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PROORSBSirt OBOOL SaMtBB,

niLT0N'5 P0EM5

L'Allegfro,
!1 Penseroso,
Com 115,

WITH

INTRCuDUCTION

AND NOTES,

A. CAMERON,

PaiKciPAL County Academtj Yarmocth, N. S.

HALIFAX, N. a :
T. C. ALLEN & CO.

^OVA SCOT/4

'Ssss^^^ss

^^sa^sea-Ts^^sss^s^^s^w^^'

MILTON'S POEMS

L' ALLEGRO, IL PENSEROSO
COM US, and LYCWAS

WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES

A. CAMERON

PRlNaf AL C'^UNTY ACADEMY, YARMOUTH, N. &

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
T. C ALLEN AND COMPANY

vA ^>

Entei-ed according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, ^n the year
1898, by T. C. Allks & Co., in the Department of Agriculture
(Copyright Branch).

INTRODUCTION

For information on Milton's life and character, for the
history of his time, and for critical estimates of his poetry, the
student will turn to whatever books on these subjects may be
within his reach. The following are recommended to his
notice : —

Stopford Brooke's Literature Primer (especially Sections

96-100).

Tainc's Fuiglish Literature (Book IL Chap. VL).

Green's History of the English People (Book VIL and the
first chapter of V 11 L).

Masson's article on Milton in the Encyclopsedia Britannica.

Mark Pattison's Milton, in the English Men of Letters

Series.

Johnson's Life of Milton.
Macaulay's Eisay on Milton.

But it is hoped that the ])oems themselves will be the chief
object of the student's attention ; and that he will read them
again and again — and mark them, and learn them, and do his
best to inwardly aigest them — before seeking to know vhat
others have said about them.

In the text of this edition it will be noticed that the first two
poems have a more archaic look than the other two. Comus
and Lvcidas are given here in their usual modern dress.
Even thus the reader will soon discover that our language has
altered a good deal since Milton's time. There are words and
constructions which are not now used, derivative words are

INTRoDVCTtON

formed in wnys that arc not our ways, tainiliar words have
mcaninKH that arc now obsolete. Hut there are other (hfTcr-
ences than these, and it it to show some of the others that
i: Allegro and // hnserosa are printed ns they arc. Whatever
may seem odd or inconsistent or even incorrect in the spelling
or the use of capitals in these two poems is as it is because it
was printed that way in the first edition of Milton's poems

(1645).

Study of the rhythm and rime will show that the spoken lan-
guage has changed as well as the written; but the stiident
ir.Mst be careful not to bear too hard on th's, especially in
connection with the rimes

When Milton wrote these poems he was between twenty-five
and thirty yeprs old. He was born i.i London five years after
the death of Queen Klizabeth and eight years before the
depth of Shakespeare. He lived the life of a city boy until
his seventeenth year, which was the year when James I. was
succeeded by Charles I. Then he went to Cambridge, like so
many other of our great poets (some of them were Londoners
too), and spent seven years al the usual academic work of
those days. His college was Christ'3, and he was nicknamed
"The Lady of Christ's." Massoii says, "Though the allusion
was chiefly to the peculiar grace of his personal appearance, it
conveyed also a sneer at what the rougher men thought his
unusual prudishness, the haughty fastidiousness of his tastes
and morals." It is interesting to know this of the young man
who was to produce Comus a few years after he left college.

He let't it in 1632 and lived for the next six years at Horton,
a village in Buckinghamshire. " In perfect leisure, and in a
pleasant rural retirement, with Windsor at the distance of an
easy walk, and London only about seventeen miles off, he went
through, he tells us, a systematic course of reading in the
Greek and Latin classics, varied by mathematics, music, and
the kind of physical science v^e should now call cosmography."

INTRODUCTION V

This was the time and these were the circumstances of h'-'
life when he wrote U Allegro ^ li Tense roso, Lomus, and Lycidas.
The exact date ol the coniposiiiou of the first two seems not
to be known ; it was prouably 1633. Milton wab then tv^-enty-
five, just the age Macaulay w^is at when his essay on Milton
appeared in the " Kdinburgh Review." In ihe following year,
1634, on Michaelmas night, September 29, Comus was per-
forwid at Ludlow Castle. Three years later, in 1637, came
Lycidas / the wreck happened in Auciut, ?nd the poem was
written in November.

>-*...

MILTON'S POEMS

L'ALLEGRO

Hence, loathed Melancholy,

Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born,
In Stygian cave forlorn,

'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy ;
Find out some uncouth cell,

Where brooding darknes spreads his jealous wings,
And the night-raven sings ;

There under ebon shades, and low-brovv'd rocks,
As ragged as thy locks,

In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell. lo

But come thou Goddes foir and free,
In hcav'n yclepd Euphrosyne,
And by men, heart-easing Mirth,
Whom lovely Venus at a birth
With two sister Graces more
To ivy-crowned Bacchus bore ;
Or whether (as som sager sing)
The frolic wind that breathes the spring,
Zephyr with Aurora playing,

As he met her once a Maying, ao

There on beds of violets blew.
And fresh-blown roses washt in dew,
Fill'd her with thee a daughter fair,
So buxom, blith, and debonair.

Haste thee nymph, and bring with thee
Jest and youthful Jollity,
Quips and Cranks, and wanton Wiles,
Nods, and Becks, and wreathed Smiles,

L ALLEGRO

Such as hang on Hebe's cheek,
30 And love to live in dimple sleek ;
Sport that wrinkled Care derides,
And Laughtei holding both his sides.
Coin and trip it as ye go
On the light fantastic t^e.
And in thy right hand lead with thee
The mountain nymph, sweet Liberty ;
And if I give thee honor due.
Mirth, admit me of thy crue,
To live with her, and live with thee,
40 In unreproved pleasures free ;
To hear the lark begin his flight,
And singing startle the dull night,
From his watch-towre in the skies,
Till the dappled dawn doth rise ;
Then to com in spite of sorrow,
And at my window bid good morrow,
Through the sweet-briar, or the vine,
Or the twisted eglantine.
While the cock, with lively din,
50 Scatters the rear of darknes thin.
And to the stack, or the barn door,
Stoutly struts his dames before :
Oft list'ning how the hounds and horn
Cheerly rouse the slumbring morn.
From the side of som hoar hill,
Through the high wood echoing shrilL
Some time walking not unseen
By hedge-row elms, on hillocks green.
Right against the eastern gate,
60 Wher' the great sun begins his state,
Rob'd in flames, and amber light.
The clouds in thousand liveries dight.
While the plowman near at hand
Whistles o'er the furrow'd land.
And the milkmaid singeth blithe,
And the mower whets his sithe,
And every shepherd tells his tale
Under the hawthorn in the dale.
Strait mine eye hath caught new pleasures,
70 Whilst the lantskip round it measures \

L'ALLEGRO

Russet lawns, and fallows gray,

Where tne nibbling flocks do stray ;

Mountains on whose barren brest

The labouring clouds do often rest :

Meadows trim with daisies pide,

Shallow brooks, and rivers wide.

Towers, and battlements it sees

Bosom'd high in tufted trees,

Wher perhaps som beauty lies.

The cynosure of neighbouring eyes. 80

Hard by, a cottage chimney smokes,

From betwixt two aged okes.

Where Corydon and Thyrsis met.

Are at their savory dinner set

Of hearbs, and other country messes,

Which the neat-handed Phillis dresses ;

And then in haste her bowre she leaves,

With Thestylis to bind the sheaves ;

Or if the earlier season lead,

To the tann'd haycock in the mead. 90

Somtimes with secure delight

The up-land hamlets will invite ;

When the merry bells ring round,

And the jocund rebecks sound

To many a youth, and many a maid,

Dancing in the chequer'd shade ;

And young and old come forth to play

On a sunshine holyday,

Till the live-long day-light fail.

Then to the spicy nut-brown ale, 100

With stories told of many a feat,

How faery Mab the junkets eat,

She was pincht and pull'd, she sed,

And he by friars' lanthorn led.

Tells how the drudging goblin swet,

To earn his cream-bovvle duly set.

When in one night, ere glimpse of morn.

His shadowy flail hat thresh'd the corn

That ten day-labourers could not end ;

Then lies him down the lubbar-fend, no

And stretcht out all the chimney's length,

Basks at the fire his hairy strength ;

V ALLEGRO

And crop-ful out of doors he flings,
Ere the first cock his matin rings.
Thus done the tales, to bed they creep,
Bv v'hispering windes soon luU'd asleep.
Towred cities please us then,
And the busie hun.m of men,
Where throngs of knights and barons bold
120 In weeds of peace high triumphs held,
With store of ladies, whose bright eies
Rain influence, and judge the prise
Of wit, or arms, while both contend
To win hei grace, whom all commend.
There let Hymen oft appear
In saffron robe, with taper clear,
And pomp, and feast, and revelry,
With mask, and antique pageantry ;
Such sights as youth full poets dream
130 On summer eves by haunted stream.
Then to the well- trod stage anon.
If Jonson's learned sock be on,
Or sweetest Shakespeare, fancy's child.
Warble his native wood-notes wild.

And ever against eating cares,
Lap me in soft Lydian airs.
Married to immortal verse,
Such as the meeting soul may pierce
In notes, with many a winding bout
140 Of linked sweetnes long drawn out ;
With wanton heed, and giddy cunning.
The melting voice through mazes running ;
Untwisting all the chains that ty
The hidden soul of harmony ;
That Orpheus' self may heave his head
From golden slumber on a bed
Of heapt Elysian flowres, and hear
Such strains as would have won the ear
Of Pluto, to have quite set free
150 His half rcgain'd Eurydice.

