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tE^\)t Hitjers^iOe literature ^ttitsi 
 
 MINOR POEMS 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN MILTON 
 
 n 
 
 WITH NOTES FOR CAEEFUL STUDY 
 
 BY 
 
 CLAUDE M. FUESS, Ph. D. 
 
 INSTRUCTOR IN ENGLISH, PHILLIPS ACADEMY 
 ANDOVER, MASS. 
 
 AND SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES SAVAIN THOMAS, A. M. 
 
 HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH 
 NEWTON HIGH SCHOOL 
 
 BOSTON lOSW YORK CHICAGO 
 
 HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
 
CONTENTS ' '"^■l 
 
 Biographical Sketch 5 
 
 Bibliographical Note 11 
 
 L' Allegro 12 
 
 II Penseroso 17 
 
 CoMus 23 
 
 Lycidas ' . 5ij 
 
 Sonnets 
 
 On his being arrived to tlie Age of Twenty-Three . t 
 On the Lord General Fairfax .....( 
 
 To the Lord General Cromwell ( 
 
 To Sir Henry Vane the Younger . . . . ( 
 
 On the Late Massacre in Piemont . . . 6 
 
 On his Blindness 
 
 The Meter of the Poems v. 
 
 Notes for Careful Study T. 
 
 Suggestive Questions and Comments . . . .10. 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. 
 COPYRIGHT, I9II, I9I4, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
 MAR 231914 
 
 CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS 
 U . S . A 
 
BIOGKAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 The character of John Milton presents an unusual com- 
 bination of two elements seldom found together in the 
 same person : a Renaissance passion for beauty in both 
 nature and art, and a Puritan zeal for reform in matters of 
 morals and religion. His career, too, is an equally singular 
 alternation of the contemplative with the active life. 
 Until he was well over thirty, circumstances joined to 
 favor him in maintaining that studious ease which, in his 
 case, fostered a native inclination towards scholarship 
 and poetry. Living as a boy almost "within the spacious 
 times of great Elizabeth," he could hardly fail to be stim- 
 ulated by the men and the atmosphere around him. Shake- 
 speare himself was alive until 1616, when Milton was 
 eight years old ; and sturdy Ben Jonson must often have 
 walked with his "sons" past the Milton home on his 
 way to the Mermaid Tavern in the same street. In school 
 and university there was little to disturb the smooth cur- 
 rent of Milton's daily routine, and for nearly six years 
 after he left Cambridge he remained quietly in the country, 
 training himself seriously in writing, preparing consciously 
 for the lofty poetic mission to which he had already dedi- 
 cated himself. During this first period he seems like an un- 
 troubled child of the Renaissance, a genuine Elizabethan, 
 belated, it is true, but nevertheless with much of the free 
 and joyous spirit of that splendid age. Then the change 
 came. The breach between Puritan and Cavalier, immi- 
 nent since the accession of Charles I in 1625, gradually 
 widened, and Milton, idealist in religion and government 
 as he had shown himself to be in art, returned from Italy 
 to cast in his fortunes with the Parliamentarians. For 
 nearly twenty years the poet of Comus, forsaking deliber- 
 ately all his former pursuits and entering energetically 
 
4 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 into public life, devoted himself largely to theological and 
 political controversy. Into the momentous problems of 
 his century he threw himself body and soul, laboring to 
 support the Commonwealth until he lost his eyesight in 
 the effort. Then the restoration of Charles II in 1660 
 once more altered conditions, and Milton was left, blind 
 and proscribed, to resume in old age the high calling of 
 his youth, with a nature, however, strengthened and en- 
 nobled by his two decades of public service. The desire 
 for artistic perfection which he had shown in his early 
 poems was ultimately blended with the stern mood which 
 he had displayed while holding office under Cromwell ; it 
 was as if, in Faradlse Lost, the spirits of Raphael and 
 Luther had been united to make an immortal epic. 
 
 The story of Milton's life, then, may be simplified by a 
 rough division into three distinct periods, each complete 
 in itself and each productive of some remarkable literary 
 work. From 1608 to 1640, the years of his apprenticeship, 
 he composed the admirable minor poems included in this 
 volume ; from 1640 to 1660, during the Civil War and the 
 Commonwealth, he was occupied chiefly with prose pam- 
 phlets on burning issues of Church and State ; and from 
 1660 to 1674 he was the author of Paradise Lost, Para- 
 dise Refjained, and Samson Agonistes. 
 
 John Milton was born in London on November 9, 1608. 
 His father, also named John INIilton, after having been 
 disinherited by his Catholic parents for turning Protestant, 
 had become a scrivener or notary with a prosperous busi- 
 ness. He was an accomplished musician, a reader of 
 poetry, and a man of culture and earnest piety. He was 
 willing and able, moreover, to give his son the best educa- 
 tion his day and station afforded. The boy, accordingly, 
 was placed first under a private tutor, a Puritan clergyman, 
 Thomas Young, and was sent later to St. Paul's School, 
 where he took courses in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and was 
 taught besides to read and speak French and Italian. He was 
 at this time fond of English poetry, especially of Spenser's 
 Faerie Queene, which had appeared in 1590. According to 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 5 
 
 his own testimony he was a studious child, so eager for read- 
 ing that after his twelfth year he rarely left his books be- 
 fore midnight. At St. Paul's he formed an intimacy with 
 Charles Diodati, a young Englishman of Italian descent, 
 whose early death in 1638 he afterwards bewailed in his 
 Latin Epitajyhlum Damon is. 
 
 On April 9, 1625, Milton matriculated at Christ's Col- 
 lege, Cambridge, where he remained until 1632, taking the 
 degrees both of Bachelor and Master of Arts. In many re- 
 spects he was not in sympathy with his university, and 
 some trouble with his tutor, Chappell, a|)parently caused 
 the undergraduate a temporary rustication. His comrades 
 named him " the Lady of Christ's," possibly because of 
 his handsome face, possibly also because of liis fastidious 
 tastes and the purity of his life. He was undoubtedly re- 
 served and haughtily independent ; for already he believed 
 himself destined for great achievement as a poet, and 
 he was persuaded that only austere living and unsullied 
 integrity could prepare him for his future. Numerous- 
 Latin verses and some English poems composed at this time 
 indicate that he had begun to '^ meditate the thankless- 
 Muse." The Hymn on the Nativity, written when he was- 
 barely twenty-one, is more than promising in its careful 
 workmanship. Most significant of all, however, was the 
 well-known sonnet On His Being Arrived to the Age of 
 Twenty-three^ which concludes with his decision to live,, 
 wherever he may be, — 
 
 "As ever in m}'- great Task-Master's eye." 
 
 Although Milton had originally planned to enter the 
 Church, he was resolved by the time his university days 
 were over that '^ he who would take orders must subscribe 
 himself slave." Fortunately his father recognized his son's 
 genius and was ready to indulge his wishes ; so the young 
 graduate lived during most of the next six years at the 
 family country-seat at Horton, about seventeen miles south- 
 east of London and only four miles from Windsor Castle. 
 Here, as he says, he " spent a long holiday turning over the- 
 
6 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 Greek and Latin authors," reading widely in his own and 
 other literatures, making frequent visits to London for the 
 study of music and mathematics, — in general, storing his 
 intellect, patiently biding his time, and, as he wrote Dio- 
 dati, growing his wings for a flight. At this period he was 
 an occasional rather than a prolific poet. It was, however, 
 during this uneventful, but by no means indolent, seclu- 
 sion that he wrote the work comprised in this edition: 
 U Allegro and II Penseroso, Comus, and LycMas. These 
 in themselves would have given him a ranking among the 
 finest of English poets. Throughout they are distinguished 
 by discriminating taste, gracefulness of style, and perfection 
 of form ; and in Comus and Lycidas a deeper note is some- 
 times struck, indicating that Milton, with his leanings to- 
 wards Presbyterianism, was being stirred to profound re- 
 flection by the proceedings of Archbishop Laud and the 
 High Church party. 
 
 In the spring of 1638, Milton's father, with his custom- 
 ary generosity, allowed his son to take the '' grand tour," 
 then fashionable as a finishing touch to education. Well 
 provided with letters of introduction, he stopped for a few 
 weeks in Paris and then moved on to Italy, where, in 
 Florence and Rome, he met many prominent Italians, in- 
 cluding Manso and Galileo. Further plans for a journey to 
 Greece were interrupted by the news, which reached him 
 in Naples, of the open rupture between Charles I and the 
 Scotch. Milton's interest in troubles of State may be 
 judged by the fact that, although he was then officially 
 unknown and uninfluential, he gave up his projected voy- 
 age and returned shortly after to England. 
 
 For some time, however, an opportunity to take part in 
 public affairs did not arise. On his arrival in London in 
 x\ugust, 1639, he turned to school teaching as an occupa- 
 tion, his first pupils being his nephews, John and Edward 
 Phillips. But in reality the whole course of his life had 
 changed. He had made up his mind that it was his duty 
 to defend openly the principles which he held, and accord- 
 ingly he was engaged during a large part of the next twenty 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 7 
 
 years in writing prose pamphlets upholding the '' three 
 species of liberty which are essential to the happiness of 
 social life — religious, domestic, and civil." He com- 
 menced in 1641 by publishing his Of Reformation touch- 
 ing Church Discipline in Enrjland^ the first of five polem- 
 ics assailing the Episcopal type of church government. 
 The matter of these papers was principally controversial, 
 and Milton did not shrink from the most coarse and scur- 
 rilous abuse of those opposed to him in doctrine. There are 
 few sharper contrasts in any man's work than that between 
 the delicate verse of U Allegro and the vigorous invective 
 of certain of these ecclesiastical tracts. 
 
 In the spring of 1643, while hostilities were actually 
 beginning, Milton went to Oxfordshire on business and 
 came back a month later bringing with him as his bride, 
 Mary Powell, the daughter of one of his father's debtors. 
 The whole affair has puzzled the biographers. It is certain, 
 however, that she was seventeen and a royalist at heart, 
 and that Milton was thirty-five and an unbending Puritan. 
 It is not strange, perhaps, that they were uncongenial and 
 that she left him after a few weeks to return to her family. 
 Milton retaliated by writing The Doctrine and Discipline 
 of Divorce^ published on August 1, 1643, directly after his 
 wife's departure. Three other tractates on the same sub- 
 ject followed in rapid succession, each arguing powerfully 
 for the granting of divorce on the ground of incompatibil- 
 ity of temperament. In 1645, when the royalists were 
 losing ground, some kind of a reconciliation was arranged, 
 and she lived with Milton until her death in 1652, bear- 
 ing him three daughters. 
 
 Meantime Milton had become enthusiastically active in 
 other fields. He had printed in 1644 his highly idealistic 
 and thoroughly unpractical essay Of Education, and in the 
 same year appeared his Areoptagitica, the best known of 
 his prose works, an elaborate plea for freedom of the press. 
 His school hr.d been increasing steadily in numbers, but in 
 1647, after the death of his father, his income was consid- 
 erably augmented, and he therefore gave up his pupils and 
 
8 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 settled with fiis family in a larger house. In short order 
 after the beheading of Charles I on January 30, 1649, 
 Milton produced a pamphlet called The Tenure of Kings 
 and Magistrates, in which he undertook to justify the 
 execution of the king. His zeal was rewarded by an ap- 
 pointment as Secretary for Foreign Tongues to the Com- 
 monwealth, his duties being not only to carry on official 
 correspondence, but also to respond to the attacks then being 
 made all over Europe on Cromwell and his government. 
 His first important task was to counteract the influence of 
 a famous book, Eikon Basllike, alleged to have been com- 
 posed by the late monarch during his imprisonment ; Mil- 
 ton replied with Elkonoldastes, a severe and savage ar- 
 raignment of royalists in general. A 'Laiiw. Defense of the 
 King now appeared, instigated by the exiled Charles II, 
 but written by Salmasius, a distinguished Dutch scholar ; 
 and Milton, in attempting to overwhelm his adversary, 
 disregarded the advice of his physician with regard to 
 his eyes. His Latin Pro Popnlo Anglicaoio, published in 
 
 1651, was conclusive both in argument and vituperation, 
 but the victory cost him his eyesight, and after March, 
 
 1652, he was totally blind. He still, however, retained his 
 position, assistants being employed to help him. 
 
 In 1652 his wife died, and in 1656 he married Catharine 
 Woodcock, who lived only fifteen months. She is com- 
 memorated in the fine sonnet On His Deceased Wife. In 
 1663 Milton was married for a third time, his wife being 
 Elizabeth Minshull, who proved to be a faithful helpmate. 
 She survived him for fifty-three years, dying in 1727. 
 
 The literary product of this period from 1640 to 1660 
 includes some twenty-five prose pamphlets, four of which 
 are in Latin, and several sonnets. Of these sonnets the 
 best are the well-known On His Blindness (1652), con- 
 cluding with the line, " They also serve who only stand 
 <and wait " ; and On the Late Massacre in Piemont 
 (1655), which is probably the most powerful sonnet in 
 English. In the prose papers Milton, as he himself recog- 
 nized^ was using only his left hand ; but passages in them 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 9 
 
 here and there have a resounding harmony like that of 
 organ music. 
 
 The Restoration of Charles II in 1660 naturally deprived 
 Milton of his office and drove him into hiding ; but, although 
 his writings were burned by the common hangman, he was 
 able himself to escape injury and imprisonment by the 
 payment merely of some rather heavy fees. It was inevi- 
 table under the circumstances that a man of his tempera- 
 ment should consider resuming the plan of his youth for 
 the composition of a great poem. As early as 1640 lie had 
 projected a drama on the theme of the fall of man, and 
 he had probably begun his epic some time before 1660. 
 Now, with the enforced aid of his three daughters as 
 copyists, he was prepared to carry the design through, 
 dictating during the fall and winter months only. Although 
 it M^as completed by 1665, the great fire and plague of 
 1666 delayed its publication, and Paradise Lost did not 
 appear until 1667. 
 
 Paradise Lost is an epic in blank verse, dealing with 
 the creation and the fall of man, and having as its chief 
 figure the rebel angel, Satan. In vastness of conception, 
 in richness and and variety of versification, and in massive 
 strength and sublimity, it is one of the glories of English 
 literature, and its author has through it a place among tlie 
 supreme world poets, — Homer, Virgil, Dante, Shake- 
 speare, and Goethe. 
 
 At the suggestion of his Quaker friend, Thomas Ellwood, 
 Milton supplemented Paradise Lost with Paradise Re- 
 gained, which, in four books, relates the story of Christ's 
 temptation in the wilderness. This, with Samson Agon- 
 istes, a drama on Greek models, was published in 1671. 
 ^Between Milton and Samson there are obvious resem- 
 blances in character and fate ; and the Puritan poet, blind 
 and reduced in fortune, could hardly help feeling sym- 
 pathy with Samson, also sightless and among his enemies, 
 the Philistines. 
 
 In his last years Milton was afflicted with the gout, but 
 he busied himself with some minor tasks : a History of 
 
10 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 Britain, an Art of Logic, and some epistles and tracts. He 
 lived quietly at his home in Artillery Walk, receiving 
 friends from time to time, spending many hours daily at 
 his organ, and listening to his wife's singing. Dryden, the 
 representative poet of the new age, asked leave to turn 
 Paradise Lost into rhyme, and Milton somewhat con- 
 temptuously gave him leave to '^ tag his verses." Finally 
 on November 8, 1674, the end came. He was buried in 
 the chancel of the Church of St. Giles, near Cripplegate. 
 
 Milton was a courageous, resolute man of high ideals, 
 unswerving in his devotion to duty and uncompromising 
 in his opinions. He was not always amiable or adaptable ; 
 moreover, he lacked a sense of humor, and he M^as not 
 infrequently disagreeably intolerant. He was, however, 
 emphatically masculine in his character. He seems to have 
 been recognized by every one, from his university days 
 on, as an extraordinary personage, and his stern and self- 
 confident nature impressed even his intimate acquaint- 
 ances with awe. 
 
 As a writer he was, at least in his poetry, a consummate 
 craftsman, seeking and attaining perfection of form as 
 few before his time or since have done. He is always at his 
 best, with his singing robes about him ; he has little inferior 
 work, except that done in his boyhood. The soaring stretch 
 of his imagination, his marvelous command of verbal 
 melody, his unerring instinct for the accurate and suggest- 
 ive word, his superb constructive poM^er, — these are the 
 qualities which make him a supreme poet. We may not 
 love John Milton as a man ; we may even shrink from cer- 
 tain phases of his austere character ; but we can never cease 
 from paying him unstinted admiration and honor as "the 
 great idealist of our Anglo-Saxon race." 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 
 
 Some knowledge of the social, political, and ecclesias- 
 tical conditions in the England of Milton's time will be 
 of much assistance to the student in understanding these 
 3Iinor Poems. Such a sketch as that in Green's Short 
 History of England, chapter viii, gives a reasonably full 
 account of the period from 1603 to 1689, with some dis- 
 cussion of Milton himself. Milton's life and times are 
 treated in great detail by Masson in his Life of Milton, 
 a monumental work in six volumes, indispensable to any 
 one making a thorough study of the subject. A copy of 
 Milton's complete works, such as that edited by William 
 Vaughn Moody in the Cambridge Edition, should be 
 within easy access of every student. 
 
 Among the various shorter essays and biographies deal- 
 ing with Milton, the following are likely to prove profit- 
 able reading : — 
 
 Dr. Johnson : — ^(/e of Milton (in his Lives of the Poets). 
 Macaulay : — Essay on Milton (in his Essays, vol- 
 ume i). 
 Bagehot : — John Milton (in his Literary Studies, 
 
 volume i). 
 Lowell : — Essay on Milton (in his Among my 
 
 Books). 
 Dowden : — John Milton (in his Transcripts and 
 
 Studies'). 
 Arnold : — John Milton (in his Essays in Criticism, 
 
 Second Series). 
 Pattison : — Johii Milto7i (English Men of Letters 
 
 Series). 
 Garnett: — John Milton (Great Writers Series). 
 Trent : — John Milton : A Short Study of his Life 
 
 and Works. 
 Saintsbury : — Milton (in The Cambridge History of 
 
 English Literature, volume viii, 
 
 chapter 5). 
 
L' ALLEGRO 
 
 Hence, loathed Melancholy, 
 
 Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born, 
 In Stygian cave forlorn, 
 
 'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights un- 
 holy! 
 Find out some uncouth cell, 5 
 
 Where brooding Darkness spreads his jealous wings, 
 And the night-raven sings ; 
 
 There under ebon shades, and low-browed rocks. 
 As ragged as th^ locks. 
 
 In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell. 10 
 
 But come, thou Goddess fair and free, 
 In heaven yclep'd Euphrosyne, 
 And by men, heart-easing Mirth, 
 Whom lovely Venus, at a birth. 
 
 With two sister Graces more 16 
 
 To ivy-crowned Bacchus bore ; 
 Or whether (as some sager sing) 
 The frolic Wind that breathes the spring, 
 Zephyr with Aurora playing. 
 
 As he met her once a-Maying, * 20 
 
 There on beds of violets blue. 
 And fresh-blown roses washed in dew. 
 Filled her with thee, a daughter fair, 
 So buxom, blithe, and debonair. 
 
 Haste thee. Nymph, and bring with thee 25 
 
 Jest and youthful Jollity, 
 
L' ALLEGRO 13 
 
 Quips, and Cranks, and wanton Wiles, 
 
 Nods, and Becks, and wreathed Smiles, 
 
 Such as hang on Hebe's cheek. 
 
 And love to live in dimple sleek ; 30 
 
 Sport that wrinkled Care derides, 
 
 And Laughter holding both his sides. 
 
 Come, and trip it as ye go. 
 
 On the light fantastic toe ; 
 
 And in thy right hand lead with thee 35 
 
 The mountain Nymph, sweet Liberty ; 
 
 And, if I give thee honour due. 
 
 Mirth, admit me of thy crew. 
 
 To live with her, and live with thee, 
 
 In unreproved pleasures free ; 40 
 
 To hear the lark begin his flight. 
 
 And singing startle the dull night, 
 
 From his watch-tower in the skies. 
 
 Till the dappled Dawn doth rise ; 
 
 Then to come, in spite of sorrow, 45 
 
 And at my window bid good-morrow. 
 
 Through the sweet-briar or the vine, 
 
 Or the twisted eglantine ; 
 
 While the cock with lively din 
 
 Scatters the rear of Darkness thin ; 50 
 
 And to the stack, or the barn-door, 
 
 Stoutly struts his dames before : 
 
 Oft listening how the hounds and horn 
 
 Cheerly rouse the slumbering Morn, 
 
 From the side of some hoar hill, 55 
 
 Through the high wood echoing shrill : 
 
 Sometime walking, not unseen. 
 
 By hedgerow elms, on hillocks green, 
 
14 L' ALLEGRO 
 
 Right against the eastern gate, 
 
 Where the great Sun begins his state, 60 
 
 Robed in flames and amber light. 
 
 The clouds in thousand liveries dight ; 
 
 While the ploughman, near at hand, 
 
 Whistles o'er the furrowed land. 
 
 And the milkmaid singeth blithe, 65 
 
 And the mower whets his scythe. 
 
 And every shepherd tells his tale 
 
 Under the hawthorn in the dale. 
 
 Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures, 
 Whilst the landskip round it measures : 70 
 
 Russet lawns, and fallows gray, 
 Where the nibbling flocks do stray ; 
 Mountains on whose barren breast 
 The labouring clouds do often rest ; 
 Meadows trim with daisies pied ; 75 
 
 Shallow brooks, and rivers wide. 
 Towers and battlements it sees 
 Bosomed high in tufted trees. 
 Where perhaps some beauty lies, 
 
 The cynosure of neighbouring eyes. 80 
 
 Hard by, a cottage chimney smokes 
 From betwixt two aged oaks. 
 Where Corydon and Thyrsis met 
 Are at their savoury dinner set 
 
 Of herbs and other country messes, 81 
 
 Which the neat-handed Phillis dresses ; 
 And then in haste her bower she leaves, 
 With Thestylis to bind the sheaves ; 
 Or, if the earlier season lead. 
 To the tanned haycock in the mead. 90 
 
L' ALLEGRO 15 
 
 Sometimes with secure delight 
 The upland hamlets will invite, 
 When the merry bells ring round, 
 And the jocund rebecks sound 
 
 To many a youth and many a maid 95 
 
 Dancing in the chequered shade ; 
 And young and old come forth to play 
 On a sunshine holiday. 
 Till the livelong daylight fail : 
 
 Then to the spicy nut-brown ale, 100 
 
 With stories told of many a feat. 
 How fairy Mab the junkets eat : 
 She was pinched and pulled, she said ; 
 And he, by Friar's lantern led. 
 
 Tells how the drudging Goblin sweat 105 
 
 To earn his cream-bowl duly set, 
 When in one night, ere glimpse of morn, 
 His shadowy flail hath threshed the corn 
 That ten day-labourers could not end ; 
 Then lies him down, the lubber fiend, 110 
 
 And, stretched out all the chimney's length, 
 Basks at the fire his hairy strength, 
 And crop-full out of doors he flings. 
 Ere the first cock his matin rings. 
 Thus done the tales, to bed they creep, 115 
 
 By whispering winds soon lulled asleep. 
 Towered cities please us then. 
 And the busy hum of men. 
 Where throngs of Knights and Barons bold, 
 In weeds of peace, high triumphs hold, 120 
 
 With store of Ladies, whose bright eyes 
 Rain influence, and judge the prize 
 
16 L' ALLEGRO 
 
 Of wit or arms, while both contend 
 
 To win her grace whom all commend. 
 
 There let Hymen oft appear 125 
 
 In saffron robe, with taper clear, 
 
 And pomp, and feast, and revelry. 
 
 With mask and antique pageantry ; 
 
 Such sights as j^outhful Poets dream 
 
 On summer eves by haunted stream. 130 
 
 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, 135 
 
 Lap me in soft Lydian airs, 
 
 Married to immortal verse. 
 
 Such as the meeting soul may pierce. 
 
 In notes with many a winding bout 
 
 Of linked sweetness long drawn out, 140 
 
 With wanton heed and giddy cunning. 
 
 The melting voice through mazes running, 
 
 Untwisting all the chains that tie 
 
 The hidden soul of harmony ; 
 
 That Orpheus' self may heave his head 145 
 
 From golden slumber on a bed 
 
 Of heaped Elysian flowers, and hear 
 
 Such strains as would have won the ear 
 
 Of Pluto to have quite set free 
 
 His half -regained Eurydice. 150 
 
 These delights if thou canst give. 
 
 Mirth, with thee I mean to live. 
 
p 
 
 IL PENSEROSO 
 
 N, 
 
 Hence, vain deluding Joys, 
 
 The brood of Folly without father bred ! 
 How little you bested, 
 
 Or fill the fixed mind with all your toys ! 
 Dwell in some idle brain, 5 
 
 And fancies fond with gaudy shapes possess, 
 As thick and numberless 
 
 As the gay motes that people the sunbeams. 
 Or likest hovering dreams. 
 
 The fickle pensioners of Morpheus' train. 10 
 
 But, hail ! thou Goddess sage and holy ! 
 Hail, divinest Melancholy ! 
 Whose saintly visage is too bright 
 To hit the sense of human sight, 
 
 And therefore to our weaker view 15 
 
 O'erlaid with black, staid Wisdom's hue ; 
 Black, but such as in esteem 
 Prince Memnon's sister midiit beseem. 
 Or that starred Ethiop Queen that strove 
 To set her beauty's praise above 20 
 
 The Sea-Nymphs, and their powers offended. 
 Yet thou art higher far descended : 
 Thee bright-haired Vesta long of yore 
 To solitary Saturn bore ; 
 
 His daughter she ; in Saturn's reign 25 
 
 Such mixture was not held a stain. 
 Oft in glimmering bowers and glades 
 He met her, and in secret shades 
 
18 IL PENSEROSO 
 
 Of woody Ida's inmost grove, 
 
 Whilst yet there was no fear of Jove. 30 
 
 Come, pensive Nun, devout and pure, 
 
 Sober, steadfast, and demure, 
 
 All in a robe of darkest grain, 
 
 Flowing with majestic train. 
 
