P R 
 
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 MILTON'S 
 RTER POEMS 
 
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XLbc Scrlbncr JEngllsb Classics 
 
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 TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
 
 JOHN MILTON 
 SHORTER POEMS 
 
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 JOHN MILTON 
 
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 WITH OTHER OF MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
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PREFACE 
 
 T^HE shorter poems of Milton that make up this volume 
 ■*■ comprise a group of poems among the most precious in 
 English verse. They are classics in our literature, and as such 
 must take their place wherever English poetry is read or studied. 
 Milton is our most difficult poet, and calls for study; yet these 
 poems are his least difficult work, and offer the student, there- 
 fore, not only their own worth as poetry, but also the easiest 
 approach to the study and love of Milton. 
 
 It is the aim of this volume to help the teacher (who counts 
 more than any book) not alone in preparing students for ex- 
 amination, but also in leading them to a true appreciation of 
 Milton's poetry, in and for itself. To this end several poems, 
 not usually required in the examinations for college entrance, 
 have been included in the volume. The notes, it is hoped, will 
 prove full, but not over-full. Needed help is given in regard 
 to obsolete words, in illustration of Milton's borrowings, in 
 explanation of his allusions, metaphors, the more difficult 
 points in his prosody and (a neglected subject) his rimes; but 
 non-essentials have been resolutely omitted. 
 
 It is always a pleasing duty to acknowledge one's indebted- 
 ness to one's predecessors — who, in the present case, form a 
 long line from the early editors such as Warton, Todd, and 
 Newton, to the veritable host of modern witnesses, more par- 
 ticularly Masson, Verity, and especially Osgood, whose ad- 
 mirable Classical Mythology of Milton's English Poems, has 
 imposed a lasting obligation upon every student of Milton. 
 Due credit, it is believed, has been given in all cases, except such 
 matters as have become commonplaces of Miltonic criticism. 
 
 vii 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 Wherever views differing from current views are advanced, 
 care has been taken to state current views as well. 
 
 The writer wishes for every student who uses this book such 
 a love for Milton's poetry as may make a school-text seem an 
 impertinence. 
 
2>^ 
 
 r 
 
 f 
 
 CONTENTS ^ 
 
 i 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PREFACE vii 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE x 
 
 DATES OF MILTON'S LIFE xi 
 
 INTRODUCTION: 
 
 I. The Life of Milton xiii 
 
 II. The Poetry of Milton . xxii 
 
 TEXT OF SHORTER POEMS: 
 
 On the Morning of Christ's Nativity ... 3 
 
 On Shakespeare 14 
 
 On Having Arrived at the Age of Twenty-three 15 
 
 L'Allegro 16 
 
 II Penseroso 21 
 
 CoMus 27 
 
 Lycidas 63 
 
 To Mr. H. Lawes, on His Airs 70 
 
 "■ — On the Late Massacre IN Piedmont ....'. 71 
 . On His Blindness 72 
 
 NOTES 73 
 
 INDEX TO NOTES . . „ 157 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 
 
 Texts: The most convenient and instructive complete edi- 
 tion of Milton's poetical works for general reference is that of 
 H. C. Beeching (Henry Frowde, New York, 1906), which repro- 
 duces the poems, English and Latin, in their original form 
 from the editions of 1645 and 1673. Of annotated editions, the 
 most useful are those of David Masson and A, W. Verity. 
 Texts of special importance for the poems in this volume are 
 the Facsimile of the Manuscript of Milton's Minor Poems, 
 preserved in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, published 
 by that University (available in few large libraries), and Comus. 
 Facsimile from the first edition of 1637 (Dodd, Mead), 1903. 
 
 Special Topics: Works of value on special topics are 
 Robert Bridge's Milton's Prosody (Oxford, 1901), and C. G. 
 Osgood's Classical Mythology of Milton's English Poems (Yale 
 Studies in English), which is indispensable to the student of 
 Milton. 
 
 Biography: The standard life of Milton is that of David 
 Masson, 1859-94. 
 
