy; but _Comus_, in a special degree, reveals orforeshadows much of the Milton of _Paradise Lost_. Whether we regard itsplace in Milton's life, in the series of his works, or in Englishliterature as a whole, the poem is full of significance: it is worthwhile, therefore, to consider how its form was determined by theexternal circumstances and previous training of the poet; by hisfavourite studies in poetry, philosophy, history, and music; and by hisnoble theory of life in general, and of a poet's life in particular. 

The mask was represented at Ludlow Castle on September 29th, 1634; itwas probably composed early in that year. It belongs, therefore, to thatgroup of poems (_L'Allegro_, _Il Penseroso_, _Arcades_, _Comus_, and_Lycidas_) written by Milton while living in his father's house atHorton, near Windsor, after having left the University of Cambridge inJuly, 1632. As he was born in 1608, he would be twenty-five years of agewhen this poem was composed. During his stay at Horton (1632-39), whichwas broken only by a journey to Italy in 1638-9, he was chiefly occupiedwith the study of the Greek, Roman, Italian, and English literatures, each of which has left its impress on _Comus_. He read widely andcarefully, and it has been said that his great and original imaginationwas almost entirely nourished, or at least stimulated, by books: hisresidence at Horton was, accordingly, pre-eminently what he intended itto be, and what his father wisely and gladly permitted it to be--a timeof preparation and ripening for the work to which he had dedicatedhimself. We are reminded of his own words in _Comus_:

 And Wisdom's self Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude, Where, with her best nurse, Contemplation, She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings, That, in the various bustle of resort, Were all to-ruffled, and sometimes impaired. 

We find in _Comus_ abundant reminiscences of Milton's study of theliterature of antiquity. "It would not be too much to say that theliterature of antiquity was to Milton's genius what soil and light areto a plant. It nourished, it coloured, it developed it. It determinednot merely his character as an artist, but it exercised an influence onhis intellect and temper scarcely less powerful than hereditaryinstincts and contemporary history. It at once animated and chastenedhis imagination; it modified his fancy; it furnished him with hismodels. On it his taste was formed; on it his style was moulded. From ithis diction and his method derived their peculiarities. It transformedwhat would in all probability have been the mere counterpart ofCaedmon's Paraphrase or Langland's Vision into Paradise Lost; and whatwould have been the mere counterpart of Corydon's Doleful Knell and thesatire of the Three Estates, into Lycidas and Comus. " (_QuarterlyReview_, No. 326. )

But Milton has also told us that Spenser was his master, and the fullcharm of _Comus_ cannot be realised without reference to the artisticand philosophical spirit of the author of the _Faerie Queene_. Bothpoems deal with the war between the body and the soul--between the lowerand the higher nature. In an essay on 'Spenser as a philosophic poet, 'De Vere says: "The perils and degradations of an animalised life areshown under the allegory of Sir Guyon's sea voyage with its successivestorms and whirlpools, its 'rock of Reproach' strewn with wrecks anddead men's bones, its 'wandering islands, ' its 'quicksands ofUnthriftihead, ' its 'whirlepoole of Decay, ' its 'sea-monsters, ' andlastly, its 'bower of Bliss, ' and the doom which overtakes it, togetherwith the deliverance of Acrasia's victims, transformed by that witch'sspells into beasts. Still more powerful is the allegory of worldlyambition, illustrated under the name of 'the cave of Mammon. ' The Legendof Holiness delineates with not less insight those enemies which wagewar upon the spiritual life. " All this Milton had studied in the _FaerieQueene_, and had understood it; and, like Sir Guyon, he felt himself tobe a knight enrolled under the banner of Parity and Self-Control. Sothat, in _Comus_, we find the sovereign value of Temperance orSelf-Regulation--what the Greeks called σωφροσύνη--set forthno less clearly than in Spenser's poem: in Milton's mask it becomesalmost identical with Virtue itself. The enchantments of Acrasia in herBower of Bliss become the spells of Comus; the armour of Belphoebebecomes the "complete steel" of Chastity; while the supremacy ofConscience, the bounty of Nature and man's ingratitude, the unlovelinessof Mammon and of Excess, the blossom of Courtesy oft found on lowlystalk, and the final triumph of Virtue through striving and temptation, all are dwelt upon. 

 It is the mind that maketh good or ill, That maketh wretch or happie, rich or poore:

so speaks Spenser; and Milton similarly--

 He that has light within his own clear breast May sit i' the centre, and enjoy bright day: But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts Benighted walks under the mid-day sun; Himself is his own dungeon. 

In endeavouring still further to trace, by means of verbal or structuralresemblances, the sources from which Milton drew his materials for_Comus_, critics have referred to Peele's _Old Wives' Tale_ (1595); toFletcher's pastoral, _The Faithful Shepherdess_, of which Charles Lambhas said that if all its parts 'had been in unison with its manyinnocent scenes and sweet lyric intermixtures, it had been a poem fit tovie with _Comus_ or the _Arcadia_, to have been put into the hands ofboys and virgins, to have made matter for young dreams, like the lovesof Hermia and Lysander'; to Ben Jonson's mask of _Pleasure reconciled toVirtue_ (1619), in which Comus is "the god of cheer, or the Belly"; andto the _Comus_ of Erycius Puteanus (Henri du Puy), Professor ofEloquence at Louvain. It is true that Fletcher's pastoral was beingacted in London about the time Milton was writing his _Comus_, that thepoem by the Dutch Professor was republished at Oxford in 1634, and thatresemblances are evident between Milton's poem and those named. ButProfessor Masson does well in warning us that "infinitely too much hasbeen made of such coincidences. After all of them, even the most idealand poetical, the feeling in reading _Comus_ is that all here isdifferent, all peculiar. " Whatever Milton borrowed, he borrowed, as hesays himself, in order to better it. 

It is interesting to consider the mutual relations of the poems writtenby Milton at Horton. Everything that Milton wrote is Miltonic; he hadwhat has been called the power of transforming everything into himself, and these poems are, accordingly, evidences of the development ofMilton's opinions and of his secret purpose. It has been said that_L'Allegro_ and _Il Penseroso_ are to be regarded as "the pleadings, thedecision on which is in Comus"--_L'Allegro_ representing the Cavalier, and _Il Penseroso_ the Puritan element. This is true only in a limitedsense. It is true that the Puritan element in the Horton series of poemsbecomes more patent as we pass from the two lyrics to the mask of_Comus_, and from _Comus_ to the elegy of _Lycidas_, just as, in thecorresponding periods of time, the evils connected with the reign ofCharles I. And with Laud's crusade against Puritanism were becoming morepronounced. But we can hardly regard Milton as having expressed any newdecision in _Comus_: the decision is already made when "vain deludingJoys" are banished in _Il Penseroso_, and "loathed Melancholy" in_L'Allegro_. The mask is an expansion and exaltation of the delights ofthe contemplative man, but there is still a place for the "unreprovedpleasures" of the cheerful man. Unless it were so, _Comus_ could nothave been written; there would have been no "sunshine holiday" for therustics and no "victorious dance" for the gentle lady and her brothers. But in _Comus_ we realise the mutual relation of _L'Allegro_ and _IlPenseroso_; we see their application to the joys and sorrows of theactual life of individuals; we observe human nature in contact with the"hard assays" of life. And, subsequently, in _Lycidas_ we are made torealise that this human nature is Milton's own, and to understand how itwas that his Puritanism which, three years before, had permitted him towrite a cavalier mask, should, three years after, lead him from thefresh fields of poetry into the barren plains of controversial prose. 

The Mask was a favourite form of entertainment in England in Milton'syouth, and had been so from the time of Henry VIII. , in whose reignelaborate masked shows, introduced from Italy, first became popular. Butthey seem to have found their way into England, in a crude form, evenearlier; and we read of court disguisings in the reign of Edward III. Itis usually said that the Mask derives its name from the fact that theactors wore masks, and in Hall's Chronicle we read that, in 1512, "onthe day of Epiphany at night, the king, with eleven others, wasdisguised after the manner of Italy, called a Mask, a thing not seenbefore in England; they were appareled in garments long and broad, wrought all with gold, with _visors_ and caps of gold. " The truth, however, seems to be that the use of a visor was not essential in suchentertainments, which, from the first, were called 'masks, ' the word'masker' being used sometimes of the players, and sometimes of theirdisguises. The word has come to us, through the French form _masque_, cognate with Spanish _mascarada_, a masquerade or assembly of maskers, otherwise called a mummery. Up to the time of Henry VIII. Theseentertainments were of the nature of dumb-show or _tableaux vivants_, and delighted the spectators chiefly by the splendour of the costumesand machinery employed in their representation; but, afterwards, thechief actors spoke their parts, singing and dancing were introduced, andthe composition of masks for royal and other courtly patrons became anoccupation worthy of a poet. They were frequently combined with otherforms of amusement, all of which were, in the case of the Court, placedunder the management of a Master of Revels, whose official title wasMagister Jocorum, Revellorum et _Mascorum_; in the first printed Englishtragedy, _Gorboduc_ (1565), each act opens with what is called adumb-show or mask. But the more elaborate form of the Mask soon grew tobe an entertainment complete in itself, and the demand for such becameso great in the time of James I. And Charles I. That the history ofthese reigns might almost be traced in the succession of masks thenwritten. Ben Jonson, who thoroughly established the Mask in Englishliterature, wrote many Court Masks, and made them a vehicle less for thedisplay of 'painting and carpentry' than for the expression of theintellectual and social life of his time. His masks are excelled onlyby _Comus_, and possess in a high degree that 'Doric delicacy' in theirsongs and odes which Sir Henry Wotton found so ravishing in Milton'smask. Jonson, in his lifetime, declared that, next himself, onlyFletcher and Chapman could write a mask; and apart from the compositionsof these writers and of William Browne (_Inner Temple Masque_), thereare few specimens worthy to be named along with Jonson's until we cometo Milton's _Arcades_. Other mask-writers were Middleton, Dekker, Shirley, Carew, and Davenant; and it is interesting to note that inCarew's _Coelum Brittanicum_ (1633-4), for which Lawes composed themusic, the two boys who afterwards acted in _Comus_ had juvenile parts. It has been pointed out that the popularity of the Mask in Milton'syouth received a stimulus from the Puritan hatred of the theatre whichfound expression at that time, and drove non-Puritans to welcome theMask as a protest against that spirit which saw nothing but evil inevery form of dramatic entertainment. Milton, who enjoyed thetheatre--both "Jonson's learned sock" and what "ennobled hath thebuskined stage"--was led, through his friendship with the musicianLawes, to compose a mask to celebrate the entry of the Earl ofBridgewater upon his office of "Lord President of the Council in thePrincipality of Wales and the Marches of the same. " He had alreadywritten, also at the request of Lawes, a mask, or portion of a mask, called _Arcades_, and the success of this may have stimulated him tohigher effort. The result was _Comus_, in which the Mask reached itshighest level, and after which it practically faded out of ourliterature. 

Milton's two masks, _Arcades_ and _Comus_, were written for members ofthe same noble family, the former in honour of the Countess Dowager ofDerby, and the latter in honour of John, first Earl of Bridgewater, whowas both her stepson and son-in-law. This two-fold relation arose fromthe fact that the Earl was the son of Viscount Brackley, the Countess'ssecond husband, and had himself married Lady Frances Stanley, a daughterof the Countess by her first husband, the fifth Earl of Derby. Amongstthe children of the Earl of Bridgewater were three who took importantparts in the representation of _Comus_--Alice, the youngest daughter, then about fourteen years of age, who appeared as _The Lady_; John, Viscount Brackley, who took the part of the _Elder Brother_, and ThomasEgerton, who appeared as the _Second Brother_. We do not know who actedthe parts of _Comus_ and _Sabrina_, but the part of the _AttendantSpirit_ was taken by Henry Lawes, "gentleman of the Chapel Royal, andone of His Majesty's private musicians. " The Earl's children were hispupils, and the mask was naturally produced under his direction. Milton's friendship with Lawes is shown by the sonnet which the poetaddressed to the musician:

 Harry, whose tuneful and well measur'd song First taught our English music how to span Words with just note and accent, not to scan With Midas' ears, committing short and long; Thy worth and skill exempts thee from the throng, With praise enough for Envy to look wan; To after age thou shalt be writ the man, That with smooth air could'st humour best our tongue. Thou honour'st Verse, and Verse must lend her wing To honour thee, the priest of Phoebus' quire, That tun'st their happiest lines in hymn, or story. Dante shall give Fame leave to set thee higher Than his Casella, who he woo'd to sing, Met in the milder shades of Purgatory. 

We must remember also that it was to Lawes that Milton's _Comus_ owedits first publication, and, as we see from the dedication prefixed tothe text, that he was justly proud of his share in its firstrepresentation. 

Such were the persons who appeared in Milton's mask; they are few innumber, and the plan of the piece is correspondingly simple. There arethree scenes which may be briefly characterised thus:

 I. The Tempter and the Tempted: lines 1-658. _Scene_: A wild wood. 

 II. The Temptation and the Rescue: lines 659-958. _Scene_: The Palace of Comus. 

 III. The Triumph: lines 959-1023. _Scene_: The President's Castle. 

In the first scene, after a kind of prologue (lines 1-92), the interestrises as we are introduced first to Comus and his rout, then to the Ladyalone and "night-foundered, " and finally to Comus and the Lady incompany. At the same time the nature of the Lady's trial and hersubsequent victory are foreshadowed in a conversation between thebrothers and the attendant Spirit. This is one of the more Miltonicparts of the mask: in the philosophical reasoning of the elder brother, as opposed to the matter-of-fact arguments of the younger, we trace theyoung poet fresh from the study of the divine volume of Plato, andfilled with a noble trust in God. In the second scene we breathe theunhallowed air of the abode of the wily tempter, who endeavours, "underfair pretence of friendly ends, " to wind himself into the pure heart ofthe Lady. But his "gay rhetoric" is futile against the "sun-clad powerof chastity"; and he is driven off the scene by the two brothers, whoare led and instructed by the Spirit disguised as the shepherd Thyrsis. But the Lady, having been lured into the haunt of impurity, is leftspell-bound, and appeal is made to the pure nymph Sabrina, who is "swiftto aid a virgin, such as was herself, in hard-besetting need. " It is inthe contention between Comus and the Lady in this scene that theinterest of the mask may be said to culminate, for here its purposestands revealed: "it is a song to Temperance as the ground of Freedom, to temperance as the guard of all the virtues, to beauty as secured bytemperance, and its central point and climax is in the pleading of thesemotives by the Lady against their opposites in the mouth of the Lord ofsensual Revel. " _Milton: Classical Writers_. In the third scene the LadyAlice and her brothers are presented by the Spirit to their noble fatherand mother as triumphing "in victorious dance o'er sensual folly andintemperance. " The Spirit then speaks the epilogue, calling upon mortalswho love true freedom to strive after virtue:

 Love Virtue; she alone is free. She can teach ye how to climb Higher than the sphery chime; Or, if Virtue feeble were, Heaven itself would stoop to her. 

The last couplet Milton afterwards, on his Italian journey, entered inan album belonging to an Italian named Cerdogni, and underneath it thewords, _Coelum non animum muto dum trans mare curro_, and hissignature, Joannes Miltonius, Anglus. The juxtaposition of these versesis significant: though he had left his own land Milton had not becomewhat, fifty or sixty years before, Roger Ascham had condemned as an"Italianated Englishman. " He was one of those "worthy Gentlemen ofEngland, whom all the Siren tongues of Italy could never untwine fromthe mast of God's word; nor no enchantment of vanity overturn them fromthe fear of God and love of honesty" (Ascham's _Scholemaster_). And onemight almost infer that Milton, in his account of the sovereign plantHaemony which was to foil the wiles of _Comus_, had remembered not onlyHomer's description of the root Moly "that Hermes once to wise Ulyssesgave, "{16:A} but also Ascham's remarks thereupon: "The true medicineagainst the enchantments of Circe, the vanity of licentious pleasure, the enticements of all sin, is, in Homer, the herb Moly, with the blackroot and white flower, sour at first, but sweet in the end; which Hesiodtermeth the study of Virtue, hard and irksome in the beginning, but inthe end easy and pleasant. And that which is most to be marvelled at, the divine poet Homer saith plainly that this medicine against sin andvanity is not found out by man, but given and taught by God. " Milton's_Comus_, like his last great poems, is a poetical expression of the samebelief. "His poetical works, the outcome of his inner life, his life ofartistic contemplation, are, " in the words of Prof. Dowden, "variousrenderings of one dominant idea--that the struggle for mastery betweengood and evil is the prime fact of life; and that a final victory of therighteous cause is assured by the existence of a divine order of theuniverse, which Milton knew by the name of 'Providence. '"

FOOTNOTES:

{16:A} It is noteworthy that Lamb, whose allusiveness is remarkable, employs in his account of the plant Moly almost the exact words ofMilton's description of Haemony; compare the following extract from _TheAdventures of Ulysses_ with lines 629-640 of _Comus_: "The flower of theherb Moly, which is sovereign against enchantments: the moly is a smallunsightly root, its virtues but little known, and in low estimation; thedull shepherd treads on it every day with his clouted shoes, but itbears a small white flower, which is medicinal against charms, blights, mildews, and damps. "

 COMUS. 

 A MASK

 PRESENTED AT LUDLOW CASTLE, 1634. 

 BEFORE

 JOHN, EARL OF BRIDGEWATER, THEN PRESIDENT OF WALES. 

_The Copy of a Letter written by Sir Henry Wotton to the Author upon thefollowing Poem. _

From the College, this 13 of April, 1638. 

SIR, It was a special favour, when you lately bestowed upon me here the firsttaste of your acquaintance, though no longer than to make me know that Iwanted more time to value it, and to enjoy it rightly; and, in truth, ifI could then have imagined your farther stay in these parts, which Iunderstood afterwards by Mr. H. , I would have been bold, in our vulgarphrase, to mend my draught (for you left me with an extreme thirst), andto have begged your conversation again, jointly with your said learnedfriend, at a poor meal or two, that we might have banded together somegood authors of the antient time; among which I observed you to havebeen familiar. 

Since your going, you have charged me with new obligations, both for avery kind letter from you dated the sixth of this month, and for adainty piece of entertainment which came therewith. Wherein I shouldmuch commend the tragical part, if the lyrical did not ravish me with acertain Doric delicacy in your songs and odes, whereunto I must plainlyconfess to have seen yet nothing parallel in our language: _Ipsamollities_. {19:A} But I must not omit to tell you, that I now only oweyou thanks for intimating unto me (how modestly soever) the trueartificer. For the work itself I had viewed some good while before, withsingular delight, having received it from our common friend Mr. R. Inthe very close of the late R. 's poems, printed at Oxford; whereunto itis added (as I now suppose) that the accessory might help out theprincipal, according to the art of stationers, and to leave the reader_con la bocca dolce_. {20:A}

Now, Sir, concerning your travels, wherein I may challenge a little moreprivilege of discourse with you; I suppose you will not blanch{20:B}Paris in your way; therefore I have been bold to trouble you with a fewlines to Mr. M. B. , whom you shall easily find attending the young LordS. As his governor, and you may surely receive from him good directionsfor shaping of your farther journey into Italy, where he did reside bymy choice some time for the king, after mine own recess from Venice. 

I should think that your best line will be through the whole length ofFrance to Marseilles, and thence by sea to Genoa, whence the passageinto Tuscany is as diurnal as a Gravesend barge. I hasten, as you do, toFlorence, or Siena, the rather to tell you a short story, from theinterest you have given me in your safety. 

At Siena I was tabled in the house of one Alberto Scipione, an old Romancourtier in dangerous times, having been steward to the Duca diPagliano, who with all his family were strangled, save this only man, that escaped by foresight of the tempest. With him I had often much chatof those affairs; into which he took pleasure to look back from hisnative harbour; and at my departure toward Rome (which had been thecentre of his experience) I had won confidence enough to beg his advice, how I might carry myself securely there, without offence of others, orof mine own conscience. _Signor Arrigo mio_ (says he), _I pensieristretti, ed il viso sciolto_, {21:A} will go safely over the whole world. Of which Delphian oracle (for so I have found it) your judgment dothneed no commentary; and therefore, Sir, I will commit you with it to thebest of all securities, God's dear love, remaining

 Your friend as much to command as any of longer date, HENRY WOTTON. 

_Postscript. _

Sir, --I have expressly sent this my footboy to prevent your departurewithout some acknowledgment from me of the receipt of your obligingletter, having myself through some business, I know not how, neglectedthe ordinary conveyance. In any part where I shall understand you fixed, I shall be glad and diligent to entertain you with home-novelties, evenfor some fomentation of our friendship, too soon interrupted in thecradle. {21:B}

FOOTNOTES:

{19:A} It is delicacy itself. 

{20:A} With a sweet taste in his mouth (so that he may desire more). 

{20:B} Avoid. 

{21:A} "Thoughts close, countenance open. "

{21:B} This letter was printed in the edition of 1645, but omitted inthat of 1673. It was written by Sir Henry Wotton, Provost of EtonCollege, just in time to overtake Milton before he set out on hisjourney to Italy. As a parting act of courtesy Milton had sent Sir Henrya letter with a copy of Lawes's edition of his _Comus_, and the aboveletter is an acknowledgment of the favour. 

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE{22:A}

JOHN, LORD VISCOUNT BRACKLEY, _Son and Heir-Apparent to the Earl of Bridgewater, etc. _

MY LORD, This Poem, which received its first occasion of birth from yourself andothers of your noble family, and much honour from your own person in theperformance, now returns again to make a final Dedication of itself toyou. Although not openly acknowledged by the Author, yet it is alegitimate offspring, so lovely and so much desired that the oftencopying of it hath tired my pen to give my several friends satisfaction, and brought me to a necessity of producing it to the public view; andnow to offer it up, in all rightful devotion, to those fair hopes andrare endowments of your much-promising youth, which give a fullassurance to all that know you, of a future excellence. Live, sweetLord, to be the honour of your name, and receive this as your own, fromthe hands of him who hath by many favours been long obliged to your mosthonoured Parents, and as in this representation your attendant_Thyrsis_, {22:B} so now in all real expression, Your faithful and most humble Servant, H. LAWES. 

FOOTNOTES:

{22:A} Dedication of the anonymous edition of 1637: reprinted in theedition of 1645, but omitted in that of 1673. 

{22:B} See Notes, line 494. 

THE PERSONS. 

 The ATTENDANT SPIRIT, afterwards in the habit of THYRSIS. COMUS, with his Crew. The LADY. FIRST BROTHER. SECOND BROTHER. SABRINA, the Nymph. 

 The Chief Persons which presented were:-- The Lord Brackley; Mr. Thomas Egerton, his Brother; The Lady Alice Egerton. 

COMUS. 

_The first Scene discovers a wild wood. _

_The ATTENDANT SPIRIT descends or enters. _

 Before the starry threshold of Jove's court My mansion is, where those immortal shapes Of bright aërial spirits live insphered In regions mild of calm and serene air, Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot Which men call Earth, and, with low-thoughted care, Confined and pestered in this pinfold here, Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being, Unmindful of the crown that Virtue gives, After this mortal change, to her true servants 10 Amongst the enthroned gods on sainted seats. Yet some there be that by due steps aspire To lay their just hands on that golden key That opes the palace of eternity. To such my errand is; and, but for such, I would not soil these pure ambrosial weeds With the rank vapours of this sin-worn mould. But to my task. Neptune, besides the sway Of every salt flood and each ebbing stream, Took in by lot, 'twixt high and nether Jove, 20 Imperial rule of all the sea-girt isles That, like to rich and various gems, inlay The unadornéd bosom of the deep; Which he, to grace his tributary gods, By course commits to several government, And gives them leave to wear their sapphire crowns And wield their little tridents. But this Isle, The greatest and the best of all the main, He quarters to his blue-haired deities; And all this tract that fronts the falling sun 30 A noble Peer of mickle trust and power Has in his charge, with tempered awe to guide An old and haughty nation, proud in arms: Where his fair offspring, nursed in princely lore, Are coming to attend their father's state, And new-intrusted sceptre. But their way Lies through the perplexed paths of this drear wood, The nodding horror of whose shady brows Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger; And here their tender age might suffer peril, 40 But that, by quick command from sovran Jove, I was despatched for their defence and guard: And listen why; for I will tell you now What never yet was heard in tale or song, From old or modern bard, in hall or bower. Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape Crushed the sweet poison of misuséd wine, After the Tuscan mariners transformed, Coasting the Tyrrhene shore, as the winds listed, On Circe's island fell: (who knows not Circe, 50 The daughter of the Sun, whose charmèd cup Whoever tasted lost his upright shape, And downward fell into a grovelling swine?) This Nymph, that gazed upon his clustering locks, With ivy berries wreathed, and his blithe youth, Had by him, ere he parted thence, a son Much like his father, but his mother more, Whom therefore she brought up, and Comus named: Who, ripe and frolic of his full-grown age, Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields, 60 At last betakes him to this ominous wood, And, in thick shelter of black shades imbowered, Excels his mother at her mighty art; Offering to every weary traveller His orient liquor in a crystal glass, To quench the drouth of Phœbus; which as they taste (For most do taste through fond intemperate thirst), Soon as the potion works, their human count'nance, The express resemblance of the gods, is changed Into some brutish form of wolf or bear, 70 Or ounce or tiger, hog, or bearded goat, All other parts remaining as they were. And they, so perfect is their misery, Not once perceive their foul disfigurement, But boast themselves more comely than before, And all their friends and native home forget, To roll with pleasure in a sensual sty. Therefore, when any favoured of high Jove Chances to pass through this adventurous glade, Swift as the sparkle of a glancing star 80 I shoot from heaven, to give him safe convoy, As now I do. But first I must put off These my sky-robes, spun out of Iris' woof, And take the weeds and likeness of a swain That to the service of this house belongs, Who, with his soft pipe and smooth-dittied song, Well knows to still the wild winds when they roar, And hush the waving woods; nor of less faith, And in this office of his mountain watch Likeliest, and nearest to the present aid 90 Of this occasion. But I hear the tread Of hateful steps; I must be viewless now. 

_COMUS enters, with a charming-rod in one hand, his glass in the other;with him a rout of monsters, headed like sundry sorts of wild beasts, but otherwise like men and women, their apparel glistering. They come inmaking a riotous and unruly noise, with torches in their hands. _

 _Comus. _ The star that bids the shepherd fold Now the top of heaven doth hold; And the gilded car of day His glowing axle doth allay In the steep Atlantic stream; And the slope sun his upward beam Shoots against the dusky pole, Pacing toward the other goal 100 Of his chamber in the east. Meanwhile, welcome joy and feast, Midnight shout and revelry, Tipsy dance and jollity. Braid your locks with rosy twine, Dropping odours, dropping wine. Rigour now is gone to bed; And Advice with scrupulous head, Strict Age, and sour Severity, With their grave saws, in slumber lie. 110 We, that are of purer fire, Imitate the starry quire, Who, in their nightly watchful spheres, Lead in swift round the months and years. The sounds and seas, with all their finny drove, Now to the moon in wavering morrice move; And on the tawny sands and shelves Trip the pert fairies and the dapper elves. By dimpled brook and fountain-brim, The wood-nymphs, decked with daisies trim, 120 Their merry wakes and pastimes keep: What hath night to do with sleep? Night hath better sweets to prove; Venus now wakes, and wakens Love. Come, let us our rights begin; 'Tis only daylight that makes sin, Which these dun shades will ne'er report. Hail, goddess of nocturnal sport, Dark-veiled Cotytto, to whom the secret flame Of midnight torches burns! mysterious dame, 130 That ne'er art called but when the dragon womb Of Stygian darkness spets her thickest gloom, And makes one blot of all the air! Stay thy cloudy ebon chair, Wherein thou ridest with Hecat', and befriend Us thy vowed priests, till utmost end Of all thy dues be done, and none left out, Ere the blabbing eastern scout, The nice Morn on the Indian steep, From her cabined loop-hole peep, 140 And to the tell-tale Sun descry Our concealed solemnity. Come, knit hands, and beat the ground In a light fantastic round. [_The Measure. _ Break off, break off! I feel the different pace Of some chaste footing near about this ground. Run to your shrouds within these brakes and trees; Our number may affright. Some virgin sure (For so I can distinguish by mine art) Benighted in these woods! Now to my charms, 150 And to my wily trains: I shall ere long Be well stocked with as fair a herd as grazed About my mother Circe. Thus I hurl My dazzling spells into the spongy air, Of power to cheat the eye with blear illusion, And give it false presentments, lest the place And my quaint habits breed astonishment, And put the damsel to suspicious flight; Which must not be, for that's against my course. I, under fair pretence of friendly ends, 160 And well-placed words of glozing courtesy, Baited with reasons not unplausible, Wind me into the easy-hearted man, And hug him into snares. When once her eye Hath met the virtue of this magic dust, I shall appear some harmless villager Whom thrift keeps up about his country gear. But here she comes; I fairly step aside, And hearken, if I may, her business here. 

_The LADY enters. _

 _Lady. _ This way the noise was, if mine ear be true, My best guide now. Methought it was the sound Of riot and ill-managed merriment, 172 Such as the jocund flute or gamesome pipe Stirs up among the loose unlettered hinds, When, for their teeming flocks and granges full, In wanton dance they praise the bounteous Pan, And thank the gods amiss. I should be loth To meet the rudeness and swilled insolence Of such late wassailers; yet, oh! where else Shall I inform my unacquainted feet 180 In the blind mazes of this tangled wood? My brothers, when they saw me wearied out With this long way, resolving here to lodge Under the spreading favour of these pines, Stepped, as they said, to the next thicket-side To bring me berries, or such cooling fruit As the kind hospitable woods provide. They left me then when the grey-hooded Even, Like a sad votarist in palmer's weed, Rose from the hindmost wheels of Phœbus' wain. 190 But where they are, and why they came not back, Is now the labour of my thoughts. 'Tis likeliest They had engaged their wandering steps too far; And envious darkness, ere they could return, Had stole them from me. Else, O thievish Night, Why shouldst thou, but for some felonious end, In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars That Nature hung in heaven, and filled their lamps With everlasting oil to give due light To the misled and lonely traveller? 200 This is the place, as well as I may guess, Whence even now the tumult of loud mirth Was rife, and perfect in my listening ear; Yet nought but single darkness do I find. What might this be? A thousand fantasies Begin to throng into my memory, Of calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire, And airy tongues that syllable men's names On sands and shores and desert wildernesses. These thoughts may startle well, but not astound 210 The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended By a strong siding champion, Conscience. O, welcome, pure-eyed Faith, white-handed Hope, Thou hovering angel girt with golden wings, And thou unblemished form of Chastity! I see ye visibly, and now believe That He, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill Are but as slavish officers of vengeance, Would send a glistering guardian, if need were, To keep my life and honour unassailed. .. . 220 Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud Turn forth her silver lining on the night? I did not err: there does a sable cloud Turn forth her silver lining on the night, And casts a gleam over this tufted grove. I cannot hallo to my brothers, but Such noise as I can make to be heard farthest I'll venture; for my new-enlivened spirits Prompt me, and they perhaps are not far off. 

_Song. _

 Sweet Echo, sweetest nymph, that liv'st unseen 230 Within thy airy shell By slow Meander's margent green, And in the violet-embroidered vale Where the love-lorn nightingale Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well: Canst thou not tell me of a gentle pair That likest thy Narcissus are? O, if thou have Hid them in some flowery cave, Tell me but where, 240 Sweet Queen of Parley, Daughter of the Sphere! So may'st thou be translated to the skies, And give resounding grace to all Heaven's harmonies!

 _Comus. _ Can any mortal mixture of earth's mould Breathe such divine enchanting ravishment? Sure something holy lodges in that breast, And with these raptures moves the vocal air To testify his hidden residence. How sweetly did they float upon the wings Of silence, through the empty-vaulted night, 250 At every fall smoothing the raven down Of darkness till it smiled! I have oft heard My mother Circe with the Sirens three, Amidst the flowery-kirtled Naiades, Culling their potent herbs and baleful drugs, Who, as they sung, would take the prisoned soul, And lap it in Elysium: Scylla wept, And chid her barking waves into attention, And fell Charybdis murmured soft applause. Yet they in pleasing slumber lulled the sense, 260 And in sweet madness robbed it of itself; But such a sacred and home-felt delight, Such sober certainty of waking bliss, I never heard till now. I'll speak to her, And she shall be my queen. --Hail, foreign wonder! Whom certain these rough shades did never breed, Unless the goddess that in rural shrine Dwell'st here with Pan or Sylvan by blest song Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog To touch the prosperous growth of this tall wood. 270

 _Lady. _ Nay, gentle shepherd, ill is lost that praise That is addressed to unattending ears. Not any boast of skill, but extreme shift How to regain my severed company, Compelled me to awake the courteous Echo To give me answer from her mossy couch. 

 _Comus. _ What chance, good Lady, hath bereft you thus?

 _Lady. _ Dim darkness and this leafy labyrinth. 

 _Comus. _ Could that divide you from near-ushering guides?

 _Lady. _ They left me weary on a grassy turf. 280

 _Comus. _ By falsehood, or discourtesy, or why?

 _Lady. _ To seek i' the valley some cool friendly spring. 

 _Comus. _ And left your fair side all unguarded, lady?

 _Lady. _ They were but twain, and purposed quick return. 

 _Comus. _ Perhaps forestalling night prevented them. 

 _Lady. _ How easy my misfortune is to hit!

 _Comus. _ Imports their loss, beside the present need?

 _Lady. _ No less than if I should my brothers lose. 

 _Comus. _ Were they of manly prime, or youthful bloom?