 And sable stole of cypress lawn 35 
 
 Over thy decent shoulders drawn. 
 
 Come ; but keep thy wonted state, 
 
 With even step, and musing gait. 
 
 And looks commercing with the skies. 
 
 Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes : 40 
 
 There, held in holy passion still. 
 
 Forget thyself to marble, till 
 
 With a sad leaden downward cast 
 
 Thou fix them on the earth as fast. 
 
 And join with thee calm Peace, and Quiet, 45 
 
 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 Leisure, 
 
 That in trim gardens takes his pleasure ; 60 
 
 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, * 55 
 
 'Less Philomel will deign a song. 
 
 In her sweetest, saddest plight. 
 
 Smoothing the rugged brow of Night, 
 
 While Cynthia checks her dragon yoke 
 
 Gently o'er the accustomed oak. 60 
 
IL PENSEROSO 19 
 
 Sweet bird, that shunn'st the noise of folly, 
 
 Most musical, most melancholy! 
 
 Thee, Chauntress, oft the woods among 
 
 I woo, to hear thy even-song ; 
 
 And, missing thee, I walk unseen 65 
 
 On the dry smooth-shaven green. 
 
 To behold the wandering Moon, 
 
 Riding near her highest noon. 
 
 Like one that had been led astray 
 
 Through the heaven's wide pathless way, 70 
 
 And oft, as if her head she bowed. 
 
 Stooping through a fleecy cloud. 
 
 Oft, on a plat of rising ground, 
 
 I hear the far-off curfew sound. 
 
 Over some wide-watered shore, 75 
 
 Swinging slow with sullen roar; 
 
 Or, if the air will not permit, 
 
 Some still removed place will fit. 
 
 Where glowing embers through the room 
 
 Teach light to counterfeit a gloom, 80 
 
 Far from all resort of mirth, 
 
 Save the cricket on the hearth. 
 
 Or the bellman's drowsy charm 
 
 To bless the doors from nightly harm. 
 
 Or let my lamp, at midnight hour, 85 
 
 Be seen in some high lonely tower. 
 
 Where I may oft outwatch the Bear, 
 
 With thrice-great Hermes, or unsphere 
 
 The spirit of Plato, to unfold 
 
 What worlds or what vast regions hold 90 
 
 The immortal mind that hath forsook 
 
 Her mansion in this fleshly nook ; 
 
20 IL PENSEROSO 
 
 And of those Dsemons that are found 
 
 In fire, air, flood, or underground. 
 
 Whose power hath a true consent 95 
 
 With planet or with element. 
 
 Sometime let gorgeous Tragedy 
 
 In sceptred pall come sweeping by, 
 
 Presenting Thebes, or Pelops' line, 
 
 Or the tale of Troy divine, 100 
 
 Or what (though rare) of later age 
 
 Ennobled hath the buskined stage. 
 
 But, O sad Virgin ! that thy power 
 
 Might raise Musaeus from his bower ; 
 
 Or bid the soul of Orpheus sing 105 
 
 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, 110 
 
 Of Camball, and of Algarsife, 
 
 And who had Canace to wife. 
 
 That owned the virtuous ring and glass, 
 
 And of the wondrous horse of brass 
 
 On which the Tartar King did ride ; 115 
 
 And if aught else great Bards beside 
 
 In sage and solemn tunes have sung, 
 
 Of turneys, and of trophies hung, 
 
 Of forests, and enchantments drear, 
 
 Where more is meant than meets the ear. 120 
 
 Thus, Night, oft see me in thy pale career, 
 
 Till civil-suited Morn appear. 
 
 Not tricked and frounced, as she was wont 
 
 With the Attic boy to hunt. 
 
IL PENSEROSO 21 
 
 But kerchieft in a comely cloud, 125 
 
 While rocking winds are piping loud, 
 
 Or ushered with a shower still, 
 
 When the gust hath blown his fill, 
 
 Ending on the rustling leaves, 
 
 With minute-drops from off the eaves. 130 
 
 And, when the sun begins to fling 
 
 His flaring beams, me, Goddess, bring 
 
 To arched walks of twilight groves, 
 
 And shadows brown, that Sylvan loves. 
 
 Of pine, or monumental oak, 135 
 
 Where the rude axe with heaved stroke 
 
 Was never heard tlie Nymphs to daunt. 
 
 Or fright them from their hallowed haunt. 
 
 There, in close covert, by some brook. 
 
 Where no profaner eye may look, 140 
 
 Hide me from day's garish eye. 
 
 While the bee with honeyed thigh. 
 
 That at her flowery work doth sing, 
 
 And the waters murmuring. 
 
 With such consort as they keep, 145 
 
 Entice the dewy-feathered Sleep. 
 
 And let some strange mysterious dream 
 
 Wave at his wings, in airy stream 
 
 Of lively portraiture displayed. 
 
 Softly on my eyelids laid. 150 
 
 And as I wake, sweet music breathe 
 
 Above, about, or underneath. 
 
 Sent by some Spirit to mortals good. 
 
 Or the unseen Genius of the wood. 
 
 But let my due feet never fail 155 
 
 To walk the studious cloister's pale, 
 
22 IL PENSEROSO 
 
 And love the high embowed roof, 
 
 With antique pillars massy proof, 
 
 And storied windows richly dight, 
 
 Casting a dim religious light. 160 
 
 There let the pealing organ blow. 
 
 To the full voiced quire below, 
 
 In service high and anthems clear, 
 
 As may with sweetness, through mine ear, 
 
 Dissolve me into ecstasies, 165 
 
 And bring all Heaven before mine eyes. 
 
 And may at last my weary age 
 
 Find out the peaceful hermitage, 
 
 The hairy gown and mossy cell, 
 
 Where 1 may sit and rightly spell, 170 
 
 Of every star that Heaven doth shew, 
 
 And every herb that sips the dew ; 
 
 Till old experience do attain 
 
 To something like prophetic strain. 
 
 These pleasures, Melancholy, give, 175 
 
 And I with thee will choose to live. 
 
COMUS 
 
 THE PERSONS 
 
 The Attendant Spirit, afterwards in the habit of Thyrsis. 
 
 CoMUS, with his Crew. 
 
 The Lady. 
 
 First Brother. 
 
 Second Brother. 
 
 Sabrina, the Nymph. 
 
 The Chief Persons which presented were : — 
 
 The Lord Brackley ; 
 
 Mr. Thomas Egerton, his Brother ; 
 
 The Lady Alice Egerton. 
 
 The first Scene discovers a wild wood. 
 The Attendant Spirit descends or enters. 
 
 Before the starry threshold of Jove's court 
 
 My mansion is, where those immortal shapes 
 
 Of bright aerial Spirits live insphered 
 
 In regions mild of calm and serene air, 
 
 Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot 5 
 
 Which men call Earth, and, with low-thoughted care, 
 
 Confined and pestered in this pinfold here, 
 
 Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being. 
 
 Unmindful of the crown that Virtue gives. 
 
 After this mortal change, to her true servants 10 
 
 Amongst the enthroned gods on sainted seats. 
 
 Yet some there be that by due steps aspire 
 
 To lay their just hands on that golden key 
 
 That opes the Palace of Eternity. 
 
 To such my errand is ; and, but for such, 15 
 
24 COMUS 
 
 I would not soil these pure ambrosial weeds 
 With the rank vapours of this sin-worn mould. 
 
 But to my task. Neptune, besides the sway 
 Of every salt flood and each ebbing stream, 
 Took in, by lot 'twixt high and nether Jove, 20 
 
 Imperial rule of all the sea-girt Isles 
 That, like to rich and various gems, inlay 
 The unadorned bosom of the Deep ; 
 Which he, to grace his tributary gods, 
 By course commits to several government, 25 
 
 And gives them leave to wear their sapphire crowns 
 And wield their little tridents. But this Isle, 
 The greatest and the best of all the main. 
 He quarters to his blue-haired deities ; 
 And all this tract that fronts the falling sun 30 
 
 A noble Peer of mickle trust and power 
 Has in his charge, with tempered awe to guide 
 An old and haughty Nation, proud in arms : 
 Where his fair offspring, nursed in princely lore. 
 Are coming to attend their father's state, 35 
 
 And new-intrusted sceptre. But their way 
 Lies through the perplexed paths of this drear wood, 
 The nodding horror of whose shady brows 
 Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger ; 
 And here their tender age might suffer peril, 40 
 
 But that, by quick command from sovran Jove, 
 I was despatched for their defence and guard ! 
 And listen why ; for I will tell you now 
 What never yet was heard in tale or song. 
 From old or modern bard, in hall or bower. 45 
 
 Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape 
 Crushed the sweet poison of misused wine. 
 
, COMUS 25 
 
 After the Tuscan mariners transformed, 
 
 Coasting the Tyrrhene shore, as the winds listed, 
 
 On Circe's island fell. (Who knows not Circe, 50 
 
 The daughter of the Sun, whose charmed cup 
 
 Whoever tasted lost his upright shape, 
 
 And downward fell into a grovelling swine?) 
 
 This Nymph, that gazed upon his clustering locks. 
 
 With ivy berries wreathed, and his blithe youth, 55 
 
 Had by him, ere he parted thence, a Son 
 
 Much like his father, but his mother more, 
 
 Whom therefore she brought up, and Comus named: 
 
 Who, ripe and frolic of his full-grown age. 
 
 Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields, 60 
 
 At last betakes him to this ominous wood, 
 
 And, in thick shelter of black shades imbowered, 
 
 Excels his mother at her mighty art ; 
 
 Offering to every weary traveller 
 
 His orient liquor in a crystal glass, 65 
 
 To quench the drouth of Phoebus ; which as they taste 
 
 (For most do taste through fond intemperate thirst). 
 
 Soon as the potion works, their human count'nance. 
 
 The express resemblance of the gods, is changed 
 
 Into some brutish form of wolf or bear, 70 
 
 Or ounce or tiger, hog, or bearded goat, 
 
 AU other parts remaining as they were. 
 
 And they, so perfect is their misery, 
 
 Not once perceive their foul disfigurement. 
 
 But boast themselves more comely than before, 75 
 
 And all their friends and native home forget, 
 
 To roll with pleasure in a sensual sty. 
 
 Therefore, when any favoured of high Jove 
 
 Chances to pass through this adventurous glade, 
 
26 COMUS I 
 
 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, 85 
 
 Wiio, with his soft pipe and smooth-dittied song, 
 
 Well knows to still the wild winds when they roar, 
 
 And hush the waving woods ; nor of less faith. 
 
 And in this office of his mountain watch 
 
 Likeliest, and nearest to the present aid 90 
 
 Of this occasion. But I hear the tread 
 
 Of hateful steps ; I must be viewless now. 
 
 CoMUS enters, with a charming-rod in one hand, his glass in the other; 
 with him a rout of Monsters, headed like sundry sorts of wild beasts, 
 but otherwise like men and women, their apparel glistering. They come 
 in making a riotous and unruly noise, with torches in their hands. 
 
 Co'imis. Tlie star that bids the shepherd fold 
 Now the top of heaven doth hold ; 
 And the gilded car of Day 95 
 
 His glowing axle doth allay 
 In the steep Atlantic stream : 
 And the slope Sun his upward beam 
 Shoots against the dusky pole. 
 
 Pacing toward the other goal 100 
 
 Of his chamber in the east. 
 Meanwhile, welcome joy and feast, 
 Midnight shout and revelry. 
 Tipsy dance and jollity. 
 
 Braid your locks with rosy twine, 105 
 
 Dropping odours, dropping wine. 
 Rigour now is gone to bed ; 
 
COMUS 27 
 
 And Advice with scrupulous head, 
 
 Strict Age, and sour Severity, 
 
 With their grave saws, in slumber lie. 110 
 
 We, that are of purer iire. 
 
 Imitate the starry quire, 
 
 Who, in their nightly watchful spheres, 
 
 Lead in swift round the months and years. 
 
 The sounds and seas, with all their finny drove, . 115 
 
 Now to the moon in wavering morrice move ; 
 
 And on the tawny sands and shelves 
 
 Trip the pert Fairies and the dapper Elves. 
 
 By dimpled brook and fountain-brim. 
 
 The Wood-Nymphs, decked with daises trim, 120 
 
 Their merry wakes and pastimes keep : 
 
 What hath night to do with sleep? 
 
 Night hath better sweets to prove ; 
 
 Venus now wakes, and wakens Love. 
 
 Come, let us our rites begin ; 125 
 
 'T is only daylight that makes sin, 
 
 Which these dun shades will ne'er report. 
 
 Hail, goddess of nocturnal sport. 
 
 Dark-veiled Cotytto, to whom the secret flame 
 
 Of midnight torches burns I mysterious Dame, 130 
 
 That ne'er art called but when the dragon womb 
 
 Of Stygian darkness spets her thickest gloom, 
 
 And makes one blot of all the air ! 
 
 Stay thy cloudy ebon chair, 
 
 Wherein thou ridest with Hecat', and befriend 135 
 
 Us thy vowed priests, till utmost end 
 
 Of all thy dues be done, and none left out 
 
 Ere the blabbing eastern scout. 
 
 The nice Morn on the Indian steep, 
 
m COMUS 
 
 From her cabined loop-hole peep, 140 
 
 And to the tell-tale Sun descry 
 
 Our concealed solemnity. 
 
 Come, knit hands, and beat the ground 
 
 In a light fantastic round. 
 
 The Measure. 
 
 Break off, break off ! I feel the different pace 145 
 
 Of some chaste footing near about this ground. 
 
 Run to your shrouds within these brakes and trees ; 
 
 Our number may affright. Some virgin sure 
 
 (For so I can distinguish by mine art) 
 
 Benighted in these woods ! Now to my charms, 150 
 
 And to my wdly trains: I shall ere long 
 
 Be well stocked with as fair a herd as grazed 
 
 About my mother Circe. Thus I hurl 
 
 My dazzling spells into the spongy air. 
 
 Of power to cheat the eye with blear illusion, 155 
 
 And give it false presentments, lest the place 
 
 And my quaint habits breed astonishment. 
 
 And put the Damsel to suspicious flight ; 
 
 Which must not be, for that's against my course. 
 
 I, under fair pretence of friendly ends, 160 
 
 And well-placed words of glozing courtesy. 
 
 Baited with reasons not unplausible. 
 
 Wind me into the easy-hearted man. 
 
 And hug him into snares. When once her eye 
 
 Hath met the virtue of this magic dust 165 
 
 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 hear. 
 
COMUS 29 
 
 The Lady enters. 
 
 Lady, This way the noise was, if mine ear be 
 true, 170 
 
 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, 175 
 In wanton dance they praise the bounteous Pan, 
 And thank the gods amiss. I should be loth 
 To meet the rudeness and swilled insolence 
 Of such late wassailers ; yet, oh ! where else 
 Shall I inform my unacquahited feet 180 
 
 In the blind mazes of this tangled wood ? 
 My brothers, when they saw me wearied out 
 With this long way, resolving here to lodge 
 Under the spreading favour of these pines. 
 Stepped, as they said, to the next thicket-side 185 
 
 To bring me berries, or such cooling fruit 
 As the kind hospitable woods provide. 
 They left me then when the grey-hooded even. 
 Like a sad votarist in palmer's weed, 
 Rose from the hindmost wheels of Phoebus' wain. 190 
 But where they are, and why they came not back. 
 Is now the labour 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. Else, O thievish Night, 195 
 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 
 
30 COMUS 
 
 With everlasting oil, to give due light i 
 
 To the misled and lonely traveler? 200 i 
 
 This is the place, as well as I may guess, 
 
 Whence even now the tumult of loud mirth 
 
 Was rife, and perfect in my listening ear ; 
 
 Yet nought but single darkness do I find. 
 
 What might this be ? A thousand fantasies 206 
 
 Begin to throng into my memory. 
 
 Of calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire, 
 
 And airy tongues that syllable men's names 
 
 On sands and shores and desert wildernesses. 
 
 These thoughts may startle well, but not astound 210 
 
 The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended 
 
 By a strong siding champion. Conscience. 
 
 welcome, pure-eyed Faith, white-handed Hope, 
 Thou hovering angel girt with golden wings, 
 
 And thou unblemished form of Chastity ! 215 
 
 1 see ye visibly, and now believe 
 
 That He, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill 
 
 Are but as slavish officers of vengeance. 
 
 Would send a glistering guardian, if need were. 
 
 To keep my life and honour unassailed. . . . 220 
 
 Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud 
 
 Turn forth her silver lining on the night ? 
 
 I did not err: there does a sable cloud 
 
 Turn forth her silver lining on the night, 
 
 And casts a gleam over this tufted grove. 225 
 
 I cannot hallo 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 31 
 
 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 : 235 
 
 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 ! 
 
 Comiis. Can any mortal mixture of earth's mould 
 Breathe such divine enchanting ravishment ? 245 
 
 Sure something holy lodges in that breast, 
 And with these raptures moves the vocal air 
 To testify his hidden residence. 
 How sweetly did they float upon the wings 
 Of silence, through the empty-vaulted night, 250 
 
 At every fall smoothing the raven down 
 Of darkness till it smiled ! I have oft heard 
 My mother Circe with the Sirens three, 
 Amidst the flowery-kirtled Naiades, 
 Culling their potent herbs and baleful drugs, 255 
 
 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^ 
 
32 COMUS 
 
 Yet they in pleasing slumber lulled the sense, 260 
 
 And in sweet madness robbed it of itself; 
 But such a sacred and home-felt delight, 
 Such sober certainty of waking bliss, 
 I never heard till now. I '11 speak to her. 
 And she shall be my Queen. — Hail, foreign won^ 
 der ! 265 
 
 Whom certain these rough shades did never breed. 
 Unless the Goddess that in rural shrine 
 Dwell'st here with Pan or Sylvan, by blest song 
 Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog 
 To touch the prosperous growth of this tall wood. 270 
 Lady. Nay, gentle shepherd, ill is lost that praise 
 That is addressed to unattending ears. 
 Not any boast of skill, but extreme shift 
 How to regain my severed company. 
 Compelled me to awake the courteous Echo 275 
 
 To give me answer from her mossy couch. 
 
 Vomiis. What chance, good Lady, hath bereft you 
 
 thus? 
 Lady. Dim darkness and this leavy labyrinth. 
 Comus. Could that divide you from near-ushering 
 
 guides ? 
 Lady. They left me weary on a grassy turf. 280 
 Comus. By falsehood, or discourtesy, or why? 
 Lady. To seek i' the valley some cool friendly 
 
 spring. 
 Comus. And left your fair side all unguarded, 
 
 Lady? 
 Lady. They were but twain, and purposed quick 
 
 return. 
 Uomus. Perhaps forestalling night prevented 
 them. 285 
 
COMUS 33 
 
 Lady. How easy my misfortune is to hit ! 
 
 Comus, Imports their loss, beside the present need ? 
 
 Lady. No less than if I should my brothers lose. 
 
 Comus. Were they of manly prime, or youthful 
 bloom ? 
 
 Lady. As smooth as Hebe's their unrazored lips. 290 
 
 Comus. Two such I saw, what time the laboured 
 ox 
 In his loose traces from the furrow came. 
 And the swinked hedger at his supper sat. 
 I saw them under a green mantling vine, 
 That crawls along the side of yon small hill, 295 
 
 Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots ; 
 Their port was more than human, as they stood. 
 I took it for a faery vision 
 Of some gay creatures of the element, 
 That in the colours of the rainbow live, 300 
 
 And play i' the plighted clouds. I was awe-strook, 
 And, as I passed, I worshij)ped. If those you seek, 
 It were a journey like the path to heaven 
 To help you find them. 
 
 Lady. Gentle villager. 
 
 What readiest way would bring me to that place ? 305 
 
 Comus. Due west it rises from this shrubby point. 
 
 Lady. To find out that, good Shepherd, I suppose. 
 In such a scant allowance of star-light. 
 Would overtask the best land-pilot's art, 
 Without the sure guess of well-practised feet. 310 
 
 Comus. I know each lane, and every alley green. 
 Dingle, or bushy dell, of this wild wood. 
 And every bosky bourn from side to side, 
 My daily walks and ancient neighbourhood ; 
 
34 COMUS 
 
 And, if your stray attendance be yet lodged, 315 
 
 Or shroud within these limits, I shall know 
 
 Ere morrow wake, or the low-roosted lark 
 
 From her thatched pallet rouse. If otherwise, 
 
 I can conduct you. Lady, to a low 
 
 But loyal cottage, where you may be safe 320 
 
 Till further quest. 
 
 Lady. Shepherd, I take thy word. 
 
 And trust thy honest-offered courtesy. 
 Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds. 
 With smoky rafters, than in tapestry halls 
 And courts of princes, where it first was named, 325 
 And yet is most pretended. In a place 
 Less warranted than this, or less secure, 
 I cannot be, that I should fear to change it. 
 Eye me, blest Providence, and square my trial 
 To my proportioned strength ! Shepherd, lead on. . . . 
 
 The Two Brothers. 
 
 Eld. Bro. Unmuffle, ye faint stars ; and thou, 
 fair Moon, 331 
 
 That wont'st to love the traveller's benison. 
 Stoop thy pale visage through an amber cloud. 
 And disinherit Chaos, that reigns here 
 In double night of darkness and of shades ; 335 
 
 Or, if your influence be quite dammed up 
 With black usurping mists, some gentle taper, 
 Though a rush-candle from the wicker hole 
 Of some clay habitation, visit us 
 
 With thy long levelled rule of streaming light, 340 
 And thou shalt be our star of Arcady, 
 Or Tyrian Cynosure. 
 
COMUS 35 
 
 Sec. Bro. Or, if our eyes 
 
 Be barred that happiness, might we but hear 
 The folded flocks, penned in their wattled cotes, 
 Or sound of pastoral reed with oaten stops, 345 
 
 Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock 
 Count the night-watches to his feathery dames, 
 'T would be some solace yet, some little cheering, 
 In this close dungeon of innumerous boughs. 
 But, oh, that hapless virgin, our lost sister ! 350 
 
 Where may she wander now, whither betake her 
 From the chill dew, amongst rude burs and thistles ? 
 Perhaps some cold bank is her bolster now, 
 Or 'gainst the rugged bark of some broad elm 
 Leans her unpillowed head, fraught with sad fears. 
 What if in wild amazement and affright, 35& 
 
 Or, while we speak, within the direful grasp 
 Of savage hunger, or of savage heat ! 
 
 Eld. Bro. Peace, brother : be not over-exquisite 
 To cast the fashion of uncertain evils ; 360 
 
 For, grant they be so, while they rest unknown. 
 What need a man forestall his date of grief. 
 And run to meet what he would most avoid ? 
 Or, if they be but false alarms of fear. 
 How bitter is such self-delusion ! 365 
 
 I do not think my sister so to seek, 
 Or so unprincipled in virtue's book. 
 And the sweet peace that goodness bosoms ever. 
 As that the single want of light and noise 
 (Not being in danger, as I trust she is not) 370 
 
 Could stir the constant mood of her calm thoughts. 
 And put them into misbecoming plight. 
 Virtue could see to do what Virtue would 
 
36 COMUS 
 
 By her own radiant light, though sun and moon 
 
 Were in the flat sea sunk. And Wisdom's self 375 
 
 Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude, 
 
 Where, with her best nurse, Contemplation, 
 
 She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings, 
 
 That, in the various bustle of resort. 
 
 Were all to-ruffled, and sometimes impaired. 380 
 
 He that has light within his own clear breast 
 
 May sit i' the centre, and enjoy bright day : 
 
 But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoua'hts 
 
 Benighted walks under the mid-day sun ; 
 
 Himself is his own dungeon. 
 
 Sec. Bro. 'T is most true 385 
 
 That musing Meditation most affects 
 The pensive secrecy of desert cell, 
 Far from the cheerful haunt of men and herds, 
 And sits as safe as in a senate-house ; 
 For who would rob a Hermit of his weeds, 390 
 
 His few books, or his beads, or maple dish, 
 Or do his grey hairs any violence ? 
 But Beauty, like the fair Hesperian Tree 
 Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard 
 Of dragon-watch with unenchanted eye 395 
 
 To save her blossoms, and defend her fruit, 
 From the rash hand of bold Incontinence. 
 You may as well spread out the unsunned heaps 
 Of miser's treasure by an outlaw's den. 
 And tell me it is safe, as bid me hope 400 
 
 Danger will wink on Opportunity, 
 And let a single helpless maiden pass 
 Uninjured in this wild surrounding waste. 
 Of night or loneliness it recks me not ; 
 
COMUS 37 
 
 I fear the dread events that dog them both, 405 
 
 Lest some ill-greeting touch attempt the person 
 Of our unowned sister. 
 
 Eld, Bro. I do not, brother. 
 
 Infer as if I thought my sister's state 
 Secure without all doubt or controversy ; 
 Yet, where an equal poise of ho23e and fear 410 
 
 Does arbitrate the event, my nature is 
 That I encline to hope rather than fear, 
 And gladly banish squint susj^icion. 
 My sister is not so defenceless left 
 As you imagine ; she has a hidden strength, 415 
 
 Which you remember not. 
 
 Sec. Bro. What hidden strength. 
 
 Unless the strength of Heaven, if you mean that ? 
 
 £Jld. Bro. . I mean that too, but yet a hidden 
 strength. 
 Which, if Heaven gave it, may be termed her own : 
 'T is Chastity, my brother. Chastity : 420 
 
 She that has that is clad in complete steel, 
 And, like a quivered nymph with arrows keen. 
 May trace huge forests, and unharbored heaths. 
 Infamous hills, and sandy perilous wilds ; 
 Where, through the sacred rays of chastity, 425 
 
 No savage fierce, bandite, or mountaineer. 
 Will dare to soil her virgin purity. 
 Yea, there where very desolation dwells. 
 By grots and caverns shagged with horrid shades. 
 She may pass on with unblenched majesty, 430 
 
 Be it not done in pride, or in presumption. 
 Some say no evil thing that walks by night. 
 In fog or fire, by lake or moorish fen. 
 