These delights, if thou canst give,
Mirth with thee I mean to live.

IL PENSEROSO

Hence vain deluding joys,

The brood of Folly >vithout father bred,
How little you bested,

Or fill the fixed mind with all your toys ;
Dwf'l in some idle brain,

And fancies fond with gaudy shapes possess,
As thick and numberless

As tne gay motes that people the sunbeams,
Or likest hovering dreams

The fickle pensioners of Morpheus' train.
But hail thou Goddes, sage and holy,
Hail divinest Melancholy,
Whose saintly visage is too bright
To hit the sense of human sight,
And therfore to our weaker view,
O'erlaid with black, staid Wisdom's hue.
Black, but such as in esteem
Prince Memnon's sister might beseem,
Or that starr'd Ethiope queen that strove
To set her beauty's praise above
The Sea-Nymphs, and their powers offended.
Yet thou art higher far descended ;
Thee bright-hair'd Vesta, long of yore,
To solitary Saturn bore ;
His daughter she (in Saturn's reign,
Such mixture was not held a stain) ;
Oft in glimmering bowres and glades
He met her, and in secret shades
Of woody Ida's inmost grove,
While yet there was no fear of Jove.
Come, pensive Nun, devout and pure,
Sober, steadfast, and demure,
All in a robe of darkest grain,
Flowing with majestic train.

IL PENSEROSO

And sable stole of cipres lawn,
Over thy decent shoulders drawn.
Come, but keep thy wonied state,
With eev'n step, and musing gate,
And looks commercing with the skies,
40 Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes :
There held in holy passion still,
Forget thy self to trarble, till
With a sad leaden downward cast.
Thou fix them on the earth as fast. ^
And join with thee calm Peace, and Quiet,
Spare Fast, that oft with gods doth diet,
And hears the Muses in a ring.
Aye round about Jove's altar sing.
And add to these retired Leasure,
so That in trim gardens takes his pleasure;
But first, and chiefest, with thee bring,
Him that yon soars on golden wing,
Guiding the fiery-wheeled throne.
The cherub Contemplation ;
And the mute Silence hist along,
'Less Philomel will deign a song,
In her sweetest, saddest plight,
Smoothing the rugged brow of Night,
While Cynthia checks her dragon yoke,
60 Gently o'er th' accustom'd oak ;

Sweet bird that shunn'st the noise of folly,
Most musicall, most melancholy !
Thee chauntress oft the woods among,
I woo to hear thy even-song ;
And missing thee, I walk unseen
On the dry smooth-shaven green.
To behold the wand'ring moon.
Riding near her highest noon,
Like one that had bin led astray
^0 Through the heav'n's wide pathles way;
And oft, as if her head she bow'd.
Stooping through a tleecy cloud.
Oft on a plat of rising ground,
I hear the far-off curfeu sound,
Over som wide-water'd shore.
Swinging slow with sullen roar ;

IL PENSEROSO

Or if the air will not permit,

Som still removed place will fit,

Where glowintr embers through the room

Teach light to counterfeit a gloom ;

Far from all resort of mirth,

Save the cricket on the hearth,

Or the belman's drowsy charm,

To bless the doors from nightly harm :

Or let my lamp at midnighi hour,

Be seen in som high lonely towr,

Where I may oft out-watch the Bear,

With thrice-great Hermes, or unsphear

The spirit of Plato, to unfold

What worlds, or what vast regions hold

The immortal mind, that hath forsook

Her mansion in this fleshly nook :

And of those daemons that are found

In fire, air, flood, or under ground.

Whose power hath a true consent

With planet, or with element.

Somtime let gorgeous Tragedy

In scepter'd pall come sweeping by,

Presenting Thebs, or Pelops' line.

Or the tale of Troy divine.

Or what (though rare) of later age

Ennobled hath the buskin'd stage.

But, O sad Virgin, that thy power
Might raise Musaeus from his bower,
Or bid the soul of Orpheus sing
Such notes, as warbled to the string,
Drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek,
And made Hell grant what Love did seek.
Or call up him that left half told
The story of Cambuscan bold,
Of Camball, and of Algarsife,
And who had Canace to wife,
That own'd the vertuous ring and glass,
And of the wondrous horse of brass.
On which the Tartar king did ride ;
And if aught else, great bards beside,
In sage and solemn tunes have sung,
Of turneys and of trophies hung ;

100

!L PENSEROS^

Of forests, and inchantments drear,
no Where more is meant tlien meets the ear.

Thus, Night, oft see me in thy pale career.
Till Civil-suited Morn appear,
Not triciu and frounct as she was wont,
With the Attick boy to hunt,
But kercheft in a comly cloud,
While rocking winds are pipmg loud.
Or uslier'd with a shower still.
When the gust hath blown his fill,
Ending on the russling leaves,
130 With minute drops from off the eaves.
And when the sun begins to fling
His flaring beams, me (ioddes bring
To arched walks of twilight groves.
And shadows brown that Sylvan loves
Of pine, or monumental oak.
Where the rude ax with heaved stroke
Was never heard the Nymphs to daunt,
Or fright them from their hallow'd haunt.
There i: close covert by som brook,
140 Where no profaner eye may look,
Hide me from day's garish eye ;
While the bee with honied thigh,
That at her flowry work doth sing.
And the waters murmuring
With such consort as they keep,
Entice the dewy-feather'd sleep ;
And let som strange mysterious dream,
Wave at his wings in airy stream.
Of lively portraiture display'd,
150 Sofdy on my eye-lids laid.

And as I wake, sweet music breath
Above, about or underneath,
Sent by som spirit to mortals good.
Or th' unseen Genius of the wood.
But let my due feet never fail

i.-j

•J wailV l.li^- Jluvji i 7

And love the high embov.'ed roof.
With antick pillars massy proof.
And storied windows richly dight,
160 Casting a dimm religious light.

IL PEi\SEROSO

There let the pealing organ blow,

To the full voic'd (^uire bcluw,

In service high, ami anthems clear,

As may with sweetnes, through mine ear,

Dissolve me into ecstasies.

And bring all Heav'n before mine eyes.

And may at last my weary age
Find out the peace full hermitage,
The hairy gown and mossy cell,
Where 1 may sit and rightly spell.
Of every star that heav'n doth shew,
And every herb that sips the dew ;
Till old experience do attain
To somthing like prophetic strain.
These pleasures Melancholy give,
And I with thee will choose to live.

170

LVC/DAS

LYCIDAS

Yet once more, O ye laurels, and once more,
Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere,
1 come to pluck you*- berries haroh and crude,
And with forceil fingers rude
Shatter your leaves before the mellowmg year.
Bitter constraint and sad occasion dear
Compels me to disturb your season due ;
For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prmu,
Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer.
,0 Who would not sing for Lycidas? he knew
Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.
He nnist not tloat upon his wat'ry bier
Unwept, and welter to the parching wind.
Without the meed of some melodious tear.

Begin then, Sisters of the sacred well
That from beneath the seat of Jove doth sprmg;
Begin and somewhat loudly sweep the stri. 3.
Hence with denial vain and coy excuse :
So may some gentle Muse
20 With lucky words favour my destined urn.
And as he passes turn.
And bid fair peace be to my sable shroud.

For we were nursed upon the nelf-same hill,
Fed the same flock, by fountain, shade, and nil.
Together both, ere the high lawns appeared
Under the opening eyelids of the Morn,
We drove a-field, and both together heard
What time the gray-fly winds her sultry horn
liatt'ning our flocks with the fresh dews of night,
-,0 Oft till the star that rose at evening, bright,
' 'Z"rd heaven's descent had sloped his westenng wheeU

-.r i-M.. 4.u^ ,.,,..-.1 rlitfips; were not mute,
jMeanvvnac mt i<aicw —

Tempered to th' oaten flute ;
Rough Satyrs danced, and Fauns with cloven heel
From the glad sound would not be absent long,
And old Damcetas loved to hear our song.

LVCIDAS

But, O the heavy change, now thou art gone,
Now thou art gone, an<l never must return !
Thee, Shepherd, thee the woikIh and desert caves,
With wild thyme and the gadding vine o'ergrown,

And all their echoes, mourn.
'I'he willows, and the hazel copses green,
Shall now no more be seen
Fanning their joyous leaves to thy soft lays.
As killing as the canker to the rose,
Or taint-worm to the weanling herds that graze,
Or frost to flowers, that their gay wardrobe wear,
When first the white-thurn blows ;
Such, Lycidas, thy loss to shepherd's ear.

Where were ye, Nym|)hs, when the remorseless deep 50
Closed o'er the head of your loved Lycidas?
For neither were ye playing on the steep,
Where your old birds, the famous Druids, lie.
Nor on the shaggy top of Mona high.
Nor yet where Deva spreads her wizard stream.
Ay me, I fondly <lream !

Had ye been there, . . . for what could that hav:; done?
What could the Muse herself that Orpheus bore,
The Muse herself, for her enchanting son,
Whom universal nature did lament, 60

When, by the rout that made the hideous roar.
His gory visage down the stream was sent,
Down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore?

Alas ! what boots it with uncessant care
To tend the homely, slighted, shepherd's trade.
And strictly meditate the thankless Muse?
Were it not better done, as others use,
To sport with Amaryllis in the shade,
Or with the tangles of Neaera's hair?

Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise 70

(That last infirmity of noble mind)
To scorn delights and live laborious days ;
But the fair guerdon when we hope to find,
And think to burst out into sudden blaze,

omcs liic uiiiiu fury Witu m ct:>-ii-^-tiv.-.i ^-tt-. -.•..„-,
And slits the thin-spun life. *' But not the praise,"
Phoebus replied, and touched my trembling ears :
" Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil.

irc/DAS

Nor in the gliHterinK f«>il
go Set off to th' worUl, nor in broad rumour lies,
Hut livcH and spreads aloft by those pure eyct
And ncrfeci witness of all jtulgmg Jove ;
As he pronounces lastly on each deed, ^^

Of HO much fame in heaven vxpcci ihy nued.