 _Lady. _ As smooth as Hebe's their unrazored lips. 290

 _Comus. _ Two such I saw, what time the laboured ox In his loose traces from the furrow came, And the swinked hedger at his supper sat. I saw them under a green mantling vine, That crawls along the side of yon small hill, Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots; Their port was more than human, as they stood I took it for a faery vision Of some gay creatures of the element, That in the colours of the rainbow live, 300 And play i' the plighted clouds. I was awe-strook, And, as I passed, I worshiped. If those you seek, It were a journey like the path to Heaven To help you find them. 

 _Lady. _ Gentle villager, What readiest way would bring me to that place?

 _Comus. _ Due west it rises from this shrubby point. 

 _Lady. _ To find out that, good shepherd, I suppose, In such a scant allowance of star-light, Would overtask the best land-pilot's art, Without the sure guess of well-practised feet. 310

 _Comus. _ I know each lane, and every alley green, Dingle, or bushy dell, of this wild wood, And every bosky bourn from side to side, My daily walks and ancient neighbourhood; And, if your stray attendance be yet lodged, Or shroud within these limits, I shall know Ere morrow wake, or the low-roosted lark From her thatched pallet rouse. If otherwise, I can conduct you, lady, to a low But loyal cottage, where you may be safe 320 Till further quest. 

 _Lady. _ Shepherd, I take thy word, And trust thy honest-offered courtesy, Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds, With smoky rafters, than in tapestry halls And courts of princes, where it first was named, And yet is most pretended. In a place Less warranted than this, or less secure, I cannot be, that I should fear to change it. Eye me, blest Providence, and square my trial To my proportioned strength! Shepherd, lead on. 

[_Exeunt. _

_Enter the TWO BROTHERS. _

 _Elder Brother. _ Unmuffle, ye faint stars; and thou, fair moon, 331 That wont'st to love the traveller's benison, Stoop thy pale visage through an amber cloud, And disinherit Chaos, that reigns here In double night of darkness and of shades; Or, if your influence be quite dammed up With black usurping mists, some gentle taper, Though a rush-candle from the wicker hole Of some clay habitation, visit us With thy long levelled rule of streaming light, 340 And thou shalt be our star of Arcady, Or Tyrian Cynosure. 

 _Second Brother. _ Or, if our eyes Be barred that happiness, might we but hear The folded flocks, penned in their wattled cotes, Or sound of pastoral reed with oaten stops, Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock Count the night-watches to his feathery dames, 'Twould be some solace yet, some little cheering, In this close dungeon of innumerous boughs. But, Oh, that hapless virgin, our lost sister! 350 Where may she wander now, whither betake her From the chill dew, amongst rude burs and thistles? Perhaps some cold bank is her bolster now, Or 'gainst the rugged bark of some broad elm Leans her unpillowed head, fraught with sad fears. What if in wild amazement and affright, Or, while we speak, within the direful grasp Of savage hunger, or of savage heat!

 _Elder Brother. _ Peace, brother: be not over-exquisite To cast the fashion of uncertain evils; 360 For, grant they be so, while they rest unknown, What need a man forestall his date of grief, And run to meet what he would most avoid? Or, if they be but false alarms of fear, How bitter is such self-delusion! I do not think my sister so to seek, Or so unprincipled in virtue's book, And the sweet peace that goodness bosoms ever, As that the single want of light and noise (Not being in danger, as I trust she is not) 370 Could stir the constant mood of her calm thoughts, And put them into misbecoming plight. Virtue could see to do what Virtue would By her own radiant light, though sun and moon Were in the flat sea sunk. And Wisdom's self Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude, Where, with her best nurse, Contemplation, She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings, That, in the various bustle of resort, Were all to-ruffled, and sometimes impaired. 380 He that has light within his own clear breast May sit i' the centre, and enjoy bright day: But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts Benighted walks under the mid-day sun; Himself is his own dungeon. 

 _Second Brother. _ 'Tis most true That musing meditation most affects The pensive secrecy of desert cell, Far from the cheerful haunt of men and herds, And sits as safe as in a senate-house; For who would rob a hermit of his weeds, 390 His few books, or his beads, or maple dish, Or do his grey hairs any violence? But Beauty, like the fair Hesperian tree Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard Of dragon-watch with unenchanted eye To save her blossoms, and defend her fruit, From the rash hand of bold Incontinence. You may as well spread out the unsunned heaps Of miser's treasure by an outlaw's den, And tell me it is safe, as bid me hope 400 Danger will wink on Opportunity, And let a single helpless maiden pass Uninjured in this wild surrounding waste. Of night or loneliness it recks me not; I fear the dread events that dog them both, Lest some ill-greeting touch attempt the person Of our unownéd sister. 

 _Elder Brother. _ I do not, brother, Infer as if I thought my sister's state Secure without all doubt or controversy; Yet, where an equal poise of hope and fear 410 Does arbitrate the event, my nature is That I incline to hope rather than fear, And gladly banish squint suspicion. My sister is not so defenceless left As you imagine; she has a hidden strength, Which you remember not. 

 _Second Brother. _ What hidden strength, Unless the strength of Heaven, if you mean that?

 _Elder Brother. _ I mean that too, but yet a hidden strength, Which, if Heaven gave it, may be termed her own. 'Tis chastity, my brother, chastity: 420 She that has that is clad in cómplete steel, And, like a quivered nymph with arrows keen, May trace huge forests, and unharboured heaths, Infámous hills, and sandy perilous wilds; Where, through the sacred rays of chastity, No savage fierce, bandite, or mountaineer, Will dare to soil her virgin purity. Yea, there where very desolation dwells, By grots and caverns shagged with horrid shades, She may pass on with unblenched majesty, 430 Be it not done in pride, or in presumption. Some say no evil thing that walks by night, In fog or fire, by lake or moorish fen, Blue meagre hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost, That breaks his magic chains at curfew time, No goblin or swart faery of the mine, Hath hurtful power o'er true virginity. Do ye believe me yet, or shall I call Antiquity from the old schools of Greece To testify the arms of chastity? 440 Hence had the huntress Dian her dread bow Fair silver-shafted queen for ever chaste, Wherewith she tamed the brinded lioness And spotted mountain-pard, but set at nought The frivolous bolt of Cupid; gods and men Feared her stern frown, and she was queen o' the woods. What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shield That wise Minerva wore, unconquered virgin, Wherewith she freezed her foes to congealed stone, But rigid looks of chaste austerity, 450 And noble grace that dashed brute violence With sudden adoration and blank awe? So dear to Heaven is saintly chastity That, when a soul is found sincerely so, A thousand liveried angels lackey her, Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt, And in clear dream and solemn vision Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear; Till oft converse with heavenly habitants Begin to cast a beam on the outward shape, 460 The unpolluted temple of the mind, And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence, Till all be made immortal. But, when lust, By unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk, But most by lewd and lavish act of sin, Lets in defilement to the inward parts, The soul grows clotted by contagion, Imbodies, and imbrutes, till she quite loose The divine property of her first being. Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp 470 Oft seen in charnel-vaults and sepulchres, Lingering and sitting by a new-made grave, As loth to leave the body that it loved, And linked itself by carnal sensualty To a degenerate and degraded state. 

 _Second Brother. _ How charming is divine Philosophy! Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose, But musical as is Apollo's lute, And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets, Where no crude surfeit reigns. 

 _Elder Brother. _ List! list! I hear 480 Some far-off hallo break the silent air. 

 _Second Brother. _ Methought so too; what should it be?

 _Elder Brother. _ For certain, Either some one, like us, night-foundered here, Or else some neighbour woodman, or, at worst, Some roving robber calling to his fellows. 

 _Second Brother. _ Heaven keep my sister! Again, again, and near! Best draw, and stand upon our guard. 

 _Elder Brother. _ I'll hallo. If he be friendly, he comes well: if not, Defence is a good cause, and Heaven be for us!

_Enter the ATTENDANT SPIRIT, habited like a shepherd. _

 That hallo I should know. What are you? speak. 490 Come not too near; you fall on iron stakes else. 

 _Spirit. _ What voice is that? my young Lord? speak again. 

 _Second Brother. _ O brother, 'tis my father's shepherd, sure. 

 _Elder Brother. _ Thyrsis! whose artful strains have oft delayed The huddling brook to hear his madrigal, And sweetened every musk-rose of the dale. How camest thou here, good swain? Hath any ram Slipped from the fold, or young kid lost his dam, Or straggling wether the pent flock forsook? How couldst thou find this dark sequestered nook? 500

 _Spirit. _ O my loved master's heir, and his next joy, I came not here on such a trivial toy As a strayed ewe, or to pursue the stealth Of pilfering wolf; not all the fleecy wealth That doth enrich these downs is worth a thought To this my errand, and the care it brought, But, oh! my virgin Lady, where is she? How chance she is not in your company?

 _Elder Brother. _ To tell thee sadly, Shepherd, without blame Or our neglect, we lost her as we came. 510

 _Spirit. _ Ay me unhappy! then my fears are true. 

 _Elder Brother. _ What fears, good Thyrsis? Prithee briefly shew. 

 _Spirit. _ I'll tell ye. 'Tis not vain or fabulous (Though so esteemed by shallow ignorance) What the sage poets, taught by the heavenly Muse, Storied of old in high immortal verse Of dire Chimeras and enchanted isles, And rifted rocks whose entrance leads to Hell; For such there be, but unbelief is blind. Within the navel of this hideous wood, 520 Immured in cypress shades, a sorcerer dwells, Of Bacchus and of Circe born, great Comus, Deep skilled in all his mother's witcheries, And here to every thirsty wanderer By sly enticement gives his baneful cup, With many murmurs mixed, whose pleasing poison The visage quite transforms of him that drinks, And the inglorious likeness of a beast Fixes instead, unmoulding reason's mintage Charáctered in the face. This have I learnt 530 Tending my flocks hard by i' the hilly crofts That brow this bottom glade; whence night by night He and his monstrous rout are heard to howl Like stabled wolves, or tigers at their prey, Doing abhorred rites to Hecate In their obscuréd haunts of inmost bowers. Yet have they many baits and guileful spells To inveigle and invite the unwary sense Of them that pass unweeting by the way. This evening late, by then the chewing flocks 540 Had ta'en their supper on the savoury herb Of knot-grass dew-besprent, and were in fold, I sat me down to watch upon a bank With ivy canopied, and interwove With flaunting honeysuckle, and began, Wrapt in a pleasing fit of melancholy, To meditate my rural minstrelsy, Till fancy had her fill. But ere a close The wonted roar was up amidst the woods, And filled the air with barbarous dissonance; 550 At which I ceased, and listened them awhile, Till an unusual stop of sudden silence Gave respite to the drowsy frighted steeds That draw the litter of close-curtained Sleep. At last a soft and solemn-breathing sound Rose like a steam of rich distilled perfumes, And stole upon the air, that even Silence Was took ere she was ware, and wished she might Deny her nature, and be never more, Still to be so displaced. I was all ear, 560 And took in strains that might create a soul Under the ribs of Death. But, oh! ere long Too well I did perceive it was the voice Of my most honoured Lady, your dear sister. Amazed I stood, harrowed with grief and fear; And "O poor hapless nightingale, " thought I, "How sweet thou sing'st, how near the deadly snare!" Then down the lawns I ran with headlong haste, Through paths and turnings often trod by day, Till, guided by mine ear, I found the place 570 Where that damned wizard, hid in sly disguise (For so by certain signs I knew), had met Already, ere my best speed could prevent, The aidless innocent lady, his wished prey; Who gently asked if he had seen such two, Supposing him some neighbour villager. Longer I durst not stay, but soon I guessed Ye were the two she meant; with that I sprung Into swift flight, till I had found you here; But further know I not. 

 _Second Brother. _ O night and shades, 580 How are ye joined with hell in triple knot Against the unarmed weakness of one virgin, Alone and helpless! Is this the confidence You gave me, brother?

 _Elder Brother. _ Yes, and keep it still; Lean on it safely; not a period Shall be unsaid for me. Against the threats Of malice or of sorcery, or that power Which erring men call Chance, this I hold firm: Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt, Surprised by unjust force, but not enthralled; 590 Yea, even that which Mischief meant most harm Shall in the happy trial prove most glory. But evil on itself shall back recoil, And mix no more with goodness, when at last, Gathered like scum, and settled to itself, It shall be in eternal restless change Self-fed and self-consumed. If this fail, The pillared firmament is rottenness, And earth's base built on stubble. But come, let's on! Against the opposing will and arm of Heaven 600 May never this just sword be lifted up; But, for that damned magician, let him be girt With all the grisly legions that troop Under the sooty flag of Acheron, Harpies and Hydras, or all the monstrous forms 'Twixt Africa and Ind, I'll find him out, And force him to return his purchase back, Or drag him by the curls to a foul death, Cursed as his life. 

 _Spirit. _ Alas! good venturous youth, I love thy courage yet, and bold emprise; 610 But here thy sword can do thee little stead. Far other arms and other weapons must Be those that quell the might of hellish charms. He with his bare wand can unthread thy joints, And crumble all thy sinews. 

 _Elder Brother. _ Why, prithee, Shepherd, How durst thou then thyself approach so near As to make this relation?

 _Spirit. _ Care and utmost shifts How to secure the Lady from surprisal Brought to my mind a certain shepherd lad, Of small regard to see to, yet well skilled 620 In every virtuous plant and healing herb That spreads her verdant leaf to the morning ray. He loved me well, and oft would beg me sing; Which when I did, he on the tender grass Would sit, and hearken even to ecstasy, And in requital ope his leathern scrip, And show me simples of a thousand names, Telling their strange and vigorous faculties. Amongst the rest a small unsightly root, But of divine effect, he culled me out. 630 The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it, But in another country, as he said, Bore a bright golden flower, but not in this soil: Unknown, and like esteemed, and the dull swain Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon; And yet more med'cinal is it than that Moly That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave. He called it Hæmony, and gave it me, And bade me keep it as of sovran use 'Gainst all enchantments, mildew blast, or damp, 640 Or ghastly Furies' apparition. I pursed it up, but little reckoning made, Till now that this extremity compelled. But now I find it true; for by this means I knew the foul enchanter, though disguised, Entered the very lime-twigs of his spells, And yet came off. If you have this about you (As I will give you when we go) you may Boldly assault the necromancer's hall; Where if he be, with dauntless hardihood 650 And brandished blade rush on him: break his glass, And shed the luscious liquor on the ground; But seize his wand. Though he and his curst crew Fierce sign of battle make, and menace high, Or, like the sons of Vulcan, vomit smoke, Yet will they soon retire, if he but shrink. 

 _Elder Brother. _ Thyrsis, lead on apace; I'll follow thee; And some good angel bear a shield before us!

_The Scene changes to a stately palace, set out with all manner ofdeliciousness: soft music, tables spread with all dainties. COMUSappears with his rabble, and the LADY set in an enchanted chair: to whomhe offers his glass; which she puts by, and goes about to rise. _

 _Comus. _ Nay, lady, sit. If I but wave this wand, Your nerves are all chained up in alabaster, 660 And you a statue, or as Daphne was, Root-bound, that fled Apollo. 

 _Lady. _ Fool, do not boast. Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind With all thy charms, although this corporal rind Thou hast immanacled while Heaven sees good. 

 _Comus. _ Why are you vexed, lady? why do you frown? Here dwell no frowns, nor anger; from these gates Sorrow flies far. See, here be all the pleasures That fancy can beget on youthful thoughts, When the fresh blood grows lively, and returns 670 Brisk as the April buds in primrose season. And first behold this cordial julep here, That flames and dances in his crystal bounds, With spirits of balm and fragrant syrups mixed. Not that Nepenthes which the wife of Thone In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena Is of such power to stir up joy as this, To life so friendly, or so cool to thirst. Why should you be so cruel to yourself, And to those dainty limbs, which Nature lent 680 For gentle usage and soft delicacy? But you invert the covenants of her trust, And harshly deal, like an ill borrower, With that which you received on other terms, Scorning the unexempt condition By which all mortal frailty must subsist, Refreshment after toil, ease after pain, That have been tired all day without repast, And timely rest have wanted. But, fair virgin, This will restore all soon. 

 _Lady. _ 'Twill not, false traitor! 690 'Twill not restore the truth and honesty That thou hast banished from thy tongue with lies. Was this the cottage and the safe abode Thou told'st me of? What grim aspects are these, These oughly-headed monsters? Mercy guard me! Hence with thy brewed enchantments, foul deceiver! Hast thou betrayed my credulous innocence With vizored falsehood and base forgery? And would'st thou seek again to trap me here With liquorish baits, fit to ensnare a brute? 700 Were it a draught for Juno when she banquets, I would not taste thy treasonous offer. None But such as are good men can give good things; And that which is not good is not delicious To a well-governed and wise appetite. 

 _Comus. _ O foolishness of men! that lend their ears To those budge doctors of the Stoic fur, And fetch their precepts from the Cynic tub, Praising the lean and sallow Abstinence! Wherefore did Nature pour her bounties forth 710 With such a full and unwithdrawing hand, Covering the earth with odours, fruits, and flocks, Thronging the seas with spawn innumerable, But all to please and sate the curious taste? And set to work millions of spinning worms, That in their green shops weave the smooth-haired silk, To deck her sons; and, that no corner might Be vacant of her plenty, in her own loins She hutched the all-worshipped ore and precious gems, To store her children with. If all the world 720 Should, in a pet of temperance, feed on pulse, Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but frieze, The All-giver would be unthanked, would be unpraised, Not half his riches known, and yet despised; And we should serve him as a grudging master, As a penurious niggard of his wealth, And live like Nature's bastards, not her sons, Who would be quite surcharged with her own weight, And strangled with her waste fertility: The earth cumbered, and the winged air darked with plumes, 730 The herds would over-multitude their lords; The sea o'erfraught would swell, and the unsought diamonds Would so emblaze the forehead of the deep, And so bestud with stars, that they below Would grow inured to light, and come at last To gaze upon the sun with shameless brows. List, lady; be not coy, and be not cozened With that same vaunted name, Virginity. Beauty is Nature's coin; must not be hoarded, But must be current; and the good thereof 740 Consists in mutual and partaken bliss, Unsavoury in the enjoyment of itself. If you let slip time, like a neglected rose It withers on the stalk with languished head. Beauty is Nature's brag, and must be shown In courts, at feasts, and high solemnities, Where most may wonder at the workmanship. It is for homely features to keep home; They had their name thence: coarse complexions And cheeks of sorry grain will serve to ply 750 The sampler, and to tease the huswife's wool. What need of vermeil-tinctured lip for that, Love-darting eyes, or tresses like the morn? There was another meaning in these gifts; Think what, and be advised; you are but young yet. 

 _Lady. _ I had not thought to have unlocked my lips In this unhallowed air, but that this juggler Would think to charm my judgment, as mine eyes, Obtruding false rules pranked in reason's garb. I hate when vice can bolt her arguments 760 And virtue has no tongue to check her pride. Impostor! do not charge most innocent Nature, As if she would her children should be riotous With her abundance. She, good cateress, Means her provision only to the good, That live according to her sober laws, And holy dictate of spare Temperance. If every just man that now pines with want Had but a moderate and beseeming share Of that which lewdly-pampered Luxury 770 Now heaps upon some few with vast excess, Nature's full blessings would be well dispensed In unsuperfluous even proportions, And she no whit encumbered with her store; And then the Giver would be better thanked, His praise due paid: for swinish gluttony Ne'er looks to Heaven amidst his gorgeous feast, But with besotted base ingratitude Crams, and blasphemes his Feeder. Shall I go on? Or have I said enow? To him that dares 780 Arm his profane tongue with contemptuous words Against the sun-clad power of chastity Fain would I something say;--yet to what end? Thou hast nor ear, nor soul, to apprehend The sublime notion and high mystery That must be uttered to unfold the sage And serious doctrine of Virginity; And thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know More happiness than this thy present lot. Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric, 790 That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence; Thou art not fit to hear thyself convinced. Yet, should I try, the uncontrollèd worth Of this pure cause would kindle my rapt spirits To such a flame of sacred vehemence That dumb things would be moved to sympathise, And the brute Earth would lend her nerves, and shake, Till all thy magic structures, reared so high, Were shattered into heaps o'er thy false head. 

 _Comus. _ She fables not. I feel that I do fear 800 Her words set off by some superior power; And, though not mortal, yet a cold shuddering dew Dips me all o'er, as when the wrath of Jove Speaks thunder and the chains of Erebus To some of Saturn's crew. I must dissemble, And try her yet more strongly. --Come, no more! This is mere moral babble, and direct Against the canon laws of our foundation. I must not suffer this; yet 'tis but the lees And settlings of a melancholy blood. 810

 But this will cure all straight; one sip of this Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight Beyond the bliss of dreams. Be wise, and taste. 

_The BROTHERS rush in with swords drawn, wrest his glass out of hishand, and break it against the ground: his rout make sign of resistance, but are all driven in. The ATTENDANT SPIRIT comes in. _

 _Spirit. _ What! have you let the false enchanter scape? O ye mistook; ye should have snatched his wand, And bound him fast. Without his rod reversed, And backward mutters of dissevering power, We cannot free the Lady that sits here In stony fetters fixed and motionless. Yet stay: be not disturbed; now I bethink me, 820 Some other means I have which may be used, Which once of Melibœus old I learnt, The soothest shepherd that e'er piped on plains. There is a gentle nymph not far from hence, 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 sceptre from his father Brute. She, guiltless damsel, flying the mad pursuit Of her enragéd stepdame, Guendolen, 830 Commended her fair innocence to the flood That stayed her flight with his cross-flowing course. The water-nymphs, that in the bottom played, Held up their pearled wrists, and took her in, Bearing her straight to aged Nereus' hall; Who, piteous of her woes, reared her lank head, And gave her to his daughters to imbathe In nectared lavers strewed with asphodel, And through the porch and inlet of each sense Dropt in ambrosial oils, till she revived, 840 And underwent a quick immortal change, Made Goddess of the river. Still she retains Her maiden gentleness, and oft at eve Visits the herds along the twilight meadows, Helping all urchin blasts, and ill-luck signs That the shrewd meddling elf delights to make, Which she with precious vialed liquors heals: For which the shepherds, at their festivals, Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays, And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream 850 Of pansies, pinks, and gaudy daffodils. And, as the old swain said, she can unlock The clasping charm, and thaw the numbing spell, If she be right invoked in warbled song; For maidenhood she loves, and will be swift To aid a virgin, such as was herself, In hard-besetting need. This will I try, And add the power of some adjuring verse. 

_Song. _

 Sabrina fair, Listen where thou art sitting 860 Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave, In twisted braids of lilies knitting The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair; Listen for dear honour's sake, Goddess of the silver lake, Listen and save!

 Listen, and appear to us, In name of great Oceanus. By the earth-shaking Neptune's mace, And Tethys' grave majestic pace; 870 By hoary Nereus' wrinkled look, And the Carpathian wizard's hook; By scaly Triton's winding shell, And old soothsaying Glaucus' spell; By Leucothea's lovely hands, And her son that rules the strands; By Thetis' tinsel-slippered feet, And the songs of Sirens sweet; By dead Parthenope's dear tomb, And fair Ligea's golden comb, 880 Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks Sleeking her soft alluring locks; By all the Nymphs that nightly dance Upon thy streams with wily glance; Rise, rise, and heave thy rosy head From thy coral-paven bed, And bridle in thy headlong wave, Till thou our summons answered have. Listen and save!

_SABRINA rises, attended by Water-nymphs, and sings. _

 By the rushy-fringéd bank, 890 Where grows the willow and the osier dank, My sliding chariot stays, Thick set with agate, and the azurn sheen Of turkis blue, and emerald green, That in the channel strays; Whilst from off the waters fleet Thus I set my printless feet O'er the cowslip's velvet head, That bends not as I tread. Gentle swain, at thy request 900 I am here!

 _Spirit. _ Goddess dear, We implore thy powerful hand To undo the charméd band Of true virgin here distressed Through the force and through the wile Of unblessed enchanter vile. 

 _Sabrina. _ Shepherd, 'tis my office best To help ensnared chastity. Brightest Lady, look on me. 910 Thus I sprinkle on thy breast Drops that from my fountain pure I have kept of precious cure; Thrice upon thy finger's tip, Thrice upon thy rubied lip: Next this marble venomed seat, Smeared with gums of glutinous heat, I touch with chaste palms moist and cold. Now the spell hath lost his hold; And I must haste ere morning hour 920 To wait in Amphitrite's bower. 

_SABRINA descends, and the LADY rises out of her seat. _

 _Spirit. _ Virgin, daughter of Locrine, Sprung of old Anchises' line, May thy brimméd waves for this Their full tribute never miss From a thousand petty rills, That tumble down the snowy hills: Summer drouth or singéd air Never scorch thy tresses fair, Nor wet October's torrent flood 930 Thy molten crystal fill with mud; May thy billows roll ashore The beryl and the golden ore; May thy lofty head be crowned With many a tower and terrace round, And here and there thy banks upon With groves of myrrh and cinnamon. Come, Lady; while Heaven lends us grace, Let us fly this curséd place, Lest the sorcerer us entice 940 With some other new device. Not a waste or needless sound Till we come to holier ground. I shall be your faithful guide Through this gloomy covert wide; And not many furlongs thence Is your Father's residence, Where this night are met in state Many a friend to gratulate His wished presence, and beside 950 All the swains that there abide With jigs and rural dance resort. We shall catch them at their sport, And our sudden coming there Will double all their mirth and cheer. Come, let us haste; the stars grow high, But Night sits monarch yet in the mid sky. 

_The Scene changes, presenting Ludlow Town, and the President's Castle;then come in Country Dancers; after them the ATTENDANT SPIRIT, with theTwo BROTHERS and the LADY. _

_Song. _

 _Spirit. _ Back, shepherds, back! Enough your play Till next sunshine holiday. Here be, without duck or nod, 960 Other trippings to be trod Of lighter toes, and such court guise As Mercury did first devise With the mincing Dryades On the lawns and on the leas. 

_This second Song presents them to their Father and Mother. _

 Noble Lord and Lady bright, I have brought ye new delight. Here behold so goodly grown Three fair branches of your own. Heaven hath timely tried their youth, 970 Their faith, their patience, and their truth, And sent them here through hard assays With a crown of deathless praise, To triumph in victorious dance O'er sensual folly and intemperance. 

_The dances ended, the SPIRIT epiloguizes. _

 _Spirit. _ To the ocean now I fly, And those happy climes that lie Where day never shuts his eye, Up in the broad fields of the sky. There I suck the liquid air, 980 All amidst the gardens fair Of Hesperus, and his daughters three That sing about the golden tree. Along the crispéd shades and bowers Revels the spruce and jocund Spring; The Graces and the rosy-bosomed Hours Thither all their bounties bring. There eternal Summer dwells, And west winds with musky wing About the cedarn alleys fling 990 Nard and cassia's balmy smells. Iris there with humid bow Waters the odorous banks, that blow Flowers of more mingled hue Than her purfled scarf can shew, And drenches with Elysian dew (List, mortals, if your ears be true) Beds of hyacinth and roses, Where young Adonis oft reposes, Waxing well of his deep wound, 1000 In slumber soft, and on the ground Sadly sits the Assyrian queen. But far above, in spangled sheen, Celestial Cupid, her famed son, advanced Holds his dear Psyche, sweet entranced After her wandering labours long, Till free consent the gods among Make her his eternal bride, And from her fair unspotted side Two blissful twins are to be born, 1010 Youth and Joy; so Jove hath sworn. But now my task is smoothly done, I can fly, or I can run Quickly to the green earth's end, Where the bowed welkin slow doth bend, And from thence can soar as soon To the corners of the moon. Mortals, that would follow me, Love Virtue; she alone is free. She can teach ye how to climb 1020 Higher than the sphery chime; Or, if Virtue feeble were, Heaven itself would stoop to her. 

NOTES. 

~discovers~, exhibits, displays. The usual sense of 'discover' is to findout or make known, but in Milton and Shakespeare the prefix _dis-_ hasoften the more purely negative force of _un-_: hence discover = uncover, reveal. Comp. --

 "Some high-climbing hill Which to his eye _discovers_ unaware The goodly prospect of some foreign land. "

 _Par. Lost_, iii. 546. 

~Attendant Spirit descends~. The part of the attendant spirit was taken byLawes (see Introduction), who, in his prologue or opening speech, explains who he is and on what errand he has been sent, hints at theplot of the whole masque, and at the same time compliments the Earl inwhose honour the masque is being given (lines 30-36). In the ancientclassical drama the prologue was sometimes an outline of the plot, sometimes an address to the audience, and sometimes introductory to theplot. The opening of _Comus_ prepares the audience and also directlyaddresses it (line 43). For the form of the epilogue in the actualperformance of the masque see note, l. 975-6. 

1. ~starry threshold~, etc. Comp. Virgil: "The sire of gods and monarch ofmen summons a council to the starry chamber" (_sideream in sedem_), _Aen. _ x. 2. 

2. ~mansion~, abode. Trench points out that this word denotes strictly "aplace of tarrying, " which might be for a longer or a shorter time: hence'a resting-place. ' Comp. _John_, xiv. 2, "In my Father's house are many_mansions_"; and _Il Pens. _ 93, "Her _mansion_ in this fleshly nook. "The word has now lost the notion of tarrying, and is applied to a largeand important dwelling-house. ~where~, in which: the antecedent isseparated from the relative, a frequent construction in Milton (comp. Lines 66, 821, etc. ). So in Latin, where the grammatical connectionwould generally be sufficiently indicated by the inflection. ~shapes . .. Spirits~. An instance of the manner in which Milton endows spiritualbeings with personality without making them too distinct. "Of all thepoets who have introduced into their works the agency of supernaturalbeings Milton has succeeded best" (Macaulay). We see this in _Par. Lost_(_e. G. _ ii. 666). Compare the use of the word 'shape' (Lat. _umbra_) inl. 207: also _L'Alleg. _ 4, "horrid _shapes_ and shrieks"; and _Il Pens. _6, "fancies fond with gaudy _shapes_ possess. " Milton's use of thedemonstrative ~those~ in this line is noteworthy; comp. "_that_ lastinfirmity of noble mind, " _Lyc. _ 71: it implies that the reference is tosomething well known, and that further particularisation is needless. 

3. ~insphered~. 'Sphere, ' with its derivatives 'sphery, ' 'insphere, ' and'unsphere' (_Il Pens. _ 88), is used by Milton with a literal referenceto the cosmical framework as a whole (see _Hymn Nat. _ 48) or to someportion of it. In Shakespeare 'sphere' occurs in the wider sense of 'thepath in which anything moves, ' and it is to this metaphorical use of theword that we owe such phrases as 'a person's sphere of life, ' 'sphere ofaction, ' etc. See also _Comus_, 112-4, 241-3, 1021; _Arc. _ 62-7; _Par. Lost_, v. 618; where there are references to the music of the spheres. 

4. ~mild~: an attributive of the whole clause, 'regions of calm and sereneair. ' ~calm and serene~. These are not mere synonyms: the Lat. _serenus_ =bright or unclouded, so that the two epithets are to be respectivelycontrasted with 'smoke' and 'stir' (line 5); 'calm' being opposed to'stir' and 'serene' to 'smoke. ' Compare Homer's description of the seatof the gods: "Not by wind is it shaken, nor ever wet with rain, nor doththe snow come nigh thereto, but _most clear_ air is spread about it_cloudless_, and the white light floats over it, " _Odyssey_, vi. : comp. Note, l. 977. 

5. ~this dim spot~. The Spirit describes the Earth as it appears to thoseimmortal shapes whose presence he has just quitted. 

6. There are here two attributive clauses: "which men call Earth" and"(in which) men strive, " etc. ~low-thoughted care~; narrow-minded anxiety, care about earthly things. Comp. The form of the adjective 'low-browed, '_L'Alleg. _ 8: both epithets are borrowed by Pope in his _Eloisa_. 

7. This line is attributive to 'men. ' ~pestered . .. Pinfold~, crowdedtogether in this cramped space, the Earth. _Pester_, which has noconnection with _pest_, is a shortened form of _impester_, Fr. _empêtrer_, to shackle a horse by the foot when it is at pasture. Theradical sense is that of clogging (comp. _Son. _ xii. 1); hence ofcrowding; and finally of annoyance or encumbrance of any kind. 'Pinfold'is strictly an enclosure in which stray cattle are _pounded_ or shut up:etymologically, the word = _pind-fold_, a corruption of _pound-fold_. Comp. _impound_, sheep-_fold_, etc. 

8. ~frail and feverish~. Comp. "life's fitful fever" (_Macbeth_, iii. 2. 23). This line, like several of the adjacent ones, is alliterative. 

9. ~crown that Virtue gives~. This is Scriptural language: comp. _Rev. _iv. 4; 2 _Tim. _ iv. 8, "Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown ofrighteousness. "

10. ~this mortal change~. In Milton's MS. Line 7 was followed by thewords, 'beyond the written date of mortal change, ' _i. E. _ beyond, orafter, man's appointed time to die. These words were struck out, but wemay suppose that the words 'mortal change' in line 10 have a similarmeaning. Milton frequently uses 'mortal' in the sense of 'liable todeath, ' and hence 'human' as opposed to 'divine': the mortal change istherefore 'the change which occurs to all human beings. ' Comp. _Job_, xiv. 14: "all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my_change_ come": see also line 841. Prof. Masson takes it to mean 'thismortal state of life, ' as distinguished from a future state ofimmortality. The Spirit uses 'this' as in line 8, in contrast with'those, ' line 2. 