38 COMUS 
 
 Blue meagre hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost, 
 
 That breaks his magic chains at curfew time, 435 
 
 No goblin or swart faery of the mine. 
 
 Hath hurtful power o'er true virginity. 
 
 Do ye believe me yet, or shall I call 
 
 Antiquity from the old schools of Greece 
 
 To testify the arms of Chastity ? 440 
 
 Hence had the huntress Dian her dread bow, 
 
 Fair silver-shafted Queen for ever chaste. 
 
 Wherewith she tamed the brinded lioness 
 
 And spotted mountain-pard, but set at nought 
 
 The frivolous bolt of Cupid ; gods and men 445 
 
 Feared her stern frown, and she was queen o' the 
 
 woods. 
 What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shield 
 That wise Minerva wore, unconquered virgin. 
 Wherewith she freezed her foes to congealed stone, 
 But rigid looks of chaste austerity, 450 
 
 And noble grace that dashed brute violence 
 With sudden adoration and blank awe ? 
 So dear to Heaven is saintly chastity 
 That, when a soul is found sincerely so, 
 A thousand liveried angels lackey her, 455 
 
 Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt, 
 And in clear dream and solemn vision 
 Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear ; 
 Till oft converse with heavenly habitants 
 Begin to cast a beam on the outward shape, 460 
 
 The unpolluted temple of the mind. 
 And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence, 
 Till all be made immortal. But, when lust, 
 By unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk, 
 
COMUS 39 
 
 But most by lewd and lavish act of sin, 465 
 
 Lets in defilement to the inward parts, 
 
 The soul grows clotted by contagion, 
 
 Imbodies, and imbrutes, till she quite lose 
 
 The divine property of her first being. 
 
 Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp 470 
 
 Oft seen in charnel-vaults and sepulchres, 
 
 Lingering and sitting by a new-made grave, 
 
 As loth to leave the body that it loved. 
 
 And linked itself by carnal sensualty 
 
 To a degenerate and degraded state. 475 
 
 Sec. Bro. How charming is divine Philosophy ! 
 Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose, 
 But musical as is Apollo's lute. 
 And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets, 
 Where no crude surfeit reigns. 
 
 Eld. Bro. List ! list ! I hear 
 
 Some far-oif hallo break the silent air. 481 
 
 Sec. Bro. Methought so too ; what should it be ? 
 
 Eld. Bro. For certain, 
 
 Either some one, like us, night-foundered here. 
 Or else some neighbor woodman, or, at worst. 
 Some roving robber calling to his fellows. 485 
 
 Sec. Bro. Heaven keep my sister ! Again, again, 
 and near ! 
 Best draw, and stand upon our guard. 
 
 Eld. Bro. I '11 hano. 
 
 If he be friendly, he comes well : if not. 
 Defence is a good cause, and Heaven be for us ! 
 
 The Attendant Spirit, habited like a shepherd. 
 That hallo I should know. What are you ? speak. 490 
 Come not too near ; you fall on iron stakes else. 
 
40 COMUS 
 
 Sp'ir. What voice is that ? my young Lord ? speak 
 
 again. 
 Sec. Bro. O brother, 'tis my father's Shepherd, 
 
 sure. 
 Eld. Bro. Thj^rsis ! whose artful strains have oft 
 delayed 
 The huddling brook to hear his madrigal, 495 
 
 And sweetened every musk-rose of the dale. 
 How camest thou here, good swain ? Hath any ram 
 Slipped from the fold, or young kid lost his dam. 
 Or straggling wether the pent flock forsook ? 
 How couldst thou find this dark sequestered nook ? 500 
 8pir. 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 505 
 
 To this my errand, and the care it brought. 
 
 But, oh ! my virgin Lady, where is she ? 
 
 How chance she is not in your company ? 
 
 Eld. Bro. To tell thee sadly. Shepherd, without 
 blame 
 Or our neglect, we lost her as we came. 510 
 
 Spir. Ay me unhappy ! then my fears are true. 
 
 Eld. Bro. What fears, good Thyrsis? Prithee 
 briefly shew. 
 
 Spir. I '11 tell ye. 'T is not vain or fabulous 
 (Though so esteemed by shallow ignorance) 
 What the sage poets, taught by the heavenly Muse, 515 
 Storied of old in high immortal verse 
 Of dire Chimeras and enchanted Isles, 
 
COMUS 41 
 
 And rifted rocks whose entrance leads to Hell ; 
 For such there be, but unbelief is blind. 
 
 Within the navel of this hideous wood, 520 
 
 Immured in cypress shades, a Sorcerer dwells. 
 Of Bacchus and of Circe born, great Comus, 
 Deep skilled in all his mother's witcheries, 
 And here to every thirsty wanderer 
 By sly enticement gives his baneful cup, 525 
 
 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 
 Charactered in the face. This have I learnt 530 
 
 Tending my flocks hard by i' the hilly crofts 
 That brow this bottom glade ; whence night by night 
 He and his monstrous rout are heard to howl 
 Like stabled wolves, or tigers at their prey. 
 Doing abhorred rites to Hecate 535 
 
 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. 
 This evening late, by then the chewing flocks 540 
 
 Had ta'en their supper on the savoury herb 
 Of knot-grass dew-besprent, and were in fold, 
 I sat me down to watch upon a bank 
 With ivy canopied, and interwove 
 With flaunting honeysuckle, and began, 545 
 
 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. 
 
42 COMUS 
 
 And filled the air with barbarous dissonance ; 550 
 At which I ceased, and listened them a while, 
 Till an unusual stop of sudden silence 
 Gave respite to the drowsy-flighted steeds 
 That draw the litter of close-curtained Sleep. 
 At last a soft and solemn-breathing sound 555 
 
 Rose like a steam of rich distilled perfumes, 
 And stole upon the air, that even Silence 
 Was took ere she was ware, and wished she might 
 Deny her nature, and be never more, 
 Still to be so displaced. I was all ear, 560 
 
 And took in strains that might create a soul 
 Under the ribs of Death. But, oh ! ere long- 
 Too well I did perceive it was the voice 
 Of my most honoured Lady, your dear sister. 
 Amazed I stood, harrowed with grief and fear ; 565 
 And " O poor hapless Nightingale," thought I, 
 " How sweet thou sing'st, how near the deadly snare ! " 
 Then down the lawns I ran with headlong haste, 
 Through paths and turnings often trod by day. 
 Till, guided by mine ear, I found the place 570 
 
 Where that damned wizard, hid in sly disguise 
 (For so by certain signs I knew), had met 
 Already, ere my best speed could prevent. 
 The aidless innocent lady, his wished prey ; 
 Who gently asked if he had seen such two, 575 
 
 Supposing him some neighbor 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. 
 
 jSec. Bro. O night and shades, 580 
 
COMUS 43 
 
 How are ye joined with hell in triple knot 
 Against the unarmed weakness of one virgin, 
 Alone and helpless ! Is this the confidence 
 You gave me, brother? 
 
 Eld. Bro. Yes, and keep it still ; 
 
 Lean on it safely ; not a period 585 
 
 Shall be unsaid for me. Against the threats 
 Of malice or of sorcery, or that power 
 Which erring men call Chance, this I hold firm : 
 Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt, 
 Surprised by unjust force, but not enthralled ; 590 
 Yea, even that which Mischief meant most harm 
 Shall in the happy trial prove most glory. 
 But evil on itself shall back recoil, 
 And mix no more with goodness, when at last. 
 Gathered like scum, and settled to itseK, 595 
 
 It shall be in eternal restless change 
 Self-fed and self-consumed. If this fail, 
 The pillared firmament is rottenness. 
 And earth's base built on stubble. But come, let's on ! 
 Against the opposing will and arm of Heaven 600 
 
 May never this just sword be lifted up ; 
 But, for that damned magician, let him be girt 
 With all the griesly legions that troop 
 Under the sooty flag of Acheron, 
 
 Harpies and Hydras, or all the monstrous forms 605 
 'Twixt Africa and Ind, I '11 find him out, 
 And force him to restore his purchase back. 
 Or drag him by the curls to a foul death. 
 Cursed as his life. 
 
 Spir. Alas ! good venturous youth, 
 
 I love thy courage yet, and bold emprise ; 610 
 
44 COMUS 
 
 But here thy sword can do thee little stead. 
 Far other arms and other weapons must 
 Be those that quell the might of hellish charms. 
 He with his bare wand can unthread thy joints, 
 And crumble all thy sinews. 
 
 Eld, Bro. Why, prithee, Shepherd, 
 
 How durst thou then thyself approach so near 616 
 As to make this relation? 
 
 Splr. Care and utmost shifts 
 
 How to secure the Lady from surprisal 
 Brought to my mind a certain shepherd lad, 
 Of small regard to see to, yet well skilled 620 
 
 In every virtuous plant and healing herb 
 That spreads her verdant leaf to the morning ray. 
 He loved me well, and oft would beg me sing ; 
 Which when I did, he on the tender grass 
 Would sit, and hearken even to ecstasy, 625 
 
 And in requital ope his leathern scrip. 
 And show me simples of a thousand names, 
 Tellino- their strange and vigorous faculties. 
 Amongst the rest a small unsightly root. 
 But of divine effect, he culled me out. 630 
 
 The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it, 
 But in another country, as he said. 
 Bore a bright golden flower, but not in this soil: 
 Unknown, and like esteemed, and the dull swain 
 Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon ; 635 
 
 And yet more med'cinal is it than that Moly 
 That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave. 
 He called it Haemony, and gave it me. 
 And bade me keep it as of sovran use 
 'Gainst all enchantments, mildew blast, or damp, 640 
 
COMUS 45 
 
 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, 645 
 
 Entered the very lime-twigs of his spells. 
 
 And yet came off. If you have this about you 
 
 (As I will give you when we go) you may 
 
 Boldly assault the necromancer's hall ; 
 
 Where if he be, with dauntless hardihood 650 
 
 And brandished blade rush on him : break his glass. 
 
 And shed the luscious liquor on the ground ; 
 
 But seize his wand. Though he and his curst crew 
 
 Fierce sign of battle make, and menace high, 
 
 Or, like the sons of Vulcan, vomit smoke, 655 
 
 Yet will they soon retire, if he but shrink. 
 
 Eld. Bro. Thyrsis, lead on apace ; I '11 follow thee ; 
 And some good angel bear a shield before us! 
 
 The. Scene changes to a stately palace, set out with all manner of delicious- 
 ness : soft 7nusic, tables spread with all dainties. CoMUS appears with 
 his rabble, and the Lady set in an enchanted chair ; to whom he offers 
 his glass ; which she puts by, and goes about to rise. 
 
 Comus. Nay, Lady, sit. If I but wave this wand, 
 Your nerves are all chained up in alabaster, 660 
 
 And you a statue, or as Daphne was. 
 Root-bound, that fled Apollo. 
 
 Lady. Fool, do not boast. 
 
 Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind 
 With all thy charms, although this corporal rind 
 Thou hast immanacled while Heaven sees good. 665 
 
 Comus. Why are you vexed. Lady ? why do you 
 frown ? 
 
46 COMUS 
 
 Here dwell no frowns, nor anger ; from these gates 
 
 Sorrow flies far. See, here be all the pleasures 
 
 That fancy can beget on youthful thoughts, 
 
 When the fresh blood grows lively, and returns 670 
 
 Brisk as the April buds in primrose season. 
 
 And first behold this cordial julep here. 
 
 That flames and dances in his crystal bounds. 
 
 With spirits of balm and fragrant syrups mixed. 
 
 Not that Nepenthes which the wife of Thone 675 
 
 In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena 
 
 Is of such power to stir up joy as this, 
 
 To life so friendly, or so cool to thirst. 
 
 Why should you be so cruel to yourself. 
 
 And to those dainty limbs, which Nature lent 680 
 
 For gentle usage and soft delicacy ? 
 
 But you invert the covenants of her trust, 
 
 And harshly deal, like an ill borrower. 
 
 With that which you received on other terms, 
 
 Scorning the unexempt condition 685 
 
 By which all mortal frailty must subsist. 
 
 Refreshment after toil, ease after pain, 
 
 That have been tired all day without repast, 
 
 And timely rest have wanted. But, fair virgin, 
 
 This will restore all soon. 
 
 Lady. 'Twill not, false traitor! 
 
 'T will not restore the truth and honesty 691 
 
 That thou hast banished from thy tongue with lies. 
 Was this the cottage and the safe abode 
 Thou told'st me of ? What grim aspects are these. 
 These ugly-headed monsters ? Mercy guard me ! 695 
 Hence with thy brewed enchantments, foul deceiver ! 
 Hast thou betrayed my credulous innocence 
 
COMUS 47 
 
 With vizored falsehood and base forgery ? 
 And wouldst thou seek again to trap me here 
 With lickerish baits, fit to ensnare a brute ? 700 
 
 Were it a draught for Juno when she banquets, 
 I would not taste thy treasonous offer. None 
 But such as are good men can give good things ; 
 And that which is not good is not delicious 
 To a well-governed and wise appetite. 705 
 
 Comus. O foolishness of men ! that lend their ears 
 To those budge doctors of the Stoic fur. 
 And fetch their precepts from the Cynic tub, 
 Praising the lean and sallow Abstinence ! 
 Wherefore did Nature pour her bounties forth 710 
 With such a full and unwithdrawing hand. 
 Covering the earth with odours, fruits, and flocks, 
 Thronging the seas with spawn innumerable. 
 But all to please and sate the curious taste ? 
 And set to work millions of spinning worms, 715 
 
 That in their green shops weave the smooth-haired 
 
 silk. 
 To deck lier sons ; and, that no corner might 
 Be vacant of her plenty, in her own loins 
 She hutched the all-worshipped ore and precious gems. 
 To store her children with. If all the world 720 
 
 Should, in a pet of temperance, feed on pulse. 
 Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but frieze. 
 The All-giver would be unthanked, would be un- 
 
 praised, 
 Not half his riches known, and yet despised ; 
 And we should serve him as a grudging master, 725 
 As a penurious niggard of his wealth. 
 And live like Nature's bastards, not her sons, 
 
48 COMUS 
 
 Who would be quite surcharged with her own weight, 
 And strangled with her waste fertility : 
 The earth cumbered, and the winged air darked with 
 plumes ; 730 
 
 The herds would over-multitude their lords ; 
 The sea o'erf raught would swell, and the unsought dia- 
 monds 
 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 735 
 
 To gaze upon the Sun with shameless brows. 
 List, Lady ; be not coy, and be not cozened 
 With that same vaunted name. Virginity. 
 Beauty is Nature's coin ; must not be hoarded, 
 But must be current ; and the good thereof 740 
 
 Consists in mutual and partaken bliss, 
 Unsavoury in the enjoyment of itself. 
 If you let slip time, like a neglected rose 
 It withers on the stalk with languished head. 
 Beauty is Nature's brag, and must be shown 745 
 
 In courts, at feasts, and high solemnities. 
 Where most may wonder at the workmanship. 
 It is for homely features to keep home ; 
 They had their name thence : coarse complexions 
 And cheeks of sorry grain will serve to ply 750 
 
 The sampler, and to tease tlie 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. 755 
 Lady. I had not thought to have unlocked my lips 
 In this unhallowed air, but that this juggler 
 
COMUS 49 
 
 Would think to charm my judgment, as mine eyes, 
 
 Obtruding false rules pranked in reason's garb. 
 
 I hate when Vice can bolt her arguments 760 
 
 And Virtue has no tongue to check her pride. 
 
 Impostor ! do not charge most innocent Nature, 
 
 As if she would her children should be riotous 
 
 With her abundance. She, good cateress. 
 
 Means her provision only to the good, 765 
 
 That live according to her sober laws. 
 
 And holy dictate of spare Temperance. 
 
 If every just man that now pines with want 
 
 Had but a moderate and beseeming share 
 
 Of that which lewdly-pampered Luxury 770 
 
 Now heaps upon some few with vast excess, 
 
 Nature's full blessings would be well-dispensed 
 
 In unsuperfluous even proportion. 
 
 And she no whit encumbered with her store ; 
 
 And then the Giver would be better thanked, 775= 
 
 His praise due paid : for swinish gluttony 
 
 Ne'er looks to Heaven amidst his gorgeous feast. 
 
 But with besotted base ingratitude 
 
 Crams, and blasphemes his Feeder. Shall I go on ? 
 
 Or have I said enow ? To him that dares 780 
 
 Arm his profane tongue with contemptuous words 
 
 Against the sun-clad power of Chastity 
 
 Fain would I something say ; — yet to what end ? 
 
 Thou hast nor ear, nor soul, to apprehend 
 
 The sublime notion and high mystery 785 
 
 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. 
 
50 COMUS 
 
 Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric, 790 
 
 That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence ; 
 
 Thou art not fit to hear thyself convinced. 
 
 Yet, should I try, the uncontrolled worth 
 
 Of this pure cause would kindle my rapt spirits 
 
 To such a flame of sacred vehemence 795 
 
 That dumb things would be moved to sympathize. 
 
 And the brute earth would lend her nerves, and shake, 
 
 Till all thy magic structures, reared so high. 
 
 Were shattered into heaps o'er thy false head. 
 
 Comus. She fables not. I feel that I do fear SCO 
 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, 805 
 
 And try her yet more strongly. — Come, no more ! 
 This is mere moral babble, and direct 
 Asrainst the canon laws of our foundation. 
 I must not suffer this ; yet 't is but the lees 
 And settlings of a melancholy blood. 810 
 
 But this will cure all straight ; one sip of this 
 Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight 
 Beyond the bliss of dreams. Be wise, and taste . . . 
 
 The Brothers rush in with swords drawn, wrest his glass out of his 
 hand, and break it against the ground : his rout make sign of resist- 
 ance, but are all driven in. The Attendant Spirit conies in. 
 
 Spir. What ! have you let the false Enchanter 
 scape ? 
 O ye mistook ; ye should have snatched his wand, 815 
 And bound him fast. Without his rod reversed, 
 And backward mutters of dissevering power, 
 
COMUS 51 
 
 We cannot free the Lady that sits here 
 In stony fetters fixed and motionless. 
 Yet stay : be not disturbed ; now I bethink me, 820 
 Some other means I have which may be used, 
 Which once of Meliboeus old I learnt, 
 The soothest shepherd that ere piped on plains. 
 There is a gentle Nymph not far from lience. 
 That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn 
 stream : 825 
 
 Sabrina is her name : a virgin pure ; 
 Whilom she was the daughter of Locrine, 
 That had the sceptre from his father Brute. 
 She, guiltless damsel, flying the mad pursuit 
 Of her enraged stepdame, Guendolen, 830 
 
 Commended her fair innocence to the flood 
 That stayed her flight with his cross-flowing course. 
 The water-nymphs, that in the bottom played. 
 Held up their pearled wrists, and took her in. 
 Bearing her straight to aged Nereus' hall ; 835 
 
 Who, piteous of her woes, reared her lank head, 
 And gave her to his daughters to imbathe 
 In nectared lavers strewed with asphodel. 
 And through the porch and inlet of each sense 
 Dropt in ambrosial oils, till she revived, 840 
 
 And underwent a quick immortal change. 
 Made Goddess of the river. Still she retains 
 Her maiden gentleness, and oft at eve 
 Visits the herds along the twilight meadows. 
 Helping all urchin blasts, and ill-luck signs 845 
 
 That the shrewd meddling elf delights to make. 
 Which she with precious vialed liquors heals : 
 For which the shepherds, at their festivals, 
 
52 COMUS 
 
 Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays, 
 
 And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream, 
 
 Of pansies, pinks, and gaudy -daffodils. 851 
 
 And, as the old swain said, she can unlock 
 
 The clasping charm, and thaw the numbing spell, 
 
 If she be right invoked in warbled song ; 
 
 For maidenhood she loves, and will be swift 855 
 
 To aid a virgin, such as was herself. 
 
 In hard-besetting need. This will I try, 
 
 And add the power of some adjuring verse. 
 
 SONG 
 Sabrina fair, 
 
 Listen where thou art sitting 860 
 
 Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave, 
 
 In twisted braids of lilies knitting 
 The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair ; 
 Listen for dear honour's sake. 
 Goddess of the silver lake, 865 
 
 Listen and save ! 
 
 Listen, and appear to us, 
 
 In name of great Oceanus, 
 
 By the earth-shaking Neptune's mace, 
 
 And Tethys' grave majestic pace ; 870 
 
 By hoary Nereus' wrinkled look. 
 
 And the Carpathian wizard's hook ; 
 
 By scaly Triton's winding shell. 
 
 And old soothsaying Glaucus' spell ; 
 
 By Leucothea's lovely hands, 875 
 
 And her son that rules the strands ; 
 
 By Thetis' tinsel-slippered feet, 
 
COMUS 5S 
 
 And the songs of Sirens sweet ; 
 
 By dead Parthenope's dear tomb, 
 
 And fair Ligea's golden comb, 880 
 
 Wlierewith 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 885 
 
 From thy coral-paven bed, 
 
 And bridle in thy headlong wave, 
 
 Till thou our summons answered have. 
 
 Listen and save ! 
 
 Sabrina rises, attended by Water-nymphs, and sings. 
 By the rushy-fringed bank, 890 
 
 Where grows the willow and the osier dank. 
 
 My sliding chariot stays. 
 Thick set with agate, and the azurn sheen 
 Of turkis blue, and emerald green, 
 
 That in the channel strays : 895 
 
 Whilst from off the waters fleet 
 Thus I set my printless feet 
 O'er the cowslip's velvet head. 
 
 That bends not as I tread. 
 Gentle swain, at thy request 900 
 
 I am here ! 
 
 Splr. Goddess dear. 
 We implore thy powerful hand 
 To undo the charmed band 
 
 Of true virgin here distressed * 905 
 
 Through the force and through the wile 
 Of unblessed enchanter vile. 
 
54 COMUS 
 
 Sahr, Shepherd, 't is my office best 
 To help insnared chastity. 
 
 Briofhtest Ladv, look on me. 910 
 
 Thus I sprinkle on thy breast 
 Drops that from my fountain pure 
 I have kept of precious cure ; 
 Thrice upon thy finger's tip, 
 
 Thrice upon thy rubied lip : 915 
 
 Next this marble venomed seat, 
 Smeared with gums of glutinous heat, 
 I touch with chaste palms moist and cold. 
 Now the spell hath lost his hold ; 
 
 And I must haste ere morning hour 920 
 
 To wait in Amphitrite's bower. 
 
 Sabrina descends, and the Lady rises out of her seat. 
 
 Spii\ Virgin, daughter of Locrine, 
 Sprung of old Anchises' line, 
 May thy brimmed waves for this 
 
 Their full tribute never miss 925 
 
 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 930 
 
 Thy molten crystal fill with mud ; 
 May thy billows roll ashore 
 The beryl and the golden ore ; 
 May thy lofty head be crowned 
 
 With many a tower and terrace round, 935 
 
 And here and there thy banks upon 
 With groves of myrrh and cinnamon. 
 
COMUS 55 
 
 Come, Lady ; while heaven lends 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 ; 945 
 
 And not many furlongs thence 
 Is your father's residence, 
 Where this night are met in state 
 Many a friend to gratulate 
 
 His wished presence, and beside 950 
 
 All the swains that there abide 
 With jigs and rural dance resort. 
 We shall catch them at their sport, 
 And our sudden coming there 
 
 Will double all their mirth and cheer. 955 
 
 Come, let us haste ; the stars grow high. 
 But Night sits monarch yet in the mid sky. 
 
 TTie scene changes, presenting Ludlow Town, and the Presidents Castle : 
 then come in country dancers; after them the Attendant Spirit, with 
 the two Brothers and the Lady. 
 
 SONG 
 
 Spir, Back, Shepherds, back ! Enough your play 
 Till next sun-shine 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 
 
56 COMUS 
 
 With the mincing Dryades 
 
 On the lawns and on the leas. 965 
 
 This second Song presents them to their Father and Mother. 
 
 Noble Lord and Lady bright, 
 I have brought ye new delight. 
 Here behold so goodly grown 
 Three fair branches of your own. 
 Heaven hath timely tried their youth, 970 
 
 Their faith, their patience, and their truth, 
 And sent them here through hard assays 
 With a crown of deathless praise, 
 To triumph in victorious dance 
 O'er sensual folly and intemperance. 975 
 
 The dances ended, the Spirit epilogizes. 
 
 Spi7\ To the ocean now I fly. 
 And those happy climes that lie 
 Where day never shuts his eye, 
 TJp in the broad fields of the sky. 
 There I suck the liquid air, 980 
 
 All amidst the gardens fair 
 Of Hesperus, and his daughters three 
 That sing about the Golden Tree. 
 Along the crisped shades and bowers 
 Revels the spruce and jocund Spring ; 985 
 
 The Graces and the rosy-bosomed Hours 
 Thither all their bounties bring. 
 There eternal summer dwells. 
 And west winds with musky wing 
 About the cedarn alleys fling 990 
 
 Nard and cassia's balmy smells. 
 Iris there with humid bow 
 
COMUS 57 
 
 Waters the odorous banks, that blow 
 
 Flowers of more mingled hue 
 
 Than her purfled scarf can shew, 995 
 
 And drenches with Elysian dew 
 
 (List mortals, if your ears be true) 
 
 Beds of hyacinth and roses, 
 
 Where young Adonis oft reposes. 
 
 Waxing well of his deep wound 1000 
 
 In slumber soft, and on the ground 
 
 Sadly sits the Assyrian queen ; 
 
 But far above in spangled sheen 
 
 Celestial Cupid, her famed son, advanced, 
 
 Holds his dear Psyche sweet entranced, 1005 
 
 After her wandring labours long. 
 