O fountain Arethuse, and thou hon^urcl flood
Smooth-Hliding Min. ius, crowned wuh -ocal reeds,
That strain I hcanl was uf a higher mood.
But now my oat proceeds,
And listens to the Herald of the Sea,
00 That came in Neptime's plea.
^ He asked the waves. an<l asked the felon wmd
What hard mishap hath doomed this gentle swam?
Ami (luestioned every gust of rugged wnigs
That blows from off each beakeel promontory.
They knew not of his story ;
And sage Hippotades their answer brmgs,
That not a blast w.s from his dungeon strayed;
The air was calm, and on the level brme
Sleek Panope with all her sisters ))layed.
100 It was that fatal a. d perfidious bark,

Built in th' eclipse, ami rigged with curses dark,
That sunk so low that sacred head of thine.

Next Camus, reverend sire, went footing slow,
His mamle hairy, and his bonnet sedge.
Inwrought with figures dim. and on the edge
Uke to^hat sanguine flower inscribed with woe.
« Ah ! who hath reft." quoth he, " my dearest pledp^e?

Last came, and last did go.
The Pilot of the (lalilean Lake ;
,10 Two massy keys he bore of metal, twam

(The golden opes, the iron shu .. -^'^;^^^
He shook his mitred locks, ^nd stern bespake :— ^
"how well could I have spared for thee, young swam,
Enow of such as. for their bellies' sake
Creep, and intrude, and climb into the fold I
nf Apr rare, thev little reckoning make
Than how to scramble at the shearers' least,
Anrl ^hove awav the worthy bidden guest.
BUnd mouthr! 'that scarc/themselves know how o hold
,20 ATheep-hook, or have learned aught else the least

L vein AS

130

That to the faithful herdman's art l)clongs !

What recks it thtm ? \Vhat need they? They are sped ;

And, wKen they list, their leap and flashy songs

Grate on their scrannel pipes of 'vretchca straw ;

The hungry sheep look up, and ate not fed,

But, swoln with wind and the rank mist they draw,

Rot inwardly, and fuul (:()nlai;i()n spread ;

Besides what the \\xln wolf with privy paw

Daily devours apace, and nothing said.

But that two-handcil engine at the door

Stands ready to smite once, and smite no n.ore.'*

Return, Ali)hcus ; the dread voice is past
That shrunk ihy streams ; return Sicilian Muse,
An<l call the vales, and bid them hither c^st
Their bells ;'nd flowerets of a thousand hi»es>.
Ye vi'^leys lo«", where the mild whispers use
Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks,
On whose fresh lai) the swart star s'parely looks,
Throw hither all your qv.n.nt enamelled eyes,
Ti.at on thj green turt suck the hon?yed showers,
And purple all the g.ound with vernal flowers.
Bring the ratine primrose that forsaken dies,
The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine.
The white pink, and the pansy freaked with jet.
The glowing violet,

The musk- rose, and the well- attired woodbme,
With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head,
And every flower that sad embroidery wears ;
Bid arnaranthus all his beauty shed,
And daffadiflies fill their cups with tears.
To strew the laureate hearse where Lycid lies.
For so to interpose a little ease,
Let our frail thoughts dally with false surmise.
Ay me ! whilst thee the shores and sounding seas
Wash far away, where'er thy bones are hurled ;
Whether beyond the stormy Hebrides,
Where thou perhaps under the whelming tide
Visit'st the bottom of the monstrous world j

f\- .,.U^¥\>^^ *h<^\\ tr\ nnr mnist VOWS deilicd.

Sleep'st by the fabie of Bellerus old,

Where the great Vision of the guarded mount

Looks toward Namancos and Bayona's hold.

140

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160

LYCIDAS

Look homeward, Angel, now, and melt w th ruth ,
And O ye dolphins, waft the hapless youth.

Weep no more, woful shepherds, weep no more,
For Lycidas, your sorrow, is not dead,
Sunk though he be beneath the wafry floor.
So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed.
And yet anon repairs his droopmg head,
,70 And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore
Flames in the forehead of the mornmg sky :
So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high.
Through the dear might of Him that walked the waves,
Where, othcx groves and other streams along,
With nectar pure his oozy locks he laves.
And hears the unexpressive nuptial song,
In the blest kingdoms meek of joy and love.
There entertain him all the Saints above,
In solemn troops, and sweet societies,
i8o That sing, and singing in their glory move,
And wipe the tears for ever from his eyes.
Now, Lycidas, the shepherds weep no more ;
Henceforth thou art the Genius of the shore,
In thy large recompense, and shalt be good
To all that wander in that perilous flood.

Thus sang the uncouth swain to th' oaks and rills.
While the still morn went out with sandais gray :
He touched the tender stops of various quills,
With eager thought warbling his Doric lay :
xQo And now the sun had stretched out all the hills,
^ And now was dropt into the western bay
At last he rose, and twitched his mande blue .
To-morrow to fresh woods, and pastures new.

COMUS

The first See fie discovers a wild wood

The An'ENDANT Spirit descends or enters

Beforf the starry threshold of Jove's court
My mansion is, where those immortal shapes
Of bright aerial 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
Amongst the enthron'd 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 sv/ay
Of every salt flood and each ebbing stream.
Took in by lot, 'twixt high and nether Jove,
Imper;al rule of all the sea-girt isles _
That, like to rich and various gems, inlay
The unadorned 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 f^reatest and the best of all the main.
He quarters to his blue-haired deities ;
And all this tract that fronts the falling sun
A noble Peer of mickle trust and power
Has in his charge, with tempered awe to guide

COMUS

Yi, \

An old and haughty nation, proud xn armt
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 pnths of this drear wood,
The nodding horror of whose shady brow-
Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger;
40 And here their tender age might suffer peril,
But that, by quick command from sovran Jove,
I was despatched for their defence and guard :
And listen why ; for 1 will tell you now
What never yet was heard in tale or song,
From old or modern bnrd, in hall or bower.

Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape
Crushed the sweet poison of misused wine,
After the Tuscan mariners transformed.
Coasting the Tyrrhene shore, as the winds listed,
CO On CirceS island fell : (who knows not Circe,
The daughter of the Sun ? whose charmed cup
Whoever tasted lost his upright shape, ^
And downward fell into a grovelling swine,)
This Nymph, that gazed upon his clustermg locks.
With ivy berries wreathed, and his blithe youtli,
Had by him, ere he paited 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,

60 Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields,
At last betakes him to this ominous wood.
And, in thick shelter of black shades i.mbowered.
Excels his mother at her mighty art ;
Offering to every weary traveller
His orient liquor in a crystal glass,
?^ quTnch the drouth of Phcbus ; which as they t^^^^^
(For most do taste through fond mtemperate thirst),
Soon as the potion works, their human count nance,
Th' express resemblance of the goas, is changed
70 Into some brutish form of wolf or bear.
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,

COMUS

But boast therri3elves more comely thdn before,

And all their friends and native home forg i,

To roll with pleasure in a sensual sty.

Therefore, when any favoured of high Jove

Chances to pass through this advent'rous 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 fnen and
women, their apparel glistering. They come in making
a riotous aftd unruly noise, with torches in their hands.

Comus, The stir 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
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.

100

COMUS

Strict Age, and sour Seventy,
110 With their grave saws, in slumDer lie.
We, that are of purer fire,
Imitate the starry quire, , ^ , ,
Who. in their nightly watchful spheres,
T ead in swift round the months and years.
The sounds and seas, with all their finny drove,
Now to the moon in wavering mornce move ;
And on the tawny sands and shelves
Trip the pert fairies and the dapper elves.
Bv dimpled brook and fountain-bnm,
,20 The wood-nymphs, decked with daisies trim,
Their merry wakes and pastimes keep :
What hath night to do with sleeo?
Night hath bettf r sweets to prove ;
Venus now wakes, and wakens Love.
Come, let us our rights begin ;
'T is only daylight that makes sin.
Which these Gun shades will ne'er report.
Hail, goddess of nocturnal sport,
Dark-veiled Cotytto, t' whom the secret flame
,an Of midnight torches bums ! mysterious dame,
^ ThaTne"er art called I t when the dragon womb ,
Of Stygian darkness sy ts her thickest gloom,
And makes one blot ot all the air !

^V^hydHffi^^^^ 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 th' Indian steep,
uo From her cabined loop-hole peep.
And to the tell-tale Sun descry

Our concealed solemnity. ^

Come, knit hands, and beat tne ground

Tn CK licrht fantastic round. V-^""' "'

Br ak orbreak off! I feel the different pace
Of some chaste footing near about ..us ground.
• Run to your shrouds within these brakes and trees J
Our number may affright. Some virgin sure
rFor so I can distinguish by mine art*
,50 Benighted in these woods 1 Now to my charms.

mre.

COMC/S

And to my wily trains : I shall ere long

Be well stocked with as fiiir 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

/. . ' my quaint habits breed astonishment,

A*, put the damsel to suspicious flight;

Which must not be, for that 's against my course.

I, under fair pretence of friendly ends.