11. ~enthroned gods~, etc. In allusion to _Rev. _ iv. 4, "And upon thethrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, arrayed in white garments;and on their heads crowns of gold. " Milton frequently speaks of theinhabitants of heaven as _enthroned_. The accent here falls on the firstsyllable of the word. 

12. ~Yet some there be~, etc. : 'Although men are generally so exclusivelyoccupied with the cares of this life, there are nevertheless a few whoaspire, ' etc. _Be_ is here purely indicative. This usage is frequent inElizabethan English, and still survives in parts of England. Comp. _Lines on Univ. Carrier_, ii. 25, where it occurs in a similar phrase, "there be that say 't": also lines 519, 668. It is employed to refer toa number of persons or things, regarded as a class. ~by due steps~, _i. E. _ by the steps that are due or appointed: comp. '_due_ feet, ' _IlPens. _ 155. _Due_, _duty_, and _debt_ are all from Lat. _debitus_, owed. 

13. ~their just hands~. 'Just' belongs to the predicate: 'to lay theirjust hands' = to lay their hands with justice. ~golden key~. Comp. _Matt. _xvi. 19, "I will give unto thee the _keys_ of the kingdom of heaven";also _Lyc. _ 111:

 "Two massy keys he bore of metals twain (The _golden_ opes, the iron shuts amain). "

15. ~errand~: comp. _Par. Lost_, iii. 652, "One of the seven Who in God'spresence, nearest to his throne, Stand ready at command, and are hiseyes That run through all the Heavens, or down to the Earth Bear hisswift _errands_": also vii. 579. ~but for such~, _i. E. _ unless it were forsuch. 

16. 'I would not sully the purity of my heavenly garments with thenoisome vapour of this sin-corrupted earth. ' ~ambrosial~, heavenly; alsoused by Milton in the sense of 'conferring immortality': comp. L. 840;_Par. Lost_, ii. 245; iv. 219, "blooming _ambrosial_ fruit. "'Ambrosial, ' like 'amaranthus' (_Lyc. _ 149), is cognate with theSanskrit _amríta_, undying; and is applied by Homer to the hair of thegods: similarly in Tennyson's _Oenone_, 174: see also _In Memoriam_, lxxxvi. Ben Jonson (_Neptune's Triumph_) has 'ambrosian hands, ' _i. E. _hands fit for a deity. Ambrosia was the food of the gods. ~weeds~: nowused chiefly in the phrase "widow's weeds, " _i. E. _ mourning garment. Milton and Shakespeare use it in the general sense of garment orcovering: in the lines _On the Death of a Fair Infant_, it is applied tothe human body itself; comp. Also _M. N. D. _ ii. 1. 255, "_Weed_ wideenough to wrap a fairy in. " See also _Comus_, 189, 390. 

18. ~But to my task~, _i. E. _ but I must proceed to my task: see l. 1012. 

19. ~every . .. Each~. It is usual to write _every . .. Every_, or _each . .. Each_, but Milton occasionally uses 'every' and 'each' together: comp. L. 311 and _Lyc. _ 93, "_every_ gust . .. Off _each_ beaked promontory. "_Every_ denotes each without exception, and can now only be used withreference to more than two objects; _each_ may refer to two or more. 

20. ~by lot~, etc. When Saturn (Kronos) was dethroned, his empire of theuniverse was distributed amongst his three sons, Jupiter ('high' Jove), Neptune (the god of the Sea), and Pluto ('nether' or Stygian Jove). In_Iliad_ xv. Neptune (Poseidon) says: "For three brethren are we, andsons of Kronos, whom Rhea bare . .. And in three lots are all thingsdivided, and each drew a domain of his own, and to me fell the hoarysea, to be my habitation for ever, when we shook the lots. " ~nether~, lower: comp. The phrase 'the upper and the nether lip, ' and the nameNetherlands. Hell, the abode of Pluto, is called by Milton 'the netherempire' (_Par. Lost_, ii. 295). The form _nethermost_ (_Par. Lost_, ii. 955) is, like _aftermost_ and _foremost_, a double superlative. 

21. ~sea-girt isles~. Ben Jonson calls Britain a 'sea-girt isle': comp. L. 27. _Isle_ is the M. E. _ile_, in which form the _s_ has been dropped: itis from O. F. _isle_, Lat. _insula_. It is therefore distinct from_island_, where an _s_ has, by confusion, been inserted. Island = M. E. _iland_, A. S. _igland_ (_ig_ = island: _land_ = land). In line 50 Miltonwrote 'iland. '

22. ~like to rich and various gems~, etc. Shakespeare describes England asa 'precious stone set in the silver sea, ' _Richard II. _ ii. 1. 46: healso speaks of Heaven as being _inlayed_ with stars, _Cym. _ v. 5. 352;_M. Of V. _ v. 1. 59, "Look how the floor of heaven Is thick _inlaid_with patines of bright gold. " Compare also _Par. Lost_, iv. 700, whereMilton refers to the ground as having a rich _inlay_ of flowers. But forits inlay of islands the sea would be bare or unadorned. ~like~: herefollowed by the preposition _to_, and having its proper force as anadjective: comp. _Il Pens. _ 9. Whether _like_ is used as an adjectiveor an adverb, the preposition is now usually omitted: comp. L. 57. 

24. ~to grace~, _i. E. _ to show favour to: a clause of purpose. 

25. ~By course commits~, etc. , _i. E. _ "In regular distribution he commitsto each his distinct government. " ~several~: separate or distinct. Radically _several_ is from the verb _sever_: it is now used only withplural nouns. 

26. ~sapphire~. This colour is again associated with the sea in line 29:see note there. 

27. ~little tridents~, in contrast with that of Neptune, who, "with histrident touched the stars" (_Neptune's Triumph, Proteus' Song_, BenJonson). 

28. ~greatest and the best~. Comp. Shakespeare's eulogy in _Rich. II. _ ii. 1: also Ben Jonson's "Albion, Prince of all his Isles, " _Neptune'sTriumph, Apollo's Song_. 

29. ~quarters~, divides into distinct regions. Comp. Dryden, _Georg. I. _208:

 "Sailors _quarter'd_ Heaven, and found a name For every fixt and ev'ry wandering star. "

Some would take the word as strictly denoting division into _four_parts: "at that time the island was actually divided into four separategovernments: for besides those at London and Edinburgh, there were LordsPresident of the North and of Wales. " (Keightley). ~blue-haired deities~. These must be distinct from the tributary gods who wield their littletridents (line 27), otherwise the thought would ill accord with thecomplimentary nature of lines 30-36. Regarding the epithet 'blue-haired'Masson asks: "Can there be a recollection of blue as the British colour, inherited from the old times of blue-stained Britons who fought withCaesar? Green-haired is the usual epithet for Neptune and hissubordinates": in Spenser, for example, the sea-nymphs have long greenhair. But Ovid expressly calls the sea-deities _caerulei dii_, andNeptune _caeruleus deus_, thus associating blue with the sea. 

30. 'And all this region that looks towards the West (_i. E. _ Wales) isentrusted to a noble peer of great integrity and power. ' The peerreferred to is the Earl of Bridgewater. As Lord President he wasentrusted with the civil and military administration of Wales and thefour English counties of Gloucester, Worcester, Hereford, andShropshire. That he was a nobleman of high character is shown by thefact that from 1617, when he was nominated one of "his Majestie'sCounsellors, " he had continued to serve in various important public andprivate offices. On his monument there is the following: "He was aprofound Scholar, an able Statesman, and a good Christian: he was adutiful Son to his Mother the Church of England in her persecution, aswell as in her great splendour; a loyal Subject to his Sovereign inthose worst of times, when it was accounted treason not to be a traitor. As he lived 70 years a pattern of virtue, so he died an example ofpatience and piety. " ~falling sun~: Lat. _sol occidens_. Orient andoccident (lit. 'rising' and 'falling') are frequently used to denote theEast and the West. 

31. ~mickle~ (A. S. _micel_) great. From this word comes _much_. 'Mickle'and 'muckle' are current in Scotland in the sense of great. Comp. _Rom. And Jul. _ ii. 3. 15, "O, _mickle_ is the powerful grace that lies Inherbs, " etc. 

33. ~An old and haughty nation~. The Welsh are Kelts, an Aryan people whoprobably first entered Britain about B. C. 500: they are thereforerightly spoken of as an old nation. Compare Ben Jonson's piece _For theHonour of Wales_:

 "I is not come here to taulk of Brut, From whence the Welse does take his root, " etc. 

That they were haughty and 'proud in arms' the Romans found, and afterthem the Saxons: the latter never really held more than the counties ofMonmouth and Hereford. In the reign of Edward I. Attempts were made bythat king to induce the Welsh to come to terms, but the answer of theBarons was: "We dare not submit to Edward, nor will we suffer our princeto do so, nor do homage to strangers, whose tongue, ways and laws weknow not of: we have only raised war in defence of our lands, laws andrights. " By a statute of Henry VIII. This 'haughty' people were put inpossession of the same rights and liberties as the English. ~proud inarms~: this is Virgil's _belloque superbum_, _Aen. _ i. 21 (Warton). 

34. ~nursed in princely lore~, brought up in a manner worthy of their highposition. It is to be noted that the Bridgewater family was by birthdistantly connected with the royal family. Milton may allude merely totheir connection with the court. _Lore_ is cognate with _learn_. 

35. ~their father's state~. This probably refers to the actual ceremoniesconnected with the installation of the Earl as Lord President. The oldsense of 'state' is 'chair of state': comp. _Arc. _ 81, and Jonson's_Hymenaei_, "And see where Juno . .. Displays her glittering _state andchair_. "

36. ~new-intrusted~, an adjective compounded of a participle and a simpleadverb, _new_ being = newly; comp. 'smooth-dittied, ' l. 86. Contrast theform of the epithet "blue-haired, " where the compound adjective isformed as if from a noun, "blue-hair": comp. "rushy-fringed, " l. 890. Strictly speaking, the Earl's power was not 'new-intrusted, ' though itwas newly assumed. See Introduction. 

37. ~perplexed~, interwoven, entangled (Lat. _plecto_, to plait ortwist). The word is here used literally and is therefore applicable toinanimate objects. The accent is on the first syllable. 

38. ~horror~. This word is meant not merely to indicate terror, but alsoto describe the appearance of the paths. Horror is from Lat. _horrere_, to bristle, and may be rendered 'shagginess' or 'ruggedness, ' just as_horrid_, l. 429, means bristling or rugged. Comp. _Par. Lost_, i. 563, "a _horrid_ front Of dreadful length, and dazzling arms. " ~shady brows~:this may refer to the trees and bushes overhanging the paths, as thebrow overhangs the eyes. 

39. ~Threats~: not current as a verb. ~forlorn~, now used only as anadjective, is the past participle of the old verb _forleosen_, to loseutterly: the prefix _for_ has an intensive force, as in _forswear_; butin the latter word the sense of _from_ is more fully preserved in theprefix. See note, l. 234. 

40. ~tender age~. Lady Alice Egerton was about fourteen years of age; thetwo brothers were younger than she. 

41. ~But that~, etc. Grammatically, _but_ may be regarded as asubordinative conjunction = 'unless (it had happened) that I wasdespatched': or, taking it in its original prepositional sense, we mayregard it as governing the substantive clause, 'that . .. Guard. ' ~quickcommand~: the adjective has the force of an adverb, quick commands beingcommands that are to be carried quickly. ~sovran~, supreme. This isMilton's spelling of the modern word _sovereign_, in which the _g_ isdue to the mistaken notion that the last syllable of the word is cognatewith _reign_. The word is from Lat. _superanum_ = chief: comp. L. 639. 

43. ~And listen why~; _sc. _ 'I was despatched. ' The language of lines 43, 44 is suggested by Horace's _Odes_, iii. 1, 2: "Favete linguis; carminanon prius Audita . .. Canto. " The poet implies that the plot of his maskis original: it is not (he says) to be found in any ancient or modernsong or tale that was ever recited either in the 'hall' (=banqueting-hall) or in the 'bower' (= private chamber). Or 'hall' and'bower' may denote respectively the room of the lord and that of hislady. 

46. Milton in his usual significant manner (comp. _L'Allegro_ and _IlPenseroso_), proceeds to invent a genealogy for Comus. The mask isdesigned to celebrate the victory of Purity and Reason over Desire andEnchantment. Comus, who represents the latter, must therefore springfrom parents representing the pleasure of man's lower nature and themisuse of man's higher powers on behalf of falsehood and impurity. Theseparents are the wine-god Bacchus and the sorceress Circe. The former, mated with Love, is the father of Mirth (see _L'Allegro_); but, matedwith the cunning Circe, his offspring is a voluptuary whose gayexterior and flattering speech hide his dangerously seductive andmagical powers. He bears no resemblance, therefore, to Comus asrepresented in Ben Jonson's _Pleasure reconciled to Virtue_, in whichmask "Comus" and "The Belly" are throughout synonymous. In the_Agamemnon_ of Aeschylus, Comus is a "drinker of human blood"; inPhilostratus, he is a rose-crowned wine-bibber; in Dekker he is "theclerk of gluttony's kitchen"; in Massinger he is "the god of pleasure";and in the work of Erycius Puteanus he is a graceful reveller, thegenius of love and cheerfulness. Prof. Masson says, "Milton's _Comus_ isa creation of his own, for which he was as little indebted intrinsicallyto Puteanus as to Ben Jonson. For the purpose of his masque at LudlowCastle he was bold enough to add a brand-new god, no less, to theclassic Pantheon, and to import him into Britain. " ~Bacchus~, the god whotaught men the preparation of wine. He is the Greek Dionysus, who, onone of his voyages, hired a vessel belonging to some Tyrrhenian pirates:these men resolved to sell him as a slave. Thereupon, he changed themast and oars of the ship into serpents and the sailors into dolphins. The meeting of Bacchus with Circe is Milton's own invention; in the_Odyssey_ it is Ulysses who lights upon her island: "And we came to theisle Ææan, where dwelt Circe of the braided tresses, an awful goddess ofmortal speech, own sister to the wizard Æetes, " _Odys. _ x. ~from out~, etc. Comp. _Par. Lost_, v. 345. 'From out' has the same force as themore common 'out from. '

47. ~misusèd~, abused. The prefix _mis-_ was very generally used byMilton; _e. G. _ _mislike_, _misdeem_, _miscreated_, _misthought_ (allobsolete). 

48. ~After the Tuscan mariners transformed~, _i. E. _ after thetransformation of the Tuscan mariners (see Ovid, _Met. _ iii. ). They arecalled Tuscan, because Tyrrhenia in Central Italy was named Etruria orTuscia by the Romans: Etruria includes modern Tuscany. This grammaticalconstruction is common in Latin; a passive participle combined with asubstantive answering to an English verbal or abstract noun connectedwith another noun by the preposition _of_, and used to denote a fact inthe past; _e. G. _ "since created man" (_P. L. _ i. 573) = since thecreation of man: "this loss recovered" (_P. L. _ ii. 21) = the recoveryof this loss. 

49. ~as the winds listed~; at the pleasure of the winds: comp. _John_, iii. 8, "the wind bloweth where it _listeth_"; _Lyc. _ 123. The verb_list_ is, in older English, generally used impersonally, and in Chaucerwe find 'if thee lust' or 'if thee list' = if it please thee. The wordsurvives in the adjective _listless_ of which the older form was_lustless_: the noun _lust_ has lost its original and wider sense (whichit still has in German), and now signifies 'longing desire. '

50. ~On Circe's island fell~. Circe's island = Aeaea, off the coast ofLatium. Circe was the daughter of Helios (the Sun) by the ocean-nymphPerse. On 'island, ' see note, l. 21; and with this use of the verb_fall_ comp. The Latin _incidere in_. The sudden introduction of theinterrogative clause in this line is an example of the figure of speechcalled anadiplosis. 

51. ~charmèd cup~, _i. E. _ liquor that has been _charmed_ or renderedmagical. _Charms_ are incantations or magic verses (Lat. _carmina_):comp. Lines 526 and 817. Grammatically, 'cup' is the object of 'tasted. '

52. ~Whoever tasted lost~, _i. E. _ who tasted (he) lost. In thisconstruction _whoever_ must precede both verbs; Shakespeare frequentlyuses _who_ in this sense, and Milton occasionally: comp. _Son. _ xii. 12, "_who_ loves that must first be wise and good. " See Abbott, § 251. ~losthis upright shape~. In _Odyssey_ x. We read: "So Circe led them(followers of Ulysses) in and set them upon chairs and high seats, andmade them a mess of cheese and barley-meal and yellow honey withPramnian wine, and mixed harmful drugs with the food to make themutterly forget their own country. Now when she had given them the cupand they had drunk it off, presently she smote them with a wand, and inthe styes of the swine she penned them. So they had the head and voice, the bristles and the shape of swine, but their mind abode even as ofold. Thus were they penned there weeping, and Circe flung them acornsand mast and fruit of the cornel tree to eat, whereon wallowing swine doalways batten. " (_Butcher and Lang's translation. _)

54. ~clustering locks~: comp. L. 608. Milton here pictures the ThebanBacchus, a type of manly beauty, having his head crowned with a wreathof vine and ivy: both of these plants were sacred to the god. Comp. _L'Alleg. _ 16, "ivy-crowned Bacchus"; _Par. Lost_, iv. 303; _Sams. Agon. _ 569. 

55. ~his blithe youth~, _i. E. _ his fresh young figure. 

57. 'A son much like his father, but more like his mother. ' This mayindicate that it is upon Comus's character as a sorcerer rather than asa reveller that the story of the mask depends. Comp. _Masque of Hymen_:

 "Much of the father's face, More of the mother's grace. "

58. ~Comus~: see note, l. 46. The Greek word κῶμος denoted arevel or merry-making; afterwards it came to mean the personification ofriotous mirth, the god of Revel. Hence also the word _comedy_. Inclassical mythology the individuality of Comus is not well defined: thisenabled Milton more readily to endow him with entirely newcharacteristics. 

59. ~frolic~: an instance of the original use of the word as an adjective;comp. _L'Alleg. _ 18, "frolic wind"; Tennyson's _Ulysses_, "a frolicwelcome. " It is now chiefly used as a noun or a verb, and a newadjective, _frolicsome_, has taken its place; from this, again, comesthe noun _frolicsomeness_. _Frolic_ is from the Dutch, and cognate withGerman _fröhlich_, so that _lic_ in 'frolic' corresponds to _ly_ in suchwords as cleanly, godly, etc. ~of~: this use of the preposition may becompared with the Latin genitive in such phrases as _æger animi_ = sickof soul; of = 'because of' or 'in respect of. '

60. ~Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields~, _i. E. _ roving through Gaul andSpain. 'Rove' here governs an accusative: comp. _Lyc. _ 173, "walked thewaves"; _Par. Lost_, i. 521, "roamed the utmost Isles. "

61. ~betakes him~. The pronoun has here a reflective force: in ElizabethanEnglish, and still more often in Early English, this use of the simplepronouns is common (see Abbott, § 223). Compare l. 163. ~ominous~;literally = full of omens or portents: comp. 'monstrous' = full ofmonsters (_Lyc. _ 158); also l. 79. 'Ominous' has now acquired the senseof 'ill-omened'; compare the acquired sense of 'hapless, ' 'unfortunate, 'etc. 

65. ~orient~, bright. The Lat. _oriens_ = rising; hence (from beingapplied to the sun) = eastern (l. 30); and hence generally 'bright' or'shining': comp. _Par. Lost_, i. 546, "With _orient_ colours waving. "

66. ~drouth of Phoebus~, _i. E. _ thirst caused by the heat of the sun. Phoebus is Apollo, the Sun-god. Compare l. 928, where 'drouth' = want ofrain; the more usual spelling is _drought_. ~which~: see note, l. 2. 'Which' is here object of 'taste, ' and refers to 'liquor. '

67. ~fond~, foolish (its primary sense). _Fonned_ was the participle of anold verb _fonnen_, to be foolish. The word is now used to express greatliking or affection: the idea of folly being almost entirely lost. Chaucer has _fonne_, a fool: comp. _Il Pens. _ 6, "fancies _fond_";_Lyc. _ 56, "I _fondly_ dream"; _Sams. Agon. _ 1682, "So _fond_ are mortalmen. "

68. ~Soon as~, etc. , _i. E. _ as soon as the magical draught produces itseffect. In line 66 _as_ is temporal. ~potion~. Radically, potion = adrink, but it is generally used in the sense of a medicated or poisonousdraught. _Poison_ is the same word through the French. 

69. ~Express resemblance of the gods~. Comp. Shakespeare: "What a piece ofwork is man! . .. In action how like an angel, in apprehension, how like agod!" See also _Par. Lost_, iii. 44, "human face divine. "

71. ~ounce~. This is the _Felis uncia_, allied to the panther and thecheetah. Some connect it with the Persian _yúz_, panther. 

72. ~All other parts~, etc. In the _Odyssey_ (see note on l. 52) thebodies of those transformed by Circe were entirely changed; here onlythe head. As one editor observes, this suited the convenience of theperformers who were to appear on the stage in masks (see _Stagedirection_, l. 92-3). Grammatically, line 72 is an example of theabsolute construction, common in Latin. The noun ('parts') is neitherthe subject nor the object of a verb, but is used along with someattributive adjunct--generally a participle ('remaining')--to serve thepurpose of an adverb or adverbial clause. The noun (or pronoun) isusually said to be the nominative absolute; but, in the case ofpronouns, Milton uses the nominative and the objective indifferently. InOld English the dative was used. 

73. ~perfect~, complete (Lat. _perfectus_, done thoroughly). 

74. ~Not once perceive~, etc. This was not the case with the followers ofUlysses: see note, l. 52. 

76. ~friends and native home forgot~. Circe's cup has here the effectascribed to the lotus in _Odyssey_ ix. "Now whosoever of them did eatthe honey-sweet fruit of the lotus had no more wish to bring tidings norto come back, but there he chose to abide with the lotus-eating men, ever feeding on the lotus and forgetful of his homeward way. " InTennyson's _Lotos-Eaters_ there is no forgetfulness of friends and home:"Sweet it was to dream of Fatherland, Of child, and wife and slave. "Masson also refers to Plato's ethical application of the story (_Rep. _viii. ); "Plato speaks of the moral lotophagus, or youth steeped insensuality, as accounting his very viciousness a developed manhood, andthe so-called virtues but signs of rusticity. " Compare also Spenser, _F. Q. _ ii. 12. 86, "One above the rest in speciall, That had an hog beenlate, . .. Did him miscall, That had from hoggish form him brought tonatural. "

77. ~sensual sty~: see note on l. 52. To those who, "with low-thoughtedcare, " are "unmindful of the crown that Virtue gives, " the world becomeslittle better than a sensual sty. This line is adverbial to _forget_. 

78. ~favoured~: compare Lat. _gratus_ = favoured (adj. ). 

79. ~adventurous~, full of risks. The current sense of 'adventurous, 'applied only to persons, is "enterprising. " See l. 61, 609. ~glade~:strictly, an open space in a wood, and hence applied (as here) to thewood itself. It is cognate with _glow_ and _glitter_, and itsfundamental sense is 'a passage for light' (Skeat). 

80. ~glancing star~, a shooting star. Comp. _Par. Lost_, iv. 556:

 "Swift as a shooting star In autumn thwarts the night. "

The rhythm of the line and the prevalence of sibilants suit the sense. 

81. ~convoy~: comp. _Par. Lost_, vi. 752, "_convoyed_ By four cherubicshapes. " It is another form of _convey_ (Lat. _con_ = together, _via_ =a way). 

83. ~sky-robes~: the "ambrosial weeds" of line 16. ~Iris' woof~, materialdyed in rainbow colours. The goddess Iris was a personification of therainbow: comp. L. 992 and _Par. Lost_, xi. 244, "Iris had dipped thewoof. " Etymologically, _woof_ is connected with _web_ and _weave_: it isshort for _on-wef_ = on-web, _i. E. _ the cross threads laid on the warpof a loom. 

84. ~weeds~: see note, l. 16. 

86. ~That to the service~, etc. The part of the Spirit was acted by Lawes, first in "sky-robes, " then in shepherd dress. In the dedication of_Comus_ by Lawes to Lord Brackley (anonymous edition of 1637), healludes to the favours that had been shown him by the Bridgewaterfamily. In the above lines Milton compliments Lawes and enables Lawes tocompliment the Earl (see Introduction). 

86. ~smooth-dittied~: sweetly-worded. 'Ditty' (Lat. _dictatum_) strictlydenotes the words of a song as distinct from the musical accompaniment;it is now applied to any little piece intended to be sung: comp. _Lyc. _32. For a similar panegyric on Lawes' musical genius compare _Son. _xiii. The musical alliteration in lines 86-88 should be noted. 

87. ~knows to still~, etc. : comp. _Lyc. _ 10, "he knew Himself to sing. "

88. ~nor of less faith~, etc. ; _i. E. _ he is not less faithful than he isskilful in music; and from the nature of his occupation he is mostlikely to be at hand should any emergency arise. 

92. ~viewless~, invisible: comp. _The Passion_, 50, "_viewless_ wing";_Par. Lost_, iii. 518. Masson calls this a peculiarly Shakespearianword: see _M. For M. _ iii. 1. 124, "To be imprisoned in the viewlesswinds. " The word is obsolete, but poets use great liberty in theformation of adjectives in _-less_: comp. Shelley's _Sensitive Plant_, 'windless clouds. ' See note, l. 574. ~charming-rod~: see note, l. 52: alsol. 653. ~rout~, a disorderly crowd. The word is also used in the sense of'defeat, ' and is cognate with _route_, _rote_, and _rut_. All come fromLat. _ruptus_, broken: a 'rout' is the breaking up of a crowd, or acrowd broken up; a 'route' is a way broken through a forest; 'rote' is abeaten track; and a 'rut' is a track left by a wheel. See _Lyc. _ 61, "bythe _rout_ that made the hideous roar. "

93. ~star . .. Fold~, the evening star, Hesperus, an appellation of theplanet Venus: comp. _Lyc. _ 30. As the morning star (called byShakespeare the 'unfolding star'), it is called Phosphorus or Lucifer, the light-bringer. Hence Tennyson's allusion:

 "Bright Phosphor, fresher for the night, . .. Sweet _Hesper-Phosphor_, double name. "--

 _In Memoriam_, cxxi. 

Lines 93-144 are in rhymed couplets, and consist for the most part ofeight syllables each. The prevailing accentuation is iambic. 

94. ~top of heaven~, etc. , _i. E. _ is far above the horizon. So in _Lyc. _31, it is said to slope "toward heaven's _descent_, " _i. E. _ to sinktowards the horizon. Comp. Virgil, _Aen. _ ii. 250, "Round rolls the sky, and on comes Night from the ocean. "

95. ~gilded car~: Apollo, as the god of the Sun, rode in a golden chariot. Comp. Chaucer, _Test. Of Creseide_, 208, "Phoebus' golden cart"; and"Phoebus' wain, " line 190. 

96. ~his glowing axle doth allay~. In the _Hymn of the Nativity_ Miltonalludes to the "burning axle-tree" of the sun: comp. _Aen. _ iv. 482, "Atlas _Axem_ umero torquet. " There is here an allusion to the opinionof the ancients that the setting of the sun in the Atlantic Ocean wasaccompanied with a noise, as of the sea hissing (Todd). 'Allay' wouldthus denote 'quench' or 'cool. ' _His_, in this line, = _its_. _Its_occurs only three times in Milton's poems, _Od. Nat. _ 106; _Par. Lost_, i. 254; _Par. Lost_, iv. 813: the word is found also in Lawes'dedication of _Comus_. The word does not occur in English at all untilthe end of the sixteenth century, the possessive case of the neuterpronoun _it_ and of the masculine _he_ being _his_. This gave rise toconfusion when the old gender system decayed, and the form _its_gradually came into use, until, by the end of the seventeenth century, it was in general use. Milton, however, scarcely recognised it, itsplace in his involved syntax being taken by the relative pronouns andother connectives, or by _his_, _her_, _thereof_, etc. 

97. ~steep Atlantic stream~. To the ancients the Ocean was the great_stream_ that encompassed the earth: _Iliad_, xiv. , "the deep-flowingOkeanos (βαθύρροος). " With this use of 'steep' compare thephrase 'the high seas. '

98. ~slope sun~, sun sunk beneath the horizon, so that the only raysvisible shoot up into the sky. _Slope_ = sloped; also used by Milton asan adverb = aslope (_Par. Lost_, iv. 591), and as a verb (_Lyc. _ 31). 

99. ~dusky~. Milton first wrote 'northern. '

100. ~Pacing toward the other goal~, etc. Comp. _Psalm_ xix. 5: "The sunas a bridegroom cometh out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong manto run a race. "

102. The spirit of lines 102-144 may be contrasted with that of_L'Allegro_, 25-40. Both pieces are calls upon Mirth and Pleasure, andboth are therefore suitably expressed in the same tripping measure andwith many similarities of language. But the pleasures of _L'Allegro_begin with the sun-rise and yet are "unreproved"; those of _Comus_ andhis crew begin with the darkness and are "unreproved" only if "these dunshades will ne'er report" them. The "light fantastic toe" of the one isnot the "tipsy dance" of the other; and the laughter and liberty thatbetoken the absence of "wrinkled Care" have nothing in common with the"midnight shout and revelry" that can be enjoyed only when Rigour, Advice, strict Age, and sour Severity have "gone to bed. " The "quips andcranks" of _L'Allegro_ have given way to the magic rites of _Comus_, andthe wreathed smiles and dimples that adorn the face of innocent Mirth areill replaced by the wine-dropping "rosy twine" of revelry. 

104. ~jollity~: has here its modern sense of boisterous mirth. In Miltonoccasionally the adjective 'jolly' (Fr. _joli_, pretty) has its primarysense of pleasing or festive. 

105. ~Braid your locks with rosy twine~; 'entwine your hair with wreathsof roses. '

106. ~dropping odours~: comp. L. 862-3. 

108. ~Advice . .. Scrupulous head~. 'Advice, ' now used chiefly to signifycounsel given by another, was formerly used also of self-counsel ordeliberation. See Chaucer, _Prologue_, 786, "granted him without more_advice_"; and comp. Shakespeare, _M. Of V. _ iv. 2. 6, "Bassanio uponmore _advice_, Hath sent you here this ring"; also _Par. Lost_, ii. 376, "_Advise_, if this be worth Attempting, " where 'advise' = consider. Seealso l. 755, note. _Scrupulous_ = full of scruples, conscientious. 

110. ~saws~, sayings, maxims. _Saw_, _say_, and _saga_ (a Norwegianlegend) are cognate. 

111. ~of purer fire~, _i. E. _ having a higher or diviner nature. (Or, asthere is really no question of degree, we may render the phrase as =divine. ) Compare the Platonic doctrine that each element had livingcreatures belonging to it, those of fire being the gods; similarly theStoics held that whatever consisted of _pure fire_ was divine, _e. G. _the stars: hence the additional significance of line 112. 

112. ~the starry quire~: an allusion to the music of the spheres; seelines 3, 1021. Pythagoras supposed that the planets emitted soundsproportional to their distances from the earth and formed a celestialconcert too melodious to affect the "gross unpurgèd ear" of mankind:comp. L. 458 and _Arc. _ 63-73. Shakespeare (_M. Of V. _ v. 1. 61) alludesto the music of the spheres:

 "There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st But in his motion like an angel sings, Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins, " etc. 

_Quire_ is a form of _choir_ (Lat. _chorus_, a band of singers); inGreek tragedy the chorus was supposed to represent the sentiments of theaudience. _Quire_ (of paper) is a totally different word, probablyderived from Lat. _quatuor_, four. 

113. ~nightly watchful spheres~. Milton elsewhere alludes to the starskeeping watch: "And all the spangled host keep watch in order bright, "_Hymn Nat. _ 21. 'Nightly, ' used as an adjective in the sense of'nocturnal': comp. _Il Pens. _ 84, "To bless the doors from _nightly_harm"; _Arc. _ 48, "_nightly_ ill"; and Wordsworth's line: "The _nightly_hunter lifting up his eyes. " Its ordinary sense is "night by night. "

114. ~Lead in swift round~. Comp. _Arc. _ 71: "And the low world inmeasured motion draw, After the heavenly tune. "

115. ~sounds~, straits: A. S. _sund_, a strait of the sea, so calledbecause it could be _swum_ across. See Skeat, _Etym. Dict. _ _s. V. _

116. ~to the moon~, _i. E. _ as affected by the moon. For similar uses of'to, ' comp. _Lyc. _ 33, "tempered _to_ the oaten flute"; _Lyc. _ 44, "fanning their joyous leaves _to_ thy soft lays. " ~morrice~. The watersquiver in the moonlight as if dancing. The morrice = a morris or Moorishdance, brought into Spain by the Moors, and thence introduced intoEngland by John of Gaunt. We read also of a "morris-pike"--a weapon usedby the Moors in Spain. 

117. ~shelves~, flat ledges of rock. 

118. ~pert~, lively. Here used in its radical sense (being a form of_perk_, smart): its modern sense is 'forward' or 'impertinent. ' Skeatpoints out that _perk_ and _pert_ were both used as verbs; _e. G. _"_perked_ up in a glistering grief, " _Henry VIII. _ ii. 3. 21: "how it (achild) speaks, and looks, and _perts_ up the head, " Beaumont andFletcher's _Knight of the Burning Pestle_, i. 1. A similar change of _k_into _t_ is seen in E. _mate_ from M. E. _make_. ~dapper~, quick (Du. _dapper_, Ger. _tapfer_, brave, quick). It is usual in the sense of'neat. '

119. ~dimple~. _Dimple_ is a diminutive of _dip_, and cognate with_dingle_ and _dapple_. 