 Till free consent the gods among 
 
 Make her his eternal bride, 
 
 And from her fair unspotted side 
 
 Two blissful twins are to be born, 1010' 
 
 Youth and Joy ; so Jove hath sworn. 
 
 But now my task is smoothly done, 
 I can fly, or I can run 
 Quickly to the green earth's end. 
 
 Where the bowed welkin slow doth bend, , 1075 
 And from thence can soar as soon 
 To the corners of the moon. 
 
 Mortals, that would follow me. 
 Love virtue, she alone is free ; 
 
 She can teach ye how to climb 1020. 
 
 Higher than the sphery chime : 
 Or, if virtue feeble were, 
 Heaven itself would stoop to her. 
 
LYCIDAS 
 
 In this Monody the Author bewails a learned Friend, unfortunately 
 drowned in his passage from Chester on the Irish Seas, 1637 ; and, 
 by occasion, foretells the ruin of our corrupted Clergy, then in their 
 height. 
 
 Yet once more, O ye Laurels, and once more, 
 
 Ye Myrtles brown, with ivy never sere, 
 
 I come to pluck your berries harsli and crude, 
 
 And with forced fingers rude 
 
 Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year. 5 
 
 Bitter constraint and sad occasion dear 
 
 Compels me to disturb your season due ; 
 
 Por Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime, 
 
 Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer. 
 
 Who would not sing for Lycidas ? he knew 10 
 
 Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme. 
 
 He must not float upon his watery bier 
 
 Unwept, and welter to the parching wind. 
 
 Without the meed of some melodious tear. 
 
 Begin, then. Sisters of the sacred well 15 
 
 That from beneath the seat of Jove doth spring ; 
 Begin, and somewhat loudly sweej) the string. 
 Hence with denial vain and coy excuse : 
 So may some gentle Muse 
 
 With lucky words favour my destined urn, 20 
 
 And as he passes turn. 
 And bid fair peace be to my sable shroud ! 
 
 For we were nursed upon the self-same hill, 
 Fed the same flock, by fountain, shade, and rill ; 
 
LYCIDAS 59 
 
 Together both, ere the high lawns appeared 25 
 
 Under the openmg eyelids of the Morn, 
 We drove a-field, and both together heard 
 What time the grey-fly winds her sultry horn. 
 Battening our flocks with the fresh dews of night, 
 Oft till the star that rose at evening bright 30 
 
 Toward heaven's descent had sloped his westering 
 
 wheel. 
 Meanwhile the rural ditties were not mute ; 
 Tempered to the oaten flute 
 
 Rough Satyrs danced, and Fauns with cloven heel 
 From the glad sound would not be absent long ; 35 
 And old Damoetas loved to hear our song. 
 
 But, oh ! the heavy change, now thou art gone. 
 Now thou art gone and never must return ! 
 Thee, Shepherd, thee the woods and desert caves. 
 With wild thyme and the gadding vine o'ergrown, 40 
 And all their echoes, mourn. 
 The 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, 45 
 
 Or taint-worm to the weanling herds that graze, 
 Or frost to flowers, that their gay wardrobe wear, 
 When first the white-thorn blows ; 
 Such, Lycidas, thy loss to shepherd's ear. 
 
 Where were ye, Nymphs, 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 Bards, the famous Druids, lie, 
 Nor on the shaggy top of Mona high, 
 
m LYCIDAS 
 
 Nor yet where Deva spreads her wizard stream. 55 
 
 Ay me ! I fondly dream 
 
 " Had ye been there," . . . for what could that have 
 
 done ? 
 IVhat 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, 65 
 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 Nesera'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. 
 Comes the blind Fury with the abhorred shears, 75 
 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. 
 Nor in the glistering foil 
 
 Set off to the world, nor in broad rumour lies, 80 
 
 But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes 
 And perfect witness of all-judging Jove ; 
 As he pronounces lastly on each deed. 
 Of so much fame in heaven expect thy meed." 
 
 O fountain Arethuse, and thou honoured flood, 85 
 
LYCIDAS 61 
 
 Smootli-sliding Mincius, crowned with vocal reeds, 
 
 That strain I heard was of a higher mood. 
 
 But now my oat proceeds, 
 
 And hstens to the Herald of the Sea, 
 
 That came in Neptune's plea. 90 
 
 He asked the waves, and asked the felon winds, 
 
 What hard mishap hath doomed this gentle swain ? 
 
 And questioned every gust of rugged wings 
 
 That blows from off each beaked promontory. 
 
 They knew not of his story ; 95 
 
 And sage Hippotades their answer brings. 
 
 That not a blast was from his dungeon strayed : 
 
 The air was calm, and on the level brine 
 
 Sleek Panope with all her sisters played. 
 
 It was that fatal and perfidious bark, lOO 
 
 Built in the eclipse, and rigged with curses dark, 
 
 That sunk so low that sacred head of thine. 
 
 Next, Camus, reverend Sire, went footing slow, 
 His mantle hairy, and his bonnet sedge. 
 Inwrought with figures dim, and on the edge 105' 
 
 Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe. 
 " Ah ! who hath reft," quoth he, " my dearest pledge ? '* 
 Last came, and last did go, 
 The Pilot of the Galilean Lake ; 
 
 Two massy keys he bore of metals twain 110 
 
 (The golden opes, the iron shuts amain). 
 He shook his mitred locks, and stern bespake : — 
 " How well could 1 have spared for thee, young swain, 
 Enough of such as, for their bellies' sake. 
 Creep, and intrude, and climb into the fold ! 115 
 
 Of other care they little reckoning make 
 Than how to scramble at the shearers' feast, 
 
62 LYCIDAS 
 
 And shove away the worthy bidden guest. 
 
 Blind mouths ! that scarce themselves know how to 
 
 hold 
 A sheep-hook, or have learnt aught else the least 120 
 That to the faithful herdman's art belongs ! 
 W hat recks it them ? What need they ? They are 
 
 sped ; 
 And, when they list, their lean and flashy songs 
 Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw ; 
 The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed, 125 
 
 But, swoln with wind and the rank mist they draw, 
 Kot inwardly, and foul contagion spread ; 
 Besides what the grim Wolf with privy paw 
 Daily devours apace, and nothing said. 
 But that two-handed engine at the door 130 
 
 Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more." 
 
 Return, Alpheus ; the dread voice is past 
 That shrunk thy streams ; return, Sicilian Muse, 
 And call the vales, and bid them hither cast 
 Their bells and flowerets of a thousand hues. 135 
 
 Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers use 
 Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks, 
 On whose fresh laj) the swart star sparely looks, 
 Throw hither all your quaint enamelled eyes. 
 That on the green turf suck the honeyed showers, 140 
 And purple all the ground with vernal flowers. 
 Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies. 
 The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine. 
 The white pink, and the pansy freaked with jet, 
 The glowing violet, 145 
 
 The musk-rose, and the well-attired woodbine, 
 W^ith cowslips wan that hang the pensive head. 
 
LYCIDAS 6^ 
 
 And every flower that sad embroidery wears ; 
 
 Bid amaranthus all his beauty shed, 
 
 And daffodillies fill their cups with tears, 150 
 
 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 ; 155 
 
 Whether beyond the stormy Hebrides, 
 
 Where thou perhaps under the whelming tide 
 
 Visit'st the bottom of the monstrous world ; 
 
 Or whether thou, to our moist vows denied, 
 
 Sleep'st by the fable of Bellerus old, 160 
 
 Where the great Vision of the guarded mount 
 
 Looks toward Namancos and Bayona's hold. 
 
 Look homeward. Angel, now, and melt with ruth : 
 
 And, O ye dolphins, waft the hapless youth. 
 
 Weep no more, woeful shepherds, weep no more. 
 For Lycidas, your sorrow, is not dead, 166 
 
 Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor. 
 So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed. 
 And yet anon repairs his drooping head. 
 And tricks his beams, and with new-spangied ore 170 
 Flames in the forehead of the morning sky : 
 So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high. 
 Through the dear might of Him that walked the 
 
 waves, 
 Where, other groves and other streams along, 
 With nectar pure his oozy locks he laves, 175 
 
 And hears the un expressive nuptial song. 
 In the blest kingdoms meek of joy and love. 
 There entertain him all the Saints above, 
 
64 LYCIDAS 
 
 In solemn troops, and sweet societies, 
 
 That sing, and singing in their glory move, 180 
 
 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. 185 
 
 Thus sang the uncouth Swain to the oaks and rills, 
 While the still Morn went out with sandals grey : 
 He touched the tender stops of various quills, 
 With eager thought warbling his Doric lay : 
 And now the sun had stretched out all the hills, 190 
 And now was dropt into the western bay. 
 At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blue : 
 To-morrow to fresh woods, and pastures new. 
 
SONNETS 
 
 ON HIS BEING ARRIVED TO THE AGE OF TWENTY-THREE 
 
 How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, 
 Stolen on his wing my three and twentieth year I 
 My hasting days fly on with full career, 
 i^t my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th. 
 
 Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth, 5 
 That I to manhood am arrived so near. 
 And inward ripeness doth much less appear, 
 That some more timely-happy spirits indu'th. 
 
 Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow. 
 
 It shall be still in strictest measure even 10 
 
 To that same lot, however mean or high. 
 
 Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven. 
 All is, if I have grace to use it so. 
 As ever in my great Task-master's eye. 
 
 ON THE LORD GENERAL FAIRFAX AT THE SIEGE OF 
 COLCHESTER 
 
 Fairfax, whose name in arms through Europe rings, 
 Filling each mouth with envy or with praise, 
 And all her jealous monarchs with amaze, 
 And rumours loud that daunt remotest kings. 
 
 Thy firm unshaken virtue ever brings 5 
 
 Victory home, though new rebellions raise 
 Their Hydra heads, and the false North displays 
 Her broken league to imp their serpent wings. 
 
66 SONNETS 
 
 O yet a nobler task awaits thy hand 
 
 (For what can war but endless war still breed ?) 10 
 Till truth and right from violence be freed, 
 
 And public faith cleared from the shameful brand 
 Of public fraud. In vain doth Valour bleed, 
 While Avarice and Rapine share the land. 
 
 TO THE LORD GENERAL CROMWELL, ON THE PRO- 
 POSALS OF CERTAIN MINISTERS AT THE COMMIT- 
 TEE FOR PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL 
 
 Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloud 
 Not of war only, but detractions rude. 
 Guided by faith and matchless fortitude. 
 To peace and truth thy glorious way hast ploughed, 
 
 And on the neck of crowned Fortune proud 5 
 
 Hast reared God's trophies, and his work pursued. 
 While Darwen stream, with blood of Scots im- 
 brued. 
 And Dunbar field, resounds thy praises loud, 
 
 And Worcester's laureate wreath : yet much remains 
 To conquer still ; Peace hath her victories 10 
 
 No less renowned than War : new foes arise, 
 
 Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains. 
 Help us to save free conscience from the paw 
 Of hireling wolves, whose Gospel is their maw. 
 
 TO SIR HENRY VANE THE YOUNGER 
 
 Vane, young in years, but in sage counsel old, 
 Than whom a better senator ne'er held 
 
SONNETS 67 
 
 The helm of Rome, when gowns, not arms, repelled 
 The fierce Epirot and the African bold, 
 
 Whether to settle peace, or to unfold 5 
 
 The drift of hollow states hard to be spelled ; 
 Then to advise how war may best, upheld. 
 Move by her two main nerves, iron and gold, 
 
 In all her equipage ; besides, to know 
 
 Both spiritual power and civil, what each means, 10 
 What severs each, thou hast learned, which few have 
 done. 
 
 The bounds of either sword to thee we owe : 
 Therefore on thy firm hand Religion leans 
 In peace, and reckons thee her eldest son. 
 
 ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN PIEMONT 
 
 Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered Saints, whose bones 
 
 Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold ; 
 
 Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old. 
 When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones, 
 Forget not : in thy book record their groans 5 
 
 Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold 
 
 Slain by the bloody Piemontese, that rolled 
 Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans 
 The vales redoubled to the hills, and they 
 
 To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow 10 
 O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway 
 
 The triple Tyrant ; that from these may grow 
 A hundredfold, who, having learnt thy way, 
 
 Early may fly the Babylonian woe. 
 
68. SONNETS 
 
 ON HIS BLINDNESS 
 
 When I consider how my light is spent 
 
 Ere half my days in this dark world and wide, 
 And that one Talent which is death to hide 
 Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent 
 
 To serve therewith my Maker, and present 5 
 
 My true account, lest He returning chide, 
 
 " Doth God exact day-labour, light denied ? " 
 I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent 
 
 That murmur, soon replies, " God doth not need 
 Either man's work or his own gifts. Who best 10 
 Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state 
 
 Is kingly : thousands at his bidding speed, 
 And post o'er land and ocean without rest ; 
 They also serve who only stand and wait." 
 
THE METER OF THE POEMS 
 
 The unit of English versification is the metrical foot, 
 made up of either two or three syllables, one at least of 
 which must be accented. Two types of foot are regularly 
 used in Milton's Minor Poems : the iambic, consisting of 
 an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one, as in 
 the word until ; and the trochaic, having two syllables in 
 reverse order, as in the word vjonder. A certain number of 
 feet compose a line : two feet make a dimeter ; three feet 
 a trimeter ; four feet a tetrameter ; five feet a pentameter ; 
 and six feet a hexameter. Lines are named by describing 
 the kind and number of feet that compose them : thus, 
 L' Allegro, 11, — 
 
 But come, I thou God|dess fair [and free — 
 is iambic tetrameter, with four iambic feet ; and Lycidas, 
 2,- 
 
 Ye Myr|tles brown, | with i|vy ne|ver sere, — 
 is, of course, iambic pentameter. 
 
 Lines may be rhymed with each other in countless ways. 
 Unrhymed iambic pentameter, found throughout much of 
 Comus, is called blank verse. Lines may be rhymed in 
 pairs, or couplets, as in L' Allegi^o, 87-88. — 
 
 And thenjin haste |her bowerjshe leaves, 
 With Theslty lis | to bind] the sheaves, — 
 
 which is iambic tetrameter, or octosyllabic, couplet, or in 
 
 Comus, 497-98, — 
 
 How earnest I thou here, | good swain ?|Hath a|ny ram 
 
 Slipped from I the fold, | or young | kid lost | his dam, — 
 
 which is iambic pentameter, or heroic, couplet. Rhymes 
 
 may also occur in stanza form, as in the last eight lines of 
 
70 THE METER OF THE POEMS 
 
 Lycidas, or irregularly, as in the remainder of the same 
 poem. Couplets may be formed of two lines of different 
 types, as in L' Allegro, 91-92, — 
 
 Sometimes I with se|cure de| light 
 The up I land ham | lets will j in vite, — 
 
 where the first line has a trochaic movement, and the sec- 
 ond an iambic one. There are frequent lines with irregu- 
 larities, as in U Allegro, 41, — 
 
 And at|my win|dow bid|good-mor|row, — 
 which is iambic tetrameter, with an extra syllable. Occa- 
 sionally the versification affords a key to Milton's pronun- 
 ciation, as in Comus, 4, — 
 
 In relgions mildlof calm | and se|rene air, — 
 where the accent of serene is determined by the iambic 
 meter. 
 
 L' Allegro and .11 Penseroso open with ten iambic lines, 
 of alternate trimeter and pentameter structure, rhyming 
 ABBACDDEEC. The body of each poem is in tetrameter 
 couplets, the lines being either iambic or trochaic. Milton's 
 wonderful power of versification dejDends largely on his 
 skillful management of the metrical changes from one type 
 of foot to another. 
 
 Comus is written mainly in blank verse, with one short 
 passage in iambic pentameter couplet (495-512), some 
 parts in the tetrameter couplet of L' Allegro, and tliree 
 songs, one by the Lady, one by the Attendant Sjjirit, and 
 one by Sabrina, in irregularly rhymed verse of lines of 
 varying length. The student can have no better exercise in 
 the analysis of versification than a study of the complicated 
 structure of the Lady's song, " Sweet Echo " (230-43)^ 
 with its lines varying from dimeter to hexameter and its 
 peculiar arrangement of rhymes. 
 
 Lycidas is made up chiefly of iambic pentameter lines, 
 sprinkled with trimeter, rhyming irregularly, while ten 
 
NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 71 
 
 seem not to rhyme at all. It is divided into ten stanzas or 
 metrical paragraphs of varying length and rhyme scheme, 
 concluding with a perfect specimen of ottava rlrna, or oc- 
 tave stanza, rhyming ABABABCC. Professor Trent says 
 of the versification of this poem : " The rhythm is varied, 
 and flows now in leaping waves, now in long rolling billows 
 that carry all before them, like the surging periods of Par- 
 adise Lost. There is probably no short poem in the lan- 
 guage the rhythm of which has been more deservedly 
 praised, or more despaired of by other poets." 
 
 NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 
 
 L' Allegro and II Penseroso 
 
 These two companion poems, written probably during the 
 early months of Milton's residence at Horton, are approximately 
 similar in meter and general construction, but are deliberately 
 contrasted in title and substance. They represent, however, not 
 so much two distinct and unsympathetic types of character, 
 as two separate moods of a single person : a man of scholai-ly 
 tastes and artistic temperament, such as the young Milton must 
 have been. Thus, althongh the poems are consistently antitheti- 
 cal, they are complementary rather than antagonistic in their 
 respective attitudes towards life. U Allegro ("The Cheerful 
 Man ") describes the pleasures of a quiet, somewhat bookish 
 gentleman in a buoyant and care-free state of mind; II Penseroso 
 (" The Meditative Man ") follows the recreations of the same 
 person when he is in a mood more sedate and serious. They are 
 really idylls, each comprising a series of little pictures unified 
 by the prevailing sentiment behind them. In each poem, more- 
 over, the selection of details is so carefully done tliat every ele- 
 ment contributes, either directly or by suggestion, to illustrate 
 the mood indicated by the title. 
 
 The trvie contrast is, then, one of underlying spirit or feeling; 
 but this is brought out strongly also by a studied parallelism of 
 structure, many passages balancing each other almost part for 
 
72 NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 
 
 part. Thus, U Allegro begins at dawn and ends at midnight, while 
 Jl Penseroso, opening at evening, closes at noon of the next da}^ ; 
 the lark in the one work corresponds to the nightingale in the 
 other; Mirth is " buxom, blithe, and debonair," and Melancholy 
 is " sober, steadfast, and demure." A careful study of these in- 
 genious features of Milton's method will leave the student with 
 a high appreciation of the poems as masterpieces of constructive 
 art. 
 
 Milton at this period was still under thirty, and as yet 
 unprejudiced against the stage and other mundane pleasures- 
 accordingly the poems show few traces of Puritanism, and are 
 full of a Renaissance delight in living. He was, moreover, fresh 
 from the university and steeped in classical learning; this ac- 
 counts largely for the extraordinary allusiveness of single lines, 
 crammed as they are with literary reminiscences and with refer- 
 ences to Greek and Roman myths. His training as a musician 
 gave him a sense of the niceties of rhythm, and led him to ex- 
 periments in the subtler effects of intonation, alliteration, and 
 assonance. Finally he was already a cultivated poet, with a fine 
 imagination, a fastidious discrimination, and an unerring feeling 
 for taste and proportion. In felicitous phrasing, in flexibility and 
 variety of versification, and in power of suggestive description 
 these twin poems have a classical perfection which makes them 
 comparable with a work like Gray's famous Elegy in a Country 
 Churchyard. 
 
 L' Allegro (page 12) 
 
 1-10. This invocation accords with a common device of the 
 classical poets. Here, however, Milton uses it, not to call at once 
 upon the favoring deity, but to warn off the opposing spirit of 
 Melancholy. The first ten lines of // Penseroso should be read 
 at this point, in order that the parallelism in structure and 
 manner may be noted. The metrical scheme of this introduc- 
 tion, with its alternate pentameter and trimeter lines, is in- 
 tentionally irregular and rough as compared with the smooth 
 tetrameter couplets of the remainder of the poem. The cumu- 
 lative effect of the harsh descriptive epithets is to produce at 
 once a repugnant impression of that Melancholy, the presence of 
 which is incompatible with the Cheerful Man's mood. 
 
 1. The loathed Melancholy of this line is obviously con- 
 
NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 73 
 
 ceived as different from the divinest Melancholy of II Pen- 
 seroso, 12. Here, in strict adherence to its derivation from two 
 Greek words meaning " black bile," it seems to connote gloom 
 or dejection. 
 
 2. Cerberus: the three-headed dog that guarded the gates of 
 Hades. There is no myth to justify the parentage of Melancholy 
 here presented. According to the Greeks, Erebus was the 
 spouse of Night. 
 
 3. Stygian: connected with the river Styx, "the flood of 
 deadly hate " (Paradise Lost, ii, 577) which flowed through the 
 infernal regions. 
 
 5. Uncouth : originally " unknown," from its Anglo-Saxon 
 derivation. Here it means rather strange or unfamiliar. What 
 is its present meaning ? 
 
 6. This line illustrates one characteristic feature of Milton's 
 poetic style : the power of rich suggestion which he attains by 
 the use of figurative and allusive epithets. The student should 
 try to reproduce in his own mind the picture imagined by the 
 author. 
 
 7. Night-raven : the raven is not a night bird, but is regu- 
 larly associated with ill omens. See Macbeth, i, v, 39-41. 
 
 8. Low-bro"wed : over-hanging. 
 
 10. Cimmerian desert : the Cimmerians, according to the 
 Odyssey, x, 14, dwelt in perpetual darkness, " wrapt in a fog 
 and cloud." 
 
 11. At this point the body of the poem begins, with an invo- 
 cation to Mirth, the auspicious goddess. Notice the effect 
 gained by the word but. 
 
 12. Yclep'd : called. The word is a survival of the old past 
 participle of the Anglo-Saxon clepen, the y being a modification 
 of the prefix ge still used in the past participle of most German 
 verbs. Euphrosyne (Mirth) was one of the the three Graces, 
 her sisters (see line 15) being Aglaia (Brightness) and Thalia 
 (Bloom). 
 
 14. Milton found this parentage in a note by Servius on Vir- 
 gil's -Slneid, i, 720. The Greek myth made Zeus and Eurynome 
 the parents of the Graces. 
 
 16. Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, and Bacchus, 
 the god of wine and revelry, would be fitting parents for the 
 Graces. 
 
74 NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 
 
 17. As some sager sing : as some wiser poets sing. This is 
 a subtle reference to the fact that Milton himself has invented the 
 genealogy which follows. 
 
 19. Zephyr was the god of the west wind, and Aurora was 
 the lovely goddess of the dawn. 
 
 24. Buxom : originally yielding, from the Anglo-Saxon hugan, 
 to bow; l^ter, Jolly or frolicsome, its meaning here. Debonair : 
 from the French de honne air, of a ga}^ disposition. 
 
 27. The distinctions in this line are finely drawn. Quips : 
 sharp sayings. Cranks : "conceits," or odd turns of speech. 
 
 28. Becks : beckonings. 
 
 29. Hebe : daughter of Jupiter and Juno. She was the god- 
 dess of youth and cupbearer to the gods on Olympus. 
 
 31. Derides : the subject of this verb is the noun Sport. 
 
 33. Trip it : compare our modern expressions " lord it " and 
 *' go it." 
 
 34. On the light fantastic toe : with dances improvised to 
 suit the fancy. 
 
 36. Mountain Nymph : a love of liberty is characteristic of 
 people dwelling in mountainous regions, like Switzerland or the 
 Scotch Highlands. At the right hand is, of course, the place of 
 honor. 
 
 40. Unreprov^d : blameless or innocent. 
 
 41. With this line begins the chronology of the "ideal day," 
 not, however, belonging entirely to one season. It starts quite 
 naturally with the song of the lark before dawn. The unre- 
 prov^d pleasures follow in appositive phrases : to hear (41), 
 to come (45), oft listening (53) sometime walking (57), 
 etc. 
 
 45. In spite of sorrow : in a feeling of spite towards sorrow. 
 
 46. This somewhat obscure passage has given rise to at least 
 three interpretations. Some editors maintain that the lark comes 
 to the window; others that the man comes to the window from 
 without the house ; and still others that L' Allegro, awakened by 
 the lark's song, goes to his window to greet the day. This last 
 solution is the most plausible. 
 
 50. The figure refers to the scattering of the " thin " rear- 
 guard of a retreating army. 
 
 52. Scan this line. For what effect is Milton striving through 
 this change in meter ? 
 
NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 75 
 
 55. Hoar hill : the hill is either covered with frost or shrouded 
 in mist. 
 
 56. High wood : probably best taken as meaning- a forest of 
 tall trees cleared of underbrush. 
 
 , 57. Not unseen : these words suggest the sociable nature of 
 -L' Allegro. Cf. // Penseroso, 65. 
 
 59. Right against : directly opposite. He is walking eastward 
 towards the rising sun. 
 
 60. State : his stately progress through the sky. 
 
 62. Dight: arrayed. The cloiuls, the attendants of the sun, 
 are dressed in gorgeously colored liveries or costumes. 
 
 67. Tells his tale : counts the number of his flock. Cf . our 
 modern tally, to tell one's heads, etc. 
 
 69. Straight: straightway. 
 
 70. Landskip : an old form of landscape. Parse the word 
 round. 
 
 71. Lawns : open fields. Fallows : sections of ploughed land 
 left unsown. 
 
 74. Explain the significance of the word labouring as applied 
 to the clouds. 
 
 75. Pied : of different colors. 
 
 77. Towers and battlements • a reference possibly to Wind- 
 sor Castle, only four miles from Horton and plainly visible from 
 that place. 
 
 80. Cynosure : the object towards which all eyes are directed. 
 The word, literally " dog's tail " through its derivation from the 
 Greek, was applied by the ancients to that portion of the Little 
 Bear constellation, resembling a dog, which contains the pole 
 star. By this star the Tyrian sailors were accustomed to steer 
 their ships ; hence it came to mean any object on which people 
 fix their eyes. Cf. Comus, 342. 
 