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.
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 sliould be loth
To meet the rudeness and swilled insolence
Of such late wassailers ; yet, O where else
Shall I inform my unacquainted feet
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 gray-hooded Even,
Like a sad votarist in palmer's weed,

»9

i6o

170

180

COMUS

190 F.ose from the hindmost wheels of Phcebus' warn,
liut where they are, and why they came not back,
Is now the kibour of my thoughts. 'T is likeliest
They had engaged their wandering steps too far ;
And envious darkness, ere they could return.
Had stole them from me. I^se, 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
200 To the misled and lonely traveller?

This is the place, as well as 1 may guess,
Whence even now the tumult of loud mirth
Was rife, and perfect in my listening ear ;
Yet nought but single darkness do 1 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.
210 These thoughts may startle well, but not astound
The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended
Bv a strong siding champion. Conscience.
6, 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, t' whom all thmgs ill
Are but as slavish officers of vengeance,
Would send a glistering guardian, if need were,
220 To keep my life and honour unassailed. . . .
Was I deceived, or did a sab' : 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 hallow to my brothers, but
Such noise as I can make to be heard farthest
I '11 venture, for my new-enlivened spirits
Prompt me ; and they perhaps are not far off.

COMUS

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 1

Comus. Can any mortal mixture of earth's mould
Breathe such divine enchanting ravishment?
Sure something holy lodges in that breast.
And with t^es.- 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 hea^d till now. I '11 speak to her.
And she shall be my queen. — Hail, foreign wonder !
Whom certain these rough shades did never breed ;
Unless the goddeiis that in rural shrine
Dwell'st here with Pan, or Sylvan, by blest song

COMUS

Forbidding every bleak unkind y fog
,70 To touch the prosperous growth of this tall wood.
Z^./V. Nay; gentle shepherd, ill is lost that praisi"
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?
280 Lady, They left me weary on a grassy turf.

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.
Cornus. Perhaps forestilling 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 youthfal bloom?
200 Lady. A3 smooth as Hebe's their unrazored hps.

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 eiement,
aoo That in the colours of the rainbow live,

And plav i' the plighted clouds. I was awe-strook.
And as "I passed, I worshipped. If those you seek,
It were a journey like the path to Heaven

To help you find them.

T^Jy Gentle villager,

WlTat 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,
310 Without the sure guess of well-practised feet.

COMUS

320

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 tho low- roosted lark
From her thatched pallet rouse. If otherwise,
I can conduct you, lady, lO a low
But loyal cottage, where you may be siife
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 protended. 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. 330

Enter the Two Brothers

Elder Brother, Unmuffle, ye faint stars ; and thou, fair
moon,
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,
And thou shalt be our star of Arcady,
Or Tyrian Cyno.dre.

Second Brother. Or, if our eyes
Be barrL ^ 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

340

COMUS

Count the night-watches to his feathery dames,
'T would be some solace yet, some Httle cheering,
In this close dungeon of innunicrous boughs.
350 Hut O that hapless virgin, our lost sister !

Where may she wamlor now, whither betake her
From the chill dew, amongst rude burs and thistles?
]*erhaps some cold bank is he bolster now,
Or 'gainst the ruggi'd 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 ?

Khier Brother, Peace, brother : be not over-exquisite
360 To cast the fashion of uncertain evils ;

For, grant they be so, while they rest unknown,
What need a man forestall his dale of grief,
Antl run to meet what he would most avoid?
Or, if they be but false alarms of fear,
How bitter is juch self-delusion !
I do not think my sister so to seek,
Or so unprincipled in virtue's book,
And Liie sweet ])eace that goodness bosoms ever.
As that the single want of light and noise
370 (Not being in danger, as 1 trust she is not)

Could stir th^ 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 W^isdom'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,
380 Were all to-ruffled, and sometimes impaired.
He that has light within his own clear breast
May sit i' the centre, ana enjoy bright day :
But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts
Beniffhtet valks under the mid-day sun ;
Himself is iis own dungeon.

Second Brother. 'T is most true

That musing meditation most affects
The pensive secrecy of desert cell,

COAf(/S

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,
His few books, or his beads, or maple dish,
Or do his grey hairs any violence?
But Beauty, like the fair Hesperian trc^
Laden with bloonunR gold, had need the guard
Of dragon-watch with unenrhantcMl 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 n^iser's treasure by an outlaw's den,
And tell me it is safe, as bid me hope
Danger will wink on Opportunity,
And let a single helpless maiden pass
Uninjured in this wild surrounding waste.
Of night or 1 )neliness it recks me not ;
I fear th*^ <a''ad eve its that dog them both,
Lest some ill-greeting touch attempt the person
Of our unowned sister.

M/er 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 oi hope and fear
Does arbitrate th' 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. 1 mean that too, but yet a
strength.
Which, if Heaven gave it, may be terr^ed her own.
'T is chastity, my brother, chastity :
She that has that is clad in v^omplete steel.
And, like a quivered nymph with arrows keen,
\yr«,. ^^^r-c K'irrp rnrp<;K. and unharbourcd heaths.
Infamous hills, and sandy perilous; wilds ;
Where, through the sacred rays of chastity,
No savage fierce, bandite, or mountaineer.

390

400

410

hidden

430

COAfC/S

i3t

Will dare to soil her virgin purity.
Yea, there wher- very desolation dwells,
By grots and caverns shagged with hornd ihadci,
110 She may pass on with unblenched majesty,
B^J 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 s-lubborn unlaid ghost,
'Ihat breaks his magic chains .it cuifew time,
No goblin or swart faery of the mine,
Hath hurtful power o'er true virginity.
Do ye believe me yet, or shall 1 call
Antiquity from the old schools of Greece
440 To testify the arms of chastity?

Hence had tl^e huntress Dian her dread bow
Fair silver-shafted (pieen for ever chaste.
Wherewith she tam^-' the brinded lioness
And spotted mcantain-pard, but set at nought
The frivolous bolt of Cupid ; gods and nien
Feared her stern frown, and she was queen o the woods.
What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shield
That wise Mi.-.erva wore, unconquered virgin.
Wherewith she freezed her foes to congealed stone,
450 But rigid looks of chaste austerity,

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 '"jund sincerely so,
A thousand liven, a angels lackey her,
Driving far oif 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
460 Begin to c:.st a beam on th' outward shape,
The unpolluted temple of the mind,
And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence,
Till all be made immortal. But, when lust,
Bv unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk,
But most by lewd a.id lavish act ot sin,
Lets in defilement to the inward parts.
The soul grows clotted by contagion,
Imbodies, and imbrutes, till she quite lose

COMUS

The divine property of her first being.

Such arc those thick and gloomy shadows damp 47©

Oft seen in charnel-vaults and sepulchres,

Lingering and sitting by a new-made grave,

As loth to leave the body that it loveil,

And linked iuelf by carnal sensualty

To a degenerate and degraded state.

S^cofu/ Brother. How chjurming is divine Philosophy 1
Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools iwppose,
But musical as is Apollo's lute,
And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets,
Where no crude surfeit reigns.

EUir Brother. List ! list ! 1 hear 4»

Some far-off hallow break the silent air. , , • t ,

Sfcomi Brother, Methought so too; what shor.ld it be?
Elder Brother, i'or 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 1 Again, again,
and near !
Best draw, and stand upon our guard.

EUer Brother. 1 '» billow.

If he be friendly, he comes well : if not.
Defence is a good cause, and Heaven be for us !

Enter the Aitendant Spirit, habited like a shepherd.

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

Spirit. What voice is that? my ;uung Lord? speak

Se^^nd-o-^ther, O brother, 't is my flither's shepherd,

sure. ^ . . , c^

Eider Brother. Thyrsis? whose artful strains have oit

delayed
The huddling brook to hear his madrigal.
And sweetened every musk-rose of the dale.
How earnest thou here, good swain ? Hath any ram
Slipped ^om the fold, or young kid lost his dam,
Or straggling wether the pent flock forsook ?
How couldst thou find this dark sequestered nook? 500

COMUS

!■

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, O my virgin Lady, \ here is she ?

How chance she is not in your company?
Elder- Brother. To tell thee sadly, Shepherd, without
blame
510 Or our neglect, we lost her as we came.

Spirit. Ay me unhappy ! then my fears are true.
Elder Brother, What fears, good Thyrsis ? Prithee briefly

shew.
Spirit. I '11 tell ye. 'T is not vain 01 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 v/hose entrance leads to Hell;

For such there be, but unbelief is blind.
520 Within the navel of this hideous wood.

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
530 Charactered in the fLice. This have I learnt

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 obscured 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,
540 This evening late, by then the chewing flocks

COMUS

5S<^

56c

Had ta'en their supper on the savoury herb
Of knot-grass dew-besprent, ami 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 \sV\\ barbarous dissonance ;
At which I ceased, and listened them awhile,
Till an unusual stop of sudden :ilence
Cive respite to the drowsy frighted steeds
That dravv 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.
And took in strains that might create a soul
Under the ribs of Death. But () 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 1 "
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 57°

Where that damned wizard, hid in sb' 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. , , , o

Second Brother. O night and shades, 5»o

How are ye joined with hell in triple knot

COMUS

Against th' 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 ^ in call Chance, this I hold firm !

Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt,
S90 Surprised by unjust force, but not enthralled ;

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,

Ihe pillared firmament is rotte ness.

And earth's base built on stubble. But come, let 's on]
600 Against th' opposing will and arm of Heaven

May never this just sword be lifted up ;

But, for that damned magician, iet him be girt

With all the grisly legions that troop

Under the sooty flag of Acheron,

Harpies and HyJras, or all the monstrous forms

'Twixt Africa and Ind, T '11 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 vent'rous youth,

610 1 love thy courage yet, and bold emprise ;

But here thy sword can do thee little stead.

Far other arms and other weapons must

Be those that quell the night 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 mv r>ind a certain sheppard-lad,

COMUS

Of small regard to see to, yet well skilled 6ao

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 j

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. 63c

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 Hsemony, and gave it me.