120. ~daisies trim~: comp. _L'Alleg. _ 75, "Meadows _trim_, with daisiespied"; _Il Pens. _ 50, "_trim_ gardens. "

121. ~wakes~, night-watches (A. S. _niht-wacu_, a night wake). Theadjective _wakeful_ (A. S. _wacol_) is the exact cognate of the Latin_vigil_. The word was applied to the vigil kept at the dedication of achurch, then to the feast connected therewith, and finally to an eveningmerry-making. ~prove~, test, judge of (Lat. _probare_). This is its sensein older writers and in the much-misunderstood phrase--"the exception_proves_ the rule, " which means that the exception is a test of therule. 

124. ~Venus now wakes~, etc. Spenser, _Brit. Ida_, ii. 3, has "Night isLove's holyday. " In this line ~wakens~ is used transitively, its objectbeing 'Love. '

125. ~rights~. Here used, as sometimes by Spenser, where modern usagerequires _rites_ (Lat. _ritus_, a custom): see l. 535. 

126. ~daylight . .. Sin~. Daylight makes sin by revealing it. Contrast thesentiment of Comus with that of Milton in _Par. Lost_, i. 500, "Whennight Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons Of Belial. "

127. ~dun shades~: evidently suggested by Fairfax's _Tasso_, ix. 62, "Thehorrid darkness, and the shadows _dun_. " 'Dun' is A. S. _dunn_, dark. 

129. ~Cotytto~, the goddess of Licentiousness: here called 'dark-veiled'because her midnight orgies were veiled in darkness. She was a Thraciandivinity, and her worshippers were called Baptae ('sprinkled'), becausethe ceremony of initiation involved the sprinkling of warm water. 

131. ~called~, invoked. ~dragon-womb Of Stygian darkness~. The Styx (= 'theabhorred') was the chief river in the lower world. Milton here speaks ofdarkness as something positive, ejected from the womb of Night, Nightbeing represented as a monster of the lower regions: comp. _Par. Lost_, i. 63. The pronoun 'her' shows that 'womb' is here used in its strictsense, but in _Par. Lost_, i. 673, "in his _womb_ was hid metallic ore, "it has the more general sense of "interior": comp. The use of Lat. _uterus_, _Aen. _ ii. 258, vii. 499. ~dragon~: Shakespeare refers to thedragons or 'dragon car' of night, _Cym. _ ii. 2. 48, "Swift, swift, you_dragons_ of the night"; _Tro. And Cress. _ v. 8. 17, "The _dragon_ wingof night o'erspreads the earth"; see also _Il Pens. _ 59, "Cynthia checksher dragon yoke. "

132. ~spets~, a form of _spits_ (as _spettle_ for _spittle_). 

133. ~one blot~, _i. E. _ a universal blot: comp. _Macbeth_, ii. 2. 63. Milton first wrote, "And makes a blot of nature. "

134. ~Stay~, here used causally = check. The radical sense of the word is'to support, ' as in the substantive _stay_ and its plural _stays_. ~ebon~, black as ebony. Ebony is so called because it is hard as a stone (Heb. _eben_, a stone); and the wood being of a dark colour, the name hasbecome a synonym both for hardness and for blackness. 

135. ~Hecat'~, _i. E. _ Hecatè (as in line 535): a mysterious Thraciandivinity, afterwards regarded as the goddess of witchcraft: for thesereasons a fit companion for Cotytto and a fit patroness of Comus. Jonsoncalls her "the mistress of witches. " She was supposed to send forth atnight all kinds of demons and phantoms, and to wander about with thesouls of the dead and amidst the howling of dogs. 

136. ~utmost end~, full completion. Compare _L'Alleg. _ 109, "the cornThat ten day-labourers could not _end_, " where 'end' = 'complete. '

137. ~dues~: see note, l. 12. 

138. ~blabbing eastern scout~, _i. E. _ the tale-telling spy that comes fromthe East, viz. Morning. 

139. ~nice~; hard to please, fastidious: "a finely chosen epithet, expressing at once _curious_ and _squeamish_" (Hurd). It is used byComus in contempt: comp. Ii. _Henry IV. _ iv. 1, "Hence, therefore, thou_nice_ crutch"; and see the index to the Globe _Shakespeare_. ~the Indiansteep~. In his _Elegia Tertia_ Milton represents the sun as the"light-bringing king" whose home is on the shores of the Ganges (_i. E. _in the far East): comp. "the Indian mount, " _Par. Lost_, i. 781, andTennyson's _In Memoriam_, xxvi. , "ere yet the morn Breaks hither over_Indian_ seas. "

140. ~cabined loop-hole~: an allusion to the first glimpse of dawn, _i. E. _the peep of day. Comp. "Out of her window close she blushing peeps, "said of the morning (P. Fletcher's _Eclogues_), as if the first rays ofthe sun struggled through some small aperture. 'Cabined, ' literally'belonging to a cabin, ' and therefore small. 

141. ~tell-tale Sun~. Compare Spenser, _Brit. Ida_, ii. 3, "The thick-locked boughs shut out the _tell-tale_ sun, For Venus hated his _all-blabbing_ light. "

Shakespeare refers to "the tell-tale day" (_R. Of L. _ 806). In_Odyssey_, viii. , we read how Helios (the sun) kept watch and informedVulcan of Venus's love for Mars. ~descry~, etc. , _i. E. _ make known ourhidden rites. 'Descry' is here used in its primary sense = _describe_:both words are from Lat. _describere_, to write fully. In Milton andShakespeare 'descry' also occurs in the sense of 'to reconnoitre. '

142. ~solemnity~, ceremony, rite. The word is from Lat. _sollus_, complete, and _annus_, a year; 'solemn' = _solennis_ = _sollennis_. Hence the changes of meaning: (1) recurring at the end of a completedyear; (2) usual; (3) religious, for sacred festivals recur at statedintervals; (4) that which is not to be lightly undertaken, _i. E. _serious or important. 

143. ~knit hands~, etc. Comp. _Masque of Hymen_:

 "Now, now begin to set Your spirits in active heat; And, since your hands are met, Instruct your nimble feet, In motions swift and meet, The happy ground to beat. "

144. ~light fantastic round~: comp. _L'Alleg. _ 34, "Come, and trip it, asyou go, On the light fantastic toe. " A round is a dance or 'measure' inwhich the dancers join hands, 'Fantastic' = full of fancy, unrestrained. So Shakespeare uses it of that which has merely been imagined, and hasnot yet happened. It is now used in the sense of grotesque. _Fancy_ is aform of _fantasy_ (Greek _phantasia_). 

At this point in the mask Comus and his rout dance a measure, afterwhich he again speaks, but in a different strain. The change is markedby a return to blank verse: the previous lines are mostly inoctosyllabic couplets. 

145. ~different~, _i. E. _ different from the voluptuous footing of Comusand his crew. 

146. ~footing~: comp. _Lyc. _ 103, "Camus, reverend sire, went _footing_slow. "

147. ~shrouds~, coverts, places of hiding. The word etymologically denotes'something cut off, ' being allied to 'shred'; hence a garment; andfinally (as in Milton) any covering or means of covering. Many ofLatimer's sermons are described as having been "preached in TheShrouds, " a covered place near St. Paul's Cathedral. The modern use ofthe word is restricted: comp. L. 316. ~brakes~, bushes. Shakespeare has"hawthorn-_brake_, " _M. N. D. _ iii. L. 3, and the word seems to beconnected with _bracken_. 

148. ~Some virgin sure~, _sc. _ 'it is. '

150. ~charms . .. Wily trains~; _i. E. _ spells . .. Cunning allurements. _Charm_ is the Lat. _carmen_, a song, also used in the sense of 'magicverses'; wily = full of _wile_ (etymologically the same as guile). _Train_ here denotes an artifice or snare as in 'venereal trains'(_Sams. Agon. _ 533): "Oh, _train_ me not, sweet mermaid, with thy note"(_Com. Of Errors_, iii. 2. 45). See Index, Globe _Shakespeare_. Somewould take 'wily trains' as = trains of wiles. 

151. ~ere long~: _ere_ has here the force of a preposition; in A. S. It wasan adverb as well = soon, but now it is used only as a conjunction or apreposition. 

153. ~Thus I hurl~, etc. "Conceive that at this moment of the performancethe actor who personates Comus flings into the air, or makes a gestureas if flinging into the air, some powder, which, by a stage-device, iskindled so as to produce a flash of blue light. In the original draftamong the Cambridge MSS. The phrase is _powdered spells_; but Milton, bya judicious change, concealing the mechanism of the stage-trick, substituted _dazzling_" (Masson). 

154. ~dazzling~. This implies both brightness and illusion. ~spells~. A_spell_ is properly a magical form of words (A. S. _spel_, a saying):here it refers to the whole enchantment employed. ~spongy air~: so calledbecause it holds in suspension the magic powder. 

155. ~Of power to cheat . .. And (to) give~, etc. These lines areattributive to 'spells. ' The preposition 'of' is thus used to denote acharacteristic; thus 'of power' = powerful; comp. L. 677. ~blearillusion~; deception, that which deceives by _blurring_ the vision. Shakespeare has 'bleared thine eye' = dimmed thy vision, deceived (_Tam. Shrew_, v. 1. 120). Comp. "This may stand for a pretty superficialargument, to _blear_ our eyes, and lull us asleep in security" (Sir W. Raleigh). _Blur_ is another form of _blear_. 

156. ~presentments~, appearances. This word is to be distinguished from_presentiment_. A presentiment is a "fore-feeling" (Lat. _praesentire_):while a presentment is something presented (Lat. _praesens_, beingbefore). Shakespeare, _Ham. _ iii. 4. 54, has 'presentment' in the senseof picture. ~quaint habits~, unfamiliar dress. Quaint is from Lat. _cognitus_, so that its primary sense is 'known' or 'remarkable. ' InFrench it became _coint_, which was treated as if from Lat. _comptus_, neat; hence the word is frequent in the sense of neat, exact, ordelicate. Its modern sense is 'unusual' or 'odd. '

158. ~suspicious flight~: flight due to suspicion of danger. 

160. ~I, under fair pretence~, etc. : 'Under the mask of friendlyintentions and with the plausible language of wheedling courtesy, Iinsinuate myself into the unsuspecting mind and ensnare it. '

161. ~glozing~, flattering, wheedling. Compare _Par. Lost_, ix. 549, "So _glozed_ the temper, and his proem tuned: Into the heart of Eve his words made way. "

_Gloze_ is from the old word _glose_, a gloss or explanation (Gr. _glossa_, the tongue): hence also glossary, glossology, etc. Trench, inhis lecture on the Morality of Words, points out how often fair namesare given to ugly things: it is in this way that a word which merelydenoted an explanation has come to denote a false explanation, anendeavour to deceive. The word has no connection with _gloss_ =brightness. 

162. ~Baited~, rendered attractive. Radically _bait_ is the causative of_bite_; hence a trap is said to be baited. Comp. _Sams. Ag. _ 1066, "The_bait_ of honied words. "

163. ~wind me~, etc. The verbs _wind_ (_i. E. _ coil) and _hug_ suggest thecunning of the serpent. The easy-hearted man is the person whose heartor mind is easily overcome: 'man' is here used generically. Burton, in_Anat. Of Mel. _, says: "The devil, being a slender incomprehensiblespirit, can easily insinuate and _wind_ himself into human bodies. "_Me_ is here used reflexively: see note, l. 61. This is not the ethicdative. 

165. ~virtue~, _i. E. _ power or influence (Lat. _virtus_). This radicalsense is still found in the phrase 'by virtue of' = by the power of. Theadjective _virtuous_ is now used only of moral excellence: in line 621it has its older meaning. 

166. The reading of the text is that of the editions of 1637 and 1645. In the edition of 1673 the reading was:

 "I shall appear some harmless villager, And hearken, if I may, her business here. But here she comes, I fairly step aside. "

But in the errata there was a direction to omit the comma after _may_, and to change _here_ into _hear_. In Masson's text, accordingly, hereads: "And hearken, if I may her business hear. "

167. ~keeps up~, etc. , _i. E. _ keeps occupied with his country affairs evenup to a late hour. _Gear_: its original sense is 'preparation' (A. S. _gearu_, ready); hence 'business' or 'property. ' Comp. Spenser, _F. Q. _vi. 3. 6, "That to Sir Calidore was _easy gear_, " _i. E. _ an easy matter, fairly, softly. _Fair_ and _softly_ were two words which went together, signifying _gently_ (Warton). 

170. ~mine ear . .. My best guide~. Observe the juxtaposition of _mine_ and_my_ in these lines. _Mine_ is frequent before a vowel, especially whenthe possessive adjective is not emphatic. In Shakespeare 'mine' isalmost always found before "eye, " "ear, " etc. , where no emphasis isintended (Abbott, § 237). 

171. ~Methought~, _i. E. _ it seemed to me. In the verb 'methinks' _me_ isthe dative, and _thinks_ is an impersonal verb (A. S. _thincan_, toappear), quite distinct from the causal verb 'I think, ' which is fromA. S. _thencan_, to make to appear. 

173. ~jocund~, merry. Comp. _L'Allegro_, 94, "the _jocund_ rebecks sound. "~gamesome~, lively. This word, like many other adjectives in _-some_, isnow less common than it was in Elizabethan English: many such adjectivesare obsolete, _e. G. _ laboursome, joysome, quietsome, etc. (see Trench's_English, Past and Present_, v. ). 

174. ~unlettered hinds~, ignorant rustics (A. S. _hina_, a domestic). 

175. ~granges~, granaries, barns (Lat. _granum_, grain). The word is nowapplied to a farm-house with its outhouses. 

176. ~Pan~, the god of everything connected with pastoral life: see _Arc. _106, "Though Syrinx your Pan's mistress were. "

177. ~thank the gods amiss~. _Amiss_ stands for M. E. _on misse_ = inerror. "Perhaps there is a touch of Puritan rigour in this. The godsshould be thanked in solemn acts of devotion, and not by merry-making"(Keightley). See Introduction. 

178. ~swilled insolence~, etc. , _i. E. _ the drunken rudeness of thosecarousing at this late hour. _Swill_: to swill is to drink greedily, hence to drink like a pig. ~wassailers~; from 'wassail' [A. S. _waes hael_;from _wes_, be thou, and _hál_, whole (modern English _hale_)], a formof salutation, used in drinking one's health; and hence employed in thesense of 'revelling' or 'carousing. ' The 'wassail-bowl' here referred tois the "spicy nutbrown ale" of _L'Allegro_, 100. In Scott's _Ivanhoe_, the Friar drinks to the Black Knight with the words, "_Waes hale_, SirSluggish Knight, " the Knight replying "Drink _hale_, Holy Clerk. "

180. ~inform . .. Feet~. Comp. _Sams. Agon. _ 335: "hither hath _informed_your younger _feet_. " This use of 'inform' (= direct) is wellillustrated in Spenser's _F. Q. _ vi. 6: "Which with sage counsel, whenthey went astray, He could _enforme_, and then reduce aright. "

184. ~spreading favour~. Epithet transferred from cause to effect. 

187. ~kind hospitable woods~: an instance of the pathetic fallacy whichattributes to inanimate objects the feelings of men: comp. Ll. 194, 195. _As_ in this line (after _such_) has the force of a relative pronoun. 

188. ~grey-hooded Even~. Comp. "sandals grey, " _Lyc. _ 187; "civil-suited, "_Il Pens. _ 122; both applied to morning. 

189. ~a sad votarist~, etc. A votarist is one who is bound by a vow (Lat. _votum_): the current form is _votary_, applied in a general sense toone _devoted_ to an object, _e. G. _ a votary of science. In the presentcase, the votarist is a _palmer_, _i. E. _ a pilgrim who carried apalm-branch in token of his having been to Palestine. Such wouldnaturally wear sober-coloured or homely garments: comp. Drayton, "apalmer poor in homely russet clad. " In _Par. Reg. _ xiv. 426, Morning isa pilgrim clad in "amice grey. " On ~weed~, see note, l. 16. 

190. ~hindmost wheels~: comp. L. 95: "If this fine image is opticallyrealised, what we see is Evening succeeding Day as the figure of avenerable grey-hooded mendicant might slowly follow the wheels of somerich man's chariot" (Masson). 

192. ~labour . .. Thoughts~, the burden of my thoughts. 

193. ~engaged~, committed: this use of the word may be compared with thatin _Hamlet_, iii. 3. 69, "Art more _engaged_" (= bound or entangled). To_engage_ is to bind by a _gage_ or pledge. 

195. ~stole~, stolen. This use of the past form for the participle isfrequent in Elizabethan English. ~Else~, etc. The meaning is: 'The enviousdarkness must have stolen my brothers, _otherwise_ why should night hidethe light of the stars?' The clause 'but for some felonious end' istherefore to some extent tautological. 

197. ~dark lantern~. The stars by a far-fetched metaphor are said to beconcealed, though not extinguished, just as the light of a dark lanternis shut off by a slide. Comp. More; "Vice is like a _dark lanthorn_, which turns its bright side only to him that bears it. "

198. ~everlasting oil~. Comp. _F. Q. _ i. 1. 57:

 "By this the eternal lamps, wherewith high Jove Doth light the lower world, were half yspent:"

also _Macbeth_, ii. 1. 5, "There's husbandry in heaven; Their candlesare all out. " There is here an irregularity of syntax. "That Nature hungin heaven" is a relative clause co-ordinate _in sense_ with the nextclause; but by a change of thought the phrase "and filled their lamps"is treated as a principal clause, and a new object is introduced: comp. L. 6. 

203. ~rife~, prevalent. ~perfect~, distinct; see note, l. 73. 

204. ~single darkness~, darkness only. _Single_ is from the same base as_simple_; comp. L. 369. 

205. ~What might this be?~ This is a direct question about a past event, and has the same meaning as "what should it be?" in line 482: see notethere. ~A thousand fantasies~, etc. On this, passage Lowell says: "Thatwonderful passage in _Comus_ of the airy tongues, perhaps the mostimaginative in suggestion he ever wrote, was conjured out of a drysentence in Purchas's abstract of Marco Polo. Such examples help us tounderstand the poet. " Reference may also be made to the _Anat. Of Mel. _:"Fear makes our imagination conceive what it list, . .. And tyrannizethover our fantasy more than all other affections, especially in thedark"; also to the song prefixed to the same work, "My phantasiepresents a thousand ugly shapes, " etc. On the power of imagination orphantasy, Shakespeare says:

 "As imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen Turns them to _shapes_, and gives to _airy nothing_ A local habitation and a name. "--

 _M. N. D. _ v. 1. 14. 

Compare also Ben Jonson's _Vision of Delight_:

 "Break, Phant'sie, from thy cave of cloud, And spread thy purple wings; Now all thy figures are allow'd, And various shapes of things: Create of _airy forms_ a stream . .. And though it be a waking dream, " etc. 

207. ~Of calling shapes~, etc. In Heywood's _Hierarchy of Angels_ there isa reference to travellers seeing strange shapes beckoning to them. Suchwords as 'shapes, ' 'shadows, ' 'airy tongues, ' etc. , illustrate Milton'spower to create an indefinite, yet expressive picture. Comp. _Aen. _ iv. 460. ~beckoning shadows dire~. A characteristic arrangement of words inMilton: comp. Lines 470, 945. 

208. ~syllable~, pronounce distinctly. 

210. ~may startle well~, may well startle. 

212. ~siding champion, Conscience~. To side is to take a side, and henceto assist: comp. _Cor. _ iv. 2. 2: "The nobles who have _sided_ in hisbehalf. " 'Conscience' (here a trisyllable) is used in its current sense:in _Son. _ xxii. 10 it means consciousness. Comp. _Hen. VIII. _ iii. 2. 379: "A peace above all earthly dignities, A still and quietConscience. "

213. ~pure-eyed Faith~. Comp. _Lyc. _ 81, "those pure eyes And perfectwitness of all-judging Jove"; also the Scriptural words, "God is ofpurer eyes than to behold iniquity. " The maiden, whose safeguard is herpurity, calls on Faith, Hope, and Chastity, each being characterised byan epithet denoting purity of thought and act, viz. 'pure-eyed, ''white-handed, ' and 'unblemished. ' The placing of Chastity instead ofCharity in the trio is significant: see i. _Cor. _ xiii. 

214. ~hovering angel~. Hope hovers over the maiden to protect her. Theword 'hover' is found frequently in the sense of 'shelter. ' girt, surrounded. ~golden wings~. In _Il Pens. _ 52, Contemplation "soars ongolden wing. "

216. ~see ye visibly~, _i. E. _ you are not mere shapes, but livingpresences. _Ye_: here the object of the verb. "This confusion between_ye_ and _you_ did not exist in old English; _ye_ was always used as anominative, and _you_ as a dative or accusative. In the English Biblethe distinction is very carefully observed, but in the dramatists of theElizabethan period there is a very loose use of the two forms" (Morris). It is so in Milton, who has _ye_ as nominative, accusative, and dative;comp. Lines 513, 967, 1020; also _Arc. _ 40, 81, 101. It may be notedthat _ye_ can be pronounced more rapidly than _you_, and is thereforefrequent when an unaccented syllable is required. 

217. ~the Supreme Good~. God being the Supreme Good, if evil exists, itmust exist for God's purposes. Evil exists for the sake of 'vengeance'or punishment. 

219. ~glistering guardian~, _i. E. _ one clad in the 'pure ambrosial weeds'of l. 16. _Glister_, _glisten_, _glitter_, and _glint_ are cognatewords. 

221. ~Was I deceived~? There is a break in the construction at the end ofline 220. The girl's trust in Heaven is suddenly strengthened by aglimpse of light in the dark sky. Warton regards the repetition of thesame words in lines 223, 224 as beautifully expressing the confidence ofan unaccusing conscience. 

222. ~her~ = its. In Latin _nubes_, a cloud, is feminine. 

223. ~does . .. Turn . .. And casts~. Comp. _Il Pens. _ 46, 'doth diet' and'hears. ' When two co-ordinate verbs are of the same tense and mood theauxiliary verb should apply to both. The above construction is dueprobably to change of thought. 

225. ~tufted grove~. Comp. _L'Alleg. _ 78: "bosomed high in _tufted_trees. "

226. ~hallo~. Also _hallow_ (as in Milton's editions), _halloo_, _halloa_, and _holloa_. 

227. ~make to be heard~. Make = cause. 

228. ~new-enlivened spirits~, _i. E. _ my spirits that have been newlyenlivened: for the form of the compound adjective comp. Note, l. 36. 

229. ~they~, _i. E. _ the brothers. 

230. ~Echo~. In classical mythology she was a nymph whom Juno punished bypreventing her from speaking before others or from being silent afterothers had spoken. She fell in love with Narcissus, and pined away untilnothing remained of her but her voice. Compare the invocation to Echo inBen Jonson's _Cynthia's Revels_, i. 1. 

The lady's song, which has been described as "an address to the veryGenius of Sound, " is here very naturally introduced. The lady wishes torouse the echoes of the wood in order to attract her brothers' notice, and she does so by addressing Echo, who grieves for the lost youthNarcissus as the lady grieves for her lost brothers. 

231. ~thy airy shell~; the atmosphere. Comp. "the hollow round ofCynthia's seat, " _Hymn Nat. _ 103. The marginal reading in the MS. Is_cell_. Some suppose that 'shell' is here used, like Lat. _concha_, because in classical times various musical instruments were made in theform of a shell. 

232. ~Meander's margent green~. Maeander, a river of Asia Minor, remarkable for the windings of its course; hence the verb 'to meander, 'and hence also (in Keightley's opinion) the mention of the river as ahaunt of Echo. It is more probable, however, that, as the lady addressesEcho as the "Sweet Queen of Parley" and the unhappy lover of the lostNarcissus, the river is here mentioned because of its associations withmusic and misfortune. The Marsyas was a tributary of the Maeander, andthe legend was that the flute upon which Marsyas played in his rashcontest with Apollo was carried into the Maeander and, after beingthrown on land, dedicated to Apollo, the god of song. Comp. _Lyc. _58-63, where the Muses and misfortune are similarly associated by areference to Orpheus, whose 'gory visage' and lyre were carried "downthe swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore. " Further, the Maeander isassociated with the sorrows of the maiden Byblis, who seeks her lostbrother Caunus (called by Ovid _Maeandrius juvenis_). [Since the abovewas written, Prof. J. W. Hales has given the following explanation ofMilton's allusion: "The real reason is that the Meander was a famoushaunt of swans, and the swan was a favourite bird with the Greek andLatin writers--one to whose sweet singing they perpetually allude"(_Athenaeum_, April 20, 1889). ] 'Margent. ' _Marge_ and _margin_ areforms of the same word. 

233. ~the violet-embroidered vale~. The notion that flowers _broider_ orornament the ground is common in poetry: comp. _Par. Lost_, iv. 700:"Under foot the violet, Crocus, and hyacinth, with rich inlay_Broidered_ the ground. " In _Lyc. _ 148, the flowers themselves wear'embroidery. ' The nightingale is made to haunt a violet-embroidered valebecause these flowers are associated with love (see Jonson's _Masque ofHymen_) and with innocence (see _Hamlet_, iv. 5. 158: "I would give yousome violets, but they withered all when my father died"). Prof. Hales, however, thinks that some particular vale is here alluded to, andargues, with much acumen, that the poet referred to the woodlands closeby Athens to the north-west, through which the Cephissus flowed, andwhere stood the birthplace of Sophocles, who sings of his native Colonusas frequented by nightingales. The same critic regards the epithet'violet-embroidered' as a translation of the Greek ἰοστέφανος(= crowned with violets), frequently applied by Aristophanes to Athens, of which Colonus was a suburb. Macaulay also refers to Athens as "theviolet-crowned city. " It is, at least, very probable that Milton mighthere associate the nightingale with Colonus, as he does in _Par. Reg. _iv. 245: see the following note. 

234. ~love-lorn nightingale~, the nightingale whose loved ones are lost:comp. Virgil, _Georg. _ iv. 511: "As the nightingale wailing in thepoplar shade plains for her lost young, . .. While she weeps the nightthrough, and sitting on a bough, reproduces her piteous melody, andfills the country round with the plaints of her sorrow. " _Lorn_ and_lost_ are cognate words, the former being common in the compound_forlorn_: see note, l. 39. Milton makes frequent allusion to thenightingale: in _Il Penseroso_ it is 'Philomel'; in _Par. Reg. _ iv. 245, it is 'the Attic bird'; and in _Par. Lost_ viii. 518, it is 'the amorousbird of night. ' He calls it the Attic bird in allusion to the story ofPhilomela, the daughter of Pandion, King of Athens. Near the Academy wasColonus, which Sophocles has celebrated as the haunt of nightingales(Browne). Philomela was changed, at her own prayer, into a nightingalethat she might escape the vengeance of her brother-in-law Tereus. Theepithet 'love-lorn, ' however, seems to point to the legend of Aēdon(Greek ἀηδών, a nightingale), who, having killed her own son by mistake, was changed into a nightingale, whose mournful song was represented bythe Greek poets as the lament of the mother for her child. 

235. ~her sad song mourneth~, _i. E. _ sings her plaintive melody. 'Sadsong' forms a kind of cognate accusative. 

237. ~likest thy Narcissus~. Narcissus, who failed to return the love ofEcho, was punished by being made to fall in love with his own imagereflected in a fountain: this he could never approach, and heaccordingly pined away and was changed into the flower which bears hisname. See the dialogue between Mercury and Echo in _Cynthia's Revels_, i. 1. Grammatically, _likest_ is an adjective qualified adverbially by"(to) thy Narcissus": comp. _Il Pens. _ 9, "likest hovering dreams. "

238. ~have hid~. This is not a grammatical inaccuracy (as Warton thinks), but the subjunctive mood. 

240. ~Tell me but where~, _i. E. _ 'Only tell me where. '

241. ~Sweet Queen of Parley~, etc. 'Parley is conversation (Fr. _parler_, to speak): _parlour_, _parole_, _palaver_, _parliament_, _parlance_. Etc. , are cognate. ~Daughter of the Sphere~, _i. E. _ of the sphere which isher "airy shell" (l. 231): comp. "Sphere-born harmonious sisters, Voiceand Verse" (_At a Solemn Music_, 2). 

243. ~give resounding grace~, etc. , _i. E. _ add the charm of echo to themusic of the spheres. 

The metrical structure of this song should be noted: the lines vary inlength from two to six feet. The rhymes are few, and the effect is morestriking owing to the consonance of _shell_, _well_ with _vale_, _nightingale_; also of _pair_, _where_ with _are_ and _sphere_; and of_have_ with _cave_. Masson regards this song as a striking illustrationof Milton's free use of imperfect rhymes, even in his most musicalpassages. 

244. ~mortal mixture . .. Divine enchanting ravishment~. The words _mortal_and _divine_ are in antithesis: comp. _Il Pens. _ 91, 92, "The immortalmind that hath forsook Her mansion in this fleshly nook. " The linesembody a compliment to the Lady Alice: read in this connection lines 555and 564. 'Ravishment, ' rapture (a cognate word) or ecstasy: comp. _IlPens. _ 40, "Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes"; also l. 794. 

246. ~Sure~, used adverbially: comp. Line 493, and 'certain, ' l. 266. 

247. ~vocal~, used proleptically. 

248. ~his~ = its: see note, l. 96. The pronoun refers to 'something holy. '

251. ~smoothing the raven down~. As the nightingale's song smooths therugged brow of Night (_Il Pens. _ 58), so here the song of the ladysmooths the raven plumage of darkness. In classical mythology Night is awinged goddess. 

252. ~it~, _i. E. _ darkness. 

253. ~Circe . .. Sirens three~. In the _Odyssey_ the Sirens are two innumber and have no connection with Circe. They lived on a rocky islandoff the coast of Sicily and near the rock of Scylla (l. 257), and luredsailors to destruction by the charm of their song. Circe was also asweet singer and had the power of enchanting men; hence the combinedallusion: see also Horace's _Epist. _ i. 2, 23, _Sirenum voces, et Circespocula nôsti_. Besides, the Sirens were daughters of the river-godAchelous, and Circe had Naiads or fountain-nymphs among her maids. 

254. ~flowery-kirtled Naiades~: fresh-water nymphs dressed in flowers, orhaving their skirts decorated with flowers. A _kirtle_ is a gown; Skeatsuggests that it is a diminutive of _skirt_. 

255. ~baleful~, injurious (A. S. _balu_, evil). 

256. ~sung~. "The verbs _swim_, _begin_, _run_, _drink_, _shrink_, _sink_, _ring_, _sing_, _spring_, have for their proper past tenses _swam_, _began_, _ran_, etc. , preserving the original _a_; but in older writers(sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) and in colloquial English we findforms with _u_, which have come from the passive participles. " (Morris). ~take the prisoned soul~, _i. E. _ would take the soul prisoner; 'prisoned'being used proleptically. 

257. ~lap it in Elysium~. _Lap_ is a form of wrap: comp. _L'Alleg. _ 136, "_Lap_ me in soft Lydian airs. " Elysium: the abode of the spirits of theblessed; comp. _L'Alleg. _ 147, "heaped Elysian flowers. " ~Scylla . .. Charybdis~. The former, a rival of Circe in the affections of the sea-godGlaucus, was changed into a monster, surrounded by barking dogs. Shethrew herself into the sea and became a rock, the noise of thesurrounding waves ("multis circum latrantibus undis, " _Aen. _ vii. 588)resembling the barking of dogs. The latter was a daughter of Poseidon, and was hurled by Zeus into the sea, where she became a whirlpool. 

260. ~slumber~: comp. _Pericles_, v. 1. 335, "thick slumber Hangs uponmine eyes. "

261. ~madness~, ecstasy. The same idea is expressed in _Il Pens. _ 164: "Asmay with sweetness, through mine ear, Dissolve me into _ecstasies_, Andbring all heaven before mine eyes. " In Shakespeare 'ecstasy' occurs inthe sense of madness; see _Hamlet_, iii. 1. 167, "That unmatched formand feature of blown youth, Blasted with _ecstasy_"; _Temp. _ iii. 3. 108, "hinder them from what this _ecstasy_ May now provoke them to":comp. Also "the pleasure of that madness, " _Wint. Tale_, v. 3. 73. Seealso l. 625. 

262. ~home-felt~, deeply felt. Compare "The _home_ thrust of a friendlysword is sure" (Dryden); "This is a consideration that comes _home_ toour interest" (Addison): see also Index to Globe _Shakespeare_. 

263. ~waking bliss~, as opposed to the ecstatic slumber induced by thesong of Circe. 

265. ~Hail, foreign wonder!~ Warton notes that _Comus_ is universallyallowed to have taken some of its tints from the _Tempest_, and quotes, "O you wonder! If you be maid, or no?" i. 2. 426. 

266. ~certain~: see note, l. 246. 

267. ~Unless the goddess~, etc. = unless _thou be_ the goddess that inrural shrine _dwells_ here. Here, as often in Latin, we have 'unless'(Lat. _nisi_, etc. ) used with a single word instead of a clause: and, also as in Latin, the verb in the relative clause has the person of theantecedent. 

268. ~Pan or Sylvan~: see l. 176: also _Il Pens. _ 134, "shadows brown thatSylvan loves, " and _Arc. _ 106, "Though Syrinx your Pan's mistress were. "Sylvanus, the god of fields and forests, as denoted by his name which iscorrupted from Silvan (Lat. _silva_, a wood). 

269. ~Forbidding~, etc. These lines recall the language of _Arcades_, inwhich also a lady is complimented as "a _deity_, " "a _rural_ Queen, " and"mistress of yon princely shrine" in the land of Pan. There is areference also to her protecting the woods through her servant, theGenius: _Arc. _ 36-53, 91-95. 