 83. Corydon, Thyrsis, Phillis (86), and Thestylis (88) are 
 conventional names of shepherds and shepherdesses drawn from 
 Greek pastoral poetry. 
 
 87. Bower : here not bed-chamber, as in the old ballads, but 
 cottage. 
 
 89. Milton's mention of an earlier season is clear evidence 
 that he did not mean to adhere strictly to the description of a 
 single day in one specific time of the year. 
 
 91. Secure : free from care, by derivation from the Latin 
 securus. 
 
76 NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 
 
 92. Upland hamlets : secluded villages, contrasted with the 
 towered cities of line 117. 
 
 94. Rebecks : a rebeck was a mediaeval musical instrument 
 of two or three strings, shaped and played like a violin. 
 
 102. Fairy Mab : the mischievous Queen of Fairies, and tra- 
 ditionally the patron and tormentor of servants. See Mercutio's 
 description of her in Romeo and Juliet, i, iv, 53-95. Junkets : 
 cheese cakes or sweetmeats in general. Notice Milton's pronun- 
 ciation of eat, the preterit of eat, to rhyme with feat. 
 
 103-05. Different members of the gathering, she and he, tell 
 of their experiences with fairies. 
 
 104. Friar's lantern: the will-o'-the-wisp, or ignis fatuus. 
 
 105. Drudging Goblin: Robin Goodfellow, the Pucic of 
 Shakespeare's Midsummer's Nighfs Dream. It is part of fairy 
 lore that he sometimes comes at night to assist the peasant in 
 his threshing, and should therefore be rewarded with a bowl of 
 cream duly set to refresh him after his labors. 
 
 110. Lubber : clownish. 
 
 111. Chimney's length: along the fireplace. 
 
 113. Crop-full: with a full stomach. 
 
 114. At the first crowing of the cock all ghosts and spirits 
 were supposed to vanish, their power having ended with the 
 coming of day. See Hamlet, i, i, 147-56. Matin : a morning song. 
 
 117. Two theories exist as to the significance of the remainder 
 of the poem. Either the Cheerful Man returns to his home to 
 spend the evening in reading romances, masques, and comedies ;. 
 or the amusements described may be those in which such a man 
 would be likely to be interested for his recreation. Probably the 
 first interpretation is the less open to objection. 
 
 120. Weeds : garments. This almost obsolete meaning of the 
 word is preserved in our modern phrase " widow's weeds." Tri- 
 umphs : grand shows or celebrations. 
 
 123. Both : both wit and arms contend for the prize. 
 
 125. Hymen : the god of marriage. 
 
 128. Mask: masques and their characteristics are treated in 
 the Introduction to Comus, page 82. 
 
 132. Jonson's learned sock : Ben Jonson (1573-1637), who 
 had been Shakespeare's chief contemporary rival as a dramatist, 
 was still alive at this date, although his best work had been 
 done. Jonson was a scholarly writer, who based his plays largely 
 
NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 7T 
 
 on classical models and afPected to scorn the public of his own 
 time. His best comedies are Volpone (1605), The Silent Woman 
 (1609), and The Alchemist (1610). 
 
 Sock is from the Latin socciis, the low-heeled slipper worn 
 by Greek and Roman comic actors. It is here used as symbolic 
 of comedy. 
 
 133-34. " This characterization applies better to some of 
 Shakespeare's scattered songs than to his romantic plays or his 
 comedies as a whole " (Moody). Milton is here contrasting 
 Shakespeare's spontaneity with Jonson's learning, which was 
 almost equal to Milton's own. 
 
 135. Eating cares: a classical expression borrowed from the 
 Latin poet Horace, who had spoken of curas edaces{Odes, ii, ii, 18). 
 
 136. There were three kinds of Greek music: the Doric, the 
 Phrygian, and the Lydian, the last being the sweetest and 
 tenderest. 
 
 138. Meeting soul: the soul that hears them and is affected 
 by them, Notice the old pronunciation of the word pierce to 
 rhyme with verse. 
 
 139. Bout : turn. 
 
 141. Wanton heed and giddy cunning : this is the figure 
 of speech called " oxymoron," in which an epithet of a contrary 
 meaning is added to a word. " The adjectives describe the ap- 
 pearance, the nouns the reality." 
 
 145. Orpheus, the most famous of mythical musicians, persuaded 
 Pluto, the god of the lower world, to allow him to bring back 
 his dead wife from Hades, on condition that Orpheus should not 
 turn to look at her until she had reached the upper air. Before 
 the stipulated time, however, he glanced back, and she disap- 
 peared in a cloud. Thus his Eurydice, once half-regained, was 
 lost forever. Milton was fond of this story, and referred to it in 
 II Penseroso, 105-08, and in Lycidas, 58-63. 
 
 Il Penseroso (page 17) 
 
 Except for the fact that it is somewhat longer, this poem is 
 framed almost exactly on the model of L^ Allegro. It is prob- 
 able that Milton was rather more in sympathy with his subject 
 here than in its companion work. 
 
 1-10. Notice in these lines, which should be compared with 
 the introductory passage of L' Allegro, what a different effect 
 
78 NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 
 
 Milton secures with very little change in method. The driving 
 off of the vain deluding Joys parallels, even to little tricks of 
 phraseology, the Hence, loathed Melancholy of the other 
 poem. 
 
 3. Bested : avail. 
 
 4. Fixed: resolute or firmly established. 
 
 6. Fond: foolish. Cf. "fond and foolish mind" in the old 
 English ballads. 
 
 10. The figure in this line needs careful examination. Mor- 
 pheus, the god of sleep, is pictured as having a retinue of fol- 
 lowers (dreams) dependent on his bounty. 
 
 12. Melancholy : here not gloom, as in U Allegro, 1, but 
 rather thoughtf ulness or " pensive contemplation." 
 
 l-l. To hit the sense : to be suited to human sight. 
 
 18. Memnon : the son of Tithonus and Aurora, He was 
 King of the Ethiopians and assisted King Priam of Troy during 
 the Trojan War, being finally slain by Achilles. Although he 
 was dark-skinned, he was reputed to be marveluusly handsome. 
 Nothing is known of any sister of his ; but she may be imag- 
 ined as being no less beautiful than her brother. 
 
 19. That starred Ethiop Queen : Cassiopea, mother of 
 Andromeda, boasted that her beauty was above that of the Ne- 
 reids. The Sea-Nymphs avenged themselves by exposing An- 
 dromeda to a monster, but the girl was rescued by Perseus, wha 
 became her husband. Both Cassiopea and Andromeda were 
 afterwards placed among the constellations; i.e., starred. 
 
 23-21. This genealogy was invented by Milton. Vesta was 
 the goddess of the hearth and of chastity, celebrated by the 
 Koman vestal virgins. She was the daughter of Saturn, who 
 may typify solitude. Thus Melancholy may be considered as the 
 daughter of chastity and solitude, as compared with Mirth, the 
 child of love and wine. 
 
 29. Woody Ida : not the mountain near the city of Troy, 
 but Mount Ida in Crete, where the infant Jove was nurtured. 
 See Paradise Lost, i, 515. 
 
 30. Jove eventually rebelled against his father, Saturn, and 
 seized for liimself the throne of the gods. 
 
 33. Darkest grain : deep blue or purple. These dyes were 
 obtained from the dried cochineal bug, which looks much like a, 
 grain. Colors made in this way were said to be grained. 
 
NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 79 
 
 35. Stole : veil or hood. Cypress lawn : a thin crape cloth, 
 supposed first to have come from the island of Cyprus. 
 
 36. Decent : comely or beautiful. 
 
 37. State: dignity. 
 
 39. Commercing: communing. 
 
 41. Still : here used as an adjective. 
 
 42. Forget thyself to marble : here again it is worth the 
 student's while to visualize the picture conceived by the poet. 
 The figure is taken from sculpture. 
 
 43. Sad : grave. Leaden : heavy. 
 
 46. Spare Fast : this is the doctrine of " plain living and 
 high thinking." Milton believed in temperance in diet. 
 
 47. The Muses, the nine daughters of Jove and Mnemosyne 
 (Memory), were the patrons of art, literature, and science. 
 
 52-54. The reference here to the fiery-wheeled throne is 
 drawn from the famous vision in Ezekiel, x. Milton ventures to 
 name one of the cherubim described by the prophet. 
 
 55. This puzzling line may be paraphrased, " And, whispering 
 hist !, bring along the mute silence." 
 
 56. Philomel : the nightingale. Philomela, the daughter of 
 Pandion, was, because of her part in the murder of her nephew, 
 Itylus, changed by the gods into a nightingale, in which form 
 she constantly bewails her fate in sweet song. The student 
 should read Keats's Ode to a Nightingale and Matthew Arnold's 
 Philomela. 
 
 57. Plight: strain. 
 
 59. Cynthia : Diana, the goddess of the moon, Ceres, not 
 Diana, however, was drawn by dragons. 
 
 60. Accustomed oak : the tree where the bird was accus- 
 tomed to sing. 
 
 64. Even-song : contrasted with the matin of the cock in 
 U Allegro. 114. The nightingale's song introduces the enumera- 
 tion of the evening pleasures of the Meditative Man. 
 
 65. Unseen: the Thoughtful Man prefers to walk by himself) 
 just as the Cheerful Man had wished for society. See U Allegro 
 57. 
 
 68. Highest noon : the highest point of her course for the 
 night. 
 
 72. Stooping: the picture produced by the use of this word 
 should be visualized. 
 
80 NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 
 
 74. Curfe"w : from the French couvre-feu, to cover fire. The 
 bell rang about nine o'clock in the evening, warning household- 
 ers to cover over or extinguish their fires. How is the word 
 used to-day ? 
 
 76. How are the meter and the sound of tlie words in this 
 line made to reproduce the slow swinging of the bell ? 
 
 78. Still removed: quiet and secluded. The Cheerful Man 
 enjoyed the merry group of peasants gathered around a bright 
 hearth ; the Meditative Man muses alone over a smouldering 
 fire in a shadowy room. 
 
 83. Bellman's drowsy charm : the bellman, or night watch- 
 man, was accustomed to go on his rounds, ringing a bell and 
 crying the hour. Sometimes he droned a prayer or charm for 
 the security of householders. 
 
 84. Nightly : in the night time. 
 
 85. The Meditative Man burns " midnight oil " in reading' 
 over philosophy, tragedy, lyric poetry, and romances. 
 
 87. Outwatch the Bear : the constellation of the Bear does 
 not set in English latitudes ; therefore the meaning is that the 
 Meditative Man sits vip all night. 
 
 88. Thrice-great Hermes : Hermes Trismegistus (not to be 
 confused with the god Hermes or Mercury) was the fabled 
 Egyptian philosopher and magician, Thoth, the reputed author 
 of certain scientific books really written by the Alexandrian 
 philosophers of the fourth century. 
 
 88-89. Unsphere the spirit of Plato : to draw down the 
 spirit of Plato, the great Greek philosopher, from the sphere in 
 which it is now dwelling ; in other words, to study carefully his 
 doctrine, particularly as regards immortality, as expressed in 
 his famous treatise, the Phosdo. 
 
 93. Daemons : spirits. 
 
 94-95. The fovir universal elements of the ancients were 
 earth, air, fire, and water. The theory expressed here is that the 
 spirits of each element have a sympathetic connection or true 
 consent with a particular planet. 
 
 97. Gorgeous Tragedy : the Meditative Man, instead of read- 
 ing comedies by his contemporaries (Z' Allegro, 131-34), chooses 
 the Greek tragedies of ^schylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. 
 
 98. Sceptred pall : wearing a kingly robe and carrying the 
 regal scepter. 
 
NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 81 
 
 99-100. The subjects of the great Greek tragedies were 
 taken largely from the stories named here : tales of (Edipus, 
 King of Thebes ; of Agamemnon, grandson of Pelops ; and of the 
 Trojan War. Milton is thinking of such plays as The Seven 
 Against Thebes, by iEschylus ; the Oedipus Tyrannus and the 
 Antigone, by Sophocles ; and the Electra and the Iphigenia, by 
 Euripides. 
 
 101. The words though rare, in parentheses, seem to indi- 
 <3ate that Milton saw little in the tragedy of his own time to 
 compare with the work of the Greeks. Evidently he did not 
 -appreciate fully the worth of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Macbeth^ 
 Othello, and King Lear. 
 
 102. Buskined stage : a reference to the high-heeled shoe, 
 or buskin, worn by the Greek and Roman actors in tragedy. It 
 is contrasted with the sock worn by comic actors (see U Allegro, 
 132). 
 
 104. Musaeus : a mythical bard of Thrace, contemporary 
 with Orpheus. 
 
 105-08. For the story of Orpheus, see U Allegro, 145-50, and 
 note. 
 
 107. Iron tears: a transferred epithet. The line means 
 *' drew tears down the cheek of iron-hearted Pluto." 
 
 108. Hell : a personified title for Pluto, the god of the lower 
 world. 
 
 109-15. Him that left half-told: Geoffrey Chaucer 
 (1340 ?-1400) left unfinished his Squire's Tale, one of the Canter- 
 bury Tales. Cambuscan, King of Tartary, had two sons, Cam- 
 ball and Algarsife, and one daughter, Canace. The virtuous 
 ring (which gave the wearer power to understand the language 
 of birds and the properties of plants), the glass (a kind of 
 magic mirror), and the wondrous horse of brass (which had 
 the power of flight), were, according to the tale, sent by the 
 King of India to the Tartar King and his daughter. No one knows 
 whose wife Canace became. That, in line 113, refers to Canace. 
 
 116. Great Bards : probably first of all Edmund Spenser 
 (1552-99), the author of the Faerie Queene. Milton may also refer 
 to Boiardo, Ariosto, and Tasso, the Italian writers of romantic 
 epics of an allegorical character, where more is meant than 
 meets the ear. 
 
 121. Notice that this line has ten syllables. 
 
82 NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 
 
 122. Civil-suited: in plain civilian dress. In Z' Allegro the 
 dawn was decked out in showy fashion. 
 
 123. Tricked: adorned. Frounced : with curled hair. 
 
 124. Attic boy : Cephalus, the husband of Procris. He was 
 a hunter who was beloved by Aurora, goddess of the dawn. 
 
 125. Kerchieft : wrapped in a head-coveriug. 
 130. Minute- drops : drops falling a minute apart. 
 
 134. Brown : dark. Sylvan : Sylvanus, a Roman forest 
 divinity, sometimes identified with Pan. Cf. the Latin silva, a 
 wood. 
 
 135. Monumental oak : referring probably to the oak as a 
 very monument among trees. It is a common poetical epithet. 
 
 141. Garish : glaring or gaudy. Cf. the line in the hymn 
 Lead, kindly Light : " I loved the garish day." 
 
 145. Concert: harmony. 
 
 147-50. This passage has proved puzzling to many editors. 
 It may be paraphrased : " Let some strange mysterious dream, 
 laid softly on my eyelids, move to and fro in accordance with 
 the motion of the wings of sleep." 
 
 153. To mortals good : good to mortals. 
 
 155. Due feet : feet in duty bound. Cf. Comus, 12. 
 
 156. Cloister's pale : the inclosure of the cloister of a 
 church or cathedral. 
 
 157. High embow^d roof : the lofty arched roof of a Gothic 
 cathedral. 
 
 158. Massy proof : heavy, and therefore able to support the 
 great mass of the roof. 
 
 159. Storied windows richly dight: windows of stained 
 glass, representing in rich colors the various Biblical stories. 
 
 162. Quire : this word is now spelled choir. 
 
 169. Hairy gown : the coarse garment of monks and hermits. 
 
 170. Spell : interpret. 
 
 173. Old experience : prolonged experience. 
 175-76. Compare this last couplet with the concluding lines of 
 L' Allegro. 
 
 CoMus (page 23) 
 
 The fact that Milton himself gave Comus no other title than 
 A Masque presented at Ludlow Castle naturally leads us to con- 
 sider briefly the origin and characteristics of the masque as a 
 
NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 83 
 
 form of art. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in England 
 it was not uncommon at royal celebrations for courtiers, disguised 
 or " masked " as various personages of history or mythology, to 
 represent a " mumming," usually in the shape of a dumb show 
 or pantomime. The word " masque " applied to a festivity of 
 this sort was first used in 1512 by Edward Hall in describing a 
 spectacle " after the maner of Italic, called a masque." It is 
 probable that during the reign of Henry VIII the Italian pag- 
 eant, popular in Florence under Lorenzo de Medici, was brought 
 to England and combined with the native "mask " ; and out of 
 these crude origins there was gradually evolved a coherent and 
 well-defined type of amusement. 
 
 The distinguishing feature of the masque seems at first to 
 have been the dance, to which dialogue and singing were but 
 subsidiary. In its perfected form, however, it was essentially a 
 spectacle, elaborately and beautifully staged, diversified with 
 singing, music, and dancing, but having as a base an ele- 
 ment of drama; that is, some slight action and a limited amount 
 of dialogue. Since, as has been estimated, the average cost of 
 production was about £6000, it was necessarily an aristocratic 
 amusement. It was rarely given before a public audience, but 
 -^was privately maintained and presented, either at court or at 
 some wealthy nobleman's castle, the lords and ladies assuming 
 the principal parts. It was thus designed primarily for enter- 
 tainment at some special occasion, such as a birthday, a royal 
 visit, or a marriage. The plot had frequently an allegorical 
 significance, with compliments, direct or implied, for the king, 
 queen, and greater nobles. The characters were often drawn 
 from mythology or fairyland, and the scenery was frequently 
 of a pastoral kind. Sometimes, especially in Jonson's masques, 
 a grotesque anti-masque was introduced to afford a contrast 
 with the more serious portions of the production. This anti- 
 masque, consisting ordinarily of dancing or revelry, was usually 
 performed by professionals. As a matter of course the costumes 
 were exceedingly sumptuous, like those in a modern fancy-dress 
 ball. Indeed, no expense was spared in making the masque 
 worthy of its audience, and towards its presentation the finest 
 craftsmen in many fields gave their best : such men, for instance, 
 as Daniel, Beaumont, Ben Jonson, and Milton in poetry ; Ferra- 
 bosco and Lawes in music ; and Inigo Jones in architecture and 
 
84 NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 
 
 decoration. In the complete production of a fine masque, music, 
 singing-, dancing, painting, and poetry all joined to charm and 
 captivate the senses. 
 
 Under the somewhat parsimonious Queen Elizabeth the 
 Masque was popular but seldom gorgeous ; but with the acces- 
 sion in 1603 of the more liberal James I, the givers began to 
 rival each other in lavish expenditure. In the hands of Ben Jon- 
 son (who composed at least twenty-two masques), Ferrabosco, 
 and Inigo Jones, the masque attained extraordinary vogue. After 
 1625, however, under the attacks of Puritanism and the accom- 
 panying decline of the drama, it began to lose its popularity. 
 Even as late as 1634, nevertheless, when Prynne's Histriommtix, 
 a bigoted Puritan arraignment of the stage, was published, two 
 remarkable masques were presented: Carew's Ccelum Britannicum 
 and Shirley's Triumph of Peace, the latter costing over ^100,000 
 in our money. After this date few masques are recorded, and 
 Comus was thus almost the last, as it is, from a poetical stand- 
 point, the greatest, work of its type. By the time of the out- 
 break of the Civil War between king and Parliament the short 
 but splendid day of the masque had ended. 
 
 Even before Comus, Milton had already, in the Arcades (1633), 
 written a fragment of a masque in honor of the Dowager Count- 
 ess of Derby. His unquestioned success in the few passages 
 which he composed for this occasion probably led his friend, 
 Henry Lawes, the musician, to invite him to prepare the poetry 
 for a more elaborate production to be given in 1634. Sir John 
 Egerton, first Earl of Bridgewater and the son-in-law of the 
 Countess of Derby, had been appointed in June, 1631, to be 
 President of the Council of Wales, and was to be installed in 
 office at his own Liullow Castle on the eastern border of Wales. 
 For this ceremony the masque of Comus was arranged, Lawes 
 providing the music and Milton the libretto, and it was produced 
 on Michaelmas Night, September 29, 1634. The chief parts 
 were played by gentlemen and ladies : Lawes himself was the 
 Attendant Spirit; Lady Alice Egerton, the daughter of the 
 Earl, represented the Lady ; and her brothers. Viscount Brackley 
 and Mr. Thomas Egerton, acted the First and Second Brothers. 
 There is no evidence to show that Milton was present at the 
 festivities. 
 
 In 1637 an edition of Comus was issued by Lawes without 
 
NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 85 
 
 Milton's name attached, although his consent had been obtained. 
 It was later printed as Milton's work in the volume of his poems 
 issued in 1645. 
 
 In studying Comus it is essential to remember that we are 
 reading what corresponds to an opera libretto, and that, in order 
 to appreciate the entire performance, it is necessary to take into 
 account the accessory features of the masque. It is true, how- 
 ever, that Milton in Comus gave to the poetry relatively much 
 more importance than other masque writers had been in the 
 habit of doing. Ben Jonson had quarreled furiously with Inigo 
 Jones because the latter had insisted on subordinating the liter- 
 ary part of the spectacle. In Comus, Milton assumes that the 
 poetry is the element of most interest, and accordingly he em- 
 ploys as a basic measure the dignified blank verse commonly 
 used in the serious drama. From one point of view tliis libretto 
 of Comus is not unlike a pastoral play. 
 
 The dramatic action, however, is really slight, and the char- 
 acters are not carefully developed. The literary value lies mainly 
 in the long speeches, such as those given by Comus, the Brothers, 
 and the Lady, and in the exquisite songs. The work is obviously 
 didactic, aiming at the expression of a definite moral ideal. Jon- 
 son had endeavored to convey a lesson in his masques, to make 
 them " carry a mixture of profit with them no less than delight." 
 Milton, in deliberately founding his theme on a problem in ethics, 
 goes even farther. In more than one sense Comus shows Milton 
 in a transition stage, still clinging to the forms of the Cavalier 
 court, but adapting them for moral instruction. It is not difficult 
 to imagine the poet of U Allegro verging perceptibly towards 
 the bard of Paradise Lost. 
 
 2. Mansion : abiding place. 
 
 7. Pestered: here used in its root meaning of encwmJerec?, like 
 a horse hobbled in pasture. Pinfold : an inclosure or pound for 
 stray cattle. 
 
 10. This mortal change : probably the change from life to 
 death. 
 
 11. Sainted seats. Notice how Milton mingles Christian 
 doctrine with Greek and Roman mythology. 
 
 12. Due steps : steps that fulfill their duty. Cf . II PenserosOy 
 155. 
 
 16. Ambrosial weeds : celestial garments. Ambrosia was 
 the food of the s-ods. 
 
86 NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 
 
 17. This sin-worn mould : the earth, 
 
 20. High and nether Jove : Jupiter and Pluto. According 
 to Homer the universe was divided after the fall of Saturn, 
 Neptune being assigned the sea and its islands, Pluto the lower 
 regions, and Jupiter the heavens. 
 
 23. Unadorned : otherwise unadorned. 
 
 24. To grace : to dignify or honor. 
 
 25. Several : separate. 
 
 27. This Isle : Great Britain. 
 
 29. Quarters : divides among. Blue-haired deities : prob- 
 ably a reference to the tributary gods, the Nereids, blue- 
 haired because of their association with the sea. 
 
 30. This tract that fronts the falling sun : Wales. With 
 this line begins a real historical statement of the events leading 
 to the presentation of the masque. 
 
 31. A noble Peer: the Earl of Bridgewater. 
 35. State : installation. 
 
 37. Perplexed : entangled. 
 
 38. Nodding horror. The picture suggested by this line is 
 worth some study. 
 
 48. After the Tuscan mariners transformed : after the 
 transformation of the Tuscan mariners. Some Tuscan pirates at- 
 tempted to sell Bacchus into slavery, but he escaped by changing 
 the masts and oars of the ship into serpents and the sailors 
 themselves into dolphins. 
 
 49. Tyrrhene shore: the western coast of Italy, facing 
 Sardinia. Listed : pleased. 
 
 50. Circe. The story of the visit of Odysseus to this 
 enchantress may be read in the Odyssey, x, in any good transla- 
 tion. Her magic potions changed men into swine. Her residence 
 was ^^sea, an island west of Italy. 
 
 56. This genealogy is entirely Milton's invention. The word 
 Comus is taken from a Greek word meaning a " revel " or " ca- 
 rousal." 
 
 59. Ripe and frolic of his full-grown age : mature, and 
 rejoicing in his strength. 
 
 60. Celtic and Iberian fields : France and Spain. Comus 
 passed through these countries on his way to Wales. 
 
 Qb. Orient : clear or bright. 
 
 66. Drouth of Phoebus : thirst caused by the excessive 
 heat of the sun. 
 
NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 87 
 
 67. Fond : foolish, as in II Penseroso, 6. 
 
 68-77. In the account given by Homer of Circe's enchant- 
 ments her victims were changed entirely into swine, having " the 
 head and voice, the bristles and the shape of swine, but their 
 mind abode even as of yore " (Odyssey X, 238-40). In Milton's 
 account of the transformation effected by Comus, only the faces 
 of the victims are changed into the shapes of other animals. 
 Obviously Milton's deviation from the old story is necessary 
 for the production of the masque on the stage. 
 
 79. Adventurous : full of adventures or risks. 
 
 83. Of Iris' -woof : of material of the rainbow. Iris, the mes- 
 senger of June, was the goddess of the rainbow. See Virgil's 
 jEneid, iv, 693-705, and Paradise Lost, xi, 244. 
 