And bade me keep it as of sovran use

'Gai.ist 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 nis 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 '11 follow thee ;

Ana some guud angci ucai u. ann^ivj. xj-^i^-^^.-^ ....• *

Tlie Scene changes to. a stately palace, set out with all manner of
deliciousness : soft music, tables spread with all dainties.

COMUS

CoMUS appears wiik his rabble^ and the Lady set in an
enchanted chair : to whom he offers his glass ; which she
puts by J and goes about to rise,

Comus. Nay, lady. sit. If I but wave this wand,
660 Y'^'ir nerves are all chained up in alabaster,

And you a statue, or as Daphne was.

Root- bound, that fled Apollo.

Lady. Fcol, 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,
670 W^hen the fresh blood grows lively, and returns

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 ^Telena

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,
680 And to those dainty limbs, which Nature lent

For gentle usage and soft delicacy ?

But you invert the cov'nants of her trust,

And harshly deal, like an ill borrower,

With that which you received on other terms;

Scorning the unexerapt 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.

090

j^dii V.

'T will not, ii'lse traitor !
'T will 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,

COMUS

700

710

These ugly-headed monsters? Mercy guard me !

Hence with thy brewed enchantments, foul deceiver !

Hast thou betrayed my credulous innocence

With visor'd folsehood and base forgery?

And would'st thou seek again to trap me here

With liquorish baits, fit to ensnare a brute?

Were it a dra-ight for Juno when she banquets,

I would not taste thy treasonous offer. None

But such as are good men can give good thmgs ;

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 doctois 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

With such a full and unwithdrawing hand,

Covering the earth with odours, fruit:;, and flocks,

Thronging the seas with spawn innump«able,

But alfto please and sate the ciinous laste?

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 th' all-worshipped ore and precious gems,

To store her children with. If all the world

Should, in a pet of temp' ranee, feed on pulse.

Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but frieze,

Th' 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, • 1 J '^^°

The herds would over-multitude their lords ; ^ ^^

The sea o'erfraught would swell, and the unsouglit aiamonds

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

720

COM US

\X '

To gaze upon the sun with shameless browi
List, lady ; be not c^y, and be not cozened
With that same vaunted name, Virginity.
Beauty is Nature's coin ; must not be hoarded,

740 But must be current ; and che good thereof
Consists in mutual and partaken bliss,
Unsavoury in the enjoyment of itself.
If yon let slip time, like a neglected rose
It vvuhers 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

750 And cheeks of sorry grain will serve to ply
The sampler, and to tease the huswife's wool.
What need a 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.

760 I hate when vice can bolt her arguments,
And virtue has no tongue to check her pride.
Impostor 1 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
70 Of that which lewdly-pampered Luxury
Now heaps upon some few with vast excess,
Nature's full blessings would be well dispensed
III unsuperPiUOus eveii 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,

COMUS

780

790

But with besotted base ingratitude

Crams, and blasphemes his Feeder. Shall I go on?

Or have I said enow ? To him that dares

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 tar, 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,

That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence ;

Thou art not fit to hear thyself convinced.

Yet, should I try, the uncontrolled 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.

Comiis. 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 I

This is mere moral babble, and di»-ect

Against the canon laws of our foundation.

I must not suffer this ; yet 't is but the lees

And settlings of a melancholy blood.

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.

810

The Brothers rush in ivith swords drawn, wrest his glass out
of his hand, and break it against the ground: his rout
make sign of resistance, but are all driven in, ^'
Attendant Spirit comes in.

The

COMUS

Spirit, What ! have you let the false enchanter scape?
O ye mistook ; ye shouki have snatched his wand,
And bound him fast. Without his rod reversed,
And backward mutters ot dissevering power,
We cannot free the Lady that sits here
In stony fetters fixed and motionless.
820 Yet stay : be not disturbed ; now 1 bethink me,
Some other means 1 have which may be used,
Which once of Melibceus old 1 learnt,
The soothest shepherd that e'er piped on plains.

There is a gentle nym[)h 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 scci)tre from his father IJrute.
She, guiltless damsel, flying the mad pursuit
830 Of her enraged stejxlame, Guendolen,

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
840 Dropt in ambrosial oils, till she revived,
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,
850 And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream
Qf pansies, ninks^ and gaudv daffodils.
And, as the old swain srid, 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

COMUS

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
Under the glassy, cool, tranr^luccnt wave,

In twisted braids of lilies knitting
The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair;
Listen for dear honour's ^ake,
Goddess of the silver lake,
Listen and save 1

Listen, and appear to us,

In name of great Oceanus.

By the earth-shaking Neptune's mace,

And Tethys' grave majestic pace ,

By hoary Nereus' wrinkled look,

And the Carpathian wizard's hook;

By scaly Triton's winding shell,

And old soothsaying C;iaucus' speil j

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 goiden comb,

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- pave n 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-fringed bank.
Where grows the willow and the osier dank,
My sliding chariot stays,

860

870

880

890

900

910

920

930

COMUS

Thick set with agate, and the azurn sheen
Of turkis blue, and emerald green,

That in the channel strays j
Whilst from off the waters fleet
Thus I set my j)rintless feet
O'er the cowslip's velvet head,

That bends not as I tread.
Gentle swain, at thy request
I am here !

Spirit. Goddess dear,
We implore thy powerful hand
To undo the charmed band
Of true virgin ht*re distressed
Through the force and through the wile
Of unblessed enchanter vile.

Sabrina. Shepherd, 't is my office best
To help ensnared chastity.
Ikightest Lady, look on me.
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
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 brimmed waves for this
Their full tribute never miss
From a thousand petty rills,
That tumble down the snowy hills :
Summer drouth or singed air
Never scorch thy tresses fair.
Nor wet October's torrent flood
Thy molten crystal fill with mud ;

COMUS

May thy billows roll ashore
The beryl and ihe 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.

("ome, Lady ; while Heaven lenc'.s us grace,
Let us fly this cursed 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
Manv a friend to gratulate

His wished presence, and beside 950

All the swains that there abide
Witii jigs : '^nl 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 chanties, presenting Ludlow Toivn, and the Presidents
Castle; then come in Country Dancers ,- after them the
ArrENDANT Spirit, with the Tivo Broihers and the Lady.

Song

Spirit. Back, shepherds, back 1 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 he leas.

JTiis second Song presents than to their Father and Mother

970

980

990

1000

coAfirs

Noble I,(»r(l atul La.ly bright,
I have brought )c new tleliglit.
Here behoUl so goodly grown
Three fair braiu hes of your own.
Heaven hath timely tried their youth,
Their faith, their juiitn f, and llieir truth,
An<l sent theui hen- through hard assiys
With a crown of deathless praise,
To triumph in victorious dance
O'er sensual folly and intemperance.

The dances ended, the Spmrr e/^Uoguises

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.
Thert I suck the liipiid air,
All amidst the gardens fair
Of Hesperus, and his daughters three
That sing about the golden tree.
Along the crisped shailes and bowers
Revels the spruce and jcjcund 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 ccilarn alleys fling
Nard and cassia's balmy smolls.
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 Klysian dew
(List, mortals, if your ears be true)
Beds of hyacinth and roses.
Where young Adonis oft reposes.
Waxing well of his deep wound,
In slumber soft, and on the ground
Sadly sits the Assyrian queen.
But far above, in spangled sheen.
Celestial Cupid, her famed son, advanced

COMUS

Aolds bb dear Psyche, sweet entranced
Afte: her wandering labours long,
Till free consent the gods among
Make her his eternal bride,
And from her fair unspotted side
Two blissful twirs are to be born,
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 v. 'dd follow me,
Ix)ve Virtue ; she alone is free.
She can teach ye how to climb
Higher than ... sphery chime ;
Or, if Virtue feeble were,
Heaven itself would stoop to her.

lOIO

f-;i

NOTES

It is assumed that the student has access lo dictionaries and other
common works of reference, and that he know:: how to use them. I he
Notes are not intended to supply information which may be found in
such works, nor to deprive the student of the pleasure and proht of
thinking and working for himself. What they are intended for may be
gathered from a perSsal of them. It is hoped they will prove sugges-
tive and stimulating. They are not by any means exhaustive • at best
they are only samples of the sort of hints and queries which the editor
has found useful in conducting literature classes. 1 here is ample
room and verge enough " for teachers and students who use the book to
increase them in number, to enlarge them in quantity, and to improve

them in quality.

. . .

The usual contractions are used with the usual meanings, — such as v.

for see, and cf. for compare. Numerals standing alone refer to the Imes

of the poem in question. A -.receding A. is used for L Allegro 1 .for 11

Penseroso, L. for Lycidas. C. for Comus. Sometimes one of Shakes.

peare's plays is cited by initials only, but this should not trouble the

student A V. and R. V. are used occasionally for the Authorised and

Revised Versions of the English Bible. A series of two or more nu-

merals refers to chapter and verse, or to act, scene, and line, or to canto

Tnd line, or canto, stanza, and line, or one or other of the usual divisions

and sub-divisions of a work. When Shakespeare is cited by Ime, the lines

are those of the Globe Edition, according to established usage.

L'ALLEGRO
I Note both sense and sound of words rhyming with melancholy in

■ sV- uncouth here and in L. and in Gray's Elegy with the word as

now used. , , • o

, 6 Why brooding znd jealous and hts ?

7 Nii^ht-raven. Find a contrast in P. , . /-

8 Ebon. How is the same meaning expressed in C. and L. ?

12 It is strange that Milton should spell yclefd this way. Why ?
" They sat at dinner in a hall, and the queen in another."