271. ~ill is lost~. A Latin idiom (as Keightley points out) = _maleperditur_: Prof. Masson, however, would regard it as equivalent to"there is little loss in losing. "

273. ~extreme shift~; last resource. Comp. L. 617. 

274. ~my severed company~: a condensed expression = the companionsseparated from me. Comp. L. 315: this figure of speech is calledSynecdoche. 

277. ~What chance~, etc. In lines 277-290 we have a reproduction of thatform of dialogue employed in Greek tragedy in which question and answeroccupy alternate lines: it is called _stichomythia_, and is admirablewhen there is a gradual rise in excitement towards the end (as in the_Supplices_ of Euripides). In _Samson Agonistes_, which is modelled onthe Greek pattern, Milton did not employ it. 

278. An alliterative line. 

279. ~near ushering~, closely attending. To usher is to introduce (Lat. _ostium_, a door). 

284. ~twain~: thus frequently used as a predicate. It is also used afterits substantive as in _Lyc. _ 110, "of metals _twain_, " and as asubstantive. 

285. ~forestalling~, anticipating. 'Forestall, ' originally a marketingterm, is to buy up goods before they have been displayed at a _stall_ inthe market in order to sell them again at a higher price: hence 'toanticipate. ' ~prevented~. 'Prevent, ' now used in the sense of 'hinder, 'seems in this line to have something of its older meaning, viz. , toanticipate (in which case 'forestalling' would be proleptic). Comp. L. 362; _Par. Lost_, vi. 129, "half-way he met His daring foe, at this_prevention_ more Incensed. "

286. ~to hit~. This is the gerundial infinitive after an adjective: comp. "good to eat, " "deadly to hear, " etc. 

287. ~Imports their loss~, etc. : 'Apart from the present emergency, is theloss of them important?'

289. ~manly prime~, etc. : 'Were they in the prime of manhood, or were theymerely youths?' With Milton the 'prime of manhood' is where 'youth'ends: comp. _Par. Lost_, xi. 245, "_prime_ in manhood where youthended"; iii. 636, "a stripling Cherub he appears, Not of the prime, yetsuch as in his face Youth smiled celestial. " Spenser has 'prime' =Spring. 

290. ~Hebe~, the goddess of youth. "The down of manhood" had not appearedon the lips of the brothers. 

291. ~what time~: common in poetry for 'when' (Lat. _quo tempore_). Compare Horace, _Od. _ iii. 6: "what time the sun shifted the shadows ofthe mountains, and took the yokes from the wearied oxen. " ~laboured~:wearied with labour. 

292. ~loose traces~. Because no longer taut from the draught of theplough. 

293. ~swinked~, overcome with toil, fatigued (A. S. _swincan_, to toil). Skeat points out that this was once an extremely common word; the senseof toil is due to that of constant movement from the _swinging_ of thelabourer's arms. In Chaucer 'swinker' = ploughman. 

294. ~mantling~, spreading. To mantle is strictly to cloak or cover: comp. _Temp. _ v. 1. 67, "fumes that _mantle_ Their clearer reason. "

297. ~port~, bearing, mien. 

298. ~faery~. This spelling is nearer to that of the M. E. _faerie_ thanthe current form. 

299. ~the element~; the air. Since the time of the Greek philosopherEmpedocles, fire, earth, air, and water have been popularly called thefour elements; when used alone, however, 'the element' commonly means'the air. ' Comp. _Hen. V. _ iv. 1. 107, "The _element_ shows him as itdoth to me"; _Par. Lost_, ii. 490, "the louring _element_ Scowls o'erthe darkened landscape snow or shower, " etc. 

301. ~plighted~, interwoven or _plaited_. The verb 'plight' (or moreproperly _plite_) is a variant of _plait_: see _Il Pens. _ 57, "hersweetest saddest _plight_. " The word has no connection with 'plight, ' l. 372. ~awe-strook~. Milton uses three forms of the participle, viz. 'strook, ' 'struck, ' and 'strucken. '

302. ~worshiped~. The final consonant is now doubled in such verbs before_-ed_. 

303. ~were~ = would be: subjunctive. ~like the path to Heaven~; _i. E. _ itwould be a pleasure to help, etc. There is (probably) no allusion to theScripture parable of the narrow and difficult way to Heaven (_Matt. _vii. ) as in _Son. _ ix. , "labours up the hill of heavenly Truth. "

304. ~help you find~: comp. L. 623. The simple infinitive is here usedwithout _to_ where _to_ would now be inserted. This omission of thepreposition now occurs with so few verbs that 'to' is often called thesign of the infinitive, but in Early English the only sign of theinfinitive was the termination _en_ (_e. G. _ he can _speken_). Theinfinitive, being used as a noun, had a dative form called the gerund, which was preceded by the preposition _to_, and when this becameconfused with the simple infinitive the use of _to_ became general. Comp. _Son. _ xx. 4, "_Help_ waste a sullen day. "

305. ~readiest way~. Here 'readiest' logically belongs to the predicate. 

311. ~each . .. Every~: see note, l. 19. ~alley~, a walk or avenue. 

312. ~Dingle . .. Bushy dell . .. Bosky bourn~. 'Dingle' = dimble (see BenJonson's _Sad Shepherd_) = dimple = a little dip or depression; hence anarrow valley. 'Dell' = dale, literally a cleft; hence a valley, not sodeep as a dingle. 'Bosky bourn, ' a stream whose banks are bushy orthickly grown with bushes. 'Bourn, ' a boundary, is a distinct wordetymologically, but the phrase "from side to side, " as used by Comus, might well imply that the valley as well as the stream is here referredto. 'Bosky, ' bushy. The noun 'boscage' = jungle or _bush_ (M. E. _busch_, _bush_, _bush_). 'See Tennyson's _Dream of F. W. _ 243, "the sombre_boscage_ of the wood. "

315. ~stray attendance~ = strayed attendants; abstract for concrete, as inline 274. Comp. _Par. Lost_, x. 80, "_Attendance_ none shall need, nortrain"; xii. 132, "Of herds, and flocks, and numerous _servitude_" (=servants). 

316. ~shroud~, etc. Milton first wrote "within these shroudie limits": seenote, l. 147. 

317. ~low-roosted lark~, _i. E. _ the lark that has roosted on the ground. This is certainly Milton's meaning, as he refers to the bird as risingfrom its "thatched pallet" = its nest, which is built on the ground. 'Roost' has, however, no radical connection with _rest_, but denotes aperch for fowls, and Keightley's remark that Milton is guilty ofsupposing the lark to sleep, like a hen, upon a perch or roost, maytherefore be noticed. But the poets' meaning is obvious. Prof. Massontakes 'thatched' as referring to the texture of the nest or to thecorn-stalks or rushes over it. 

318. ~rouse~. Here used intransitively = awake. 

322. ~honest-offered~: see notes, ll. 36, 228. 

323. ~sooner~, more readily. 

324. ~tapestry halls~. Halls hung with tapestry, tapestry being "a kind ofcarpet work, with wrought figures, especially used for decoratingwalls. " The word is said to be from the Persian. 

325. ~first was named~. The meaning is: '_Courtesy_ which is derived from_court_, and which is still nominally most common in high life, isnevertheless most readily found amongst those of humble station. ' Thissentiment is becoming in the mouth of Lady Alice when addressed to ahumble shepherd. 'Courtesy' (or, as Milton elsewhere writes, _courtship_) has, like _civility_, lost much of its deeper significance. Comp. Spenser, _F. Q. _ vi. 1. 1:

 "Of Court it seems men Courtesy do call, For that it there most useth to abound. "

327. ~less warranted~, _i. E. _ when I have less _guarantee_ of safety. _Guarantee_ and _warrant_, like _guard_ and _ward_, _guile_ and _wile_, are radically the same. 

329. ~Eye me~, _i. E. _ look on me. To _eye_ a person now usually implieswatching narrowly or suspiciously. ~square~, accommodate, adjust. The adj. 'proportioned' is here used proleptically, denoting the result of theaction indicated by the verb 'square. ' Comp. _M. For M. _ v. 1: "Thou 'rtsaid to have a stubborn soul, . .. And _squar'st_ thy life accordingly. "~Exeunt~, _i. E. _ they go out, they leave the stage. 

331. ~Unmuffle~, uncover yourselves. To _muffle_ is to cover up, _e. G. _'to _muffle_ the throat, ' 'a _muffled_ sound, ' etc. _Muffle_ (subst. ) isa diminutive of _muff_. 

332. ~wont'st~, _i. E. _ art wont. _Wont'st_ is here apparently the 2ndperson singular, present tense, of a verb _to wont_ = to be accustomed;hence also the participle _wonted_ (_Il Pens. _ 37, "keep thy _wonted_state"). But the M. E. Verb was _wonen_, to dwell or be accustomed, andits participle _woned_ or _wont_. The fact that _wont_ was a participlebeing forgotten, it was treated as a distinct verb, and a new participleformed, viz. , _wonted_ (= won-ed-ed); from this again comes the noun_wontedness_. Milton, however, uses _wont_ as a present only twice inhis poetry: as in modern English he uses it as a noun (= custom) or as aparticipial adj. With the verb _to be_ (_Il Pens. _ 123, "As she waswont"). ~benison~, blessing: radically the same as 'benediction' (Lat. _benedictio_). 

333. ~Stoop thy pale visage~, etc. Comp. L. 1023 and _Il Pens. _ 72, "_Stooping_ through a fleecy cloud. " 'Visage, ' a word now mostly usedwith a touch of contempt, in Milton simply denotes 'face': see _IlPens. _ 13, "saintly _visage_"; _Lyc. _ 62, "His gory _visage_ down thestream was sent. " ~amber~: comp. _L'Alleg. _ 61, "Robed in flames and_amber_ light, " and Tennyson:

 "What time the _amber_ morn Forth gushes from beneath a low-hung cloud. "

334. ~disinherit~, drive out, dispossess. Comp. _Two Gent. _ iii. 2. 87, "This or else nothing, will _inherit_ (_i. E. _ obtain possession of)her. "

336. ~Influence . .. Dammed up~. The verb here shows that influence isemployed in its strict sense, = a flowing in (Lat. _in_ and _fluo_): itwas thus used in astrology to denote "an _influent_ course of theplanets, their virtue being infused into, or their course working on, inferior creatures"; comp. _L'Alleg. _ 112, "whose bright eyes Rain_influence_"; _Par. Lost_, iv. 669, "with kindly heat Of various_influence_. " Astrology has left many traces upon the English language, _e. G. _ influence, disastrous, ill-starred, ascendant, etc. See also l. 360. 

337. ~taper~; here a vocative, the verb being "visit (thou). "

338. ~though a rush candle~, _i. E. _ 'though it be only a rush-candle'; arush light, obtained from the pith of a rush dipped in oil. 

340. ~long levelled rule~; straight horizontal beam of light: comp. _Par. Lost_, iv. 543, "the setting sun . .. _Levelled_ his evening rays. " Theinstrument with which straight lines are drawn is called a _rule_ orruler. 

341. ~star of Arcady Or Tyrian Cynosure~; here put by synecdoche for'lode-star. ' More particularly, the star of Arcady signifies any of thestars in the constellation of the Great Bear, by which Greek sailorssteered; and 'Tyrian Cynosure' signifies the stars comprising that partof the constellation of the Lesser Bear which, from its shape, wascalled _Cynosura_, the dog's tail (Greek κυνὸς οὐρά), and bywhich Phoenician or Tyrian sailors steered. See _L'Alleg. _ 80, "The_cynosure_ of neighbouring eyes, " where the word is used as a commonnoun = point of attraction. Both constellations are connected in Greekmythology with the Arcadian nymph Callisto, who was turned by Zeus intothe Great Bear while her son Arcas became the Lesser Bear. Miltonfollows the Roman poets in associating these stars with Arcadia on thisaccount. 

343. ~barred~, debarred or barred _from_. 

344. ~wattled cotes~: enclosures made of hurdles, _i. E. _ frames ofplaited twigs. _Cote_, _cot_, and _coat_ are varieties of the same word= a covering or enclosure. 

345. ~oaten stops~: see _Lyc. _ 33, "the _oaten_ flute"; 88, "But now my_oat_ proceeds"; 188, "the tender stops of various _quills_. " Theshepherd's pipe, being at first a row of oaten stalks, "the oaten pipe, ""oat, " etc. , came to denote any instrument of this kind and even tosignify "pastoral poetry. " The 'stops' are the holes over which theplayer's fingers are placed, also called vent-holes or "ventages"(_Ham. _ iii. 2. 372). See also note on 'azurn, ' l. 893. 

346. ~whistle . .. Lodge~, _i. E. _ the sound of the shepherd calling his dogby whistling. Or it may be used in the same sense as in _L'Alleg. _ 63, "the ploughman _whistles_ o'er the furrowed land. "

347. ~Count . .. Dames~: comp. _L'Alleg. _ 52, "the cock . .. Stoutly strutshis _dames_ before"; 114, "Ere the first cock his matin rings. "Grammatically, 'count' (infinitive) forms with 'cock' the complex objectof 'might hear. '

349. ~innumerous~, innumerable (Lat. _innumerus_). Comp. _Par. Lost_, vii. 455, "_Innumerous_ living creatures"; ix. 1089. 

350. ~hapless~, unfortunate. Many words, such as happy, lucky, fortunate, etc. , which strictly refer to a person's hap or chance, whether good orbad, have become restricted to good hap: in order to give them anunfavourable meaning a negative prefix or suffix is necessary. 

With reference to the word _fortune_, Max Müller says: "We speak of goodand evil fortune, so did the French, and so did the Romans. By itself_fortuna_ was taken either in a good or a bad sense, though it generallymeant good fortune. Whenever there could be any doubt, the Romansdefined _fortuna_ by such adjectives as _bona_, _secunda_, _prospera_, for good; _mala_ or _adversa_ for bad fortune . .. _Fortuna_ came to meansomething like chance. "

351. ~her~, herself. On the reflexive use of _her_, see note, l. 163. 

352. ~burs~; burrs, prickly seed-vessels of certain plants, _e. G. _ theburr-thistle, the burdock (= the burr-dock), etc. 

355. ~leans~. As Milton frequently omits the nominative, we may supply_she_: otherwise _leans_ would be intransitive and its nominative'head': see note, l. 715. ~fraught~, freighted, filled. _Freight_ isitself a later form of _fraught_: in _Sams. Agon. _, 1075, _fraught_ is anoun (Ger. _fracht_, a load). See line 732. 

356. ~What~, etc. The ellipses may be supplied thus: "What (shall be done)if (she be) in wild amazement?"

358. ~savage hunger~. 'Hunger' is put by synecdoche for hungry animals. 

359. ~over-exquisite~, _i. E. _ too curious, over-inquisitive. _Exquisite_is here used in the sense of _inquisitive_; in modern English'exquisite' has a passive sense only, while 'inquisitive' has an activesense (Lat. _quaero_, to seek): see note, l. 714. 

"The dialogue between the two brothers is an amicable contest betweenfact and philosophy. The younger draws his arguments from commonapprehension, and the obvious appearance of things; the elder proceedson a profounder knowledge, and argues from abstracted principles. Herethe difference of their ages is properly made subservient to a contrastof character" (Warton). 

360. ~To cast the fashion~, _i. E. _ to prejudge the form. 'To cast' wascommon in the sense of to calculate or compute; see Shakespeare, ii. _Henry IV. _ i. 1. 166, "You _cast_ the event of war. " Some think, however, that the word has here its still more restricted sense as usedin astrology, _e. G. _ "to _cast_ a nativity"; others see in it areference to the founder's art; and others to medical diagnosis. 

361. ~Grant they be so~: a concessive clause = granted that the evils turnout to be what you imagined. The alternative is given in l. 364. 

362. ~What need~, etc. , _i. E. _ why should a man anticipate his hour ofsorrow. 'What' = for what (Lat. _quid_): comp. L. 752; also _OnShakespeare_, 6, "_What need'st_ thou such weak witness of thy name?" Onthe verb _need_ Abbott, § 297, says: "It is often found with 'what, 'where it is sometimes hard to say whether 'what' is an adverb and 'need'a verb, or 'what' an adjective and 'need' a noun. 'What need the bridgemuch broader than the flood?' _M. Ado_, i. 1. 318; either '_why need_the bridge (be) broader?' or '_what need_ is there (that) the bridge(be) broader?'"

363. Compare Hamlet's famous soliloquy, "rather bear those ills wehave, " etc. ; and Pope's _Essay on Man_, "Heaven from all creatures hidesthe book of fate, " etc. 

366. ~to seek~, at a loss. Compare _Par. Lost_, viii. 197: "Unpractised, unprepared, and still _to seek_. " Bacon, in _Adv. Of Learning_, has:"Men bred in learning are perhaps _to seek_ in points of convenience. "

367. ~unprincipled in virtue's book~, _i. E. _ ignorant of the elements ofvirtue. A principle (Lat. _principium_, beginning) is a fundamentaltruth; hence the current sense of 'unprincipled, ' implying that the manwho has no fixed rules of life is the one who will readily fall intoevil. Comp. _Sams. Agon. _ 760, "wisest and best men . .. With goodness_principled_. "

368. ~bosoms~, holds within itself. The nom. Is 'goodness. ' 'Peace' isgoverned by 'in, ' l. 367. 

369. ~As that~, etc. This is an adverbial clause of consequence to'unprincipled'; in modern English such a clause would be introduced by'that, ' and in Elizabethan English either by 'as' or 'that. ' Here wehave both connectives together. ~single~: see note, l. 204. Noise, sound. 

370. ~Not being in danger~, _i. E. _ she not being in danger: absoluteconstruction. This parenthetical line is equivalent to a conditionalclause--'if she be not in danger, the mere want of light and noise neednot disquiet her. '

371. ~constant~, steadfast. 

372. ~misbecoming~: see note on 'misused, ' l. 47. ~plight~, condition. Skeat derives this word from A. S. _pliht_, danger; others connect it with_pledge_. It is distinct from _plight_, l. 301. 

373. ~Virtue could see~, etc. The best commentary on this line is in lines381-5: comp. Spenser: "Virtue gives herself light through darkness forto wade, " _F. Q. _ i. 1. 12. 

375. ~flat sea~: comp. _Lyc. _ 98, "level brine": Lat. _aequor_, a flatsurface, used of the sea. 

376. ~seeks to~, applies herself to. This use of seek is common in theEnglish Bible: see _Deut. _ xii. 5, "_unto_ his habitation shall ye_seek_"; _Isaiah_, viii. 19, xi. 10, xix. 3; i. _Kings_, x. 24. 

377. ~her best nurse, Contemplation~. The wise man loves contemplation andsolitude: comp. _Il Penseroso_, 51, where "the Cherub Contemplation" isthe "first and chiefest" of Melancholy's companions. In Sidney's_Arcadia_, "Solitariness" is "the nurse of these contemplations. "

378. ~plumes~. Some would read _prunes_, both words being used of a bird'ssmoothing or trimming its feathers--or (more strictly) picking outdamaged feathers. See Skeat's _Dictionary_, and compare Pope's line, "Where Contemplation _prunes_ her ruffled wings. "

379. ~various~, varied: comp. L. 22. The 'bustle of resort' is in_L'Allegro_ the 'busy hum of men. '

380. ~all to-ruffled~. Milton wrote "all to ruffled, " which may beinterpreted in various ways: (1) all to-ruffled, (2) all too ruffled, (3) all-to ruffled. The first of these is given in the text as it isetymologically correct: _to_ is an intensive prefix as in 'to-break' =to break in pieces; 'to-tear' = to tear asunder, etc. ; while _all_ (=quite) is simply an adverb modifying _to-ruffled_. But about 1500 A. D. This idiom was misunderstood, and the prefix _to_ was detached from theverb and either read along with _all_ (thus all-to = altogether), orconfused with _too_ (thus all-to = too too, decidedly too). It isdoubtful in which sense Milton used the phrase; like Shakespeare, he mayhave disregarded its origin. See Morris, § 324; Abbott, §§ 28, 436. 

381. ~He that has light~, etc. Comp. _Par. Lost_, i. 254: 'The mind isits own place, ' etc. 

382. ~centre~, _i. E. _ centre of the earth: comp. _Par. Lost_ i. 686, "Menalso . .. Ransacked the _centre_"; and _Hymn Nat. _ 162, "The aged Earth. .. Shall from the surface to the _centre_ shake. " Sometimes the word'centre' was used of the Earth itself, the _fixed_ centre of the wholeuniverse according to the Ptolemaic system. The idea here conveyed, however, is not that of immovability (as in _Par. Reg. _ iv. 534, "as a_centre_ firm") but of utter darkness. 

385. ~his own dungeon~: comp. _Sams. Agon. _ 156, "Thou art become (O worstimprisonment!) The _dungeon_ of thyself. "

386. ~most affects~: has the greatest liking for. It now generally denotesrather a feigned than a real liking: comp. _pretend_. Lines 386-392 maybe compared with _Il Pens. _ 167-174. 

393. ~Hesperian tree~. An allusion to the tree on which grew the goldenapples of Juno, which were guarded by the Hesperides and the sleeplessdragon Ladon. Hence the reference to the 'dragon watch': comp. Tennyson's _Dream of Fair Women_, 255, "Those dragon eyes of anger'dEleanor Do hunt me, day and night. " See also ll. 981-983. 

395. ~unenchanted~, superior to all the powers of enchantment, not to beenchanted. Similarly Milton has 'unreproved' for 'not reprovable, ''unvalued' for 'invaluable, ' etc. ; and Shakespeare has 'unavoided' for'inevitable, ' 'imagined' for 'imaginable, ' etc. Abbott (§ 375) says: Thepassive participle is often used to signify, not that which _was_ and_is_, but that which _was_ and therefore _can be hereafter_; in otherwords _-ed_ is used for _-able_. 

396. Compare Chaucer, _Doctor's Tale_, 44, "She flowered in virginity, With all humility and abstinence. "

398. ~unsunned~, hidden. Comp. _Cym. _ ii. 5. 13, "As chaste as _unsunned_snow"; _F. Q. _ ii. 7, "Mammon . .. _Sunning_ his treasure hoar. "

400. ~as bid me hope~, etc. The construction is, 'as (you may) bid me (to)hope (that) Danger will wink on Opportunity and (that Danger will) let asingle helpless maiden pass uninjured. '

401. ~Danger will wink on~, etc. , _i. E. _ danger will shut its eyes to anopportunity. To _wink on_ or _wink at_ is to connive, to refuse to seesomething: comp. _Macbeth_, i. 4. 52, "The eye _wink_ at the hand";_Acts_, xvii. 30. Warton notes a similar argument by Rosalind in _As YouLike It_, i. 3. 113: "Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold. "

403. ~surrounding~. Milton is said to be the first author of any note whouses this word in its current sense of 'encompassing, ' which it hasacquired through a supposed connection with _round_. Shakespeare doesnot use it. Its original sense is 'to overflow' (Lat. _superundare_). 

404. ~it recks me not~, _i. E. _ I do not heed: an impersonal use of the oldverb _reck_ (A. S. _récan_, to care). Comp. _Lyc. _ 122, "What _recks_ itthem. "

405. ~dog them both~, _i. E. _ follow closely upon night and loneliness. Comp. _All's Well_, iii. 4. 15, "death and danger _dogs_ the heels ofworth. "

407. ~unownèd~, _i. E. _ 'thinking her to be unowned, ' or 'as if unowned. 'Milton thus, as in Latin, frequently condenses a clause into aparticiple. 

408. ~infer~, reason, argue. This use of the word is obsolete. SeeShakespeare, iii. _Hen. VI. _ ii. 2. 44, "_Inferring_ arguments of mightyforce"; _K. John_, iii. 1. 213, "Need must needs _infer_ thisprinciple": also _Par. Lost_, viii. 91, "great or bright _infers_ notexcellence. "

409. ~without all doubt~, _i. E. _ beyond all doubt: a Latinism = _sine omnidubitatione_. 

411. ~arbitrate the event~, judge of the result. The meaning is 'Where theresult depends equally upon circumstances to be hoped and to be dreadedI incline to hope. '

413. ~squint suspicion~. Compare Quarles: "Heart-gnawing Hatred, andsquint-eyed Suspicion. " To look askance or sideways frequently indicatessuspicion. 

419. ~if Heaven gave it~, _i. E. _ even _although_ Heaven gave it. 

420. ~'Tis chastity~. "The passage which begins here and ends at line 475is a concentrated expression of the moral of the whole Masque, and anexposition also of a cardinal idea of Milton's philosophy" (Masson). 

421. ~clad in complete steel~, _i. E. _ completely armed; comp. _Hamlet_, i. 4. 52, where the phrase occurs. The accent is on the first syllable. 

422. ~quivered nymph~. The chaste Diana of the Romans was armed with bowand quiver; and Shakespeare makes virginity "Diana's livery. " So inSpenser, Belphoebe, the personification of Chastity, has "at her back abow and quiver gay. " 'Quivered' is the Latin _pharetrata_. 

423. ~trace~, traverse, track. ~unharboured~, affording no shelter. Radically, a harbour is a lodging or shelter. 

424. ~Infámous~, having a bad name, ill-famed: a Latinism. The word nowimplies disgrace or guilt. It is here accented on the penult. 

425. ~sacred rays~: comp. L. 782. 

426. ~bandite or mountaineer~. 'Bandite' (in Shakespeare _bandetto_, andnow _bandit_) is borrowed from the Italian _bandito_, outlawed or_banned_. 'Mountaineer, ' here used in a bad sense. In modern English ithas reverted to its original sense--a dweller in mountains. The dwellersin mountains are often fierce and readily become freebooters: hence thechanges of meaning. See _Temp. _ iii. 3. 44, "Who would believe thatthere were _mountaineers_ Dew-lapp'd like bulls"; also _Cym. _ iv. 2. 120, "Who called me traitor, _mountaineer_. "

428. ~very desolation~. Very (as an adj. ) = true or real and may be tracedto Lat. _verus_ = true: comp. L. 646. 

429. ~shagged . .. Shades~. 'Shagged' is rugged or shaggy, and 'horrid' isprobably used in the Latin sense of 'rough': see note, l. 38. 

430. ~unblenched~, undaunted, unflinching. This word, sometimes confoundedwith 'unblanched, ' is from _blench_, a causal of _blink_. 

431. ~Be it not~: a conditional clause = on condition that it be not. 

432. ~Some say~, etc. Compare _Hamlet_, i. 1. 158:

 "Some say that, ever against that season comes Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long: And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad. "

433. ~In fog or fire~, etc. Comp. _Il Pens. _ 93, "those demons that arefound In fire, air, flood, or underground": an allusion to the differentorders and powers of demons as accepted in the Middle Ages. Burton, inhis _Anat. Of Mel. _, quotes from a writer who thus enumerates the kindsof sublunary spirits--"fiery, aerial, terrestrial, watery, andsubterranean, besides fairies, satyrs, nymphs, etc. "

434. ~meagre hag~, lean witch. _Hag_ is from A. S. _haegtesse_, aprophetess or witch. Comp. _Par. Lost_, ii. 662; _M. W. Of W. _ iv. 2. 188, "Come down, you witch, you _hag_. " ~unlaid ghost~, unpacified orwandering spirit. It was a superstition that ghosts left the world ofspirits and wandered on the earth from the hour of curfew (see _Temp. _v. 1. 40; _King Lear_, iii. 4. 120, "This is the foul fiendFlibbertigibbet; he begins at curfew, " etc. ) until "the first cock hismatin rings" (_L'Alleg. _ 14). 'Curfew' (Fr. _couvre-feu_ = fire-cover), the bell that was rung at eight or nine o'clock in the evening as asignal that all fires and lights were to be extinguished. 

436. ~swart faery of the mine~. In Burton's _Anat. Of Mel. _ we read, "Subterranean devils are as common as the rest, and do as much harm. Olaus Magnus makes six kinds of them, some bigger, some less. These arecommonly seen about mines of metals, " etc. Warton quotes from an oldwriter: "Pioneers or diggers for metal do affirm that in many minesthere appear strange shapes and spirits who are apparelled like unto thelabourers in the pit. " 'Swart' (also _swarty_, _swarth_, and _swarthy_)here means black: in Scandinavian mythology these subterranean spiritswere called the _Svartalfar_, or black elves. Comp. _Lyc. _ 138, "the_swart_ star, " where 'swart' = swart making. 

438. ~Do ye believe~. _Ye_ is properly a second person plural, but (like_you_) is frequently used as a singular: for examples, see Abbott, §236. 

439. ~old schools of Greece~. The brother now turns for his arguments fromthe mediaeval mythology of Northern Europe to the ancient legends ofGreece. 

440. ~to testify~, to bear witness to: comp. L. 248, 421. 

441. ~Dian~. Diana was the huntress among the immortals: she wasinsensible to the bolts of Cupid, _i. E. _ to the power of love. She wasthe protectress of the flocks and game from beasts of prey, and at thesame time was believed to send plagues and sudden deaths among men andanimals. Comp. The song to Cynthia (Diana) in _Cynthia's Revels_, v. 1, "Queen and huntress, chaste and fair, " etc. 

442. ~silver-shafted queen~. The epithet is applicable to Diana both ashuntress and goddess of the moon: as the former she bore arrows whichwere frequently called _shafts_, and as the latter she bore shafts orrays of light. _Shaft_ is etymologically 'a _shaven_ rod. ' In Chaucer, _C. T. _ 1364, 'shaft' = arrow. 

443. ~brinded lioness~. 'Brinded' = brindled or streaked. Comp. "_brinded_cat, " _Macb. _ iv. 1. 1: _brind_ is etymologically connected with_brand_. 

444. ~mountain-pard~, _i. E. _ panther or other spotted wild beast. _Pard_, originally a Persian word, is common in the compounds leo-_pard_ andcamelo-_pard_. 

445. ~frivolous . .. Cupid~. See the speech of Oberon, _M. N. D. _ ii. 1. 65. The epithet 'frivolous' applies to Cupid in his lower character asthe wanton god of sensual love, not in his character as the fair Eroswho unites all the discordant elements of the universe: see note, l. 1004. 

447. ~snaky-headed Gorgon shield~. Medusa was one of the three Gorgons, frightful beings, whose heads were covered with hissing serpents, andwho had wings, brazen claws, and huge teeth. Whoever looked at Medusawas turned into stone, but Perseus, by the aid of enchantment, slew her. Minerva (Athene) placed the monster's head in the centre of her shield, which confounded Cupid: see _Par. Lost_, ii. 610. 

449. ~freezed~, froze. The adjective 'congealed' is used proleptically, the meaning being 'froze into a stone so that it was congealed. '

450. ~But~, except: a preposition. 

451. ~dashed~, confounded: this meaning of the word is obsolete. 

452. ~blank awe~: the awe of one amazed. Comp. The phrase, 'blankastonishment, ' and see _Par. Lost_, ix. 890. 

454. ~so~, _i. E. _ chaste. 

455. ~liveried angels lackey her~, _i. E. _ ministering angels attend her. So, in _L'Alleg. _ 62, "the clouds in thousand _liveries_ dight"; aservant's livery being the distinctive dress _delivered_ to him by hismaster. 'Lackey, ' to wait upon, from 'lackey' (or lacquey), a footboy, who runs by the side of his master. The word is here used in a goodsense, without implying servility (as in _Ant. And Cleop. _ i. 4. 46, "_lackeying_ the varying tide"). 'Her': the soul. Milton is fond of thefeminine personification: see line 396. 

457. ~vision~: a trisyllable. 

458. ~no gross ear~. See notes, l. 112 and 997. 

459. ~oft converse~, frequent communion. _Oft_ is here used adjectively:this use is common in the English Bible, _e. G. _ i. _Tim. _ v. 23, "thine_often_ infirmities. "

460. ~Begin to cast . .. Turns~. 'Begin' is subjunctive; 'turns' isindicative: the latter may be used to convey greater certainty andvividness. 

461. ~temple of the mind~, _i. E. _ the body. This metaphor is common: seeShakespeare, _Temp. _ i. 2. 57, "There's nothing ill can dwell in such a_temple_"; and the Bible, _John_, ii. 21, "He spake of the _temple_ ofhis body. "

462. ~the soul's essence~. As if, by a life of purity, the body graduallybecame spiritualised, and therefore partook of the soul's immortality. 

465. ~most~, above all. 

467. ~soul grows clotted~. This doctrine is expounded in Plato's _Phaedo_, in a conversation between Socrates and Cebes:

 _Socrates_ (speaking of the pure soul). That soul, I say, herself invisible, departs to the invisible world--to the divine and immortal and rational: thither arriving, she is secure of bliss, and is released from the error and folly of men, their fears and wild passions and all other human ills, and for ever dwells, as they say of the initiated, in company with the gods. Is not this true, Cebes?

 _Cebes. _ Yes; beyond a doubt. 

 _Soc. _ But the soul which has been polluted, and is impure at the time of her departure, and is the companion and servant of the body always, and is in love with and fascinated by the body and by the desires and pleasures of the body, until she is led to believe that the truth only exists in a bodily form, which a man may touch and see and taste, and use for the purposes of his lusts--the soul, I mean, accustomed to hate and fear and avoid the intellectual principle, which to the bodily eye is dark and invisible and can be attained only by philosophy;--do you suppose that such a soul will depart pure and unalloyed?

 _Ceb. _ That is impossible. 

 _Soc. _ She is held fast by the corporeal, which the continual association and constant care of the body have wrought into her nature. 

 _Ceb. _ Very true. 

 _Soc. _ And this corporeal element, my friend, is heavy and weighty and earthy, and is that element by which such a soul is depressed and dragged down again into the visible world, because she is afraid of the invisible and of the world below--prowling about tombs and sepulchres, in the neighbourhood of which, as they tell us, are seen certain ghostly apparitions of souls which have not departed pure, but are cloyed with sight and therefore visible. 