 88. Nor of less faith : nor is he less trustworthy as a friend 
 than he is skilled as a musician. 
 
 02. Viewless : invisible. 
 
 93. With the entrance of Comus and his disorderly rabble 
 (rout) the stately blank verse of the Attendant Spirit's prologue 
 changes to the more animated tetrameter couplet which Milton 
 had used in U Allegro and /Z Penseroso. 
 
 94-101. Milton here makes Comus adhere to the ancient theory 
 that the earth, conceived as perfectly flat, was surrounded by an 
 *' ocean stream." Thus the sun (the gilded car of Day) would 
 at sunset cool the axle of his chariot in the Atlantic stream in 
 the west and send out rays upward towards the zenith. 
 
 98. Slope Sun : the setting sun, sunk beneath the horizon. 
 
 105. Rosy twine : entwined roses. 
 
 110. Grave saws : wise proverbs or maxims. 
 
 111. Purer fire : fire was considered by the ancients to be 
 the purest of the four elements. 
 
 112. Starry quire : one of Milton's many references to the 
 music of the spheres. 
 
 116. Morrice : a popular old English dance, called originally 
 Moorish, and later Morrice, or Morris, because it was supposed 
 to have been brought into the country from Spain, where the 
 Moors formerly lived. 
 
 117. Shelves : flat ledges of rock. 
 
 121. Wakes : night watches or revels. The custom of hold- 
 ing " wakes " over the dead bodies of friends is still preserved 
 among the Irish peasantry. 
 
88 NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 
 
 129, Cotytto : a Thracian goddess of debauchery. 
 132. Stygian darkness. See U Allegro, 3, and note. 
 
 134. Chair : chariot. 
 
 135. Hecat ' : a mysterious divinity, associated, as in Shake- 
 speare's Macbeth, with witchcraft and nocturnal horrors. 
 
 139. Nice : prudish. Look up the various meanings of this 
 word. Indian steep : the sun rises in the east, in the direc- 
 tion of India. 
 
 141. Descry : reveal. 
 
 144. Round : a dance in which all join hands. The Measure 
 which follows is described in the Cambridge manuscript of 
 Comus as "a wild, rude, and wanton Antic." Such a dance, or 
 ballet, was a traditional featnre of the masque. Comus and his 
 rout, headed like sundry sorts of wild beasts, and with 
 their apparel glistering, must have made a brilliant show. 
 This may be considered as a typical anti-masque, introduced for 
 grotesque or comic effect. 
 
 147. Shrouds : hiding-places. 
 
 151. Trains : enticements, snares. Cf. Macbeth, iv, iii, 118. 
 
 153. Thus I hurl. At this point the actor taking the part of 
 Comus must have made a gesture as if flinging some powder into 
 the air. Some stage device, too, may have thrown a light about 
 his person. 
 
 154. Spongy : absorbing. 
 
 156. False presentments : imaginary pictures. 
 
 157. Quaint habits : strange clothes. 
 161. Glozing : flattering, deceiving. 
 
 163. Wind me into • gain the confidence of. 
 
 165. Virtue : here used in its root meaning oi power or strength, 
 
 167. Gear: business. 
 
 168. Fairly: softly. 
 
 174. Loose unlettered hinds : rough and uncultivated 
 rustics. 
 
 175. Granges : granaries. 
 
 176. Pan: the god of all nature, and especially of flocks and 
 shepherds. 
 
 177. Amiss : in the wrong way. 
 
 178. Swilled : drunken. 
 
 179. Wassailers : revelers. The Anglo-Saxon wes hael, may 
 you have good health, was, like the modern German Gesundheit, 
 
NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 89 
 
 a common salutation from one drinker to another ; hence arose 
 the expression, the vmssail-bowl. 
 
 189. Sad : grave. Votarist : one who has taken a vow- In 
 palmer's -weed. A palmer was a pilgrim returned from the 
 Holy Land and bearing a palm branch as evidence of his journey. 
 
 190. Wain : chariot. Try to imagine the picture sketched in 
 these lines : a gray-hooded monk in a long dark robe follows 
 after the wheels of the glittering chariot of the sun. 
 
 193. Engaged : pursued. 
 
 194. Envious : malicious. 
 
 203. Perfect : perfectly distinct. 
 
 204. Single darkness : unmixed darkness. 
 
 210. May startle well : may well startle. Well is used in 
 the sense of indeed. 
 
 220. The Lady, seeing a gleam in the forest near her, sud- 
 denly pauses. 
 
 Song. Tlie metrical structure and versification of this lyric is 
 worth examination. The lines vary from dimeter to hexameter, 
 and the rhymes fall irregularly ; but the harmony of the rhythm, 
 combined with the marvelous management of vowel sounds and 
 the dexterous use of alliteration and assonance, gives the whole 
 an exquisite effect. The story of Echo and Narcissus is a familiar 
 myth. Echo, having deceived Juno, was deprived of all speech 
 save the power to answer questions ; afterwards, falling in love 
 with Narcissus, who scorned her, she pined away until nothing 
 was left of her but her voice. As a punishment Venus caused 
 Narcissus to fall in love with his own reflection in a spring, and 
 he, unable to depart from the spot, died, and was transformed 
 into the flower which now bears his name. 
 
 231. Airy shell : the atmosphere. 
 
 232. Meander's margent green: the green banks of the 
 river Meander, a winding stream of Phrygia in Asia Minor. 
 From this proper name comes our verb, to meander. 
 
 241. Parley : speech. 
 
 242. Translated : borne aloft. 
 
 244. Notice the graceful compliment to the Lady in the lines 
 which follow. Passages of this complimentary nature were con- 
 ventional features of the masque. 
 
 247. Vocal air : air which carries the voice. 
 
 251. Fall : cadence, the sinking of tone in the voice. 
 
90 NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 
 
 253. Sirens : beautiful maidens who lived on an island near 
 Sicily, and, with their sweet voices, lured mariners to their de- 
 struction upon the rocks. Ulysses saved his sailors by stopping 
 their ears with wax, while he himself, tied securely to a mast, 
 was able to listen to the songs in safety. Milton is alone in asso- 
 ciating the sirens with Circe. 
 
 254. Flo-wery-kirtled Naiades : the Nymphs of streams and 
 fountains, having garments made of or trimmed with flowers. 
 
 256. Take the prisoned soul : make a prisoner of the soul. 
 This is the figure called prolepsis, in which an adjective is ap- 
 plied to a noun in anticipation of the action of the verb. 
 
 257-59. Scylla: a beautiful maiden, changed by her jealous 
 rival, Circe, into a monster, surrounded by hissing serpents 
 and barking dogs. She then leaped into the sea and became a 
 rock, which was supposed to be located in the Straits of Messina 
 between Italy and Sicily. Opposite Scylla was the terrihle whirl- 
 pool, Charybdis, so placed that a vessel in avoiding one danger 
 would fall into the other. See Virgil's yEneid, in, 551-60. 
 
 267. Unless the Goddess : Unless thou art the goddess. 
 
 273. Extreme shift : last resort. 
 
 277. This method of single line question and answer is imi- 
 tated from the dialogue of the Greek tragedies, where it is 
 called " stichomythia." 
 
 286. Hit : guess. The line is somewhat ironical. 
 
 287. Imports their loss : " is their loss important ? " 
 
 290. Hebe : See X' Allegro, 29, and note. 
 
 291. What time : when. 
 
 293. S-winked hedger- the weary laborer or mender of 
 hedges. 
 
 297. Port : bearing, its root-meaning from the Latin, The 
 lines which follow contain compliments for the two sons of the 
 Earl of Bridgewater. 
 
 301. Plighted: folded. 
 
 312. Dingle : a narrow valley between high hills. Dell : a 
 vale among low hills. 
 
 313. Bosky bourn : a stream having its banks lined with 
 bushes. 
 
 318. Thatched pallet : nest of woven straw. 
 
 319. Low : humble. 
 
 322-26. This passage is evidence of Milton's democratic 
 
NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 91 
 
 spirit. It is based on the derivation of the word courtesy from 
 court. 
 
 329. Square my trial, etc. : adjust my trial, and make it 
 within my strength to bear it. 
 
 331. This dialogue between the Brothers is really a contest in 
 declamation, with little of the dramatic about it. Milton under- 
 takes to contrast two different points of view: the younger 
 brother is practical and argues on the basis of common sense; 
 the older brother is an idealist and relies on philosophy. It is 
 interesting to note that the two actors were twelve and ten years 
 old respectively. 
 
 332. Benison: blessing. 
 
 334. Disinherit : dispossess or drive out. 
 
 338. Rush-candle : a candle with a wick made from the pith 
 of a rush. Wicker hole : a window filled in with twigs in- 
 stead of with glass. 
 
 341. Star of Arcady : any star in the constellation of the 
 •Great Bear into which Callisto, daughter of the King of Arcady 
 or Arcadia, was transformed. Tyrian Cynosure : the constel- 
 lation of the Lesser Bear, by which the Tyrian mariners steered 
 their ships. The tail of this constellation, containing the pole 
 star, was called " Cynosura," " dog's tail." Cf. Z' Allegro, 80. 
 
 344. Wattled cotes : sheep inclosures made of interwoven 
 twigs. 
 
 345. Pastoral reed : a shepherd's pipe, made of reeds or 
 oaten stalks ; hence the oaten stops, or holes in the instrument 
 for producing the music. 
 
 349. Innumerous . innumerable. 
 
 359. Over-exquisite : too inquisitive. 
 
 360. Cast the fashion : forecast the character. 
 
 361. Grant they be so : grant that they are really evils. 
 
 366. So to seek : so much at a loss. 
 
 367. Unprincipled in virtue's book : untaught in the ele- 
 mentary principles of virtue. 
 
 369. Single -want : mere want. 
 376. Seeks to : resorts to. 
 378. Plumes : arranges. 
 
 380. All to-ruffled : entirely ruffled up. To in Old English 
 was an intensive particle, meaning completely. 
 382. I' the centre : in the center of the earth. 
 
92 NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 
 
 393. Hesperian Tree. It was one of the twelve labors of 
 Hercules to secure the golden apples of Juno, which were 
 guarded carefully by the daughters of Hesperus and by the 
 frightful dragon Lad on. 
 
 395. Unenchanted : that cannot be enchanted. Cf. uiire- 
 prov^d, L' A llegro, 40. 
 
 398. Unsunned heaps : treasure that had been hidden in 
 caves away from the sunlight. 
 
 401. Wink on : close its eyes to. 
 
 404. It recks nie not ; I take no account of. 
 
 407. Unowned : unguarded. 
 
 408. Infer- argue. 
 
 413. Squint: squint-eyed. 
 
 419. If: equivalent to even if. 
 
 420. This speech of the Elder Brother's is a summing-up of 
 Milton's idealistic philosophy. The passage contains, as Masson 
 points out, " a concentrated expression of the moral of the whole 
 masque." Many of the ideas here brought out are plainl}' bor- 
 rowed from Spenser. 
 
 423. Unharbored : without places of shelter. Trace : trav- 
 erse. Cf. the meaning of our word retrace. 
 
 424. Infamous : of ill fame. 
 
 428. Very: veritable. 
 
 429. Shagged : shaggy or rugged. Horrid : rough or bristling,^ 
 from the Latin liorridus. 
 
 430. Unblenched: undaunted. 
 
 434. Unlaid ghost: a spirit which is unappeased, and there- 
 fore wanders abroad from curfew to cock-crow. 
 
 441, Huntress Dian : Diana, the sister of Apollo and god- 
 dess of tlie hunt. 
 
 443. Brinded : brindled or streaked. 
 
 447. Snaky-headed Gorgon shield. The three Gorgons, 
 female monsters whose heads were covered with hissing serpents 
 instead of hair, had the power of turning into stone any one who 
 looked at them. Perseus, aided by a magic cap, wings, and a 
 wonderful sword, managed to cut off the head of Medusa, the 
 mortal one of the three, and gave it to Minerva, the goddess 
 of wisdom, who placed the snaky head in the center of her shield. 
 There it still retained its original property of turning any one 
 who saw it into stone. Milton gives the myth his own allegorical 
 meaning. 
 
NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 93 
 
 451. Dashed: shamed. 
 
 454. Sincerely so : that is, entirely chaste. 
 
 459. Oft converse: frequent conversation. 
 
 460. Begin : here the subjunctive form of the verb. 
 
 468. Imbodies and imbrutes : becomes material and gross. 
 This passage reproduces some of the ideas in Plato's Phccdo. 
 
 473. It: to what does this word refer? 
 
 474. Sensualty: Milton probably chose this spelling because 
 of the exigencies of the meter. It is more commonly sensuality. 
 
 478. Apollo's lute : Apollo, the god of the sun, was also a 
 famous musician. 
 
 479. Nectared sweets : nectar was the drink of the gods. 
 483. Night-foundered : swallowed up in the night. 
 
 491. Iron stakes : swords. 
 
 494. Thyrsis : the name of a shepherd taken from the pas- 
 torals of Theocritus, the Sicilian poet. The passage which fol- 
 lows is a compliment to Henry Lawes, the musician, wlio took 
 the pnrt of the Attendant Spirit. 
 
 495. Huddling: hurrying. Madrigal: a shepherd's song. 
 "Notice the change, beginning with this line, from blank verse to 
 the rhymed pentameter couplet. 
 
 501. Next: dearest. 
 
 502. Toy: trifle. 
 
 509. Sadly : seriously. 
 
 517. Dire Chimeras. The Chimera was a fire-breathing 
 monster with the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the 
 hind part of a dragon. Bellerophon, riding the winged Pega- 
 sus, finally managed to slay the Chimera. 
 
 520. Navel : center. 
 
 526. Murmurs : incantations. 
 
 529. Unmoulding reason's mintage : destroying the indi- 
 cations of reason stamped on or expressed in the countenance. 
 The figure is drawn from the practice of melting down coins. 
 
 531. Crofts : small inclosed bits of pasture land. 
 
 532. Brow : overhang. 
 
 534. Stabled wolves : wolves in their dens. 
 
 539. Unweeting: unwitting, unsuspicious. 
 
 540. By then : when. 
 
 542. Dew-besprent: sprinkled with dew. 
 547. Meditate my rural minstrelsy : practice pastoral 
 songs. For this use of meditate, see Lycidas, 66. 
 
94 NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 
 
 553. Drowsy-flighted: flying drowsily. 
 558. "Was took : was charmed. 
 560. Still : always, ever, 
 
 568. Lawns: glades among the trees. See U Allegro, 71, send 
 note. 
 
 573. Prevent : anticipate. 
 
 685. Period : sentence. For me : so far as I am concerned. 
 
 591. Meant most harm : meant to be most harmful. 
 
 592. Happy trial: trial that ends happily. 
 
 598. Pillared firmament: the firmament is here pictured as 
 resting on huge pillars supported by the earth. 
 
 603. Griesly : horrible. 
 
 604. Acheron : a river of Hades, here used for the entire 
 region of Hell. 
 
 605. Harpies : A Harpy was an unclean beast, with the body 
 of a bird and the head of a woman. Cf. jEneid, in, 216. Hy- 
 dras : huge water serpents, often with many heads. One of the 
 labors of Hercules was to slay tlie Lernsean Hydra. 
 
 607. Purchase : ill-gotten gain or booty. 
 
 610. Emprise: enterprise. 
 
 611. Stead : service. Cf . " to stand him in good stead." 
 
 620, Of small regard to see to : insignificant to look at. 
 
 621, Virtuous : having medicinal power. Cf. II Penseroso, 
 113. 
 
 626. Scrip: wallet. 
 
 627. Simples : medicinal herbs. 
 
 634, And like esteemed : unvalued, just as it is unknown. 
 
 635, Clouted shoon : patched shoes, 
 
 636, Moly : according to the Odyssey, x, 281-306, this was 
 the plant which Hermes (Mercury), the messenger of the gods, 
 gave to Odysseus (Ulysses) as a protection against the charms of 
 Circe. 
 
 638. Haemony : Milton invented this plant. Hcemonia, how- 
 ever, was an old name for Thessaly, the Greek land of magic. 
 
 639. Sovran: most efficacious. 
 
 641. Ghastly Furies' apparition. The Furies were the 
 three avenging deities, who had snaky hair and carried scourges 
 for the punishment of mortals. 
 
 646. Lime twigs : twigs covered with lime for the capture 
 of birds. 
 
NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 95 
 
 655. Sons of Vulcan : an allusion to the giant Cacus, who, 
 according to the Ailneid, viii, 252, vomited smoke during his 
 combat with Hercules. 
 
 661. Daphne : a nymph who, when pursued by Apollo, was, 
 at her own request, changed by her father, Peneus, into a laurel 
 tree. 
 
 664. This corporal rind : the body. 
 
 672. Cordial : warming to the heart. Julep : a kind of me- 
 dicinal syriip. 
 
 675. Nepenthes. In the Odyssey iv,220,Jf., Helen gives her 
 husband, Menelaus of Sparta, an opiate mixed with his wine. 
 This had been presented to her by Polydamna, the Egyptian wife 
 of Thon. The word nepenthes means, literally, " grief-dispel- 
 ling." 
 
 685. Unexempt condition : condition from which no one is 
 exempt. 
 
 694. Aspects : countenances. 
 
 698. Vizored : masked. Forgery : deceit. 
 ' 700. Lickerish : delightful to the taste. 
 
 701. Juno : the queen of the gods, and the sister and wife of 
 Jove. 
 
 707. Budge doctors of the Stoic fur: pedantic teachers of 
 the Stoic philosophy. " Budge fur " was lamb's skin with the 
 wool dressed outwards, worn to decorate a scholastic gown. The 
 Stoics believed that virtue was the great end of living, and ac- 
 cordingly they were indifferent to both pleasure and pain. Nat- 
 urally Comus, with his love of pleasure, would speak of the 
 Stoics with contempt. 
 
 708. Cynic tub : a reference to Diogenes, the Cynic philoso- 
 pher of Athens, who lived in a tub. The Cynics, like the Stoics, 
 were taught to despise the temptations of the senses. 
 
 714. Sate: satisfy. Curious: fastidious. 
 719. Hutched : hoarded, as in a chest or bin. 
 
 721. Pulse : peas, beans, lentils, etc. 
 
 722. Frieze : a coarse woolen cloth, originally imported from 
 Friesland. 
 
 729. Strangled : suffocated. 
 
 732. O'erfraught: over-burdened. 
 
 733. The forehead of the deep. Probably the surface of the 
 deep earth, not of the sea. 
 
96 NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 
 
 734. They below : gnomes and elves, the creatures of the 
 lower world. 
 
 737. Coy : disdainful. Cozened : deluded. 
 
 745. Brag: boast. 
 
 748. Homely features : note the play on words. 
 
 750. Sorry grain: dull color. Cf. II Penseroso, 33, and note. 
 
 751. Sampler : a piece of needlework. Tease : to comb or 
 card wool. 
 
 752. Vermeil-tinctured : vermilion colored. 
 
 760. Bolt : sift or refine, as the miller separates meal from 
 bran. 
 
 768-75. This passage is an earl}' expression of the communistic 
 doctrines advocated by modern Socialists. 
 
 769. Beseeming : suitable. 
 
 780. Enow : enough. 
 
 791. Dazzling fence : brilliant argumentation, used as a 
 fencer wields his rapier. 
 
 793. Uncontrolled : uncontrollable. 
 
 794. Rapt: enraptured. 
 
 802. Though not mortal : though I am not mortal. 
 
 804. Chains of Erebus. In the war between Jupiter and 
 Saturn, the latter's sons and allies, the Titans, were hurled by 
 Jove's thunderbolts into the lower world, and were fettered 
 there in Erebus, the place of darkness. 
 
 808. The canon law^s of our foundation : the fundamental 
 regulations of our society. 
 
 809. Lees : a reference to the medieval theory that melan- 
 choly was the heaviest "humour" of the blood, and, settling to 
 the bottom like the dregs of wine, sometimes caused insanity. 
 
 816-17. According to the usual custom in magic, the wand 
 should have been reversed and the words of the charm muttered 
 backwards, in order to undo the effects of the enchantment. 
 
 817. Dissevering: releasing. 
 
 822. Meliboeus : a conventional name in pastoral poetry for 
 any shepherd. Here it may refer to Spenser, who, in his Faerie 
 Queene, ii, x, 14-19, had told the story of Sabrina. 
 
 823. Soothest: truest. 
 
 825. Severn stream. The Severn River ran not far to the 
 east of Ludlow Castle. 
 
 827. "Whilom: of old. The story of Sabrina is related in 
 
NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 97 
 
 Milton's own History of Britain (1670), not, however, exactly as 
 it is given here. The tale came originally from Geoffrey of 
 Monmouth's Historia Regum Brittanice ( c. 1136). Locrine, the 
 sou of Brutus, married Gwendolen, but really loved Estrildis, by 
 whom he had a daughter, Sabrina. When Locrine tried to di- 
 vorce Gwendolen, she made war upon him, slew him, and threw 
 Sabrina and Estrildis into the river Severn. 
 832. His. We should use its to-day. 
 
 835. Aged Nereus' hall. Nereus was the " old man of the 
 sea," the father of the sea-nymphs, or Nereids. 
 
 836. Lank : drooping. 
 
 838. Nectared lavers : vessels filled with nectar, the driuk 
 of the gods. Asphodel : a flower that bloomed in the Elysian 
 Fields. 
 
 841. Immortal change : change to immortality. 
 
 845. Urchin blasts : the mildew or blight caused by evil 
 spirits. Mischievous elves were supposed at times to take the 
 shape of a hedgehog or urchin. 
 
 846. Shrewd : maliciotis. 
 
 852. The old swain : Meliboeus, mentioned in line 822. 
 863. Amber-dropping hair : probably yellow hair with 
 water dropping through it. 
 
 867. The attendant Spirit now invokes Sabrina in the name of 
 various sea and river deities, mentionmg each for some specific 
 quality. 
 
 868. Oceanus : the presiding deity of the ocean stream which 
 the ancients supposed encircled the earth. 
 
 869. Neptune : the god of the sea after Oceanus was over- 
 thrown. See line 18, and note. 
 
 871. Nereus : father of the Nereids. See line 835, and note. 
 
 872. Carpathian wizard : Proteus, who needed a hook be- 
 cause he was a sea-shepherd, and who was a wizard, with the 
 power of changing his shape at will. His home was on Carpathos, 
 an island between Crete and Rhodes. 
 
 873. Triton: the son of Neptune and Amphitrite, and the 
 herald of the sea, with the power, at the blowing of his horn, or 
 winding shell, to quiet or raise the waves. 
 
 874. Glaucus : a fisherman who became a sea-god and was 
 endowed with the gift of prophecy or soothsaying. 
 
 875. Leucothea: the " white goddess," who was at one time 
 
98 NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 
 
 Ino, the daughter of Cadmus. In order to escape her insane hus- 
 band, Athamas, she plunged with her infant son into the sea, 
 and was transformed into a deity. Her son (line 876) was Pe- 
 Isemon, who was known as the god of harbors. 
 
 877. Thetis : the most beautiful Nereid and the mother of 
 Achilles. 
 
 878. Sirens : see line 253, and note. Parthenope and Ligea 
 were two of the Sirens. Parthenope's tomb was in Naples. 
 
 880. Golden comb. Cf. Heine's Die Lorelei, in which the 
 enchantress uses a golden comb. 
 
 893. Azurn sheen : azure brightness. 
 
 894. Turkis blue : the blue turquoise. The stone was origi- 
 nally brought from Persia through Turkey. 
 
 897. Printless feet: feet that leave no print. 
 
 914. Thrice : charms were regularly used in combinations of 
 three. Cf. the incantations of the witches in Macbeth. 
 
 916. Venomed seat : venomed, because enchanted. 
 
 921. Amphitrite : the wife of Neptune. 
 
 923. Old Anchises' line. The early British chroniclers tried 
 to trace the first settlement of Britain to the Trojans. Accord- 
 ingly they invented the legend that Ascanius, son of yEneas and 
 grandson of Anchises, eventuall}^ landed in England. His son, 
 Sylvius, was the father of Brvitus and the grandfather of Locrine, 
 who, in turn, was the father of Sabrina. 
 
 927. Snowy hills : the Welsh mountains among which the 
 Severn rises. 
 
 929. Tresses fair : probably the foliage on the river-banks. 
 
 936-37. May thy head be crowned here and there along thy 
 banks with groves of myrrh and cinnamon. Such groves hardly 
 fit the climate of Wales. 
 
 958. The Attendant Spirit here interrupts the rustic dancing 
 which has been going on since the change of scene. 
 
 961. Other trippings. The rustic dance is now to be followed 
 by a court ballet of lighter toes. 
 
 964. Mincing Dryades : graceful wood-nymphs, contrasted 
 with the country folk whose dance is one of duck and nod. 
 
 970. Timely : in good time. 
 
 972. Assays : trials. 
 
 976. In the actual production of the masque, lines 976-1011 
 were transferred to the beginning, where they were given by 
 the Attendant Spirit before his blank verse prologue. 
 
NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 99 
 
 982. Hesperus : see line 393, and note. 
 
 983. Golden Tree : the tree which bore the golden apples. 
 
 984. Crisped: curled. The leaves are curled or ruffled by 
 the breeze. 
 
 985. Spruce : neatly dressed. 
 
 991. Nard and cassia: aromatic plants. 
 
 995. Purfled: fringed. 
 
 999. Adonis : a beautiful young shepherd beloved by Venus. 
 He was slain by a wild boar. 
 
 1002. Assyrian queen : Astarte, here identified with Venus. 
 
 1005. Celestial Cupid : a type of heavenly love as contrasted 
 with Adonis, representing earthly love. 
 
 1005. Psyche : a girl beloved by Cupid. She was persecuted 
 by the latter's jealous mother, Venus, but finally, after accom- 
 plishing several tasks set for her by the angry goddess, she was 
 made immortal and united to her lover. 
 
 1012. This remaining passage constituted the concluding 
 speech of the Attendant Spirit as the masque was actually pre- 
 sented. 
 