^AXTON.

" Myselfand a sister both born in rt« hour."

Sebastian, tn Twelfth Night, 2. i.

" But aye to me he sings a sang,
' Will ye no come back again ? ' "

24 What different meanings do these Yords have ? Which fit best
here > Show by a drawing what you take the line to mean.^

?,7 A fine collection of quips and cranks may be picked up in
Shakespeare.

NOTES

look up also dip C. 803,

30 When looking up dim/^le here or in C. 119,
dtni:li' C. 312, and daf^ple A. 44.

32 Make a drawing for this line. , •/-..,/:

36 Why a mountain nymph ? Cf. the mountain associations m C. 426.

%» Cf. this crnv with those (2) in C, and in Paradise Lost, i. 51, 12. 38.

40 Unreproved. Collect words of similar form or meaning from L.
andC, and study all the passages together. t -i t. o , -,-.

44 F. note on 30, and Much Ado, 5. 3. 27, As \ ou Like It, 2. i. 22.
C7. with other dawns in Milton and other poets. . , , . j

45 Is to come to be construed with to live and to hear, or with begin and
j/^r^/e-.^ Each has its difficulties. , ,, ,, uu

/« .v/^/V^ </— the modern form with the old meaning. V, a speech by

Beatrice in Much Ado, 5. 2. , , , r ^u 1 *

47-8 Annotate these lines from >our own knowledge of the plants.
S2 V. note on 32. To what is the effect of the line due ?
54 Cheerh is the form in Shakespeare. Byron and Tennyson use it.

There is no 'cheerily in Johnson's Diet. 1755.

57 NonmZn. Why is such an odd phrase used ? Try P., and then
try an inference.

60 Cf. state in P. 37 and C. 35.

61-2" Is this the work of a reader or an observer.'

62 night— V. P. 159. Chaucer says of Emily,

" Er it were dav, as was hir wone to do,
She was arisen, and al redy dight."

An earlier meaning of the word is found in the legend on Marmion's

R n If* 1 fl

67 ' Tells his tale. If the line stood alone, this might mean "spins his
yarn " Coupled with 68, it might be " declares his love ; " but taken with
C7-6S, we see that the time of day is very unusual for this performance.
Milton's real meaning is probably that of tell in Genesis 15. 5 and Psalms
22 17, and of tale in Exodus 5. 8. Cf. teller and tally. Look up other
tales in these poems, and determine the meaning by t'e context.

6q Strai<^ht. F. C. 811 and 835 ; and cf. Nerissa's " Draw the curtain
£trr.ight" (M. V. 2. 9. i), and the grave-digger's "Make her grave

straight" (Ham. s- I- 4) , ^ 1 t -j

nX Lawns. Are these and the laxvns in Comus and Lycidas our
lawns ? The contexts will settle it. Tennyson uses the word both m

its old and its usual modern sense. ^^ <-.i 1 1 • at \t

75 Pied. Look up also piebald and magpie. Cf. bhylock, m M. V.
I. -x. 80, with Genesis 30. 31 ff. ,. ^ cu 1

78 Bosom'd. Cf C. 368 and Paradise Lost, 5. 127. Shakespeare,
Wordsworth, and Byron use the word in the same sense.

79 Lies. Is this the same as in L. 53 ? Cf Merry Waives, 2. 2. 63.
8* Cynosure. V. C. 342, and the dictionary.

85 It is as easy to misunderstand messes here, as m spite of m 45, and

tells his tale in 67. _. , , j

Qi Secure. Cf with C 327 and 408. Shakespeare uses the word som^e
thirty times. In about a third of the cases, it has much the same "lean-
ing as here. That it did not always mean what it now means should
be clear to any student who takes note that Shakespeare could say,
"Secure and safe," Ben Jonson, "Man may securely sin, but spfely
never," and Quarles, " The way to be safe is not to be secure. Look
up the derivation.

NOTES

101-14 How many different stories ? Where does each begm anu end ?

102 Mab. V. Mercutiu's speech in R. and J. i. 4. Jn M^ N. D. the
fairy queen is known as Titania. The scenes in which she appears
should be read by students interested ni fairy-lore. , . ^.^ , ,

e1 What is used as the past of eat in the liible and in Shakespeare ?

108 \\\\s shiuio7uy? , • o. >

III I low lone was that ? Does chitnuey mean the same as in bi ?

116 67. the lullaby in 1'., and any others you have met with in poetry.

120 iVeicis. It occurs four times in C; and other names are used
there for the same thin^. It is common in Shakespeare. Scott uses it
in the Lady of the Lake. We still say "widows weeds.

rW«///M.y should be looked up too. ikyriif^r.

122 Rain iufiucnce. Job 38. 31. In Memonam 17. ^S-i6. Milto"
has Che same ihjluence in the Nativity Ode, 71 : Shakespeare has it half

^ "^Td^l'oiTprize. Perhaps Milton meant that the eyes did this ; perhaps
the construction is like that of W 1 55-7 and L. 8S-9. .

127 What does and join this line with ? Have we our usual meaning

of pomp here ? _

128 Comus is a vtask. -i j »» ;„ TV.a
i«-4 And Tennyson calls Shakespeare "bland and mild m The

Palace of Art. 1^,4. Vet both poets fully appreciated his transcendent
power Try to discover why they speak of him in these P^^ssages in
Lch apparently inadequate terms. What Mdton says here seems httle
more complimentary than what Emerson said of Michael Angelo.

" He builded better than he knew."

141 This line should be read with 133-4 and the note thereon.

14c That. This elliptical use is common in Shakespeare.

Orhhfiis and his story are mentioned also in P. and L.

Heave In P 136 there is something of our habitual association with
heavy, but here and in C. 8S5 there seems to be none.

148-50 a'^'opinion expressed in P. on the comparative merits of
ancient and modern tragedy. . , . r 1 i

151 There is no //at the close of P. What is to be inferred ?

IL PENSEROSO

I Are these \\iQJoysoi L'AIlegro; and in 11, is it his melancholy th:;t
is hailed ?

6 c! 67?'l. 56. Puck sings, in M. N. D. 3. 2,

" Shall we their>«^/ pageant see?
Lord, \\\\?iX fools these iiiortals be !

n-6 Where may Milton have got the hint for this ?
19 Which circumpolar constellation does the story ht.'
24 Why solitary?

•XQ C. 803-1;. ,. - - /■/•

32 Cf. iBirth in A. Sober ? P. C. 2O3, 7^6 , ,Qc tt

I'x Grain. What colour ? Try C. 75", and Paradise Lost, S- 285 11.
24"^ Note evolution from the common meaning to this and from this to
'the black and grained spots " in Queen Gertrude's soul ( Ham. 3. 4- 90),
and the "rogue ingrain'' of the Princess (Prol. 116).

46 NOTES

35 The lawn of A. 71. etc., is used twice by Shakespeare, but it is in
the older form laund. This lawn he uses five times. In W. T. 4. 4. the
pedlar starts singing the praises of his wares with

" Lawn as white as driven snow,
Cyprus black as e'er was crow."

36 Decent. One commentator says it is either graceful or becoming;;
a second, either (i) cotnelv, beautiful, or (2) decent because ciwcrcd; a third
declares for comely. Look up the derivation, and cf. Goldsmith s

"The decent church that topt the neighbouring hill."
41 Perhaps the construction in this line is like that in L. 6 and in C.
470: perhaps it is not. . . . ^

51 Who is the "first and chiefest" of Mirth's companions in A.?
53 I'./.t'kiel 10 may help here.
55 I/, note on 41. , , . , • 1 1

57 Most poets, ancient and modern, make the female nightingale do
the singing. Byron and Tennyson knew better. _

J'li«ht here is probably the same word as in C. 301, quite different
from our ordinary flight as in C. 372. The flight of the nightingale is
something like the music described in A. 139-40-

Sxueetest-saddest. V. Shelley's Sky- Lark, stanza 18.

58 Cf. C. 251-2.

59-60 Cf. 106-8, and C. 256-9. • ,, xr t^

150 Shakespeare provides Night with a team of dragons in M. N. D. 3.

2, and Cym. 2. 2 ; and in T. and C. 5. 8, he makes Achilles speak of " the

dragon wing of night."
62 Cf. 57.

64 L'Allegro seems to prefer matins. . u-

66-72 Cf. Shelley's Cloud, stanza 4. Does the moon behave in this

■way ? ...

76 V. note on A. 52. Tick out some other similar lines.

77 f! Richard III. 5. 3- 46, Hamlet, II. 4. 1-2. , ., ,

78 This still and that in L. 187 should be compared with those in 41,
|nd in C. 560.

80 Cf Paradise Lost, I. 63.

84 Cf. "nightly ill" in Arcades, 48. Wordsworth has
"The nightly hunter lifting up his eyes."

87 How late must one sit up to do this ? Other northern constella-
.tions are mentioned in 19 and C. 341-2.

88 The Hermes Trismegistus of the dictionaries.

Unsphere. Cf. ins f here C. 3. , , i i

93-6 The older meanings of dejnon, consent, element should be

looked up.

98 Wow scefter'd? And why ?

101-2 Cf. A. 148-50 and note. Is this a supplement to the inade-
quate appreciation of Shakespeare in A. 133-4?

103-20 Rather a strange address to a "sad virgm. Perhaps sad had
better be examined. Cf 43 and C. 509, 1002. See also 117 and its

COIllUXt. ,, 1 J ^ ITITV • 1

110-5 How many of the Canterbury Tales are alluded to? Which

ones ? , . , 1 » TT J

113 Virtuous. Cf. C. 165, 621. Look at Mark 5. 30, in both A. V. and

117 Spenser's Fairy Queen is not a "solemn tune in our sense of
soletnn. Cf C. 142, 746; L. 179.

NOTES

146 {a)

120 Cite illustrations of this from these poems.

On than, Prof. Skeat says, " Frequenlly written then m old books;
extremely common in Shakespeare (First Folio)."