 _Ceb. _ That is very likely, Socrates. 

 _Soc. _ Yes, that is very likely, Cebes; and these must be the souls, not of the good, but of the evil, who are compelled to wander about such places in payment of the penalty of their former evil way of life; and they continue to wander until through the craving after the corporeal which never leaves them, they are imprisoned finally in another body. And they may be supposed to find their prisons in the same natures which they have had in their former lives. 

Further on in the same dialogue, Socrates says:

 Each pleasure and pain is a sort of nail which nails and rivets the soul to the body, until she becomes like the body, and believes that to be true which the body affirms to be true; and from agreeing with the body, and having the same delights, she is obliged to have the same habits and haunts, and is not likely ever to be pure at her departure, but is always infected by the body. --_Extracted from Jowett's Translation of the Dialogues. _

468. ~imbodies and imbrutes~, _i. E. _ becomes materialised and brutish. _Imbody_, ordinarily used as a transitive verb, is here intransitive. _Imbrute_ (said to have been coined by Milton) is also intransitive; in_Par. Lost_, ix. 166, it is transitive. The use of the word may havebeen suggested by the _Phaedo_, where the souls of the wicked are saidto "find their prisons in the same natures which they have had in theirformer lives, " those of gluttons and drunkards passing into asses andanimals of that sort. 

469. ~divine property~. In his prose works Milton calls the soul 'thatdivine particle of God's breathing': comp. Horace, _Sat. _ ii. 2. 79, "affigit humo _divinae particulam aurae_"; and Plato's _Phaedo_, "Thesoul resembles the divine, and the body the mortal. "

470. ~gloomy shadows damp~: see note, l. 207. 

471. ~charnel-vaults~, burial vaults. 'Charnel' (O. F. _charnel_, Lat. _carnalis_; _caro_, flesh): comp. 'carnal, ' l. 474. 

473. ~As loth~, etc. The construction is: 'As (being) loth to leave thebody that it loved, and (as having) linked itself to a degenerate anddegraded state. ' ~it~: by syntax this pronoun refers to 'shadows, ' or (inthought) '_such_ shadow. ' It seems best, however, to connect it with'soul, ' line 467. 

474. ~sensualty~. The modern form of the word is _sensuality_. 

475. ~degenerate and degraded~: the former because 'imbodied, ' the latterbecause 'imbruted. '

476. ~divine Philosophy~, _i. E. _ such philosophy as is to be found in "thedivine volume of Plato" (as Milton has called it). 

477. ~crabbed~, sour or bitter: comp. Crab-apple. _Crab_ (a shell-fish)and _crab_ (a kind of apple) are radically connected, both conveying theidea of scratching or pinching (Skeat). 

478. ~Apollo's lute~: Apollo being the god of song and music. Comp. _Par. Reg. _ i. 478-480; _L. L. L. _ iv. 3. 342, "as sweet and musical As bright_Apollo's lute_, strung with his hair. "

479. ~nectared sweets~. Nectar (Gk. νέκταρ, the drink of thegods) is repeatedly used by Milton to express the greatest sweetness:see l. 838; _Par. Lost_, iv. 333, "Nectarine fruits"; v. 306, 426. 

482. ~Methought~: see note, l. 171. ~what should it be?~ This is a directquestion about a past event, and means 'What was it likely to be?' "Itseems to increase the emphasis of the interrogation, since a doubt aboutthe past (time having been given for investigation) implies moreperplexity than a doubt about the future" (Abbott, § 325). ~For certain~, _i. E. _ for certain truth, certainly. 

483. ~night-foundered~; benighted, lost in the darkness. Radically, 'tofounder' is to go to the bottom (Fr. _fondrer_; Lat. _fundus_, thebottom), hence applied to ships; it is also applied to horses sinking ina slough. The compound is Miltonic (see _Par. Lost_, i. 204), and issometimes stigmatised as meaningless; on the contrary, it is veryexpressive, implying that the brothers are swallowed up in night andhave lost their way. 'Founder' is here used in the secondary sense of'to be lost' or 'to be in distress. '

484. ~neighbour~. An adjective, as in line 576, and frequently inShakespeare. Neighbour = nigh-boor, _i. E. _ a peasant dwelling near. 

487. ~Best draw~: we had best draw our swords. 

489. ~Defence is a good cause~, etc. , _i. E. _ 'in defending ourselves weare engaged in a good cause, and may Heaven be on our side. '

490. ~That hallo~. We are to understand that the Attendant Spirit hashalloed just before entering; this is shown by the stage-direction givenin the edition of _Comus_ printed by Lawes in 1637: _He hallos; theGuardian Dæmon hallos again, and enters in the habit of a shepherd. _

491. ~you fall~, etc. , _i. E. _ otherwise you will fall on our swords. 

493. ~sure~: see note, l. 246. 

494. ~Thyrsis~, Like Lycidas, this name is common in pastoral poetry. InMilton's _Epitaphium Damonis_ it stands for Milton himself; in _Comus_it belongs to Lawes, who now receives additional praise for his musicalgenius. In lines 86-88 the compliment is enforced by alliterativeverses, and here by the aid of rhyme (495-512). Masson thinks that thepoet, having spoken of the madrigals of Thyrsis, may have introducedthis rhymed passage in order to prolong the feeling of Pastoralism bycalling up the cadence of known English pastoral poems. 

495. ~sweetened . .. Dale~; poetical exaggeration or hyperbole, implyingthat fragrant flowers became even more fragrant from Thyrsis' music. 

496. ~huddling~. This conveys the two ideas of hastening and crowding:comp. Horace, _Ars Poetica_, 19, "Et _properantis_ aquae per amoenosambitus agros. " ~madrigal~: a pastoral or shepherd's song (Ital. _mandra_, a flock): such compositions, then in favour, had been made by Lawes andby Milton's father. 

497. ~swain~: a word of common use in pastoral poetry. It denotes strictlya peasant or, more correctly, a young man: comp. The compoundsboat-_swain_, cox-_swain_. See _Arc. _ 26, "Stay, gentle _swains_, " etc. 

499. ~pent~, penned, participle of _pen_, to shut up (A. S. _pennan_, whichis connected with _pin_, seen in _pin_-fold, l. 7). ~forsook~: a form ofthe past tense used for the participle. 

501. ~and his next joy~, _i. E. _ 'and (thou), his next joy'--wordsaddressed to the second brother. 

502. ~trivial toy~, ordinary trifle. The phrase seems redundant, but'trivial' may here be used in the strict sense of common or well-known. Compare _Il Pens. _ 4, "fill the fixed mind with all your _toys_"; andBurton's _Anat. Of Mel. _, "complain of _toys_, and fear without acause. "

503. ~stealth of~, things stolen by. 

506. ~To this my errand~, etc. , _i. E. _ in comparison with this errand ofmine and the anxiety it involved. 'To' = in comparison with; an idiomcommon in Elizabethan English, _e. G. _ "There is no woe _to_ thiscorrection, " _Two Gent. _ ii. 4. 138. See Abbott, § 187. 

508. ~How chance~. _Chance_ is here a verb followed by a substantiveclause: 'how does it chance that, ' etc. This idiom is common inShakespeare (Abbott, § 37), where it sometimes has the force of anadverb (= perchance): compare _Par. Lost_, ii. 492: "If chance theradiant sun, with farewell sweet, " etc. 

509. ~sadly~, seriously. Radically, sad = sated or full (A. S. _saed_);hence the two meanings, 'serious' and 'sorrowful, ' the former beingcommon in Spenser, Bacon, and Shakespeare. Comp. 'some _sad_ person ofknown judgment' (Bacon); _Romeo and Jul. _ i. 1. 205, "Tell me in_sadness_, who is that you love"; _Par. Lost_, vi. 541, "settled in hisface I see _Sad_ resolution. " See also Swinburne's _Miscellanies_(1886), page 170. 

510. ~our neglect~, _i. E. _ neglect on our part. 

511. ~Ay me~! Comp. _Lyc. _ 56, "Ay me! I fondly dream"; 154. Thisexclamatory phrase = ah me! Its form is due to the French _aymi_ = alas, for me! and has no connection with _ay_ or _aye_ = yes. In this line_true_ rhymes with _shew_: comp. _youth_ and _shew'th_, _Sonnet on hishaving arrived at the age of twenty-three_. 

512. ~Prithee~. A familiar fusion of _I pray thee_, sometimes written'pr'ythee. ' Lines 495-512 form nine rhymed couplets. 

513. ~ye~: a dative. See note on l. 216. 

514. ~shallow~. Comp. _Son. _ i. 6, "_shallow_ cuckoo's bill, " xii_a_. 12;_Arc. _ 41, "_shallow_-searching Fame. "

515. ~sage poets~. Homer and Virgil are meant; both of these mention thechimera. Milton (_Par. Lost_, iii. 19) afterwards speaks of himself as"taught by the heavenly Muse. " Comp. _L'Alleg. _ 17; _Il Pens. _ 117, "great bards besides In sage and solemn tunes have sung. "

516. ~storied~, related: 'To story' is here used actively: the pastparticiple is frequent in the sense of 'bearing a story or picture'; _IlPens. _ 159, "storied windows"; Gray's _Elegy_, 41, "storied urn";Tennyson's "storied walls. " _Story_ is an abbreviation of _history_. 

517. ~Chimeras~, monsters. Comp. The sublime passage in _Par. Lost_, ii. 618-628. The Chimera was a fire-breathing monster, with the head of alion, the tail of a dragon, and the body of a goat. It was slain byBellerophon. As a common name 'chimera' is used by Milton to denote aterrible monster, and is now current (in an age which rejects suchfabulous creatures) in the sense of a wild fancy; hence the adj. _chimerical_ = wild or fanciful. ~enchanted isles~, _e. G. _ those of Circeand Calypso, mentioned in the _Odyssey_. 

518. ~rifted rocks~: rifted = riven. Orpheus, in search of Eurydice, entered the lower world through the rocky jaws of Taenarus, a cape inthe south of Greece (see Virgil _Georg. _ iv. 467, _Taenarias fauces_);here also Hercules emerged from Hell with the captive Cerberus. 

519. ~such there be~. See note on l. 12 for this indicative use of _be_. 

520. ~navel~, centre, inmost recess. Shakespeare (_Cor. _ iii. L. 123)speaks of the 'navel of the state'; and in Greek Calypso's island was'the navel of the sea, ' while Apollo's temple at Delphi was 'the navelof the earth. '

521. ~Immured~, enclosed. Here used generally: radically it = shut upwithin walls (Lat. _murus_, a wall). 

523. ~witcheries~, enchantments. 

526. ~murmurs~. The incantations or spells of evil powers were sung ormurmured over the doomed object; sometimes they were muttered (as here)over the enchanted food or drink prepared for the victim. Comp. L. 817and _Arc. _ 60, "With puissant words and _murmurs_ made to bless. "

529. ~unmoulding reason's mintage charactered~, _i. E. _ defacing thosesigns of a rational soul that are stamped on the human face. The figureis taken from the process of melting down coins in order to restampthem. 'Charactered': here used in its primary sense (Gk. χαρακτήρ, anengraven or stamped mark), as in the phrase 'printed characters. ' Theword is here accented on the second syllable; in modern English on thefirst. 

531. ~crofts that brow~ = crofts that overhang. Croft = a small field, generally adjoining a house. Brow = overhang: comp. _L'Alleg. _ 8, "low-browed rocks. "

532. ~bottom glade~: the glade below. The word _bottom_, however, isfrequent in Shakespeare in the sense of 'valley'; hence 'bottom glade'might be interpreted 'glade in the valley. '

533. ~monstrous rout~; see note on the stage-direction after l. 92. Comp. 'the bottom of the monstrous world, ' _Lyc. _ 158. In _Aen. _ vii. 15, weread that when Aeneas sailed past Circe's island he heard "the growlingnoise of lions in wrath, . .. And shapes of huge wolves fiercely howling. "

534. ~stabled wolves~, wolves in their dens. _Stable_ (= a standing-place)is used by Milton in the general sense of abode, _e. G. _ in _Par. Lost_, xi. 752, "sea-monsters whelped and _stabled_. " Comp. "Stable forcamels, " _Ezek. _ xxv. 5, and the Latin _stabulum_, _Aen. _ vi. 179, _stabula alta ferarum_. 

535. ~Hecate~: see l. 135. 

536. ~bowers~: see note, l. 45. 

539. ~unweeting~; unwitting, unknowing. This spelling is found inSpenser's _Faerie Queene_, both in the compounds and in the simple verb_weet_, a corruption of _wit_ (A. S. _witan_, to know). Compare _Par. Reg. _ i. 126, "_unweeting_, he fulfilled The purposed counsel. " _Sams. Agon. _ 1680; Chaucer, _Doctor's Tale_, "Virginius came _to weet_ thejudge's will. "

540. ~by then~, _i. E. _ by the time when. The demonstrative adverb thusimplies a relative adverb: comp. The Greek, where the demonstrative isgenerally omitted, though in Homer occasionally the demonstrative aloneis used. Another rendering is to make line 540 parenthetical. 

542. ~knot-grass~. A grass with knotted or jointed stem: some, however, suppose marjoram to be intended here. ~dew-besprent~, _i. E. _ besprinkledwith dew: comp. _Lyc. _ 29. _Be_ is an intensive prefix; _sprent_ isconnected with M. E. _sprengen_, to scatter, of which _sprinkle_ is thefrequentative form. 

543. ~sat me down~: see note, l. 61. 

544. ~canopied, and interwove~. Comp. _M. N. D. _ ii. 2. 49, 'I know abank, ' etc. In sense 'canopied' refers to 'bank, ' and 'interwove' to'ivy. ' There are two forms of the past participle of _weave_, viz. _wove_ and _woven_: see _Arc. _ 47. 

545. ~flaunting~, showy, garish. In _Lyc. _ 146, the poet first wrote'garish columbine, ' then 'well-attired woodbine. '

547. ~meditate . .. Minstrelsy~, _i. E. _ to sing a pastoral song: comp. _Lyc. _ 32. 66. _To meditate the muse_ is a Virgilian phrase: see _Ecl. _i. And vi. The Lat. _meditor_ has the meaning of 'to apply one's selfto, ' and does not mean merely to ponder. 

548. ~had~, should have: comp. L. 394. ~ere a close~, _i. E. _ before he hadfinished his song (Masson). _Close_ occurs in the technical sense of'the final cadence of a piece of music. '

549. ~wonted~: see note, l. 332. 

550. ~barbarous~: comp. _Son. _ xii. 3, "a _barbarous_ noise environs me Ofowls and cuckoos, etc. "

551. ~listened them~. The omission of _to_ after verbs of hearing isfrequent in Shakespeare and others: comp. "To listen our purpose"; "Lista brief tale"; "hearken the end"; etc. (see Abbott, § 199). 'Them': thisrefers to the _sounds_ implied in 'dissonance. '

552. ~unusual stop~. This refers to what happened at l. 145, and the "softand solemn-breathing sound" to l. 230. 

553. ~drowsy frighted~, _i. E. _ drowsy and frighted. The noise of Comus'srout is here supposed to have kept the horses of night awake and in astate of drowsy agitation until the sudden calm put an end to theiruneasiness. In Milton's corrected MS. We read 'drowsy flighted, ' wherethe two words are not co-ordinate epithets but must be regarded asexpressing one idea = flying drowsily; to express this some insert ahyphen. Comp. 'dewy-feathered, ' _Il Pens. _ 146, and others of Milton'sremarkable compound adjectives. The reading in the text is that of theprinted editions of 1637, '45, and '73. 

554. ~Sleep~ (or Night) is represented as drawn by horses in a chariotwith its curtains closely drawn. Comp. _Macbeth_, ii. L. 51, "curtainedsleep. "

555. 'The lady's song rose into the air so sweetly and imperceptiblythat silence was taken unawares and so charmed that she would gladlyhave renounced her nature and existence for ever if her place couldalways be filled by such music. ' Comp. _Par. Lost_, iv. 604, "She allnight long her amorous descant sung; _Silence was pleased_"; alsoJonson's _Vision of Delight_:

 "Yet let it like an odour rise To all the senses here, And fall like sleep upon their eyes, Or music in their ear. "

558. ~took~, taken. Comp. L. 256 for a similar use of _take_, and compare'forsook, ' line 499, for the form of the word. 

560. ~Still~, always. This use of _still_ is frequent in Elizabethanwriters (Abbott, § 69). ~I was all ear~. Warton notes this expressiveidiom (still current) in Drummond's 'Sonnet to the Nightingale, ' and in_Tempest_, iv. L. 59, "all eyes. " _All_ is an attribute of _I_. 

561. ~create a soul~, etc. , _i. E. _ breathe life even into the dead: comp. _L'Alleg. _ 144. Warton supposes that Milton may have seen a picture inan old edition of Quarles' _Emblems_, in which "a soul in the figure ofan infant is represented within the ribs of a skeleton, as in itsprison. " _Rom. _ vii. 24, "Who shall deliver me out of the body of thisdeath?"

565. ~harrowed~, distracted, torn as by a _harrow_. This is probably themeaning, but there is a verb 'harrow' corrupted from 'harry, ' to subdue;hence some read "harried with grief and fear. "

567. ~How sweet . .. How near~. This sentence contains two exclamations:this is a Greek construction. In English the idiom is "How sweet . .. _and_ how near, " etc. We may, however, render the line thus: "Howsweet. .. , how near the deadly snare _is_!"

568. ~lawns~. 'Lawn' is always used by Milton to denote an open stretch ofgrassy ground, whereas in modern usage it is applied generally to asmooth piece of grass-grown land in front of a house. The origin of theword is disputed, but it seems radically to denote 'a clear space'; itis said to be cognate with _llan_ used as a prefix in the names ofcertain Welsh towns, _e. G. _ Llandaff, Llangollen. In Chaucer it takesthe form launde. 

569. ~often trod by day~, which I have often trod by day, and thereforeknow well. 

570. ~mine ear~: see note, l. 171. 

571. ~wizard~. Here used in contempt, like many other words with thesuffix _-ard_, or _-art_, as braggart, sluggard, etc. Miltonoccasionally, however, uses the word merely in the sense of magician ormagical, without implying contempt: see _Lyc. _ 55, "Deva spreads her_wizard_ stream. "

572. ~certain signs~: see l. 644. 

574. ~aidless~: an obsolete word. See Trench's _English Past and Present_for a list of about 150 words in _-less_, all now obsolete: comp. L. 92, note. ~wished~: wished for. Comp. L. 950 for a similar transitive use ofthe verb. 

575. ~such two~: two persons of such and such description. 

577. ~durst not stay~. _Durst_ is the old past tense of _dare_, and isused as an auxiliary: the form _dared_ is much more modern, and may beused as an independent verb. 

578. ~sprung~: see note, l. 256. 

579. ~till I had found~. The language is extremely condensed here, themeaning being, 'I began my flight, and continued to run till I _hadfound_ you'; the pluperfect tense is used because the speaker is lookingback upon his meeting with the brothers after completing a longnarration of the circumstances that led up to it. If, however, 'hadfound' be regarded as a subjunctive, the meaning is, 'I began my flight, and determined to continue it until I had found (_i. E. _ should havefound) you. ' Comp. Abbott § 361. 

581. ~triple knot~, a three-fold alliance of Night, Shades, and Hell. 

584. "This confidence of the elder brother in favour of the finalefficacy of virtue, holds forth a very high strain of philosophy, delivered in as high strains of eloquence and poetry" (Warton). And Toddadds: "Religion here gave energy to the poet's strains. "

585. ~safely~, confidently. ~period~, sentence. 

586. ~for me~, _i. E. _ for my part, so far as I am concerned: see note, l. 602. 

588. ~Which erring men call Chance~. 'Erring' belongs to the predicate;"which men erroneously call Chance. " Comp. Pope, _Essay on Man_:

 "All nature is but art, unknown to thee; All chance, direction, which thou canst not see. "

588. ~this I hold firm~. 'This' is explained by the next line: "thisbelief, namely, that Virtue may be assailed, etc. , I hold firmly. "

590. ~enthralled~, enslaved. Comp. L. 1022. 

591. ~which . .. Harm~, which the Evil Power intended to be most harmful. 

595-7. ~Gathered like scum~, etc. According to one editor, this image is"taken from the conjectures of astronomers concerning the dark spotswhich from time to time appear on the surface of the sun's body andafter a while disappear again; which they suppose to be the scum of thatfiery matter which first breeds it, and then breaks through and consumesit. "

598. ~pillared firmament~. The firmament (Lat. _firmus_, firm or solid) ishere regarded as the roof of the earth and supported on pillars. Theancients believed the stars to be fixed in the solid firmament: comp. _Par. Reg. _ iv. 55; also _Wint. Tale_, ii. L. 100, "If I mistake Inthose foundations which I build upon, The centre is not big enough tobear A schoolboy's top. "

602. ~for~, as regards. ~let . .. Girt~, though he be surrounded. 

603. ~grisly legions~. 'Grisly, ' radically the same as _grue-some_ =horrible, causing terror. In _Par. Lost_, iv. 821, Satan is called "thegrisly king. " 'Legions' is here a trisyllable. 

604. ~sooty flag of Acheron~. Acheron, at first the name of a river of thelower world, came to be used as a name for the whole of the lower worldgenerally. Todd quotes from P. Fletcher's _Locusts_ (1627): "All hellrun out and sooty flags display. "

605. ~Harpies and Hydras~. The Harpies (lit. 'spoilers') were uncleanmonsters, being birds with the heads of maidens, with long claws andgaunt faces. _Hydras_, here used as a general name for monstrouswater-serpents (Gk. _hydōr_, water); the name was first given to thenine-headed monster slain by Hercules. See _Son. _ xv. 7, "new rebellionsraise Their _Hydra_ heads"; the epithet 'hydra-headed' being applied toa rebellion, an epidemic, or other evil that seems to gain strength fromevery endeavour to repress it. 

607. ~return his purchase back~, _i. E. _ 'give up his spoil, ' or (as in theMS. ) 'release his new-got prey. ' To purchase (Fr. _pour-chasser_)originally meant to pursue eagerly, hence to acquire by fair means orfoul: it thus came to mean 'to steal' (as frequently in Spenser, Jonson, and Shakespeare), and 'to buy' (its current sense). See Trench, _Studyof Words_; _Hen. V. _ iii. 2. 45, "They will steal anything, and call it_purchase_"; i. _Hen. IV. _ ii. L. 101, "thou shalt have share in our_purchase_. "

609. ~venturous~, ready to venture. See note, l. 79. 

610. ~yet~, nevertheless. The meaning is: '_Though_ thy courage isuseless, _yet_ I love it. ' ~emprise~: an obsolete form (common in Spenser)of _enterprise_. It is literally that which is undertaken; hence'readiness to undertake'; hence 'daring. '

611. ~can do thee little stead~, _i. E. _ can help thee little. _Stead_, both as noun and verb, is obsolete except in certain phrases, _e. G. _ 'tostand in good stead, ' and in composition, _e. G. _ _stead_fast, home_stead_, in_stead_, Hamp_stead_, etc. Its strict sense is place orposition: comp. _Il Pens. _ 3, "How little you _bested_. "

612. ~Far other arms~, _i. E. _ very different arms. 'Other' has here itsradical sense of 'different, ' and can therefore be modified by anadverb. 

615. ~unthread~, loosen. Comp. _Temp. _ iv. L. 259, "Go charge my goblinsthat they grind their joints With dry convulsions, shorten up theirsinews With aged cramps. "

617. ~As to make this relation~, _i. E. _ as to be able to tell this. 

619. ~a certain shepherd lad~. This is supposed to refer to CharlesDiodati, Milton's dearest friend, to whom he addressed his 1st and 6thelegies, and after whose death he wrote the touching poem _EpitaphiumDamonis_, in which he alludes to his friend's medical and botanicalskill:

 "There thou shalt cull me simples, and shalt teach Thy friend the name and healing powers of each. "

 (_Cowper's translation. _)

620. ~Of small regard to see to~: in colloquial English, 'not much to lookat. ' This is an old idiom: comp. Greek καλὸς ἰδεῖν: see EnglishBible, "goodly to look to, " i. _Sam. _ xvi. 12; _Ezek. _ xxiii. 15; _Jer. _xlvii. 3. 

621. ~virtuous~, of healing power: see note, l. 165. Comp. _Il Pens. _ 113, "the virtuous ring and glass. "

623. ~beg me sing~: see note, l. 304. 

625. ~ecstasy~: see note, l. 261. The Greek _ekstasis_ = standing out ofone's self. 

626. ~scrip~, wallet. 

627. ~simples~, medicinal herbs. 'Simple' (Lat. _simplicem_, 'one-fold, ''not compound') was used of a single ingredient in a medicine; hence itspopular use in the sense of 'herb' or 'drug. '

630. ~me~, _i. E. _ for me: the ethic dative. 

633. ~bore~. The nom. Of this verb is, in sense, some such word as theplant or the root. 

634. ~unknown and like esteemed~: known and esteemed to a like extent, _i. E. _ in both cases not at all. _Like_ here corresponds to the prefix_un_ in _unknown_. On the description of the plant, see Introduction, reference to Ascham's _Scholemaster_. 

635. ~clouted shoon~, patched shoes. The expression is found inShakespeare, ii. _Hen. VI. _ iv. 2. 195, "Spare none but such as go in_clouted shoon_"; _Cym. _ iv. 2. 214, "put My _clouted brogues_ from offmy feet, whose rudeness Answer'd my steps too loud": see examples inMayhew and Skeat's _M. E. Dictionary_. There are instances, however, of_clout_ in the sense of a plate of iron fastened on the sole of a shoe. In either sense of the word 'clouted shoon' would be heavy and coarse. _Shoon_ is an old plural (O. E. _scon_); comp. _hosen_, _eyen_ (= eyes), _dohtren_ (= daughters), _foen_ (= foes), etc. 

636. ~more med'cinal~, of greater virtue. The line may be scanned thus:And yet | more med | 'cinal is | it than | that Mo | ly. ~Moly~. WhenUlysses was approaching the abode of Circe he was met by Hermes, whosaid: "Come then, I will redeem thee from thy distress, and bringdeliverance. Lo, take this herb of virtue, and go to the dwelling ofCirce, that it may keep from thy head the evil day. And I will tell theeall the magic sleight of Circe. She will mix thee a potion and castdrugs into the mess; but not even so shall she be able to enchant thee;so helpful is this charmed herb that I shall give thee . .. Therewith theslayer of Argos gave me the plant that he had plucked from the ground, and he showed me the growth thereof. It was black at the root, but theflower was like to milk. _Moly_ the gods call it, but it is hard formortal men to dig; howbeit with the gods all things are possible"(_Odyssey_, x. 280, etc. , _Butcher and Lang's translation_). In hisfirst Elegy Milton alludes to Mōly as the counter-charm to the spellsof Circe: see also Tennyson's _Lotos-Eaters_, "beds of amaranth and_moly_. "

638. ~He called it Hæmony~. _He_ is the shepherd lad of line 619. _Haemony_: Milton invents the plant, both name and thing. But theadjective _Haemonian_ is used, in Latin poetry as = _Thessalian_, Haemonia being the old name of Thessaly. And as Thessaly was regarded asa land of magic, 'Haemonian' acquired the sense of 'magical' (see Ovid, _Met. _ vii 264, "_Haemonia_ radices valle resectas, " etc. ), and Milton'sHaemony is simply "the magical plant. " Coleridge supposes that by theprickles and gold flower of the plant Milton signified the sorrows andtriumph of the Christian life. 

639. ~sovran use~: see note, l. 41. The use of this adjective with charms, medicines, or remedies of any kind was so very common that the word cameto imply 'all-healing, ' 'supremely efficacious'; see _Cor. _ ii. 1. 125, "The most _sovereign_ prescription in Galen. "

640. ~mildew blast~: comp. _Arc. _ 48-53, _Ham. _ iii. 4. 64, "Here is yourhusband; Like a _mildew'd_ ear _Blasting_ his wholesome brother. " Amildew blast is one giving rise to that kind of blight called mildew(A. S. Meledeáw, honey-dew), it being supposed that the prevalence of dryeast winds was favourable to its formation. 

642. ~pursed it up~, etc. , _i. E. _ put it in my wallet, though I did notattach much importance to it. ~little reckoning~: comp. _Lyc. _ 116, wherethe very same phrase occurs. 

643. ~Till now that~. Here _that_ = when, the clause introduced by itbeing explanatory of _now_ (see Abbott, § 284). 

646-7. ~Entered . .. Came off~. 'I entered into the very midst of histreacherous enchantments, and yet escaped. ' _Lime-twigs_ = snares; inallusion to the practice of catching birds by means of twigs smearedwith a viscous substance (called on that account 'birdlime'). Shakespeare makes repeated allusion to this practice: see _Macbeth_, iv. 2. 34; _Two Gent. _ ii. 2. 68; ii. _Hen. VI. _ i. 3. 91; etc. 

649. ~necromancer's hall~. Warton supposes that Milton here thought of amagician's castle which has an enchanted hall invaded by Christianknights, as we read of in the romances of chivalry. _Necromancer_, lit. One who by magical power can commune with the dead (Gk. νεκρός, acorpse); hence a sorcerer. From confusion of the first syllable withthat of the Lat. _niger_, black, the art of necromancy came to be called"the black art. "

650. ~Where if he be~, Lat. _ubi si sit_: in English the relative adverbin such cases is best rendered by a conjunction + a demonstrativeadverb; thus, '_and_ if he be _there_. '

651. ~brandished blade~. Comp. Hermes' advice to Ulysses: "When it shallbe that Circe smites thee with her long wand, even then draw thy sharpsword from thy thigh, and spring on her, as one eager to slay her, "_Odyssey_, x. ~break his glass~. An imitation of Spenser, who makes SirGuyon break the golden cup of the enchantress Excess, _F. Q. _ i. 12, stanza 56. 

652. ~luscious~, delicious. The word is a corruption of _lustious_ fromO. E. _lust_ = pleasure: see note, l. 49. 

653. ~But seize his wand~. The force of this injunction is shown by lines815-819. 

654. ~menace high~, violent threat. _High_ is thus used in a number offigurative senses, _e. G. _ a high wind, a high hand, high passions (_Par. Lost_, ix. 123), high descent, high design, etc. 

655. ~Sons of Vulcan~. In the _Aeneid_ (Bk. Viii. 252) we are told thatCacus, son of Vulcan (the Roman God of Fire), "vomited from his throathuge volumes of smoke" when pursued by Hercules, "_Faucibus ingentemfumum_, " etc. 

657. ~apace~; quickly, at a great pace. This word has changed itsmeaning: in Chaucer it means 'at a foot pace, ' _i. E. _ slowly. The firstsyllable is the indefinite article '_a_' = one (Skeat). 

658. ~bear~: the subjunctive used optatively (Abbott, § 365). (_StageDirection_) ~puts by~: puts on one side, refuses. ~goes about to rise~, _i. E. _ endeavours to rise. This idiomatic use of _go about_ stilllingers in the phrase 'to _go about_ one's business'; comp. 'to _setabout_' anything. 

659. ~but~, merely: comp. L. 656. After the conditional clause we havehere a verb in the present tense ('are chained'), a construction whichwell expresses the certainty and immediate action of the sorcerer'sspell (see Abbott, § 371). 

660. ~your nerves . .. Alabaster~. Comp. _Tempest_, i. 2. 471-484. Miltonhas the word alabaster three times, twice incorrectly spelled_alablaster_ (in this passage and _Par. Lost_, iv. 544) and oncecorrectly, as now entered in the text (_Par. Reg. _ iv. 548). Alabasteris a kind of marble: comp. _On Shak. _ 14, "make us _marble_ with toomuch conceiving. "

661. ~or, as Daphne was~, etc. The construction is: 'if I merely wave thiswand, you (become) a marble statue, or (you become) root-bound, asDaphne was, that fled Apollo. ' Milton inserts the adverbial clause inthe predicate, which is not unusual; he then adds an attributive clause, which is not usual in English, though common in Greek and Latin. Daphne, an Arcadian goddess, was pursued by Apollo, and having prayed for aid, she was changed into a laurel tree (Gk. δάφνη): comp, the story ofSyrinx and Pan, referred to in _Arc. _ 106. 

662. ~fled~. Comp. The transitive use of the verb in l. 829, 939, _Son. _xviii. 14, "_fly_ the Babylonian woe"; _Sams. Agon. _ 1541, "_fly_ Thesight of this so horrid spectacle. "

663. ~freedom of my mind~, etc. Comp. Cowper's noble passage, "He is thefreeman whom the truth makes free, " etc. (_Task_, v. 733). 

665. ~corporal rind~: the body, called in _Il Pens. _ 92, "this fleshlynook. "

668. ~here be all~. See note, l. 12. 

669. ~fancy can beget~: comp. _Il Pens. _ 6. 

672. ~cordial julep~, heart-reviving drink. _Cordial_, lit. Hearty (Lat. _cordi_, stem of _cor_, the heart): _julep_, Persian _gulāb_, rose-water. 

673. ~his~ = its: see note, l. 96. 

674. ~syrups~: Arab, _sharāb_, a drink, wine. 