 1015. Bowed welkin : the curving sky. 
 
 1017. Corners : horns. 
 
 1021. Spliery chime : the music of the spheres. 
 
 1018-23. These last six lines serve to sum up the moral les- 
 son of the complete masque. 
 
 LYCIDAS (page 58) 
 
 • 
 
 On August 10, 1637, Edward King, who had been a fellow- 
 student of Milton's at Christ's College, Cambridge, was drowned 
 while making a voyage from Chester Bay, in England, to Dublin. 
 In accordance with a fine custom of that period, a few of King's 
 university friends undertook to publish a memorial volume of 
 verse. The collection appeared in 1638 in two parts : the first 
 containing twenty-three poems in Latin and Greek; the second 
 comprising thirteen English elegies, Milton's Lycidas, signed 
 merely J. M., being the last of all. 
 
 It seems fairly certain that the death of King was not to Mil- 
 ton a great personal bereavement ; at any rate, it was no such 
 blow as he sustained not long after in the loss of Charles Diodati. 
 What Milton really mourned in Lycidas was the premature 
 
100 NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 
 
 passing of a youth who, like Arthur Henry Hallara two centuries 
 later, was apparently taken away on the very threshold of a 
 promising career. As a means of voicing this regret he chose 
 the pastoral elegy so common in classical and Renaissance litera- 
 ture. 
 
 In its origin, as mvented by the Greek poets of Sicily, The- 
 ocritus, Bion, and Moschus, the pastoral may have been spontan- 
 eous and natural. As used, however, by Virgil in his Bucolics 
 and by later mediaeval imitators, it was full of artificiality. Talk 
 about country matters by sophisticated city people who had 
 never seen a shepherd or a flock could hardly help seeming un-' 
 real and divorced from actual life. The literary form neverthe- 
 less flourished with astonishing vigor, and, during the Renais- 
 sance, w^as utilized by even the greatest writers : men like 
 Petrarch, Boccaccio, Tasso, and Cervantes. From Italy it was 
 brought into England, where, in the sixteenth century, it was 
 taken up by Sir Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser. Probably 
 the most notable pastoral elegy in English before Milton's day 
 was Spenser's Astropkel, commemorating the death of Sidney. 
 Thus it was not extraordinary that JNIilton, steeped in the classics 
 and acknowledging Spenser as his master, should adopt the 
 pastoral form, and, reanimating the traditional conventions of 
 that type of elegy, should lament for King in the guise of one 
 shepherd w'eeping for another. It is interesting to note that 
 Shelley's Adonais and Arnold's Thyrsis, the two other English 
 elegies comparable with Lycidas in power and perfection, are 
 both cast in the pastoral mould. • 
 
 Milton in general follows rather strictly the procedure of the 
 classical elegists ; but there are two rather long digressions, one 
 on Fame, and the other on the corruption of the English clergy. 
 It has been maintained that this latter passage, dealing with 
 the denunciatory speech of " the Pilot of the Galilean Lake," 
 detracts from the unity of the poem ; but the impassioned fer- 
 vor and plain sincerity of the lines, together with the easy transi- 
 tion of thought which introduces them, make them appear like 
 intrinsic and necessary parts of the poem. At this point the 
 writer is almost a controversialist, and the Milton of Lycidas is 
 not far removed from the fiery pamphleteer of the Common- 
 wealth. 
 
 " There cannot be better verse than LycidaSy'^ says Mr. Saints- 
 
NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 101 
 
 bury, echoing the thoughts of many previous critics. There is 
 little need of adding a word to sustain his judgment. In har- 
 mony of feeling and expression, in perfection of phrasing, in 
 exquisite polish and finish, it is, indeed, what Mark Pattison 
 termed it, " the high-water mark of English Poesy and of Mil- 
 ton's own production." 
 
 1. Once more. Since the date of Comus (1634), Milton had 
 written little or no poetry, but now, on this "sad occasion," he 
 was to try his powers again. The Laurel, the Myrtle, and the 
 Ivy were, among the Greeks, symbolical of poetical skill. 
 
 2. Brown : dark. Never sere : never withered and therefore 
 evergreen. 
 
 3. Harsh and crude : sour and unripe. 
 
 5. Shatter : scatter. Before the mellowing year : before 
 the due season, Milton means that bitter constraint has com- 
 pelled him to write before he is really ready. 
 
 6. Sad occasion dear : dear is here used as an intensive, 
 and the phrase therefore means " an extremely sad occasion." 
 
 8. Lycidas : a sheplierd's name found in Theocritus, Idyl 
 VII, and in Virgil, Eclogue ix. Ere his prime : King was only 
 twenty-five at the time of his death. 
 
 10-11. He knew himself to sing: he knew how to compose 
 verses. King had written some Latin poems of no very great 
 merit. 
 
 13. "Welter to the parching wind : be tossed about by the 
 weaves, exposed to the parching wind. 
 
 14. Meed: tribute. 
 
 15. Sisters of the sacred well : the Muses, who were born 
 and dwelt near the Pierian Spring at the foot of Mount Olympus, 
 the seat of Jove. This address to the Muses was a conven- 
 tional feature of the pastoral elegy. 
 
 19. Muse: here used to me&n poet. 
 
 20. Lucky : auspicious. Milton hopes that some future poet 
 will write verses in honor of him, as he is now doing in honor 
 of King. 
 
 23. In describing his association with King at Christ's Col- 
 lege, Milton uses pastoral imagery, feigning himself and King 
 to be shepherds and telling of their occupations in the same 
 veiled fashion. 
 
 28. Grey-fly : the trumpet-fly, which hums loudly at noon, 
 during the sultry period of the day. 
 
102 NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 
 
 29. Battening : feeding or fattening. 
 
 31. Sloped his westering wheel : had turned the wheel of 
 his chariot downwards towards the west. 
 
 33. Tempered to the oaten flute : attuned to the shep- 
 herd's pipe. 
 
 34. Satyrs : forest deities with goat-like ears, cloven feet, 
 and short tails. Fauns : creatures, half men and half goats, who 
 frolic in the woods. 
 
 36. DamcEtas : a name found in Theocritus, Idyl vi, and also 
 in Sidney's Arcadia. It may possibly refer to Chappell, Milton's 
 first tutor at Cambridge. 
 
 40. Gadding: straggling. 
 
 41. Mourn: a fine example of the so-called "Pathetic Fal- 
 lacy," in which Nature is supposed to bewail a favorite of hers 
 
 45. Canker : the canker-worm. 
 
 46. Weanling: recently weaned. 
 48. White-thorn : hawthorn. 
 
 50-55. This passage is modeled closely on other earlier pas- 
 torals, including Theocritus, Idyl i, 66-69 ; Virgil, Eclogue x^ 
 9-12 ; and Spenser, Aslrophel, xxii. 
 
 52. Steep : some identified mountain in Wales. 
 
 53. Druids : the priests of the ancient Celtic religion. 
 
 54. Mona : the island of Anglesey, off the northwest coast of 
 Wales, where the Druids once held their mystic rites. 
 
 55. Deva: the river Dee, separating Wales from England. 
 King must have sailed down it on his voyage from Chester, It 
 is called a "wizard stream because of many superstitions con- 
 nected with it. 
 
 56. Fondly : foolishly. Cf. II Penseroso, 6. The word is ex- 
 plained by the for what of line 57. 
 
 58. The Muse herself: Calliope, the Muse of History and 
 the mother of Orpheus, the famous musician. The first part of 
 the story of Orpheus has been told in L' Allegro, 149, and note. 
 Because he refused to join in the Bacchic orgies, he was later 
 torn in pieces by the Thracian women, — the rout that made 
 the hideous roar, — who cast his lyre and his head into the 
 river Hebrus. Cf. Paradise Lost, vii, 33-36. 
 
 64. Wljat boots it?: of what use is it ? Uncessant: in- 
 cessant. The passage which this line introduces is the first of 
 the two digressions in the poem. 
 
NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 103 
 
 65. The homely, slighted, Shepherd's trade : the humble 
 and neglected profession of poetry. 
 
 66. Strictly meditate the thankless Muse : devote one's 
 self assiduously, as Milton had done, to the writing of verse — 
 a thankless task. 
 
 67. As others use : as others are accustomed to do. 
 
 68-69. Amaryllis and Neaera are the names of shepherd- 
 esses in pastoral poetry. Milton means : " Would it not be better 
 to live a life of ease and pleasure ? " 
 
 70. Clear : noble or illustrious, from the Latin clarus. 
 
 71. That last infirmity, etc. : the weakness which the noble 
 mind is likely to put away last of all. 
 
 73. Guerdon : reward. 
 
 75. Blind Fury : a reference to Atropos, one of the three 
 Fates, whose duty it was to cut short the thread of life. She is 
 supposed to act as relentlessly as one of the Furies. 
 " 76. But not the praise : although the Fates may destroy 
 life, fame remains. 
 
 77. PhcBbus: Apollo, the god of poetry. Touched my 
 trembling ears : the god reminds the poet of something the 
 latter has forgotten. 
 
 79. Glistering foil : foil was gold or silver leaf placed be- 
 hind a gem to display its lustre. Fame is not set off by tiie 
 glittering tinsel of flattery. 
 
 81. By: probably by means of . 
 
 83. Pronounces lastly : gives a final decision. 
 
 85. Fountain Arethuse : the fountain of Arethusa was lo- 
 cated on the island of Ortygia, near Sicily. Here it is used as 
 symbolical of the Sicilian pastoral poetry of Theocritus and 
 other Greek writers. 
 
 86. Smooth-sliding Mincius : the river Mincius near Man- 
 tua, where Virgil was born, is here taken to represent Latin 
 pastoral poetry, of the type found in Virgil's Eclogues. 
 
 87. That strain : Apollo's speech in lines 76-84. Higher 
 mood : a nobler type of music. 
 
 89. The Herald of the Sea: Triton, the son of Neptune, 
 is sent by his father to make an investigation into the causes of 
 the death of Lycidas. 
 
 91. Felon winds : guilty winds, because they are supposed 
 to have been responsible for the wreck of King's vessel. 
 
104 NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 
 
 96. Hippotades : ^olus, the son of Hippotes. He was the 
 god of the winds, and it was his duty to keep them closely con- 
 fined. 
 
 99. Panope : one of the Nereids, the fifty daughters of 
 Nereus. 
 
 101. Built in the eclipse. Anything done during an eclipse, 
 especially during an eclipse of the moon, was regarded by the 
 ancients as doomed to misfortune. This line implies that the 
 ship foundered because it was unseaworthy. Other accounts, 
 however, make it clear that it struck on a rock during a gale. 
 
 103. Camus : the presiding deity of the river Cam and of 
 Cambridge University, where King and Milton were educated. 
 Went footing slow : a reference to the slow current of the 
 stream. 
 
 106. Sanguine flower inscribed with woe : the hyacintli, 
 Apollo, during a game of quoits, accidentally hit and killed 
 Hyacinthus, a Greek boy. Overcome with grief, the god caused 
 a flower marked with the Greek Ai, ai (Alas, alas !), to spring 
 up from the blood; hence, the epithet sanguine. The sedge, or 
 coarse river grass, on the banks of the Cam, is here said to be 
 marked in a peculiar fashion not unlike the hyacinth. 
 
 107: Pledge: child. 
 
 109. The Pilot of the Galilean Lake : see Luke, v, 3-12- 
 St. Peter, Christ's representative, is symbolical of the Church. 
 This line opens the second digression. King had been preparing 
 to enter the ministry ; this fact is a logical reason for comparing 
 him with the corrupt clergy of Milton's time. 
 
 110. Massy keys : St. Peter had been given the keys of the 
 kingdom of heaven {Matthew, xvi, 19). Metals twain : the 
 Bible does not mention this detail, but Dante {Pw'gatorio,x) de- 
 scribes the angel of St. Peter as bearing " two keys of metal 
 twain." 
 
 111. Amain : with force. 
 
 112. Mitred : bearing a mitre, or bishop's headdress. Milton 
 is thinking of Peter as the first Bishop of the Church. 
 
 113. For an interesting study of the passage which follows, 
 see Ruskin's Sesame and Lilies, 20-23. 
 
 115. Creep : to enter by cunning and intrigue. Intrude : in- 
 solently force their way in. Climb : to labor ambitiously for 
 their own ends to reach high office. 
 
NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 105 
 
 118. The worthy bidden guest : the faithful and conscien- 
 tious clergyman. 
 
 119. Blind mouths : greedy and gluttonous leaders, blind to 
 everything spiritual. 
 
 120. Aught else the least : anything else. 
 
 122. What recks it them ? : what do they care ? They are 
 sped : they are taken care of. 
 
 123. When they list : when it is their pleasure. Lean and 
 flashy songs : insipid and showy sermons. 
 
 124. Scrannel: squeaking. 
 
 326. Swoln with w^ind : filled with false doctrine. Rank : 
 unwholesome. 
 
 128. The grim Wolf : the Church of Rome, which at this pe- 
 riod was gaining many converts. With privy pavr : secretly. 
 
 130. That two-handed engine : the word engine probably 
 means an axe or some mstrument of destruction. The phrase 
 has given rise to many interpretations, but the general meaning 
 is clear enough : that retribution of a severe kind is about to de- 
 scend on the Church because of its corruption. 
 
 132. Return, Alpheus : the poet, conscious of his long di- 
 gression, here goes back to his lamenting. Alpheus : the lover 
 of Arethusa. He was changed into a river that he might pass 
 under the sea and pursue her. In taking up the pastoral strain 
 a second time, Milton here calls upon Alpheus, just as, after his 
 first digression, he had addressed Arethusa in line 85. The 
 dread voice : the speech of St. Peter, just concluded. 
 
 133. Shrunk thy streams : St. Peter's denunciation has 
 dried up for a time the stream of pastoral poetry in the poem. 
 
 136. Use : are accustomed to dwell. 
 
 138. Swart star : the dog-star, Sirius, which, during July 
 and August, rises at the same time as the sun. It was therefore 
 supposed to cause the heat of those months (dog-days). It is 
 called STvart because it makes the fields swarthy or dark. 
 Sparely : rarely. 
 
 139. Quaint enamelled eyes : curious glossy blossoms. 
 
 142. Rathe : early. This is the obsolete positive form of our 
 modern word rather, which is in origin a comparative. For- 
 saken : it blooms early and, therefore, gets little sunlight. 
 
 143. Crow-toe : the plant commonly known as " crow-foot." 
 
 144. Freaked : spotted. 
 
106 NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 
 
 151. Laureate hearse : the tomb decked with laurel in honor 
 of the dead poet. 
 
 153. Dally -with false surmise : let us imagine that the body 
 of Lycidas is strewn with flowers, while actually it is being 
 washed away by the sea. 
 
 156. Stormy Hebrides : wild islands, west of Scotland, and 
 north of the spot where King was drowned. 
 
 158. Monstrous : peopled with monsters. 
 
 159. Moist vows : prayers accompanied with tears. 
 
 160. The fable of Bellerus old : the fabled abode of Bell- 
 erus, a Cornish giant invented by Milton. The Roman name for 
 Land's End was Belle rium. 
 
 161. The great Vision of the guarded mount : a reference 
 to St. Michael's Mount on the southern coast of Cornw^all near 
 Land's End ; at the summit is a seat called St. Michael's chair, 
 where, on several occasions, the Vision of St. Michael, the Arch- 
 angel, is said to have been seen on guard. 
 
 162. Namancos and Bayona's hold. Namancos was a fort- 
 ress in the Spanish province of Galicia, and the city of Bayona, 
 with its castle or hold, was near by. Both are directly south of 
 Land's End, and St. Michael is thus made to look across at Eng- 
 land's ancient enemy, Spain. 
 
 163. Angel : St. Michael. Ruth : pity. 
 
 164. O ye dolphins : a reference to the story of Arion, a 
 famous singer, who was cast overboard by pirates, but was 
 borne ashore by dolphins whom he had charmed by his playing 
 on the lyre. 
 
 166. Your sorrow : the object of your sorrow. 
 
 168. The day-star : the sun. 
 
 169. Repairs : revives. 
 
 170. Tricks his beams : dresses anew. New-spangled ore: 
 freshly shining gold. 
 
 176. Unexpressive : inexpressible. Nuptial song : see Rev- 
 elation, XIX, 7-9. 
 
 184. In thy large recompense : as a large recompense to 
 thee. 
 
 186-93. These last lines form one of the most perfect exam- 
 ples of the Italian ottava rima, or octave stanza, in English. 
 Milton is here speaking in his own person, commenting on the 
 elegy which has just been finished. 
 
NOTES FOR CAREFUL STUDY 107 
 
 188. Stops : the holes in a pipe or quill by which the sound 
 is regulated. 
 
 189. Doric lay : pastoral song. Theocritus and the other Si- 
 cilian pastoral writers had used the Doric Greek dialect. 
 
 190. Stretched out all the hills : made long shadows of 
 the hills. 
 
 192. T-witched : drew tightly about him. 
 
 SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS 
 
 To the teacher of long experience the questions and com- 
 ments which follow will not be necessary. Such a teacher will 
 easily frame his own. But those who are just entering upon the 
 work, and those who have had little experience, may find here a 
 mode of attack which they can employ. Pupils, also, engaged 
 in independent study may here find suggestively illustrated the 
 sort of questions which thoughtful and intelligent study should 
 enable them to answer. These questions and comments, it should 
 be understood, are offered merely as types ; they are not meant 
 to be comprehensive. 
 
 L'ALLEGRO 
 
 Turn to II Penseroso and note the similarity in 
 the first lines ; the joyful man orders the thoughtful 
 man to depart, and the thoughtful man orders the 
 jojrful man to depart ; or, to phrase it more concisely, 
 each wishes its opposite away. Note in each separate 
 poem the varied stories about the parentage of L' Alle- 
 gro and of 11 Penseroso. Who, according to each of 
 these stories, is the father ; who the mother ? 
 
 Line 3. Why does L' Allegro speak so disparag- 
 ingly of the place where Melancholy was born ? In 
 imagining this place, to what senses does Milton make 
 his appeal ? Is it true that the majority of sensory 
 images make their appeal to the eye? A sensory 
 
108 QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS 
 
 image may be understood to be simply the imagined 
 sensation which comes to the mind of the reader or 
 listener when he sees or hears words which make 
 appeal to any one of the five senses, — sights hearing^ 
 feeling, smell, and taste. 
 
 Line 6. Of what are the wings of darkness jealous? 
 
 Line 7. Why does Milton select the night-raven? 
 
 Line 9. Does the single detail, ragged locks, en- 
 able you to create a picture of II Penseroso as con- 
 ceived by L' Allegro? > 
 
 Li}ie 11. Note how the word but here serves to 
 introduce the contrasting picture. 
 
 Lines 14-24. What artistic advantage is gained by 
 introducing two stories of the birth of Cheerfulness? 
 Would one be more satisfying because vve could more 
 easily pin our poetic faith to that one ; or is something 
 gained by this luxuriating in fancy ? 
 
 Line 24. Buxom, blithe, debonair. Find three con- 
 trasting adjectives used in the next poem descriptive 
 of II Penseroso. 
 
 Lines 26-36. List the companions of L' Allegro 
 and contrast them with the companions of 11 Pen- 
 seroso. 
 
 Line 31. In what case are Sport and Care ? 
 
 Line 35. Why right hand ? 
 
 Line 42. Do you like the figure of th^ lark star- 
 tling the dull night? 
 
 Line 52. Is this humorous, or merely vivid? 
 
 Lines 53-55. As you read this do you have a par- 
 ticular landscape in mind, or is the image a vague, 
 composite one ? 
 
 Lines 60 ff. Note particularly the sensory images in 
 
QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS 109 
 
 this portion. To what senses is the appeal strongest? 
 Do you find it just as easy to call up a sound image 
 as you do to call up a sight image? Can 30U really 
 hear the plowman whistling, the milkmaid singing, the 
 mower whetting his scythe ? Does your imagination go 
 further, and do you, almost unconsciously, see the 
 plowman at work, do you hear the chains rattle, do 
 you hear the soft, crunching tread of the horses ? In 
 the case of the milkmaid, do you catch the sound of 
 the milk streaming into the tin pail ? Or do you get 
 these now only because these questions have suggested 
 them? 
 
 Line 70. Put this in its natural prose order and 
 substitute the antecedent for the pronoun it. 
 
 Lines 71 ff. In what case are the words lawns^fal- 
 loivs, mountains ? What other nouns are in the same 
 construction ? 
 
 Line 77. Antecedent of it? 
 
 Line 19. Is Milton thinking merely of the abstract 
 beauty resident in the landscape, or is he thinking of 
 something concrete, — a pretty girl with whom most 
 of the neighboring swains are in love ? Did Milton 
 intend anything humorous ? 
 
 Line 83. Is Corydon a man or a woman? What 
 about Thyrsis ? You will find the answer in a classical 
 dictionary. At the same time, look up Phyllis and 
 Thestylis. 
 
 Liiie 89. Comment on the seasons that Milton has 
 iu mind. 
 
 Lines 101 fp. In a similar gathering in the country 
 now, do you think it likely that such stories would be 
 told ? Why, or why not ? If not, can you think of the 
 
110 QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS 
 
 sort that would more likely be told? Are we more 
 or less imaginative tlian the generation of Milton's 
 time ? 
 
 Line 117. Do you find this picture more pleasing 
 lio you personally than are others in the poem ? If not 
 this one, which one ? Can you account for your prefer- 
 ence, or is it simply a taste which is to you inexplain- 
 able ? Are most readers more impressed by the pomp 
 and formality of life, or by the simple and the com- 
 monplace ? 
 
 Line 129. Are youthful poets more likely to dream 
 of pomp, feast, revelry, mask, and pageantry ? 
 
 Line 131. Do you think L' Allegro would ever pre- 
 fer tragedy ? Why, or why not ? Comment on the end- 
 ing of the poem. 
 
 Line 135. Commence here and read the remaining 
 portion aloud, and thus try to catch the melody of the 
 verse. 
 
 Run through the poem and select such adjectives as 
 are used with particularly good effect. Why do you 
 consider the effect good ? Are some good because they 
 are vivid, some because they are sonorous ? Illustrate. 
 Treat other parts of speech similarly. 
 
 Oral and Written Theme Assignments for L^ Allegro \ 
 
 1. Lines 1-10. With the few details descriptive of the 
 appearance of Melancholy as a basis, describe fully her 
 appearance as you imagine L' Allegro to conceive her. 
 
 2. Imagining yourself to be L' Allegro, write a letter to 
 Melancholy expressing your scorn of her. Be careful that 
 the scornful tone does not exceed the spirit of scorn ex- 
 pressed by Milton. 
 
 3. Imagining yourself to be L' Allegro, write an informal 
 
QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS ill 
 
 letter to your friend Jest (line 26) inviting him to visit you. 
 Tell him of all the enjoyments in which you want him to 
 share, — especially those mentioned in lines 34, 41, 55, 69, 
 92, 100, 117, 125, 130, and 136. 
 
 4. As an oral theme, choose certain lines (e. g., lines 
 116-1*^4) and narrate an imagined incident taking place 
 under the described conditions. 
 
 5. My First Impressions of V Allegro. 
 
 IL PENSEROSO 
 
 Now that you have carefully worked through L' Alle- 
 gro., you should, in your study of II Penseroso., note 
 all comparisons and contrasts between the two poems. 
 You will notice, for example, the similarity in the in- 
 troduction, and in the meter. Such details as the intro- 
 duction of the lark in U Allegro and the contrasting 
 use of the nightingale in II Penseroso ; L' Allegro's 
 walking not unseen., II Penseroso's walking unseen; 
 L' Allegro's enjoyment of comedy., and II Penseroso's 
 enjoyment of tragedy^ — these are but a few of the 
 points. Make a complete written list both of the com- 
 parisons and of the contrasts. 
 
 Line 3. Is it true that joy avails little, or is this 
 but the biased judgment of Melancholy ? 
 
 Line 9. Alike in what particular ? 
 
 Lines 13-16. Does this remind you of any experi- 
 ence in the life of Moses ? Do you think the scriptural 
 story was in Milton's mind when he wrote this ? 
 
 Lines 31-45. Do you think this description suf- 
 ficiently detailed so that two artists, taking these as 
 the base of their inspiration, would produce almost 
 
112 QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS 
 
 identical pictures? In your own case what do you 
 conceive as the most essential elements in the re-crea- 
 tion of the picture of II Penseroso as here conceived 
 by Milton ? Do these essential elements reside in the 
 robings, in the perfection of physical form, in the facial 
 expression, or where ? Contrast the suggested charm 
 of this picture with the suggested repulsiveness of the 
 picture L' Allegro suggests in her phrase ragged locks. 
 
 Line 43. What art is here suggested ? 
 
 Line 44. As fast as what ? 
 
 Lines 45-53. Comment on the appropriateness of 
 these companions and contrast them with the appro- 
 priateness of the companions of joy. 
 
 Lines 67-72. Read this passage over several times, 
 and try to understand the charm of the lines. Does a 
 part of the charm seem to lie in the sonorousness of 
 the words and in the reflected carefulness of Milton's 
 observation of detail? And is a part due to the vague- 
 ness of the heavenly scene, — the atmosphere of limit- 
 less extent ? Can you cite in other poems you have 
 studied examples of this latter suggestion ? 
 
 Line 76. Note that here the sound suggests the 
 sense — onomatopeia^ we call it. 
 
 Lines 79, 80. Just what sort of picture do these 
 lines suggest? 
 
 Line 82. This line gave Charles Dickens the title 
 for his famous story. Can you think of other cases 
 where lines in poetry have furnished authors titles for 
 their stories ? 
 
 Lines 91 f¥. Make a list of the reading II Penseroso 
 may have done. Why would you include the Greek 
 dramatists? What various types of literature ought 
 
QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS 113 
 
 your complete list to contain ? What types of prose ? 
 What types of poetry ? 
 
 Line 120. This line is usually interpreted as refer- 
 ring to allegory. Argue for or against this interpreter 
 tion. 
 