122-30 Cf. the morning in A.

122 Civil-suited. Cf. soher-suited in Romeo and Juliet, 3. 2. II, and in
Tennyson's "sober-suited freedom." o r^ e.

127 Sort out the still's here and in 41. 78, L 1S7, C 560.

134 Braivn. Milton's colour words should be examined carefully.

135 Monutnental.

" He hath given her his niomimental ring." AlVs Well, 4- 1- 20.

And V. 'T'^nnyson's Talking Oak, especially 37-68.

140 /-/ <imr. Cf. weaker in 15, and divinest in 12. Milton has many
Latinisms, and the Latin authors use comparatives and superlatives in
ways not recognised by the comjjilers of our grammar books.
144-6 And A. 41. Byron's Don Juan, i. 123,

«' 'T is sweet to be awakened by the lark,
Or lull'd by falling waters."

" All tiie charm of all the Muses
Often flowering in a lonely word.

"Jewels five-words-long
That on the stretch'd forefinger of all Time
Sparkle for ever."

There are samples of both {a) and {b) in these poems. Line 146 fur-
nishes one of one kind. ,
147-50 This is admitted to be a difficult passage. I here are several
different interpretations. The student may as well try his own wits at
it. It may, or it may not, help him to refer to 9-10.

153 Mortals good. Perhaps the same construction as m 156.

IS"; Why due? , , . ,.,

156-7 To walk And love. A peculiar Miltonic construction which

the student should try to puzzle out. . ^ , ,< . , >, x „*.

159 Storied. Perhaps as in C. 516, and in Gray's " storied urn; but

clerestory had better be looked up.

Di^jht. r. note on A. 62. ,. ^

170 Spell. I i Milton's Sonnet to Sir Henry \ ane, line 6 —
•' The drift of hollow states, hard to be spell'd."

In Much Ado, 3, i. 59-61, Hero savs —

"I r yet saw man,

How wise, how noble, yi,...ig, how rarely featured,
But she would spell him backward."

LYCIDAS

1-5 What are lattrel, myrtle, iw, emblems of? _

Mellozoin^ year is probably Milton's own poetic maturity, in ir-ara-

dise Lost, 10. 1066, shatter is again used where we would ^^y scatter.

Both words should be looked up. V. scatter in A. 50, and shatter in C.

^^^Q Dous Tennyson say anything as extravagant as this about Hall am ?

15-6 The Muses had various retreats. Line 16 seems to show whicft
one Milton means. „ , . . „

19 Muse — Xh^ he in 21, and the context generally show the meaning

of this muse.

ig-22 Cf. the last ten stanzas of Gray s Elegy.

NOTES

20 Such words as R. I. P. stand for — v. 22.

aa C/. j/z/vw^/in C. 147, 316; I'aradise Lost, 10. io68,

23-36 "The hill is, of course, Cambridge; the joint feeding of the
flocks is companionship in study; the ruial ditties on the oaten flute
are academic iambics and elegiacs; and old Danuttas is either Chappell
or some more kindly fellow of Christ's." (Masson.)

25 V. note on A. 71.

30 Some annotators say Venus. Perhaps Milton meant it so, but the
habits described are not those of Venu"^

31 C/. Locksley Hall, S.
40 Why i:^<tiidittj^?

48 C/. Tennyson's Two Voices, 59-60. Which month or months
here? Which ni England? What other name has it there?

50-5 The student will not find these places mentioned in his Classical
Dictionary amonp the haunts of the Muses. The voyage from Chester
lo Ireland would take one down the Dn>a, past several steeps on the
Welsh coast, and round the island which the Romans called Mona.

56 Fondly — V. V. 6.

58 Which of the Muses? On Orpheus, v. A. and P.

6x. Cf. rout and rabble in C.

65 Cf. homely in C. 748. ShephercVs trade, the next line shows what
this means. V. also 39-49, and note on 23-36. In As You l.ikj It, 3. 5.
82, Shakespeare calls Marlowe " Dead Shepherd."

66 Meditate. Cf. C. 547. It means more than it usually does nowa-
days.

67 Use. Cf. 136.

58-9 " Each heart recalled a different name,

I3ut all sang .(4««/> Za«r/f."

71 What is the 'Mast infirmity"?

77 Why " trembling " ?

78-84 Cf In Memoriam — Invocati m, 35-6,

" Merit lives from man to man.
And not from man, O Lord, to thee.''

And same poem, 73. 11-12,

" What fame is left for human deeds
In endless age? It rests with God."

87 Another " strain of a higher mood " occurs by-and-by.

88 Mark off the lines where the " oat " made way for the " higher
strain."

89 Cf. P. 157, and perhaps A. 122.

100-2 Superstition has not yet died OU'' ; mong those that go down
to the sea in ships.

103 Camus — V. note on 23-36. Went. In 90, Triton came ; m 108,
Peter came, and did i^o. We use went as the past of ,^^, but it is really the
past of woid, and this is the causal form of xvind. Tennyson was a Cam-
bridge man as Milton was, and perhaps he had the Cam in mind when he

wrote

" A full-fed river winding slow."

Spenser 'nas slow footing;. We say sloxv- footed.

108-29 V. Ruskin's Sesame and Lilies, 20-4.

121 The kerdman's art of " the dread voice " (132) is not the same as
the shepherd's trade (65) of the "oat" (88).

130-1. The general meaning is obvious. As to the special kind or
engine that was to be used, there are half-a-dozen different guesses. It

see!

this
]
]

tha

dar

So
Pai
cor
lesi

fits

an(

cf-
wa

111

NOTES

seems most probable that Milton purposely lett the passage obscure on
this point.

Jae'i/j/— V. 67 ; but the mear =ng here is farther from that of to-day

^^^"qS Isw"/-/.^' In C. 436 swart is explained by the context. There are
darkstars but nothing was known of them until long after Milton s time.
So we must suppose that " swart star " is used like ''oblivious pool m
Paradise Lost, 1. 266, Then, of course, it is the Dog-star, for whose
connection with the heat of the dog-days the dictionaries supply more or
less accurate information. ,

If for sparely we read rarely we shall get very near the meaning that
fits the context. For Milton's use of spare, v. P. 46 and C. 767 •

139-41 ///^/'''^ — tnrf-^, ground. How many different places .'

j,-y^.s — V 141, and cf. the word daisy.

Enamelled— v. Arcades, 84, and Paradise Lost, 4. I49-

\x^vcrHalflinvers:>\\ purple? Are all the tlowers in 142-50 vernal

and purple ? , . r ,

142 Rathe. Look up the history of rather.

" The men of rathe and ript- years. "

hi Mentortam, 1 10. a.

" Till rathe she rose." Elaine, 338.

142-50 Find some flower passages in Shakespeare and Tennyson, and
cf. them with this. Note that King was drowned in August, and the poem
was written in November.

153 What is the/i/.f^ surmise?

158 Pick out the most suitable meaning of monstrous.

160 Fable = fabled abcxle. Bellerus = an old Cornish giant

161 r/j/^// = the Archangel from whom St. Michaels Mount was

named.

166 Cf. *' Is Angelina your love ?

169-71. Cf. similar passages in these poems.

170 Trieks — v. P. 123. , .

xij^Dear — v.d. Why the particular allusion in this line?

175 Is nectar usually a hair-wash .*
184 V. note on 166.
186-93. Whose voice have we here ?
186 Uncouth— V. note on A. 5.
x88 Cf. Tennyson on Goethe's

" One dear harp in divers tones."

189 Doric lay — v. 186.
193 Is often misquoted.

COMUS

7 Pestered. Certainly one step, perhaps two, back of its usual mean-

^^^'^^\irtue. Is it virtue generally, or some special virtue? Which
virtues are chiefly commended in the poem ?

»g r' notes on L. 17c and A. 120.

18 Task. What was tt ? Where else does he call it a task ?

20 Who were they ? What were their realms ? ^

27-8 Cf. Gaunt's speech in Richard II., and Tennyson s

" the miphtiest Ocean-power on earth,
Our own fair isle, the lord of every sea"'

NOTES

3a Tempered — v. L. 33.

34 Nursed — V. L. 23.

35 State — V. A. 60.

44-5 Of what else in these poems is this true?

48 Cf. the tonstructiun in P.iradise Lost, I. 573.

56 Students should note the uses of part and depart by our older
writers.

59 frolic — V. A. 18, and Tennyson's Ulysses, 47.

63 How does Comus show himself superior to Circe?

65 Why orient? For Comus's own account of his liquor, 7^ 672-8,
and Sn-3.

68-72 Cf. 51-3. Why should Milton transform only the heads of the
victims of Comus ? Which of Shakespeare's chaiacters may hi: have had
in mind ?

88 gi Note the peculiar construction.

92 .Shakespeare uses viewless once, in Measure for Me'isure, 3. i. 124.
Millon has it at least three times. In Scott's Last Miiistrel, I. 12. 4, it
also occurs. Shakespeare uses sightless in the same sense twice in the
first act of Macbeth.

93 For its pastoral function when morning star, v. Measure for Meas-
ure, 4. 2. 218.

98 /'. L. 31 and note.

110 Cf. Jacjues' " Wise Saws." For a specimen of a "saw," v. As
You !>ike It, 3. 5. 83.

116 Why " to the moon " ?

126 What may Comus mean by this?

139 Some of tlie usual dictionary meanings for nice will do here, es-
pecially if well spiced with contempt.

For connection between morn and India, v. In Memoriam, 26. 14.