675. ~that Nepenthes~, etc. The allusion is explained by the followinglines of the _Odyssey_: "Then Helen, daughter of Zeus, turned to newthoughts. Presently she cast a drug into the wine whereof they drank, adrug to lull all pain and anger, and bring forgetfulness of everysorrow. Whoso should drink a draught thereof, when it is mingled in thebowl, on that day he would let no tear fall down his cheeks, not thoughhis father and his mother died . .. Medicines of such virtue and sohelpful had the daughter of Zeus, which Polydamna, the wife of Thon, hadgiven her, a woman of Egypt, where earth the grain-giver yields herbs ingreatest plenty, many that are healing in the cup, and many baneful"(_Butcher and Lang's translation_, iv. 219-230). 'Nepenthes, ' a Greekadj. = sorrow-dispelling (νη, privative; πένθος, grief). It is here usedby Milton as the name of an opiate and it is now occasionally used as ageneral name for drugs that relieve pain. 

677. ~Is of such power~, etc. : see note, l. 155. The construction is, 'That Nepenthes is not of such power to stir up joy as this (julep is, nor is it) so friendly to life (nor) so cool to thirst. '

679. ~Why . .. To yourself~. Comp. Shakespeare, _Son. _ i. 8, "Thyself thyfoe, to thy sweet self too cruel. "

680. 'Nature gave you your beautiful person to be held in trust oncertain conditions, of which the most obligatory is that the body shouldhave refreshment after toil, ease after pain. Yet this very conditionyou disregard, and deal harshly with yourself by refusing my proferredglass at a time when you are in need of food and rest. ' Comp. Shakespeare, _Son. _ iv. "Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend Uponthyself thy beauty's legacy, " etc. 

685. ~unexempt condition~, _i. E. _ a condition binding on all and at alltimes, a law of human nature. 

687. ~mortal frailty~, _i. E. _ weak mortals: abstract for concrete. 

688. ~That~. The antecedent of this relative is _you_, l. 682. See note, l. 2. 

689. ~timely~, seasonable. So 'timeless' = unseasonable (Scott's_Marmion_, iii. 223, "gambol rude and _timeless_ joke"): comp. _Son. _ii. 8, "_timely_-happy spirits"; and l. 970. 

693. ~Was this . .. Abode~? The verb is singular, because 'cottage' and'safe abode' convey one idea: see Comus's words, l. 320. Notice alsothat the past tense is used as referring to the past act of telling. 

694. ~aspects~: accent on final syllable. 

695. ~oughly-headed~: so spelt in Milton's MS. = ugly-headed. _Ugly_ isradically connected with _awe_. 

698. ~with visored falsehood and base forgery~. A vizor (also spelt_visor_, _visard_, _vizard_) is a mask, "a false face. " The allusion isto Comus's disguise: see l. 166. _With_ in this line, as in lines 672and 700, denotes _by means of_. 

700. ~liquorish baits~: see note on _baited_, l. 162. 'Liquorish, ' bycatachresis for _lickerish_ = tempting to the appetite, causing one to_lick_ one's lips. The student should carefully distinguish the threewords _lickerish_ (as above), _liquorish_ (which is really meaningless)and _liquorice_ (= licorice = Lat. _glycyrrhiza_), a plant with a sweetroot. 

702. ~treasonous~; an obsolete word. The current form 'treasonable' hasusually a more restricted sense: Milton and Shakespeare use _treasonous_in the more general sense of _traitorous_ (a cognate word). In this line'offer' = the thing offered. 

703. ~good men . .. Good things~. This noble sentiment Milton has borrowedfrom Euripides, _Medea_, 618, Κακοῦ γὰρ ἀνδρὸς δῶρ᾽ ὄνησιν οὐκ ἔχει, "thegifts of the bad man are without profit. " (Newton). 

704. ~that which is not good~, etc. This is Platonic: the soul has arational principle and an irrational or appetitive, and when the formercontrols the latter, the desires are for what is good only (_Rep. _ iv. 439). 

707. ~budge doctors of the Stoic fur~. Budge is lambskin with the wooldressed outwards, worn on the edge of the hoods of bachelors of arts, etc. Therefore, if both _budge_ and _fur_ be taken literally the line istautological. But 'budge' has the secondary sense of 'solemn, ' like adoctor in his robes; and 'fur' may be used figuratively in the sense of_sect_, just as "the cloth" is used to denote the clergy. The wholephrase would thus be equivalent to 'solemn doctors of the Stoic sect. 'It is possible that Milton makes equivocal reference to the two sensesof 'budge. '

708. ~the Cynic tub~ = the tub of Diogenes the Cynic, here put in contemptfor the Cynic school of Greek philosophy, which was the forerunner ofthe Stoic system. Diogenes, one of the early Cynics, lived in a tub, andwas fond of calling himself ὁ κύων (the dog). 

709. ~the~: here used generically. 

711. ~unwithdrawing~. In this participle the termination _-ing_ seemsalmost equivalent to that of the past participle: comp. "_all-obeying_breath" (= obeyed by all), _A. And C. _ iii. 13, 77. Nature's gifts arenot only full but continuous. 

714. ~all to please . .. Curious taste~. _All_ = entirely, here modifiesthe infinitives please and sate. _Curious_ = fastidious: its originalsense is 'careful' or 'anxious. ' Compare the two senses of _exquisite_, note l. 359. 

715. ~set~, _i. E. _ she set. The pronominal subject is omitted. 

717. ~To deck~: infinitive of purpose. 

718. ~in her own loins~, _i. E. _ in the bowels of the earth. 

719. ~hutched~ = stored up, enclosed. _Hutch_ is an old word for chest orcoffer, chiefly used now in the compound 'rabbit-hutch. '

720. ~To store her children with~, _i. E. _ _wherewith_ to store herchildren. Or we may read, 'in order to store her children with (them). ''Store' = provide. 

721. ~pet of temperance~, _i. E. _ a sudden and transitory fit oftemperance. ~pulse~. So Daniel and his three companions refused thedainties of the King of Babylon and fed on pulse and water; _Dan. _ i. 

722. ~frieze~, coarse woollen cloth. 

723. ~All-giver~. Comp. Gk. πανδώρα, an epithet applied to the earth asthe giver of all. 

725. 'And we should serve him as (if he were) a grudging master and apenurious niggard of his wealth, and (we should) live like Nature'sbastards': see _Hebrews_ xii. 8, "If ye are without chastening, whereofall have been made partakers, then are ye _bastards, and not sons_. "

728. ~Who~. The pronoun here relates not to the word immediately precedingit, but to the substantive implied in the possessive pronoun _her_, _i. E. _ the sons of her who. His, her, etc. , in such constructions havetheir full force as genitives: comp. _L'Alleg. _ 124, "her grace whom" =the grace of her whom. ~surcharged~: overloaded, 'overfraught' (l. 732). ~waste fertility~, wasted or unused abundance. This participial use of'waste' seems to be due to the similarity in sound to such participlesas 'elevate' (= elevated), 'instruct' (= instructed), etc. , which occurin Milton (comp. _English Past and Present_, vi. ). 

729. ~strangled~, suffocated. 

730. ~winged air darked with plumes~, _i. E. _ the air being darkened by theflight of innumerable birds. Spenser also has _dark_ as a verb. Bothclauses in this line are absolute. 

731. ~over-multitude~, outnumber. This line and the preceding oneillustrate the freedom with which, in earlier English, one part ofspeech was used for another. 

732. ~o'erfraught~: see note, l. 355. 

733. ~emblaze~, make to blaze, make splendid. There is perhaps a referenceto the sense of _emblazon_, which is from M. E. _blazen_, to blazeabroad, to proclaim. 

734. ~bestud with stars~. In Milton's MS. It is 'bestud the centre withtheir star-light, ' _centre_ being the 'centre of the earth. '

735. ~inured~, accustomed, by custom rendered less sensitive. _Inure_ isfrom the old phrase 'in ure' = in operation (Fr. _œuvre_, work). 

737. ~coy~: shy or reserved. ~cozened~: cheated, beguiled. The origin ofthis word is interesting: a cozener is one who, for selfish ends, claimskindred or _cousinship_ with another, and hence a flatterer or cheat. 

739-755. ~Beauty is Nature's coin~, etc. "The idea that runs through theseseventeen lines is a favourite one with the old poets; and Warton andTodd cite parallel passages from Shakespeare, Daniel, Fletcher, andDrayton. Thus, from Shakespeare (_M. N. D. _ i. 1. 76-8):

 "Earthlier happy is the rose distilled Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn, Grows, lives, and dies, in single blessedness. "

See also Shakespeare's first six sonnets, which are pervaded by the ideain all its subtleties" (Masson). 

743. ~let slip time~, _i. E. _ allow time _to_ slip: see note, l. 304. Comp. _Par. Lost_, i. 178. "Let us not _slip_ the occasion. "

744. ~It~ = beauty. ~languished~, languid or languishing: comp. _Par. Lost_, vi. 496, "their languished hope revived"; _Epitaph on M. Of W. _ 33. The suffix _-ed_ is frequent in Elizabethan English where we now have_-ing_ (Abbott, § 374). 

747. ~most~, as many as possible. 

748. ~homely . .. Home~. There is here a play upon words as in _Two Gent. _i. 1. 2: "_Home-keeping_ youth have ever _homely_ wits. " _Homely_ isderived from _home_. 

749. Women with coarse complexions and dull cheeks are good enough forhousehold occupations. 

750. ~of sorry grain~, not brilliant, of poor colour. 'Grain' is from Lat. _granum_, a seed, applied to small objects, and hence to the coccus orcochineal insect which yields a variety of red dyes. Hence _grain_ cameto denote certain colours, _e. G. _ Tyrian purple, violet, etc. , and is soused by Milton: see _Il Pens. _ 33, "a robe of darkest _grain_"; _Par. Lost_, v. 285, "sky-tinctured _grain_"; xi. 242, "A military vest ofpurple . .. Livelier than . .. The _grain_ Of Sarra, " etc. And as thesewere fast or durable colours we have such phrases as 'to dye in grain, ''a rogue in grain, ' 'an ingrained habit. ' (See further in Marsh's _Lect. On Eng. Lang. _ p. 55). 

751. ~sampler~, a sample or pattern piece of needlework. It is a doubletof _exemplar_. ~tease the huswife's wool~. To _tease_ is to comb or card:comp. The Lat. _vexare_. 'Huswife' = house-wife, further corrupted into_hussy_. _Hussif_ (a case for needles, etc. ) is a different word. 

752. ~What need a vermeil-tinctured lip~? See note, l. 362, on 'whatneed. ' _Vermeil_: a French spelling of _vermilion_. The name is fromLat. _vermis_, a worm (the cochineal insect, from which the colour usedto be got); and as _vermis_ is cognate with Sansk. _krimi_, a worm, itfollows that _vermilion_, _crimson_, and _carmine_ are cognate. 

753. ~tresses~. Homer (_Odyssey_, v. 390) speaks of "the fair-tressedDawn, " εὐπλόκαμος Ἠώς . 

755. ~advised~. Contrast with 'Advice, ' l. 108. 

756. Lines 756-761 are not addressed to Comus. 

757. ~but that~: were it not that. 

758. ~as mine eyes~: as he has already charmed mine eyes; see note, l. 170. 

759. ~rules pranked in reason's garb~, _i. E. _ specious arguments. _Pranked_ = decked in a showy manner: Milton (Prose works, i. 147, ed. 1698) speaks of the Episcopal church service _pranking_ herself in theweeds of the Popish mass. Comp. _Wint. Tale_, iv. 4. 10, "Mostgoddess-like _prank'd_ up"; _Par. Lost_, ii. 226, "Belial, with wordsclothed in _reason's garb_. "

760-1. I hate when Vice brings forward refined arguments, and Virtueallows them to pass unchallenged. ~bolt~ = to sift or separate, as the_boulting-mill_ separates the meal from the bran; in this sense the word(also spelt _boult_) is used by Chaucer, Spenser (_F. Q. _ ii. 4. 24), Shakespeare (_Cor. _ iii. 1. 322, _Wint. Tale_, iv. 4. 375, "the fannedsnow that's _bolted_ By the northern blasts twice o'er, " etc. ). Thespelling _bolt_ has confused the word with 'bolt, ' to shoot or startout. See Index to Globe _Shakespeare_. 

763. ~she would her children~, etc. , _i. E. _ she wished (that) her childrenshould be wantonly luxurious: comp. L. 172; _Par. Lost_, i. 497-503. 

764. ~cateress~, stewardess, provider: lit. 'a buyer. ' _Cateress_ isfeminine: the masculine is _caterer_, where the final _-er_ of the agentis unnecessarily repeated. 

765. ~Means . .. To the good~: intends . .. For the good. 

767. ~dictate~. The accent in Milton's time was on the first syllable, both in noun and verb. ~spare Temperance~. For Milton's praises ofTemperance comp. _Il Pens. _ 46, "Spare Fast that oft with gods dothdiet"; also the 6th Elegy, 56-66; _Son. _ xx. , etc. "There is much in theLady which resembles the youthful Milton himself--he, the Lady of hiscollege--and we may well believe that the great debate concerningtemperance was not altogether dramatic (where, indeed, is Milton trulydramatic?), but was in part a record of passages in the poet's ownspiritual history. " Dowden's _Transcripts and Studies_. 

768. If Nature's blessings were equally distributed instead of beingheaped upon a luxurious few, then (as Shakespeare says, _King Lear_, iv. 1. 73) "distribution should undo excess, And each man have enough. "

769. ~beseeming~, suitable. The original sense of _seem_ is 'to befitting, ' as in the words _beseem_ and _seemly_. 

770. ~lewdly-pampered~; one of Milton's most expressive compounds =wickedly gluttonous. _Lewd_ has passed through several changes ofmeaning: (1) the lay-people as distinct from the clergy; (2) ignorant orunlearned; and finally (2) base or licentious. 

774. ~she no whit encumbered~, _i. E. _ Nature would not be in the leastsurcharged (as Comus represented in l. 728). _No whit_, used adverbially= not in the least, lit. 'not a particle. ' Etymologically _aught_ = awhit, _naught_ = no whit. 

776. ~His praise due paid~, _i. E. _ would be duly paid. On _due_, see note, l. 12. ~gluttony~: abstract for concrete. 

779. ~Crams~, _i. E. _ crams himself. There are many verbs in English thatmay be thus used reflexively without having the pronoun expressed, _e. G. _ _feed_, _prepare_, _change_, _pour_, _press_, etc. 

780. ~enow~. 'Enow' conveys the notion of a number, as in early English:it is also spelt _anow_, and in Chaucer _ynowe_, and is the plural of_enough_. It still occurs as a provincialism in England. On lines780-799 Masson says: "A recurrence, by the sister, with much more mysticfervour, to that Platonic and Miltonic doctrine which had already beenpropounded by the Elder Brother (see lines 420-475). "

782. ~sun-clad power of chastity~. With 'sun-clad' compare 'the sacredrays of chastity, ' l. 425. Similarly in the _Faerie Queene_, iii. 6, Spenser says of Belphoebe, who represents Chastity, "And Phoebus withfair beams did her adorn. "

783. ~yet to what end?~ A rhetorical question, = it would be to nopurpose. 

784. ~nor . .. Nor~. These correlatives are often used in poetry for_neither . .. Nor_ (Shakespeare often omitting the former altogether), and are equally correct. _Nor_ is only a contraction of _neither_, andthe first may as well be contracted as the second. 

785. ~sublime notion and high mystery~. In the _Apology for Smectymnuus_Milton tells of his study of the "divine volume of Plato, " wherein helearned of the "abstracted sublimities" of Chastity and Love: also ofhis study of the Holy Scripture "unfolding these chaste and highmysteries, with timeless care infused, that the body is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. "

790. ~dear wit~. 'Dear' is here used in contempt: its original sense is'precious' (A. S. _deore_), but in Elizabethan English it has a varietyof meanings, _e. G. _ intense, serious, grievous, great, etc. Comp. "sadoccasion _dear_, " _Lyc. _ 6; "_dear_ groans, " _L. L. L. _ v. 2. 874. Craiksuggests "that the notion properly involved in it of love, having firstbecome generalised into that of a strong affection of any kind, hadthence passed on to that of such an emotion the very reverse of love, "as in my _dearest_ foe. ~gay rhetoric~: here so named in contempt, asbeing the instrument of sophistry. 

791. ~fence~, argumentation, _Fence_ is an abbreviation of _defence_:comp. "tongue-fence" (Milton), "fencer in wits' school" (Fuller), _MuchAdo_, v. 1. 75. 

794. ~rapt spirits~. 'Rapt' = enraptured, as if the mind or soul had been_carried out of itself_ (Lat. _raptus_, seized): comp. _Il Pens. _ 40, "Thy _rapt_ soul sitting in thine eyes. " Milton also uses the word ofthe actual snatching away of a person: "What accident hath _rapt_ himfrom us, " _Par. Lost_, ii. 40. 

797. ~the brute Earth~, etc. , _i. E. _ the senseless Earth would becomesensible and assist me. 'Brute' = Lat. _brutus_, dull, insensible: comp. Horace, _Odes_, i. 34. 9, "_bruta tellus_. "

800. ~She fables not~: she speaks truly. This line is alliterative. 

801. ~set off~: comp. _Lyc. _ 80, "_set off_ to the world. "

802. ~though not mortal~: _sc. _ 'I am. ' ~shuddering dew~. The epithet is, by hypallage, transferred from the person to the dew or cold sweat which'dips' or moistens his body. 

804. ~Speaks thunder and the chains of Erebus~, etc. ; in allusion to the_Titanomachia_ or contest between Zeus and the Titans. Zeus, having beenprovided with thunder and lightning by the Cyclops, cast the Titans intoTartarus or Erebus, a region as far below Hell as Heaven is above theEarth. The leader of the Titans was Cronos (Saturn). There is a zeugmain _speaks_ as applied to 'thunder' and 'chains, ' unless it be taken asin both cases equivalent to _denounces_. 

806. ~Come, no more!~ Comus now addresses the lady. 

808. ~canon laws of our foundation~, _i. E. _ the established rules of oursociety. "A humorous application of the language of universities andother foundations" (Keightley). 

809. ~'tis but the lees~, etc. _Lees_ and _settlings_ are synonymous =dregs. The allusion is to the old physiological system of the fourprimary humours of the body, viz. Blood, phlegm, choler, and melancholy(see Burton's _Anat. Of Mel. _ i. 1, § ii. 2): "Melancholy, cold and dry, thick, black, and sour, begotten of the more feculent part ofnourishment, and purged from the spleen"; Gk. μελαγχολία, black bile. See _Sams. Agon. _ 600, "_humours black_ That mingle with thy fancy";and Nash's _Terrors of the Night_ (1594): "(Melancholy) sinketh down tothe bottom like the lees of the wine, corrupteth the blood, and is thecause of lunacy. "

811. ~straight~, immediately. The adverb _straight_ is now chiefly used ofdirection; to indicate time _straightway_ (= in a straight way) is moreusual: comp. _L'Alleg. _ 69: "Straight mine eye hath caught newpleasures. "

814. ~scape~, a mutilated form of 'escape, ' occurs both as a noun and averb in Shakespeare and Milton: see _Par. Lost_, x. 5, "what can _scape_the eye of God?"; _Par. Reg. _ ii. 189, "then lay'st thy _scapes_ onnames adored. "

816. ~without his rod reversed~. This use of the participle is a Latinism:see note, l. 48. At the same time it is to be noted that a phrase ofthis kind introduced by 'without' is in Latin frequently rendered by theablative absolute: such construction is here inadmissible because'without' also governs 'mutters. '

817. ~backward mutters~. The notion of a counter-charm produced byreversing the magical wand and by repeating the charm backwards occursin Ovid (_Met. _ xiv. 300), who describes Circe as thus restoring thefollowers of Ulysses to their human forms. Milton skilfully makes theneglect of the counter-charm the occasion for introducing the legend ofSabrina, which was likely to interest an audience assembled in theneighbourhood of the River Severn. On 'mutters, ' see note, l. 526. 

820. ~bethink me~. The pronoun after this verb is reflexive. "Thedeliverance of their sister would be impossible but for supernaturalinterposition, the aid afforded by the Attendant Spirit from Jove'scourt. In other words, Divine Providence is asserted. Not without higherthan human aid is the Lady rescued, and through the weakness of themortal instruments of divine grace but half the intended work isaccomplished. " Dowden's _Transcripts and Studies_. 

821. In this line and the next the attributive clauses are separatedfrom the antecedent: see note, l. 2. 

822. ~Melibœus~. The name of a shepherd in Virgil's _Eclogue_ i. Possibly the poet Spenser is here meant, as the tale of Sabrina is givenin the _Faerie Queene_, ii. 10, 14. The tale is also told by Geoffrey ofMonmouth and by Sackville, Drayton and Warner. As Milton refers to a'shepherd, ' _i. E. _ a poet, and to 'the soothest shepherd, ' _i. E. _ thetruest poet, and as he follows Spenser's version of the story in thispoem, we need not hesitate to identify Meliboeus with Spenser. 

823. ~soothest~, truest. The A. S. _sóth_ meant _true_; hence also 'a truething' = truth. It survives in _soothe_ (lit. To affirm to be true), _soothsay_ (see l. 874), and _forsooth_ (= for a truth). 

824. ~from hence~. _Hence_ represents an A. S. Word _heonan_, _-an_ beinga suffix = from: so that in the phrase 'from hence' the force of thepreposition is twice introduced. Yet the idiom is common: it arises fromforgetfulness of the origin of the word. Comp. _Arc. _ 3: "which _we fromhence_ descry. "

825. ~with moist curb sways~: comp. L. 18. Sabrina was a _numen fluminis_or river-deity. 

826. ~Sabrina~: The following is Milton's version of the legend:--"Afterthis, Brutus, in a chosen place, builds Troja Nova, changed in time toTrinovantum, now London; and began to enact laws (Heli being then HighPriest in Judea); and, having governed the whole isle twenty-four years, died, and was buried in his new Troy. His three sons--Locrine, Albanact, and Camber--divide the land by consent. Locrine had the middle part, Loëgria; Camber possessed Cambria or Wales; Albanact, Albania, nowScotland. But he, in the end, by Humber, King of the Huns, who, with afleet, invaded that land, was slain in fight, and his people driven backinto Loëgria. Locrine and his brother go out against Humber; who nowmarching onward was by them defeated, and in a river drowned, which tothis day retains his name. Among the spoils of his camp and navy werefound certain young maids, and Estrilidis, above the rest, passing fair, the daughter of a king in Germany, from whence Humber, as he went wastingthe sea-coast, had led her captive; whom Locrine, though beforecontracted to the daughter of Corineus, resolves to marry. But beingforced and threatened by Corineus, whose authority and power he feared, Gwendolen the daughter he yields to marry, but in secret loves the other;and, ofttimes retiring as to some sacrifice, through vaults and passagesmade underground, and seven years thus enjoying her, had by her adaughter equally fair, whose name was Sabra. But when once his fear wasoff by the death of Corineus, not content with secret enjoyment, divorcing Gwendolen, he makes Estrilidis his Queen. Gwendolen, all inrage, departs into Cornwall; where Pladan, the son she had by Locrine, was hitherto brought up by Corineus, his grandfather; and gathering anarmy of her father's friends and subjects, gives battle to her husband bythe river Sture, wherein Locrine, shot with an arrow, ends his life. Butnot so ends the fury of Gwendolen, for Estrilidis and her daughter Sabrashe throws into a river, and, to have a monument of revenge, proclaimsthat the stream be thenceforth called after the damsel's name, which bylength of time is changed now to _Sabrina_ or Severn. "--_History ofBritain_ (1670). 

827. ~Whilom~, of old. An obsolete word, lit. 'at time'; A. S. _hwílum_, instr. Or dat. Plur. Of _hwil_, time. 

830. ~step-dame~. For the actual relationship, see note, l. 826. Theprefix _step_ (A. S. _steóp-_) means 'orphaned, ' and applies properly toa child whose parent has re-married: it was afterwards used in the words'step-father, ' etc. _Dame_ (Fr. _dame_, a lady) retains the sense ofmother in the form _dam_. 

832. ~his~ = its: see note, l. 96. 

834. ~pearled wrists~, wrists adorned with pearls. An appropriate epithet, as pearls were said to exist in the waters of the Severn. 

835. ~aged Nereus' hall~, the abode of old Nereus, _i. E. _ the bottom ofthe sea. Nereus, the father of the Nereids, or sea nymphs, is describedas the wise and unerring old man of the sea; in Virgil, _grandaevusNereus_. See also, l. 871, and compare Jonson's _Neptune's Triumph_, last song: "Old Nereus, with his fifty girls, From aged Indus laden homewith pearls. "

836. ~piteous of~, _i. E. _ full of pity for; comp. Lat. _miseret tealiorum_ (genitive). Milton occasionally uses the word in this passivesense; its active sense is 'causing pity, ' _i. E. _ pitiful. Comp. Abbott, § 3. ~reared her lank head~, _i. E. _ raised up her drooping head: comp. _Par. Lost_, viii. : "In adoration at his feet I fell Submiss: he_reared_ me. " 'Lank, ' lit. Slender; hence weak. The adjective _lanky_ isin common use = tall and thin. 

837. ~imbathe~, to bathe in: the force of the preposition beingreduplicated, as in Lat. _incidere in_. 

838. ~nectared lavers~, etc. , baths sweetened with nectar and scented withasphodel flowers. On 'nectar, ' see note, l. 479. ~asphodel~; the same, both name and thing, as 'daffodil' (see _Lyc. _ 150, where it takes theform 'daffadillies'): Gk. ἀσφόδελος, M. E. _affodille_. The initial _d_ indaffodil has not been satisfactorily explained: see l. 851. 

839. ~the porch~. So Quintilian calls the ear the vestibule of the mind:comp. _Haml. _ i. 5. 63: "the porches of mine ear"; also the phrase, "thefive gateways of knowledge. "

840. ~ambrosial oils~, oils of heavenly fragrance: see note, l. 16, andcompare Virgil's use of _ambrosia_ in _Georg. _ iv. 415, _liquidumambrosiae diffundit odorem_. 

841. ~quick immortal change~: comp. L. 10. 

842. ~Made Goddess~, etc. This participial construction is frequent inMilton as in Latin: it is equivalent to an explanatory clause. 

844. ~twilight meadows~: comp. "twilight groves, " _Il Pens. _ 133;"twilight ranks, " _Arc. _ 99; _Hymn Nat. _ 188. 

845. ~Helping all urchin blasts~, remedying or preventing the blightinginfluence of evil spirits. 'Urchin blasts' is probably here usedgenerally for what in _Arcades_, 49-53, are called "noisome winds andblasting vapours chill, " 'urchin' being common in the sense of 'goblin'(_M. W. Of W. _ iv. 4. 49). Strictly the word denotes the hedgehog, whichfor various reasons was popularly regarded with great dread, and hencemischievous spirits were supposed to assume its form: comp. Shakespeare, _Temp_, i. 2. 326, ii. 2. 5, "Fright me with _urchin_-shows"; _TitusAnd. _ ii. 3. 101; _Macbeth_, iv. 1. 2, "Thrice and once the _hedge-pig_whined, " etc. Compare the protecting duties of the Genius in _Arcades_. ~Helping~: comp. The phrases, "I cannot _help_ it, " _i. E. _ prevent it; "itcannot be _helped_, " _i. E. _ remedied, etc. 

846. ~shrewd~. Here used in its radical sense = _shrew-ed_, malicious, like a shrew. Comp. _M. N. D. _ ii. 1, "That _shrewd_ and knavish spritecalled Robin Goodfellow. " Chaucer has the verb _shrew_ = to curse; thecurrent verb is _beshrew_. 

847. ~vialed~, contained in _phials_. 

850. ~garland wreaths~. A garland is a wreath, but we may take the phraseto mean 'wreathed garlands': comp. "twisted braids, " l. 862. 

852. ~old swain~, _i. E. _ Meliboeus (l. 862). "But neither Geoffrey ofMonmouth nor Spenser has the development of the legend" (Masson). 

853. ~clasping charm~: see l. 613, 660. 

854. ~warbled song~: comp. _Arc. _ 87, "touch the _warbled_ string"; _Son. _xx. 12, "_Warble_ immortal notes. "

857. ~This will I try~, _i. E. _ to invoke her rightly in song. 

858. ~adjuring~, charging by something sacred and venerable. Theadjuration is contained in lines 867-889, which, in Milton's MS. , aredirected "to be said, " not sung, and in the Bridgewater MS. "to sing ornot. " From the latter MS. It would appear that these lines were sung asa kind of trio by Lawes and the two brothers. 

863. ~amber-dropping~: see note, l. 333; and comp. L. 106, where the ideais similar, warranting us in taking 'amber-dropping' as a compoundepithet = dropping amber, and not (as some read) 'amber' and 'dropping. '_Amber_ conveys the ideas of luminous clearness and fragrance: see_Sams. Agon. _ 720, "_amber_ scent of odorous perfume. "

865. ~silver lake~, the Severn. Virgil has the Lat. _lacus_ in the senseof 'a river. '

868. ~great Oceanus~, Gk. Ὠκέανόν τε μέγαν. The early Greeks regardedthe earth as a flat disc, surrounded by a perpetually flowing rivercalled Oceanus: the god of this river was also called Oceanus, andafterwards the name was applied to the Atlantic. Hesiod, Drayton, andJonson have all applied the epithet 'great' to the god Oceanus; in fact, throughout these lines Milton uses what may be called the "permanentepithets" of the various divinities. 

869. ~earth-shaking Neptune's mace~, _i. E. _ the trident of Poseidon(Neptune). Homer calls him ἐννοσίγαιος = earth-shaking: comp. _Iliad_, xii. 27, "And the Shaker of the Earth with his trident in his hands, "etc. In _Par. Lost_, x. 294, Milton provides Death with a "macepetrifick. "

870. ~Tethys' . .. Pace~. Tethys, wife of Oceanus, their children being theOceanides and river-gods. In Hesiod she is 'the venerable' (πότνια Τηθύς), and in Ovid 'the hoary. '

871. ~hoary Nereus~: see note, l. 835. 

872. ~Carpathian wizard's hook~. See Virgil's _Georg. _ iv. 387, "In thesea-god's Carpathian gulf there lives a seer, Proteus, of the sea's ownhue . .. All things are known to him, those which are, those which havebeen, and those which drag their length through the advancing future. "_Wizard_ = diviner, without the depreciatory sense of line 571; see notethere. _Hook_: Proteus had a shepherd's hook, because he tended "themonstrous herds of loathly sea-calves": _Odyssey_, iv. 385-463. 

873. ~scaly Triton's . .. Shell~. In _Lycidas_, 89, he is "the Herald ofthe Sea. " He bore a 'wreathed horn' or shell which he blew at thecommand of Neptune in order to still the restless waves of the sea. Hewas 'scaly, ' the lower part of his body being like that of a fish. 

874. ~soothsaying Glaucus~. He was a Boeotian fisherman who had beenchanged into a marine deity, and was regarded by fishermen and sailorsas a soothsayer or oracle: see note, l. 823. 

875. ~Leucothea~: lit. "the white goddess" (Gk. λευκή, θεά), the nameby which Ino, the daughter of Cadmus, was worshipped after she hadthrown herself into the sea to avoid her enraged husband Athamas. 

876. ~her son~, _i. E. _ Melisertes, drowned and deified along with hismother: as a sea-deity he was called Palaemon, identified by the Romanswith their god of harbours, Portumnus. 

877. ~tinsel-slippered~. The 'permanent epithet' of Thetis, a daughter ofNereus and mother of Achilles, is "silver-footed" (Gk. ἀργυρόπεζα). Comp. _Neptune's Triumph_ (Jonson):

 "And all the silver-footed nymphs were drest To wait upon him, to the Ocean's feast. "

'Tinsel-slippered' is a paraphrase of this, for 'tinsel' is a clothworked with silver (or gold): the notion of cheap finery is not radical. Etymologically, _tinsel_ is that which glitters or _scintillates_. Onthe beauty of this epithet, and of Milton's compound epithets generally, see Trench, _English Past and Present_, p. 296. 

878-80. ~Sirens . .. Parthenopè's . .. Ligea's~. The three Sirens (seenote, l. 253) were Parthenopè, Ligēa, and Lucosia. The tomb of thefirst was at Naples (see Milton's _Ad Leonaram_, iii. , "Credula quidliquidam Sirena, Neapoli, jactas, Claraque Parthenopes fanaAchelöiados, " etc. ). Ligea, described by Virgil (_Georg. _ iv. 336) as asea-nymph, is here represented as seated, like a mermaid, in the act ofsmoothing her hair with a golden comb. 

881. ~Wherewith~ = with which. The true adjective clause is "sleeking . .. Locks" = with which she sleeks, etc. ; and the true participial clause is"she sits . .. Rocks" = seated on . .. Rocks. 

882. ~Sleeking~, making sleek or glossy. The original sense of 'sleek' isgreasy: comp. _Lyc. _ 99, "On the level brine _Sleek_ Panopè with all hersisters played. "

885. ~heave~, raise. Comp. The similar use of the word in _L'Alleg. _ 145, "Orpheus' self may heave his head. "

887. ~bridle in~, _i. E. _ restrain. 

888. ~have~: subjunctive after _till_, as frequently in Milton. 

890. ~rushy-fringèd~, fringed with rushes. The more usual form would berush-fringed: we may regard Milton's form as a participle formed fromthe compound noun "rushy-fringe": comp. 'blue-haired, ' l. 29;"false-played, " Shakespeare, _A. And C. _ iv. 14. 

891. ~grows~. A singular with two nominatives connected by _and_: the verbis to be taken with each. But the compound subject is really equivalentto "the willow with its osiers dank, " osiers being water-willows ortheir branches. ~dank~, damp: comp. _Par. Lost_, vii. 441, "oft they quitthe _dank_" (= the water). 