 Line 123. Why not tricked ? 
 
 Line 126. Is there anything incongruous in this — 
 While rocking winds are 2^iping loud f Would it 
 have been more in harmony with the other lines if the 
 winds had been conceived as carrying a low moan ? 
 Or is the tempestuous suggestion entirely appropriate ? 
 
 Line 130. Is the word 7nin'-ute or mi-nute' f Mass 
 your arguments to prove your point? 
 
 Line 139. Study the method which Milton employs 
 to bring about this air of quiet solitude. 
 
 Line 146. Just what does the epithet dewy-feath- 
 ered as applied to sleep suggest to you ? Study the 
 other compound epithets in Milton and make some 
 appropriate comment upon them. 
 
 Lines 155 ff. Do Milton's words suggest the atti- 
 tude of a Puritan ? Do you know whether this poem 
 was written before or after Milton had identified him- 
 self with Cromwell ? Anyway, do you here think that 
 he shows a sympathetic attitude toward ecclesiasti- 
 cism ? What ideas here suggest even a sympathetic 
 attitude toward asceticism? 
 
 Now that you have read both of the complementary 
 poems, are you ready to express any decided prefer- 
 ence? Will your enjoyment of either be affected by 
 the particular mood in which, while reading, you 
 chance to be ? Are you similarly disposed toward mu- 
 sical themes ? In a sad mood do you wish sad music, 
 
114 QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS 
 
 or vice versa ? In what mood, then, would you most 
 enjoy L' Allegro f 
 
 Oral and Written Theme Assignments for II Penseroso 
 
 1. Imagining yourself II Penseroso, write a reply to the 
 letter you imagine L' Allegro to have written in accordance 
 with the second suggestion above. (Or the teacher may as- 
 sign to one half the class the letter of L' Allegro, and to 
 the other half the reply of II Penseroso. Again the warn- 
 ing should be given against untempered scorn.) 
 
 2. Lines 30-44. With these details as a basis, write a 
 complete description of II Penseroso viewed in this friendly 
 light, 
 
 3. For an oral theme let each member of the class im- 
 agine himself II Penseroso, and in that character tell of 
 one particular kind of enjoyment in which he finds special 
 delight. Encourage each pupil to depart from the details 
 of the poem, but under no circumstance to depart from the 
 spirit. For example, II Penseroso might tell of the enjoy- 
 ment secured from attending a symphony recital in which 
 the dominating tone was that of sadness. Or one pupil 
 could tell of his feelings while witnessing a modern play. 
 
 4. Line 30. Let some pupil read up in Keats' Hyj^erion 
 or in a classical dictionary the struggle between Cronus and 
 Jove, and give orally such a detailed account as will make 
 clear the full significance of this line. 
 
 5. Line 82. Assign to some capable pupil a theme with 
 this title — Fiction Titles from Poetic Phrases. E.g., 
 Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd, taken 
 from Gray's Elegy : — 
 
 Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, etc. 
 
 COMUS 
 
 Read carefully the introduction to Comus on page 
 82 in order to get clearly in mind the essential features 
 of a mask. Without a knowledge of the conventional 
 
QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS 115 
 
 requirements, the significance of some of the passages 
 would not be understood. It is also important that be- 
 fore these questions are considered the whole mask 
 should be read. 
 
 Line 1. The moment we commence reading the 
 speech of the attendant spirit we naturally form some 
 conception of his looks and his attire. What specific 
 details later mentioned help us in our notions? 
 
 Line 12. In mentioning some, whom does the spirit 
 have in mind? Is the spirit here thinking of special 
 individuals, or of a vague, general group? 
 
 Line 16. Do you imagine that the spirit is taking 
 any pleasure in his task, or is he approaching it with 
 reluctance ? 
 
 Line 41. In learning that the attendant spirit is 
 Uixder command of Jove, does the reader begin to give 
 more or less credence to the words of the spirit ? Does 
 he give so much credence that later, when the Lady is 
 in danger, he is little concerned by the danger, feeling 
 confident that the supernatural power of the spirit will 
 save her ? If by this the suspense is wholly relieved, is 
 the interest consequently lessened ? As the story pro- 
 gresses do you gain, or lose, confidence in the spirit ? 
 
 Line 55. Syntax of youth f 
 
 Line 75. Can you think of any other place in litera- 
 ture where a similar change is supernaturally effected ? 
 
 Line 84. What motive can the spirit have in this 
 change of costume? Can you imagine his going 
 through the mask in his own identity ? If he is to be 
 disguised, is it essential that the reader (or the audi- 
 ence) should be let into the secret ? 
 
 Line 93. When Comus enters have we accepted 
 as wholly true what the attendant spirit has said, or 
 
116 QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS 
 
 do we wish to judge the reveler from a wholly impar- 
 tial standpoint? Should we he glad to learn that 
 the spirit's judgment is entirely wrong? Or do we, 
 from the first, know him as the villain of the piece ? 
 What general comment can you make concerning our 
 willingness or our unwillingness to believe that the 
 opinions uttered by one character about another are 
 true? From the words Comus himself utters, what 
 opinion do you form? Do you conclude that he is 
 merely fun-loving or positively Vvicked ? Is he inter= 
 esting ? Is he poetical ; or is Milton guilty of incon- 
 gruity in putting this verse into his mouth ? 
 
 Line 144. If you were a stage manager directing 
 this mask, how long would you have this measure 
 (dance) continue ? Could you omit it entirely and still 
 keep up the convention of the mask ? 
 
 Line 146. By what means is Comus enabled to 
 detect the presence of the chaste footing f 
 
 Line 148. Do you think the Lady would be most 
 frightened by the numbers f Why does Comus say 
 numbers f 
 
 Lines 153, 154. Do you imagine that anything is 
 really hurled ? W hich would make the more dramatic 
 effect — real or imagined magic dust ? 
 
 Line 157. How do you think Comus should be cos- 
 tumed? Should the costume be pretty? elaborate? 
 grotesque ? 
 
 Line 170. Comment on the most appropriate cos- 
 tume for the Lady. As she enters are we predisposed 
 in her favor ? ' Why ? Is Comus in the least responsi* 
 ble for our attitude ? 
 
 Line 185. Comment on the action of the brothers 
 in leaving the sister alone. 
 
QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS 117 
 
 Lines 188-190. Study this figure until each detail 
 stands out in bold outline — the costume of the vota- 
 rist, the direction in which he was going, the appear- 
 ance of the landscape, etc. 
 
 Lines 198, 199. Do you like this figure, or not? 
 Do you think of any Biblical passage that might have 
 suggested to Milton the phrasing here ? 
 
 Line 205. How intensely does the audience feel 
 the Lady's anxiety ? 
 
 Line 226. Why does the Lady say this ? Why do 
 you suppose Milton makes her sing ? Is there anything 
 particularly appropriate in the song, or do you sup- 
 pose Milton was more interested in the tune and cared 
 little for the words ? 
 
 Lines 244-264. To whom are these lines spoken? 
 
 Line 244. When Comus reappears, how do you 
 think he is costumed ? Would it be better to have him 
 costumed just as he was before, and thus force the au- 
 dience to remember that the Lady sees him in the 
 garb of a shepherd ; or would it be more effective to 
 have the change in costume actually take place while 
 Comus is concealed? Are there advantages in both 
 devices ? Is it possible that one method would best fit 
 the conditions in Milton's time and another method 
 best fit our time? Which would best fit our time? 
 
 Line 246. Is there anything incongruous in Mil- 
 ton's making Comus quickly perceptive of the holiness 
 in the Lady ? Or is it entirely natural that the unholy 
 Comus would recognize holiness in another? Does vir- 
 tue m6st readily perceive its like or its opposite? 
 
 Lines 251, 252. Express in unfigurative language 
 the effect of this song. 
 
118 QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS 
 
 Lines 252-264. Express in your own language the 
 contrast between the effect upon Comus of Circe's 
 songs and the Lady's song. 
 
 Line 263. Study the phrase sober certainty of wak- 
 ing bliss, and then exphiin it. 
 
 Lines 266-268. Did Comus regard the Lady as a 
 goddess or as a mortal ? 
 
 Lines 277 ff. What is the effect of this parallel 
 (stychomythic) verse ? Is it effective in helping to set 
 Comus and the Lady in conflict, even though the 
 words spoken are not antagonistic ? 
 
 Lines 291-303. What purpose does Comus have 
 in mind in making this speech about the appearance 
 of the brothers ? Does the speech give the Lady con- 
 fidence in Comus ? 
 
 Lines 331-342. Just where do you imagine the 
 brothers to be ? If you are convinced that the Elder | 
 Brother is not much disturbed about the safety of Ms 
 sister, what would you name as the cause of his anx- 
 iety ? You can see that he would like to be relieved 
 from his present circumstances. Note that the Elder 
 Brother wants to see something solacing, the Second 
 Brother wants to hear something. What later phrase 
 of the Elder Brother refers to these two notions ? j 
 
 Lines 331-490. The conversation of the brothers 
 here is in the nature of a debate, the main points cen- 
 tering around this question : Resolved, that virtue is 
 its own protector. In this debate the Elder Brother 
 argues for the affirmative, the Second Brother for the 
 negative. Which side do you think is more strongly 
 presented ? Is this due to the natural strength of the 
 side, or to the skill of the debater ? Do you think all 
 the philosophizing natural to unrazored lips ? 
 
QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS 119 
 
 Lines 362, 363. What current proverb expresses 
 the same idea? 
 
 Lines 375-380. Divorce this idea from the figure 
 and put it into simple English. 
 
 Lines 381-384. Can you think of a concrete illus- 
 tration of this ? 
 
 Zyi/ie 389. Why should Milton select a senate-house 
 as a place particularly safe ? Do you think the Second 
 Brother makes a good point by admitting the safety 
 of Meditation left alone, and then, by contrast, assert- 
 ing the danger of Beauty left alone? 
 
 Lines 398 ff. Comment on the effectiveness of this 
 simile. 
 
 Lines 407-409. Is there any inconsistency between 
 this and lines 421-431 ? 
 
 Lines 439 if. Does the Elder Brother strengthen 
 his point by citing these classic stories ? 
 
 Lines 476-480. Does this speech imply that the 
 Second Brother is convinced ; or does it suggest that 
 though baffled in argument, he is willing to abandon 
 the discussion with this final fling — mildly sarcastic ? 
 
 Line 496. How can music sweeten a musk rose ? 
 
 Ijine 506. The to here means compared to. 
 
 Lines 513-580. Read this entire, and then com- 
 ment upon the effectiveness of the narration. Is it ar- 
 tistic to repeat what he has already said about Comus 
 in lines 59-77 ? Do you think his speech helps to 
 create the effectiveness of his disguise ? 
 
 Line 571. Does this throw any light upon the ques- 
 tion of the proper costume for Comus, or was this de- 
 tail added by Thyrsis to make the account more realis- 
 tic to the brothers? Cf. line 645, 
 
120 QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS 
 
 Line 572. Does it seem to you that for not staying 
 to defend the sister Thyrsis would naturally be con- 
 demned by the brothers ? What defense could Thyrsis 
 have made? 
 
 Line 602. Is the Elder Brother aroused because he 
 now feels that his sister is in real danger, or is he in- 
 dignant simply because Comus is generally dangerous ? 
 Does the Elder Brother here reveal a spirit of brag- 
 gadocio, or does his resentment seem perfectly sincere ? 
 Does his tone change when he learns of the supernatu- 
 ral power of Comus ? If you think it does, would you , 
 explain this change as a mark of wisdom or as a lack 
 of valor? 
 
 Line 654. What part of speech is meiiacc? 
 
 Line 659. Here again a considerable portion of the 
 conversation is an argument upon a certain theme. 
 The question under debate is, Resolved^ that the gifts 
 of nature should he ahstemiously used. The Lady 
 of course takes the affirmative, Comus the negativGr 
 Who has the better side of the question ? As far as 
 mere argument goes, who is the more skillful? What \ 
 details are introduced with particular effectiveness? 
 Do you find yourself so out of sympathy with Comus 
 as a personality, that you find it impossible to judge 
 his arguments impartially ? Write out a list of the six 
 strongest points on each side? Are all of these points 
 effectively refuted before the debate closes ? Comment 
 on the Lady's peroration (lines 780-799). 
 
 Line 800. To whom is Comus now speaking ? Is the 
 aside effective ? Is it ever effective ? Why do drama- 
 tists use the device ? 
 
 Line 813. Do you regard this as the most inter- 
 
QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS 121 
 
 esting point in the story? Is the interest here human, 
 or supernatural, or is the place interesting because the 
 human and the supernatural forces here clash ? Would 
 the interest have been more dramatic if Comus had 
 been overpowered by the three? Would there have 
 been anything unfair in this? Whose supernatural 
 power do you think of as the stronger — that of 
 Thyrsis or that of Comus? 
 
 Line 823. Do you regard this use of Sabrina as ef- 
 fective ? Could the plot have come to a satisfactory 
 close without her ? Aside from providing a means of 
 freeing the Lad}^, is her presence dramatically help- 
 ful? Specify. 
 
 Oral and Written Theme Assignments for Comus 
 
 1. Discuss in oral or written themes the ideas which 
 are severally suggested by the following questions : — 
 
 a Is Comus most interesting because of its plot ; its 
 characters ; its supernaturalism ; its poetry and song ? 
 What point in the story is most interesting ? What charac- 
 ter ? What group of characters ? 
 
 h Is there any humorous scene ? 
 
 c Do you think the writing of a poem such as Comus 
 demands a higher or a lower type of intellect than that 
 which V Allegro and // Penseroso demanded ? Which 
 would you rather have written ? 
 
 d If this mask were presented to-day would it be 
 popular ? Why, or why not ? Could amateurs present it ? 
 
 e Can you divide it into acts and scenes ? 
 
 / If you were stage manager, at what places in the 
 story would you have the curtain lowered ? Or would it be 
 necessary to lower the curtain at all ? 
 
122 QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS 
 
 2. Write an imaginary account of the home of the at- 
 tendant spirit, lines 1-5. 
 
 3. Discuss the part which the attendant spirit plays in 
 the story. 
 
 4. With lines 151-153 as a basis, give a description of 
 Coraus's train as you imagine it. 
 
 5. Comus's Costume. 
 
 6. The Lady's Costume. 
 
 7. A Description of the Scene where Comus and the 
 Lady Meet. 
 
 8. Differences in the Character of the Elder and the 
 Second Brother. 
 
 9. Why I prefer the Brother. 
 
 10. The Costume of Thyrsis. 
 
 11. My Conceptions of ''A Certain Shepherd Lad" (line 
 619). 
 
 12. A Description of " The Stately Palaces " (stage di- 
 rection after line 658). 
 
 13. Write a modern newspaper account describing the 
 debate between Comus and the Lady. Let your chief con- 
 cern be to make it accurate and readable. 
 
 14. My Conceptions of Meliboeus (line 822). 
 
 15. The Costume of Sabrina. 
 
 This could be given as a part of a newspaper account of 
 a modern presentation of Comus. 
 
 16. Imagine your own school to have presented Comvs. 
 Write a full account of it for your school paper. You will 
 add interest by assigning to your several classmates the 
 parts which each could, in your opinion, most skillfully 
 act. 
 
 The present editor has found it feasible in some classes 
 to attempt the writing of a mask modeled after Comus. 
 The results attained have been surprising. Take some not- 
 able event — say the return of Colonel Roosevelt from his 
 African hunt, — and place the scene in your own town. 
 Care must be exercised in planning the anti-mask. It should 
 be genuinely humorous, but it should not degenerate into 
 mere buffoonery. 
 
QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS US 
 
 LYCTDAS 
 
 Line 10. Do you think that King's ability to write 
 poetry made Milton's sense of loss keener ? 
 
 Litie 13. Is this figure too grewsome for artistic 
 effect, or is it artistic largely because of its vividness ? 
 
 Lines 19, 20. Do you think it becoming in Milton 
 to voice this hope ? Is the feeling a perfectly natural 
 one, and do you rather admire Milton for the frankness 
 of its avowal ? 
 
 Lines 23 ff. In this prolonged pastoral image are you 
 curious to know exactly what he means with the men- 
 tion of each detail ? Do you want to know, for instance, 
 that jivrsed uj)on the self-same Mil means that their 
 school-life was passed together ; that fed the sajne 
 floek meant that they studied the same books? Or do 
 you consider such a narrow interpretation faulty and 
 far distant from a genuine poetic appreciation ? If you 
 find the former method interesting, do you think you 
 are ingenious enough to study out a satisfactory ex- 
 planation for each item ? Is it perfectly natural that 
 as Milton contemplated the shepherd life, details 
 would appear that could have no direct parallel in 
 student life ? 
 
 Line 45. What is the subject of this sentence ? 
 
 Line 50. Is Milton's attitude toward the nymphs 
 chiding ? Are they relieved from all blame ? Or is it 
 first one and then the other? Exactly what is the 
 relationship between the nymphs and the muse who 
 bore Orpheus? 
 
 Line 58. Milton has also mentioned Orpheus in 
 Z' Allegro and 11 Penseroso. Do you judge from this 
 
124 QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS 
 
 that Milton's knowledge of classical stories was meager^ 
 and that if he harped upon them at all he must harp 
 on a few chords only ? Or do you conclude that the 
 Orpheus myth supplied in each of these cases the exact 
 illustration which he wished ? What impressions of the 
 meagerness or the vastness of Milton's classical lore 
 do his other poems supply ? 
 
 Line 65. Don't forget that throughout Lycidas the 
 shepherd's life is the name poetically applied to the 
 literary life, and usually refers even more narrowly 
 to the poetic life. In line 65, for instance, the sliepherd^s 
 trade is the poet's art. 
 
 Line 68. This line is quite concrete ; make it aV 
 stract. 
 
 Line 71. Do you consider desire for fame an infirm- 
 ity? In your highest ideal of a noble mind does a 
 desire for fame exist ? Does true nobility banish self ; 
 and with self banished can there then be in the indi- 
 vidual any residual desire for fame ? 
 
 Line 72. To secure fame is it worth our while 
 to scorn delights and live laborious days ? Is such a 
 sacrifice absolutely necessary to obtain fame ? Can you 
 think of any famous man who has not made just such 
 a sacrifice ? 
 
 Lines 78-84. Does Milton here imply that after 
 all, fame is not the gift of men but the gift of gods ? 
 If this doctrine were true, would it banish the incen- 
 tive for personal endeavor? Or would you interpret 
 Milton's lines as applicable merely to the final — the 
 eternal — reward ? Does he mean that man's concep- 
 tion of an individual is likely to be false; that God's 
 conception only is true ? 
 
QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS 125 
 
 Line 87. Higher in what sense? And why higher? 
 
 Line 91. Antecedent of he? 
 
 Line 92. Does this imply a fatalistic belief? Cf. 
 lines 100-102. 
 
 Line 103. In what relationship did Milton regard 
 Xing? And why? 
 
 Lines 109-131. Whether or not the inclusion of 
 this passage in an elegy is a blemish upon what would 
 otherwise be a piece of splendid poetic art, has long 
 been a niooted question. Before the student attemjits 
 to decide the point for himself, he must, first of all, 
 remember that Edward King had expected to enter 
 the church. The sort of churchman that King would 
 have been, contrasted with what many of the church- 
 men of Milton's time really were, is doubtless the im- 
 petus of this passionate speech which Milton puts 
 into the mouth of St. Peter, the guardian patron of 
 the church. Remembering this, the puj^il will see that 
 the passage is not, by any means, wholly irrelevant. 
 Whether it is too vindictive to harmonize with the 
 spirit of an elegy is a matter that the student may 
 try to work out for himself. 
 
 Lines 132-153. Note the use which Milton pro- 
 poses to make of the flowers. King's body is really in 
 the sea, but he imagines it here before him laden with 
 the flowers which the vales have offered. What do 
 you think of t\\\^ false surmise? 
 
 Line 159. Significance of moist? 
 
 Line 166. Can you think of other poets who voice 
 an equally stalwart faith in immortality? Look up 
 this point in Tennyson's Ln Memoriam^ Matthew 
 Arnold's Rugby Chapel, and any other poems that 
 suggest themselves. 
 
126 QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS 
 
 Line 168. Comment on the effectiveness of the 
 simile. 
 
 Line 182. Why do the shepherds weep no more? 
 
 Line 190. How stretched out? 
 
 Line 194. This is frequently misquoted — fresh 
 fields f Can you account for the misquotation ? Is 
 fields better than woods ? ^ 
 
 Theme Assignvients 
 
 1. The Conventions of the Elegy. For hints, consult 
 the introduction to Lycidas in the K. L. S. edition. 
 
 2. Write a character sketch of Edward King, using as 
 a basis the points of the poem. 
 
 3. Compare Lycidas Avith one of the more modern 
 elegies, — William Watson's Lachramm Musarum, or 
 Matthew Arnold's Thyrsis, for example. ! 
 
 4. Narrate an imaginary incident in the early lives of 
 Milton and King. 
 
 5. Narrate an imaginary incident of their Cambridge 
 days. 
 
 6. Write an imaginary account of their first meeting. 
 
 7. Write a letter purporting to be from King to his 
 mother, in which the young John Milton is described. 
 
 8. Write a letter from Milton to his mother, describing 
 Edward King. 
 
 9. Write an imaginary letter from one of Milton's 
 Cambridge friends, in which the incident of King's drown- 
 ing is detailed. Explain at the last of the letter a plan 
 for a memorial volume, suggesting that Milton write an 
 appropriate poem in English. 
 
 10. Write an account of the corrupt clergy of Milton's 
 day. 
 
 11. The Difficulties of the Poem. 
 
 12. The Beauties of the Poem. 
 
 13. My Impressions on First Reading Lycidas. 
 
 14. The Story of Orpheus — line 58. 
 
 15. The Story of Bellerus — line 160. 
 
COLLEGE ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 
 IN ENGLISH 
 
 T^ numbers in parentheses refer to 
 
 THE RIVERSIDE LITERATURE SERIES 
 
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 Shakespeare: Julius Caesar (67), Macbeth (106), Hamlet (116). 
 
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 The Coming of Arthur, The Holy Grail, and The Passing of Arthur (233); Selec- 
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 right, and Lincoln's Cooper-Union Speech (221); Washington: Farewell Address; 
 Webster: Bunker Hill Oration (190). 
 
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 of Johnson (102) ; Emerson : Essay on Manners (172). 
 
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 except as otherwise provided under Group I. 
 
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 selection from this group a selection from any other group may be substituted. 
 Shakespeare's Midsummer-Night's Dream (153), Merchant of Venice (55), As You 
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 John, tRichard II, tRichard III, Henry V (163), tCoriolanus, Julius C;esar (67), 
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 1214 A 
 
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 tReade : The Cloister and the Hearth; tBlackmore: Lorna Doone ; Hughes: 
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 per volume)] ; t A collection of Short Stories by various standard writers. 
 
 IV Addison and Steele: The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers (60-61), <?r tSelections 
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 tEnglish Humorists, #1.50; Macaulay : One of the following essays: Lord Clive 
 (198), Warren Hastings (199), Milton (103), Addison (104), Goldsmith (102), tFred- 
 eric the Great, tMadame d"Arblay ; tTrevelyan : Selections from Life of Macaulay; 
 Ruskin: Sesame and Lilies (142), or Selections (178); Dana: Two Years Before 
 the Mast (84); Lincoln: Selections, including at least the two Inaugurals, the 
 Speeches in Independence Hall and at Gettj^sburg, the Last Public Address, and 
 Letter to Horace Greeley, together with a brief memoir or estimate of Lincoln (132- 
 33); tParkman : The Oregon Trail ; Thoreau : Walden (195) ; Lowell: Selected 
 Essays (123, 169); Holmes: The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (81); tSteven- 
 son : Inland Voyage and Travels with a Donkey; Huxley: Autobiography and 
 Selections from Lay Sermons, including the addresses on Improving Natural Know- 
 ledge, A Liberal Education, and A Piece of Chalk (187); Essays by Bacon (177), 
 Lamb (170), De Quincey (164), Emerson (171-172), 1 Hazlitt. A collection of 
 Letters by various standard writers (22S). 
 
 V Selected Poems by Dryden, Gray, Cowper, Burns, Collins (219). Selected Poems 
 by Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley (if not chosen for study) (218); Goldsmith: 
 The Traveller, and the Deserted Village (68) ; Pope : The Rape of the Lock (147); 
 A Collection of English and Scottish Ballads, as, for example, Robin Hood 
 ballads, The Battle of Otterburne, King Estmere, Young Beichan, Bewick and 
 Grahame, Sir Patrick Spens, and a selection from later ballads (183); Coleridge: 
 The Ancient Mariner, Christabel, and Kubla Khan (So); Byron : t Childe Harold, 
 Canto III, or Childe Harold, Canto IV, and the Prisoner of Chillon (189). t Childe 
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 caulay : The Lays of Ancient Rome (45), tThe Battle of Naseby, t The Armada, 
 Ivry {115); Tennyson: The Princess (iii), ^r Gareth and Lynette, Lancelot and 
 Elaine, The Passing of Arthur (156) ; Browning : Cavalier Tunes, The Lost Leader, 
 How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix, Home Thoughts from Abroad, 
 Home Thoughts from the Sea, Incident of the French Camp, Herve Riel, Pheidip- 
 pides. My Last Duchess, Up at a Villa — Down in the City, The Italian in England, 
 The Patriot, "De Gustibus," The Pied Piper, Instans Tyrannus (115); Arnold: 
 Sohrab and Rustum and The Forsaken Merman (132); Poe : The Raven (119); 
 Poems by Poe (119-120), Lowell (30, 15), Longfellow (i, 2, n, 13-14, 25, 26, 33-35, 
 38, 63, 167), Whittier (4, 5, 41, 175); t Page's Chief American Poets ($1.75 net, 
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