142 Solemnity, with its modern meaning, is a strange name for
Comus's orgies. The history of the word needs looking into.

147 Shrouds — V. note on L. 22. Add Ezekiel 31. 3, to the references
given there.

165 V. P. 113 and note.

167 Keeps up. How late is it? What notes of time are there so
far ?

168 Fairly. Tliere is an old saw about /-j'/V and softly.

177 How would the lady (or Milton) have had the gods thanked?

180 Info m. Try Deuteronomy 17. 10, Coriolanus, 5. 3. 71, Antony
and Cleopatra, 3. 2. 48.

204 .S'///'--/^. Cf. 369. In Matt. 6. 22, Wyclif has simple where the A.
V. has simple.

207-9 v. in Macaulay's Milton, his comparison of the exact details of
Dante with the dim intimations of Milton.

213-5 Are th%re three or four addressed here? Note anything
specially appropriate in the epithets.

216 V. 205-8.

227 What sort of a noise does she make ? Note what Comus says of
it Collect the other noisrs in the poem and study the meanings with the
help (1) of the context, and (2) of the dictionary.

248 Why his?

301 Plighted — V. note on P. 57, and cf.

Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides.

Lear, i. i> 283.

303 What sort of a path is it?
312 Dingle — v. note on A. 30.

NOTES

313 Bosky — V. 312. Scott uses It in Lady of Lake, 3. 14. 23.
Bourn. Not the kmrn of the famous passiige in Hamlet, but that of
Lear, 3. 6. 27. The northern form is spelled and pronounced burn^ as in

Tannahill's song, ^ . ^ ..

"The midges dance aboon the burn "

316 Shroud — V. 147, and L. 22.

317-8 Cf. with the lark passage in A., and with the habits of the bird.

322 Cf. 161.

323-5 Cf. 2 Henry IV., 3. 2. 9-16.

340 I'iclc out some other lines like this.

341-a v. r. 87. Greek sailors steered by the greater, PhcEnician by

the lesser. , , . .

345 y. L. 33, 88, 188; and cf. first stanza of In Mcmoriam, 21.

349 In Paradise Lost, 9. 10S9. it is " innumerable boughs." Cf \\\e
"spiwn innumerable " of 713, with the " innumerous living creatures"

of Paradise Lost, 7- 455-

Tennyson uses innumerous in Princess, 5. 13.

359 Exifuistti-. We would say imjuisitive.

360 Cut. Like an accountant, or an astrologer, or a founder, or a
physician, or how.'

362-3 Quote some homelv sayings on the subject. ^

366. To seek. V. Paradise Lost, 8. 197, read from 190. In P. aeon s
essav on Usury we have "The merchant will be to seek for money."

368 V. note on A. 78.

369 /'. note on 204.

375 Cf L. 9S.

376 Another old use of seek {cf. 366), v. Pible.

377 In P., Contemplation is one of Lzekiel's cherubim.

380 V. Webster on to and </// to. Better still, v. Skeat on to. Cf.
Judge-i 9. 53, in A. V. with Luther's zerbnuh.

382 Centre — V Nativity Hymn, 162.

393-5 ^^- 9'^i-3- Look up Hesperides, Hercules, and Ladon.

395 Unenchanted. Cf. uncontrolled in 793, and unref^nwed A. 40.

401 The Clarendon Press edition says, '' xoink on is used by Shakes-
peare as--='give a signal to a confederate,' or 'shut the eye,' 'refuse
to see ' Either sense will fit here. The whole passage is enlarged from
Rosalind's single line,

" ' Beauty provuketh thieves sooner than gold.' "

408 Infer. Cf this use of the word with ours.

426 Cf. the mountain associations here with those in A. 36.

432-7 Cf. speech by Marcelkis in Hamlet, i.i.

436 When did he return to his chains?

438-40 What witnesses has he already called?

444-5 Cf. "the imperial votaress " of Oberon's famous speech.

459-63 V. what Raphael says to Adam in Paradise Lost, 5. 493 ff.
Cf also Princess, 2. 71-4.

476 It is Plato's philosophy that the elder brother has been uttering.
Here we have Milton's own opinion of it.

494.-6 Look up other similar passaces in these poems, and cf. the
effec't'of the music made by Oberon's Mermaid.

502-4 Are ewes and wolves considered toys nowadays ? CfV. \.

509 Sidlv — v. note on P. 103. Cf Romeo and Juliet, i. i. 207-10.

513 Cf. Milton's use of ye and you with that of tl ' Bible and of to-day.

526 C/.?>i7, and Arcades, 60.

NOTES

535 mtts. In I2S. where the meaning seems the same as here, Milton

says riirhts,

548 t/. v. 175, and that poem as a whole.

5JJ-5^/l!»"the' noise of . 70 : 555-62 Is the noise of 227. C/. what the
Soirii .says of it with what C'omus says further l)ack.

560 C/. Ariel's ''sltll vex'tl Hcrmoothus," Tempest, I. 2. 229.

580 K. 335 and 27S ; also 36-9, 266. 349-

585 /'enoti. I It; adds some more heluw.

SQ8-Q cy: with similar passages in the lUhle.

607 /'///v/^w. t/. I Henry IV.. 2. I. Id, and Us context.

All earlier reading of the line was,

" And force luin to release his new tjot prey."

6ao Render "Of . . . to" into modern coUotpiial Knglish.

6ai Virtuous — v.(i2(),.\m\ \\ W},.

6iii-«; Cf. Wordsworth's I'cter Ikll. ,

636 (•/: the use the Spirit makes of haemony with the use Ulysses
mule of inolv. Look up i'/vsscs aiul Ciicc , , i-rr *

661. 663 Note here and elsewhere the use of thou and;w/ by different

speakers.

66Q-7I C'/. some lines in I, ocksley Hall. ,.,.-.,

700 Shakespeare makes Timon speak of " liquorish draughts in 4- 3-

104. l,()()k up //Wr'7.i7/.

702-5 Tit-bits from KuriiMdes and Plato. a<K„ nvfnrrl

707 lohnson (T755) gives /Wv.'^surly, stiff, formal. He Oxford
I)i Jt^Miary ( «888) siys; ••Etymology unknown," but smaller works profess

to know it.

708 For till', look up Dnxenes. .
lZAl>st.u>nc; 73 1 Tanr^auce. Cf. meanings of these wo dsin

^6/4 as shown by the immediate context and by the poem ^^^ ^ ^hole

;^?h*their meanings now. What does temferuuu mean in the bible and

in Shakespeare? •

718 Vacant — v.\.ocVs\i:y Hall, 175- ,

719 I/ulc/ud. Cf. rMM-hutch, and a ship s hatches.

iVo ^6 "y'hTs I°gument with the Lady's reply to it

1j% C^Z etymologise as well as the Lady, v. 32$-

7S0 Grain — V. P. 33 .

753 V. descriptions of morn in these poems.

meant ?

What sort of tresses are

__^ V -hat i« ^nid of Belial in Paradise Lost, 2.
760 a.""/W/.'./language" in Coriolanus, 3. i. 322
/_ ^. ., . __.:jj^ ji^e „ext thirty-seven bnes.

759

761 Cf. this wi

767 V. note on 709

768 ff. Cf. Lear, 4. i- 70-74 •
780 ff. C/. with what the Llder
788 Cf. worthy in Luke 12. 48.

For 5'/'(rr<', ?/. P. 46 and L. 138.

Brother has said on the same subject.

NOTES

?5S-I'?ic^k out \^l\^oi 'these from the speeches o{ Comui.
7J3 UnamUolUd. C/. WJ. ami A . 4<>- . From-Bruta

;q7 /?rM// c-./^M. Uned m In Mcmoriam, IJ7. »5' ^'om Mruta
Tcllus" in Horace, Odes, i. 34- 9-
803 Note thi;* use of dip,

ISs'scMife fin'rhumour here, some only audacious impudence.

Z\\ Straii::ht'-v. t\.f3f^

81S ^- 653. 1 u u /• j9

flfK With r ''iitruction in second halt, cf. 40.

Shakespeare on Marlowe in A. Y. L., 3. 5' *»'•

825 C/. with similar lines.

838 Cf. L. 175

830 Cf. Hamlet, !■ 5- "3- ^

84s Cf "urchin-shows^' m Tempest, «. 2. 5.

846 cy. Midsummer Night's Dream, 2. i. 33-

87a Not the mountains of that name. Look up Prottus,

877 /'. note on P. 146.

880 -a Cf. Heine's Lorelei, stanzas 3 and 4.

885 V. A. 145-

?95-9"^/^Venus and Adonis. .028; Lady of the Lake. I. 8. 12-15;
Talking 0.ik, 131-2 ; Maud, 12, 6.

"■ Vei'l Not'a™fras. between " duck or nod " and •• mincing." Cf. .h.

" "Q74-5°'l'he moral of the poem. v. also 420-75-

drX This use of blino is very rare. u«,k»' lAr9\

S97 He is goin? to tell " of things that no gross ear can hear (458).

givinghs v.ew.M,M3roy on Lo^^^^^ chiefest Office of Love

tend e^tt t"e%oT (Psyche in 100^).^^^^^^^^^^^^ those happy
twins of her divine generation, Knowledge and Virtue.
loia Cf. now in 820.

1 014 Cf. Paradise Lost, 8, 031.

1015 Does it seem so to you t

1017 Cf Macbeth, 3. S- 23- , ,, • ,. , ..R_Ac
ijai V. 1 1 2-4, and Merchant of Venice, 5. i. 5S-o5.

-f

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