893. ~Thick set~, etc. , _i. E. _ thickly inlaid with agate and beautifiedwith the azure sheen of turquoise, etc. There is a zeugma in _set_. ~azurn sheen~. Sheen = brightness: it occurs again in l. 1003; see notethere. 'Azurn': modern English has a tendency to use the noun itself asan adjective in cases where older English used an adjective with thesuffix _-en_ = made of. Most of the adjectives in _-en_ that stillsurvive do not now denote "made of, " but simply "like, " _e. G. _ goldenhair, etc. _Azurn_ and _cedarn_ (l. 990), _hornen_, _treen_, _corden_, _glassen_, _reeden_, etc. , are practically obsolete; see Trench, _English Past and Present_. Comp. 'oaten' (_Lyc. _ 33), 'oaken' (_Arc. _45). As the words 'azurn' and 'cedarn' are peculiar to Milton some holdthat he adopted them from the Italian _azzurino_ and _cedrino_. 

894. ~turkis~; also spelt turkoise, turquois, and turquoise: lit. 'theTurkish stone, ' a Persian gem so called because it came through Turkey(Pers. _turk_, a Turk). 

895. ~That . .. Strays~. Milton does not imply that these stones werefound in the Severn, nor does he in lines 932-937 imply that cinnamongrows on its banks. 

897. ~printless feet~. Comp. _Temp. _ v. I. 34: "Ye that on the sands with_printless foot_ Do chase the ebbing Neptune"; also _Arc. _ 85: "Where noprint of step hath been. "

902. It will be noticed that the Spirit takes up the rhymes of Sabrina'ssong ('here, ' 'dear'; 'request, ' 'distressed'), and again Sabrinacontinues the rhymes of the Spirit's song ('distressed, ' 'best'). 

913. ~of precious cure~, of curative power. See note on this use of 'of, 'l. 155. 

914. References to the efficacy of sprinkling are frequent, _e. G. _ inthe English Bible, in Spenser, in Virgil (_Aen. _ vi. 229), in Ovid(_Met. _ iv. 479), in _Par. Lost_, xi. 416. 

916. ~Next~: an adverb modifying 'touch. '

917. ~glutinous~, sticky, viscous. The epithet is transferred from theeffect to the cause. 

921. ~Amphitrite~: the wife of Neptune (Poseidon) and goddess of the Sea. 

923. ~Anchises line~: see note, l. 827. Locrine was the son of Brutus, whowas the son of Silvius, who was the grandson of the great Aeneas, whowas the son of old Anchises. 

924. ~may . .. Miss~. This verb is optative: so are '(may) scorch, ' '(may)fill, ' 'may roll, ' and 'may be crowned. '

925. ~brimmèd~. The passive participle is so often used where we now usethe active that 'brimmed' may mean 'brimming' = full to the brim. On theother hand, 'brim' is frequent in the sense of _bank_ (comp. L. 119), sothat some regard 'brimmed' as = enclosed within banks. 

928. ~singèd~, scorched. We should rather say 'scorching. ' On the goodwishes expressed in lines 924-937 Masson's comment is: "The whole ofthis poetic blessing on the Severn and its neighbourhood, involving thewish of what we should call 'solid commercial prosperity, ' would go tothe heart of the assemblage at Ludlow. "

933. ~beryl~: in the Bible (_Rev. _ xxi. 20) this precious stone forms oneof the foundations of the New Jerusalem. The word is of Eastern origin:comp. Arab, _billaur_, crystal. ~golden ore~. As a matter of fact gold hasbeen found in the Welsh mountains. 

934. ~May thy lofty head~, etc. The grammatical construction is: 'May thylofty head be crowned round with many a tower and terrace, and here andthere (may thy lofty head be crowned) with groves of myrrh and cinnamon(growing) upon thy banks. ' This makes 'banks' objective, and 'upon' apreposition: the only objection to this reading is that the notion ofcrowning the head upon the banks is peculiar. The difficulty vanisheswhen we recollect that Milton frequently connects two clauses with onesubject rather loosely: the subject of the second clause is 'thou, 'implied in 'thy lofty head. ' An exact parallel to this is found in_L'Alleg. _ 121, 122: 'whose bright eyes rain influence and _judge_ theprize'; also in _Il Pens. _ 155-7; 'let my due feet never fail to _walk. .. And love_, etc. ': also in _Lyc. _ 88, 89. The explanation adopted byProf. Masson is that Milton had in view two Greek verbs--περιστεφανόω, 'to put a crown round, ' and ἐπιστεφανόω, "to put a crown upon": thus, "May thy lofty head be _crowned round_ with many a tower and terrace, and thy banks here and there be _crowned upon_ with groves of myrrh andcinnamon. " This makes 'banks' nominative, and 'upon' an adverb. 

In the Bridgewater MS. The stage direction here is, _Song ends_. 

942. ~Not a waste~, etc. , _i. E. _ 'Let there not be a superfluous orunnecessary sound until we come. ' 'waste' is an attributive: see note, l. 728. 

945. ~gloomy covert wide~: see note, l. 207. 

946. ~not many furlongs~. These words are deliberately inserted to keep upthe illusion. It is probable that, in the actual representation of themask, the scene representing the enchanted palace was removed whenComus's rout was driven off the stage, and a woodland scene redisplayed. This would give additional significance to these lines and to the changeof scene after l. 957. 'Furlong' = furrow-long: it thus came to mean thelength of a field, and is now a measure of length. 

949. ~many a friend~. 'Many a' is a peculiar idiom, which has beenexplained in different ways. One view is that 'many' is a corruption ofthe French _mesnie_, a train or company, and 'a' a corruption of thepreposition 'of, ' the singular noun being then substituted for theplural through confusion of the preposition with the article. A morecorrect view seems to be that 'many' is the A. S. _manig_, which was inold English used with a singular noun and without the article, _e. G. __manig mann_ = many men. In the thirteenth century the indefinitearticle began to be inserted; thus _mony enne thing_ = many a thing, just as we say 'what _a_ thing, ' 'such _a_ thing. ' This would seem toshow that 'a' is not a corruption of 'of, ' and that there is noconnection with the French word _mesnie_. Milton, in this passage, uses'many a friend' with a plural verb. ~gratulate~. The simple verb is nowreplaced by the compound _congratulate_ (Lat. _gratulari_, to wish joyto a person). 

950. ~wished~, _i. E. _ wished for; see note, l. 574. ~and beside~, _i. E. _'and where, besides, ' etc. 

952. ~jigs~, lively dances. 

958. ~Back, shepherds, back!~ On the rising of the curtain, the stage isoccupied by peasants engaged in a merry dance. Soon after the attendantSpirit enters with the above words. ~Enough your play~, _i. E. _ we have hadenough of your dancing, which must now give way to 'other trippings. '

959. ~sunshine holiday~. Comp. _L'Alleg. _ 98, where the same expression isused. There is a close resemblance between the language of this song andlines 91-99 of _L'Allegro_. Milton's own spelling of 'holiday' is'holyday, ' which shows the origin of the word. The accent in suchcompounds (comp. Blue-bell, blackbird, etc. ) falls on the adjective: itis only in this way that the ear can tell whether the compound forms(_e. G. _ hóliday) or the separate words (_e. G. _ hóly dáy) are being used. 

960. ~Here be~: see note, l. 12. ~without duck or nod~: words used todescribe the ungraceful dancing and awkward courtesy of the countrypeople. 

961. ~trippings . .. Lighter toes . .. Court guise~: words used to describethe graceful movements of the Lady and her brothers: comp. _L'Alleg. _33: "trip it, as you go, On the light fantastic toe. " _Trod_ (ortrodden), past participle of _tread_: 'to tread a measure' is a commonexpression, meaning 'to dance. ' 'Court guise, ' _i. E. _ courtly mien;_guise_ is a doublet of _wise_ = way, _e. G. _ 'in this wise, ''like_wise_, ' 'other_wise_. ' In such pairs of words as _guise_ and_wise_, _guard_ and _ward_, _guile_ and _wile_, the forms in _gu_ havecome into English through the French. 

963. ~Mercury~ (the Greek Hermes) was the herald of the gods, and as suchwas represented as having winged ankles (Gk. πτηνοπέδιλος): his name ishere used as a synonym both for agility and refinement. 

964. ~mincing Dryades~. The Dryades are wood-nymphs (Gk. δρῦς, atree), here represented as mincing, _i. E. _ tripping with short steps, unlike the clumsy striding of the country people. Comp. _Merch. Of V. _iii. 4. 67: "turn two _mincing_ steps Into a manly stride. " Applied to aperson's gait (or speech), the word now implies affectation. 

965. ~lawns . .. Leas~. On 'lawn, ' see note, l. 568: a 'lea' is a meadow. 

966. This song is sung by Lawes while presenting the three young personsto the Earl and Countess of Bridgewater. 

967. ~ye~: see note, l. 216. 

968. ~so goodly grown~, _i. E. _ grown so goodly. _Goodly_ = handsome (A. S. _gódlic_ = goodlike). 

970. ~timely~. Here an adverb: in l. 689 it is an adjective. Comp. The twophrases in _Macbeth_: "To gain the _timely_ inn, " iii. 3. 7; and "Tocall _timely_ on him, " ii. 3. 51. 

972. ~assays~, trials, temptations. _Assay_ is used by Milton in thesense of 'attempt' as well as of 'trial': see _Arc. _ 80, "I will_assay_, her worth to celebrate. " The former meaning is now confined tothe form _essay_ (radically the same word); and the use of _assay_ hasbeen still further restricted from its being used chiefly of the testingof metals. Comp. _Par. Lost_, iv. 932, "hard _assays_ and illsuccesses"; _Par. Reg. _ i. 264, iv. 478. 

974, 5. ~To triumph~. The whole purpose of the poem is succinctlyexpressed in these lines. _Stage Direction_: ~Spirit epiloguizes~, _i. E. _sings the epilogue or concluding stanzas. In one of Lawes' manuscriptsof the mask, the epilogue consists of twelve lines only, those numbered1012-1023. From the same copy we find that line 976 had been altered byLawes in such a manner as to convert the first part of the epilogue intoa prologue which, in his character as Attendant Spirit, he sang whilstdescending upon the stage:--

 _From the heavens_ now I fly, And those happy climes that lie Where day never shuts his eye, Up in the broad _field_ of the sky. There I suck the liquid air All amidst the gardens fair Of Hesperus, and his daughters three That sing about the golden tree. There eternal summer dwells, And west winds, with musky wing, About the cedarn alleys fling Nard and cassia's balmy smells. Iris there with humid bow Waters the odorous banks, that blow Flowers of more mingled hue Than her purfled scarf can show, _Yellow, watchet, green, and blue_, And drenches oft with _Manna_ dew Beds of hyacinth and roses, Where _many a cherub soft_ reposes. 

Doubtless this was the arrangement in the actual performance of themask. 

976. ~To the ocean~, etc. The resemblance of this song, in rhythm andrhyme, to the song of Ariel in the _Tempest_, v. 1. 88-94, has beenfrequently pointed out: "Where the bee sucks, there suck I, " etc. Compare also the song of Johphiel in _The Fortunate Isles_ (Ben Jonson):"Like a lightning from the sky, " etc. The epilogue as sung by Lawes (ll. 1012-1023) may also be compared with the epilogue of the _Tempest_: "Nowmy charms are all o'erthrown, " etc. 

977. ~happy climes~. Comp. _Odyssey_, iv. 566: "The deathless gods willconvey thee to the Elysian plain and the world's end . .. Where life iseasiest for men. No snow is there, nor yet great storm, nor any rain;but always ocean sendeth forth the breeze of the shrill west to blowcool on men": see also l. 14. 'Clime, ' radically the same as _climate_, is still used in its literal sense = a region of the earth; while'climate' has the secondary meaning of 'atmospheric conditions. ' Comp. _Son. _ viii. 8: "Whatever _clime_ the sun's bright circle warms. "

978. ~day . .. Eye~. Comp. _Son. _ i. 5: "the _eye_ of day"; and _Lyc. _ 26:"the opening _eyelids_ of the Morn. "

979. ~broad fields of the sky~. Comp. Virgil's "_Aëris in campis latis_, "_Aen. _ vi. 888. 

980. ~suck the liquid air~, inhale the pure air. 'Liquid' (lit. Flowing)is used figuratively and generally in the sense of pure and sweet: comp. _Son. _ i. 5, "thy liquid notes. "

981. ~All amidst~. For this adverbial use of _all_ (here modifying thefollowing prepositional phrase), compare _Il Pens. _ 33, "_all_ in a robeof darkest grain. "

982. ~Hesperus~: see note, l. 393. Hesperus, the brother of Atlas, hadthree daughters--Aegle, Cynthia, and Hesperia. They were famed for theirsweet song. In Milton's MS. _Hesperus_ is written over _Atlas_: Spensermakes them daughters of Atlas, as does Jonson in _Pleasure reconciled toVirtue_. 

984. ~crispéd shades~. 'Crisped, ' like 'curled' (comp. "curl the grove, "_Arc. _ 46) is a common expression in the poetry of the time, and has thesame meaning. The original form is the adjective 'crisp' (Lat. _crispus_= curled), from which comes the verb _to crisp_ and the participle_crisped_. Compare "the _crisped_ brooks . .. Ran nectar, " _Par. Lost_, iv. 237, where the word is best rendered 'rippled'; also Tennyson's_Claribel_, 19, "the babbling runnel _crispeth_. " In the present casethe reference is to the foliage of the trees. 

985. ~spruce~, gay. This word, now applied to persons with a touch oflevity, was formerly used both of things and persons in the sense of gayor neat. Compare the present and earlier uses of the word _jolly_, onwhich Pattison says:--"This is an instance of the disadvantage underwhich poetry in a living language labours. No knowledge of the meaningwhich a word bore in 1631 can wholly banish the later and vulgarassociations which may have gathered round it since. Apart from directparody and burlesque, the tendency of living speech is gradually todegrade the noble; so that as time goes on the range of poeticalexpression grows from generation to generation more and morerestricted. " The origin of the word _spruce_ is disputed: Skeat holdsthat it is a corruption of Pruce (old Fr. _Pruce_, mod. Fr. _Prusse_) =Prussia; we read in the 14th century of persons dressed after thefashion of Prussia or Spruce, and Prussia was called Sprussia by someEnglish writers up to the beginning of the 17th century. See alsoTrench, _Select Glossary_. 

986. ~The Graces~. The three Graces of classical mythology were Euphrosyne(the light-hearted one), Aglaia (the bright one), and Thalia (theblooming one). See _L'Alleg. _ 12: "Euphrosyne . .. Whom lovely Venus, ata birth, With two sister Graces more, To ivy-crownèd Bacchus bore. " Theywere sometimes represented as daughters of Zeus, and as the goddesseswho purified and enhanced all the innocent pleasures of life. ~rosy-bosomed Hours~. The Hours (Horæ) of classical mythology were thegoddesses of the Seasons, whose course was described as the dance of theHoræ. The Hora of Spring accompanied Persephone every year on her ascentfrom the lower world, and the expression "The chamber of the Horæ opens"is equivalent to "The Spring is coming. " 'Rosy-bosomed'; the Gk. ῥοδόκολπος: compare the epithets 'rosy-fingered' (applied by Homer tothe dawn), 'rosy-armed, ' etc. 

989. ~musky . .. Fling~. Compare _Par. Lost_, viii. 515: "Fresh gales andgentle airs Whispered it to the woods, and from their wings Flung rose, flung odours from the spicy shrub. " In this passage the verb _fling_ issimilarly used. 'Musky' = fragrant: comp. 'musk-rose, ' l. 496. 

990. ~cedarn alleys~, _i. E. _ alleys of cedar trees. For 'alley, ' comp. L. 311. For the form of 'cedarn, ' see note on 'azurn, ' l. 893. Tennysonuses the word 'cedarn' in _Recoll. Of Arab. Nights_, 115. 

991. ~Nard and cassia~; two aromatic plants. Cassia is a name sometimesapplied to the wild cinnamon: nard is also called _spike-nard_; seeallusion in the Bible, _Mark_, xiv. 3; _Exod. _ xxx. 24, etc. 

992. ~Iris . .. Humid bow~: see note, l. 83. The allusion is, of course, tothe rainbow. 

993. ~blow~, here used actively = cause to blossom: comp. Jonson, _Mask atHighgate_, "For thee, Favonius, here shall _blow_ New flowers. "

995. ~purfled~ = having an embroidered edge (O. F. _pourfiler_): the verb_to purfle_ survives in the contracted form _to purl_, and is cognatewith profile = a front line or edge. ~shew~: here rhymes with _dew_; comp. L. 511, 512. This points to the fact that in Milton's time the presentpronunciation of _shew_, though familiar, was not the only onerecognised. 

996. ~drenches with Elysian dew~, _i. E. _ soaks with heavenly dew. TheHomeric Elysium is described in _Odyssey_, iv. : see note, l. 977; itwas afterwards identified with the abode of the blessed, l. 257. _Drench_ is the causative of _drink_: here the nominative of the verb is'Iris' and the object 'beds. '

997. ~if your ears be true~, _i. E. _ if your ears be pure: the poet isabout to speak of that which cannot be understood by those with "grossunpurgèd ear" (_Arc. _ 73, and _Com. _ l. 458). He alludes to that pureLove which "leads up to Heaven, " _Par. Lost_, viii. 612. 

998. ~hyacinth~. This is the "sanguine flower inscribed with woe" of_Lycidas_, 106: it sprang from the blood of Hyacinthus, a youth belovedby Apollo. 

999. ~Adonis~, the beloved of Venus, died of a wound which he receivedfrom a boar during the chase. The grief of Venus was so great that thegods of the lower world allowed him to spend six months of every year onearth. The story is of Asiatic origin, and is supposed to be symbolic ofthe revival of nature in spring and its death in winter. Comp. _Par. Lost_, ix. 439, "those gardens feigned Or of revived Adonis, " etc. 

1000. ~waxing well of~, _i. E. _ recovering from. The A. S. _weaxan_ = togrow or increase: Shakespeare has 'man of wax' = adult, _Rom. And Jul. _i. 3. 76; see also Index to Globe _Shakespeare_. 

1002. ~Assyrian queen~, _i. E. _ Venus, whose worship came from the East, probably from Assyria. She was originally identical with Astarte, calledby the Hebrews Ashteroth: see _Par. Lost_, i. 438-452, where Adonisappears as Thammuz. 

1003, 4. ~far above . .. Advanced~. These words are to be read together:'advanced' is an attribute to 'Cupid, ' and is modified by 'far above. '

1003. ~spangled sheen~, glittering brightness. 'Spangled': _spangle_ is adiminutive of _spang_ = a metal clasp, and hence 'a shining ornament. 'In poetry it is common to speak of the stars as 'spangles' and of theheavens as 'spangled': comp. Addison's well-known lines:

 "The spacious firmament on high, With all the blue ethereal sky, And _spangled_ heavens, a shining frame, Their great Original proclaim. "

Comp. Also _Lyc. _ 170, "with _new-spangled_ ore. " 'Sheen' is here usedas a noun, as in line 893; also in _Hymn Nat. _ 145, "throned incelestial _sheen_": _Epitaph on M. Of W. _ 73, "clad in radiant _sheen_. "The word occurs in Spenser as an adjective also: comp. "her dainty corseso fair and _sheen_, " _F. Q. _ ii. 1. 10. In the line "By fountain clearor spangled starlight _sheen_" (_M. N. D. _ ii. L. 29) it is doubtfulwhether the word is a noun or an adjective. Milton uses the adjective_sheeny_ (_Death of Fair Infant_, 48). 

1004. ~Celestial Cupid~. The ordinary view of Cupid is given in the noteto line 445; here he is the lover of Psyche (the human soul) to whom heis united after she has been purified by a life of trial and misfortune. The myth of Cupid and Psyche is as follows: Cupid was in love withPsyche, but warned her that she must not seek to know who he was. Yielding to curiosity, however, she drew near to him with a lamp whilehe was asleep. A drop of the hot oil falling on him, he awoke, and fledfrom her. She now wandered from place to place, persecuted by Venus; butafter great sorrow, during which she was secretly supported by Cupid, she became immortal and was united to him for ever. In this story Psycherepresents the human soul (Gk. ψυχή), which is disciplined and purifiedby earthly misfortune and so fitted for the enjoyment of true happinessin heaven. Further, in Milton's Allegory it is only the soul so purifiedthat is capable of knowing true love: in his _Apology for Smectymnuus_he calls it that Love "whose charming cup is only virtue, " and whose"first and chiefest office . .. Begins and ends in the soul, producingthose happy twins of her divine generation, Knowledge and Virtue. " Tothis high and mystical love Milton again alludes in _Epitaphium Damonis_:

 "In other part, the expansive vault above, And there too, even there the god of love; With quiver armed he mounts, his torch displays A vivid light, his gem-tipt arrows blaze, Around his bright and fiery eyes he rolls, Nor aims at vulgar minds or little souls, Nor deigns one look below, but aiming high Sends every arrow to the lofty sky; Hence forms divine, and minds immortal, learn The power of Cupid, and enamoured burn. "

 _Cowper's translation. _

1007. ~among~: preposition governing 'gods. '

1008. ~make~: subjunctive after 'till. ' Its nominative is 'consent. '

1010. ~blissful~, blest. _Bliss_ is cognate with _bless_ and _blithe_. Comp. "the _blest_ kingdoms meek of joy and love, " _Lyc. _ 177. ~are to beborn~. There seems to be here a confusion of constructions between thesubjunctive co-ordinate with _make_ and the indicative dependent inmeaning on "Jove hath sworn" in the following line. 

1011. ~Youth and Joy~. Everlasting youth and joy are found only after thetrials of earth are past. So Spenser makes Pleasure the daughter ofCupid and Psyche, but she is "the daughter late, " _i. E. _ she is possibleonly to the purified soul. See also note on l. 1004. 

1012. ~my task~, _i. E. _ the task alluded to in line 18. This line is anadverbial clause = Now that (or _because_) my task is smoothly done. 

1013. The Spirit's task being finished he is free to soar where hepleases. There seems to be implied the injunction that mankind can byvirtue alone attain to the same spiritual freedom. 

1014. ~green earth's end~. The world as known to the ancients did notextend much beyond the Straits of Gibraltar. The Cape Verd Islands, which lie outside these straits, may be here referred to: comp. _Par. Lost_, viii. 630:

 "But I can now no more; the parting sun Beyond the earth's green Cape and Verdant Isles Hesperean sets, my signal to depart. "

1015. ~bowed welkin~: the meaning of the line is, "Where the arched skycurves slowly towards the horizon. " _Welkin_ is, radically, "the regionof clouds, " A. S. _wolcnu_, clouds. 

1017. ~corners of the moon~, _i. E. _ its horns. The crescent moon is saidto be 'horned' (Lat. _cornu_, a horn). Comp. The lines in _Macbeth_, iii. 5. 23, 24: "Upon the corners of the moon There hangs a vaporousdrop profound. "

1020. ~She can teach ye how to climb~, etc. Compare Jonson's song toVirtue:

 "Though a stranger here on earth In heaven she hath her right of birth. There, there is Virtue's seat: Strive to keep her your own; 'Tis only she can make you great, Though place here make you known. "

1021. ~sphery chime~, _i. E. _ the music of the spheres. "To climb higherthan the sphery chime" means to ascend beyond the spheres into theempyrean or true heaven--the abode of God and the purest Spirits. Miltontherefore implies that by virtue alone can we come into God's presence. See note on "the starry quire, " line 112. 'Chime' is strictly 'harmony, 'as in "silver _chime_, " _Hymn Nat. _ 128: the word is cognate with_cymbal_. 

1022, 3. ~if Virtue feeble were~, etc. A triumphant expression of thatconfidence in the invincibleness of virtue, when aided by DivineProvidence, and therefore a fitting conclusion of the whole masque. Milton's whole life reveals his unshaken belief in the truth expressedin the last two lines of his _Comus_. 

INDEX TO THE NOTES. 

A. 

Acheron, 604. 

Adonis, 999. 

Adventurous, 79. 

Advice, 108; advised, 755. 

Affects, 386. 

Alabaster, 660. 

All, 714, 981. 

All ear, 560. 

Alley, 311, 990. 

All-giver, 723. 

All to-ruffled, 380. 

Amber-dropping, 863. 

Ambrosial, 16. 

Amiss, 177. 

Apace, 657. 

Arbitrate, 411. 

Asphodel, 838. 

Assays, 972. 

Assyrian Queen, 1002. 

Ay me, 511. 

Azurn, 893. 

B. 

Backward, 817. 

Baited, 162. 

Bandite, 426. 

Be, 12, 519. 

Benison, 332. 

Beryl, 933. 

Beseeming, 769. 

Blank, 452. 

Blissful, 1010. 

Blue-haired, 29. 

Blow, 993. 

Bolt, 760. 

Bosky, 313. 

Bourn, 313. 

Brakes, 147. 

Brimmed, 925. 

Brinded, 443. 

Brute, 797. 

Budge, 707. 

Burs, 352. 

C. 

Cassia, 991. 

Cast, 360. 

Cateress, 764. 

Cedarn, 990. 

Centre, 382. 

Certain, 266. 

Chance, 508. 

Charactered, 530. 

Charmèd, 51. 

Charnel, carnal, 471. 

Charybdis, 257. 

Chime, 1021. 

Chimeras, 517. 

Circe, 50. 

Clime, 977. 

Close, 548. 

Clouted, 635. 

Company, 274. 

Comus, 46, 58. 

Convoy, 81. 

Cordial, 672. 

Corners, 1017. 

Cotes, 344. 

Cotytto, 129. 

Courtesy, 325. 

Cozened, 737. 

Crabbed, 477. 

Crisped, 984. 

Crofts, 531. 

Crowned, 934. 

Curfew, 435. 

Curious, 714. 

Cynic, 708. 

Cynosure, 342. 

D. 

Dapper, 118. 

Darked, 730. 

Dear, 790. 

Dell, 312. 

Descry, 141. 

Dew-besprent, 542. 

Dimple, 119. 

Dingle, 312. 

Disinherit, 334. 

Ditty, 86. 

Drench, 996. 

Drouth, 66. 

Drowsy frighted, 553. 

Due, 12. 

Dun, 127. 

Durst, 577. 

E. 

Each . .. Every, 19, 311. 

Earth-shaking, 869. 

Ebon, 134. 

Ecstasy, 261, 625. 

Element, 299. 

Elysium, 257. 

Emblaze, 732. 

Emprise, 610. 

Engaged, 193. 

Enow, 780. 

Erebus, 804. 

Every . .. Each, 19, 311. 

Eye, 329. 

F. 

Faery, 298. 

Fairly, 168. 

Fantastic, 144, 205. 

Fence, 791. 

Firmament, 598. 

Fond, 67. 

For, 586, 602. 

Forestalling, 285. 

Forlorn, 39. 

Fraught, 355, 732. 

Freezed, 449. 

Frighted, 553. 

Frolic, 59. 

G. 

Gear, 167. 

Glistering, 219. 

Glozing, 161. 

Goodly, 968. 

Graces, 986. 

Grain, 750. 

Granges, 175. 

Gratulate, 949. 

Grisly, 603. 

Guise, 961. 

H. 

Haemony, 638. 

Hag, 434. 

Hallo, 226. 

Hapless, 350. 

Harpies, 605. 

Harrowed, 565. 

Heave, 885. 

Hecate, 135. 

Help, 304, 845. 

Hence, 824. 

Her, 351, 455. 

Hesperian, 393. 

High, 654. 

Hinds, 174. 

Holiday, 959. 

Home-felt, 262. 

Homely, 748. 

Horror, 38. 

Hours, 986. 

How chance, 508. 

Huswife, 751. 

Hutched, 719. 

Hyacinth, 998. 

Hydras. 605. 

I. 

Imbathe, 837. 

Imbodies, 468. 

Imbrutes, 468. 

Immured, 521. 

Infamous, 424. 

Infer, 408. 

Influence, 336. 

Inlay, 22. 

Innumerous, 349. 

Insphered, 3. 

Interwove, 544. 

Inured, 735. 

Iris, 83. 

Isle, 21. 

J. 

Jocund, 172. 

Jollity, 104. 

Julep, 672. 

K. 

Knot-grass, 542. 

L. 

Lackey, 455. 

Lake, 865. 

Languished, 744. 

Lank, 836. 

Lap, 257. 

Lawn, 568. 

Lees, 809. 

Leucothea, 875. 

Lewdly-pampered, 770. 

Like, 22, 634. 

Lime-twigs, 646. 

Liquid, 980. 

Liquorish, 700. 

Listed, 49. 

Listened, 551. 

Liveried, 455. 

Lore, 34. 

Love-lorn, 234. 

Luscious, 652. 

M. 

Madness, 261. 

Madrigal, 495. 

Mansion, 2. 

Mantling, 294. 

Many a, 949. 

Margent, 232. 

Me, 163, 630. 

Meander, 232. 

Meditate, 547. 

Melancholy, 810. 

Methought, 171. 

Meliboeus, 822. 

Mickle, 31. 

Mildew, 640. 

Mincing, 964. 

Mintage, 529. 

Misusèd, 47. 

Moly, 636. 

Monstrous, 533. 

Mountaineer, 426. 

Morrice, 116. 

Mortal, 10. 

Murmurs, 526. 

Mutters, 817. 

My, mine, 170. 

N. 

Naiades, 254. 

Nard, 991. 

Navel, 520. 

Necromancer, 649. 

Nectar, 479. 

Neighbour, 484. 

Nepenthes, 675. 

Nereus, 835. 

Nether, 20. 

New-intrusted, 36. 

Nice, 139. 

Night-foundered, 483. 

Nightingale, 234. 

Nightly, 113. 

Nor . .. Nor, 784. 

O. 

Oaten, 345, 893. 

Oceanus, 97, 868. 

Of, 59, 155, 836, 1000. 

Ominous, 61. 

Orient, 65. 

Other, 612. 

Oughly-headed, 695. 

Ounce, 71. 

Over-exquisite, 359. 

Over-multitude, 731. 

P. 

Palmer, 189. 

Pan, 176. 

Pard, 444. 

Parley, 241. 

Pent, 499. 

Perfect, 73, 203. 

Perplexed, 37. 

Pert, 118. 

Pestered, 7. 

Pinfold, 7. 

Plight, 372. 

Plighted, 301

Plumes, 378. 

Potion, 68. 

Pranked, 759. 

Presentments, 156. 

Prime, 289. 

Prithee, 615. 

Prove, 123. 

Purchase, 607. 

Purfled, 995. 

Psyche, 1004. 

Q. 

Quaint, 157. 

Quarters, 29. 

Quire, 112. 

Quivered, 422. 

R. 

Rapt, 794. 

Ravishment, 244. 

Reared, 836. 

Recks, 404. 

Regard, 620. 

Rifted, 518. 

Rite, 125. 

Roost, 317. 

Rosy-bosomed, 986. 

Rout, 92-93. 

Rule, 340. 

Rushy-fringed, 890. 

S. 

Sabrina, 826. 

Sadly, 509. 

Sampler, 751. 

Saws, 110. 

Scape, 814. 

Scylla, 257. 

Serene, 4. 

Several, 25. 

Shagged, 429. 

Shapes, 2. 

Sheen, 893, 1003. 

Shell, 231, 837. 

Shew, 995. 

Shoon, 635. 

Should, 482. 

Shrewd, 846. 

Shrouds, 147. 

Shuddering, 802. 

Siding, 212. 

Simples, 627. 

Single, 204. 

Sirens, 253, 878. 

Sleeking, 882. 

Slope, 98. 

Solemnity, 142. 

Soothest, 823. 

Sooth-saying, 874. 

Sounds, 115. 

Sovran, 41, 639. 

Spangled, 1003. 

Spell, 154. 

Spets, 132. 

Sphery, 1021. 

Spruce, 985. 

Square, 329. 

Squint, 413. 

Stabled, 534. 

Star of Arcady, 341. 

State, 35. 

Stead, 611. 

Step-dame, 830. 

Still, 560. 

Stoic, 707. 

Stops, 345. 

Storied, 516. 

Straight, 811. 

Strook, 301. 

Stygian, 132. 

Sun-clad, 782. 

Sung, 256. 

Sure, 148. 

Surrounding, 403. 

Swain, 497. 

Swart, 436. 

Swinked, 293. 

Sylvan, 268. 

Syrups, 674. 

T. 

Tapestry, 324. 

Temple, 461. 

Thyrsis, 494. 

Timely, 689, 970. 

Tinsel-slippered, 877. 

To-ruffled, 380. 

To seek, 366. 

Toy, 502. 

Trains, 151. 

Treasonous, 702. 

Trippings, 961. 

Turkis, 894. 

Tuscan, 48. 

Twain, 284. 

Tyrrhene, 49. 

U. 

Unblenched, 430. 

Unenchanted, 395. 

Unmuffle, 331. 

Unprincipled, 367. 

Unweeting, 539. 

Unwithdrawing, 711. 

Urchin, 845. 

V. 

Various, 379. 

Venturous, 609. 

Vermeil-tinctured, 752. 

Very, 427. 

Vialed, 847. 

Viewless, 92. 

Violet-embroidered, 233. 

Virtue, 165, 621. 

Visage, 333. 

Vizored, 698. 

Votarist, 189. 

W. 

Wakes, 121. 

Warranted, 327. 

Wassailers, 179. 

Waste, 728, 942. 

Weeds, 16. 

Welkin, 1015. 

What need, 362. 

Whilom, 827. 

Whit, 774. 

Who, 728. 

Wily, 151. 

Wink, 401. 

Wished, 574, 950. 

Wizard, 571, 872. 

Wont, 332, 549. 

Woof, 83. 

Y. 

Ye, 216. 

GLASGOW: PRINTED BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.