 Criticism: Critical works upon the poet are innumerable, 
 and the student may profitably confine himself to the essays of 
 Addison, Dr. Johnson, and Macaulay (now chiefly of historic 
 interest); of Lowell (in Among My Books, second series); of 
 Walter Bagehot (in Literary Studies), and Edward Dowden (in 
 Puritan and Anglican, New Studies in Literature), both invalu- 
 able; and the suggestive and illuminating memoirs by W. P 
 Trent (John Milton : Macmillan Company, New York, 1899), 
 and Walter Raleigh {Milton : Putnam, New York, 1900). 
 
DATES OF MILTON'S LIFE 
 
 FIRST PERIOD— 1608-1639 
 
 1608. Born in London, December 9. 
 
 1625. Entered Christ's College, Cambridge (B. A., 1629; M. A. 
 
 1632; M. A., Oxford, 1635). 
 1632-1638. At his father's home in Horton. 
 1638-39. Travelled on the Continent. 
 1639. Returned to London. 
 
 SECOND PERIOD— 1640-1660 
 
 1640. Leased a house in London. 
 1641-1644. Pamphlets in behalf of liberty. 
 
 1642. First sketch of a projected drama on Paradise Lost. 
 
 Civil War begins. 
 
 1643. Married Mary Powell. 
 1645. First edition of Poems. 
 
 1649. Charles I executed. Milton appointed Latin Secretary 
 
 to the Commonwealth. 
 1649-1651. Tracts in defence of the Commonwealth. 
 1652. Became totally blind. Mary Powell dies. 
 1656. Married Catherine Woodcock. 
 1658. Paradise Lost begun. Second wife dies. 
 1660. The Restoration. Milton in hiding until the Act of 
 
 Indemnity. 
 
 THIRD PERIOD 
 
 1660-1674. In retirement in London. 
 
 1663. Married Elizabeth Minshull. 
 
 1665. Paradise Lost finished. 
 
 1667. Paradise Lost published. 
 
 1671. Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes published. 
 
 1673. Second edition of Poems. 
 
 1674. Revision of Paradise Lost. Died, November 8. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 I.— THE LIFE OF MILTON 
 
 JOHN MILTON was born in London, December 9, 1608, 
 and there died November 8, 1674. His life is usually 
 divided, very helpfully, into three periods: 
 
 The first period, 1608-1639, includes his childhood and 
 school-days, his stay of seven years at the University, his 
 retirement for further study to his father's country home in 
 Horton, and his travels on the Continent. The period is 
 one of preparation for his chosen profession of poet. To it 
 belong his lyrical poems, all but a few sonnets, and the dra- 
 matic poems. Arcades and Comus. 
 
 During the second period, 1639-1660, he laid aside poetry 
 for prose. An ardent advocate of the Puritan cause, he wrote, 
 on the outbreak of civil war, a series of tracts in behalf of po- 
 Utical and religious liberty, served the Puritan Commonwealth 
 as Latin Secretary, and was its appointed defender against 
 the attacks directed against it by the exiled Royalists. 
 
 In the third period, 1660-1674, he lived, after the down- 
 fall of the Commonwealth, in retirement, and returned to 
 his proper vocation, poetry. Apart from a few prose works 
 of minor importance, he was engaged during this period upon 
 the great epics, Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, and the 
 drama, Samson Agonistes, upon which his fame chiefly rests. 
 
 Gracious influences surrounded Milton from childhood. 
 John Milton, his father, was a man of culture, a lover of learn- 
 ing and literature, and a musician of sufficient skill, though 
 an amateur, to win some distinction as a composero He had 
 become well-to-do as a scrivener, or law-stationer, and was 
 
xiv MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 able, as he was eager, to give the most gifted of his children 
 every advantage. Milton early showed promise as a student. 
 He was prepared for the University by private tutors and at 
 St. Paul's School, entered Christ's College, Cambridge, at 
 the age of seventeen, remained there seven years, and received 
 successively the Bachelor's and the Master's degrees. 
 
 As a mere lad in college, endowed as he was with excep- 
 tional strength of intellect and will, he seems to have displayed 
 the independence of character arid consciousness of supe- 
 riority which marked him through life and which rendered 
 him impatient of control and intolerant in judgment. In 
 any one less serious and sincere, less eager and able to attain 
 the highest excellence, his self-sufficiency and his tendency to 
 find fault with the moral standards of others would have been 
 still graver defects. We cannot, however, convict him of mere 
 vanity and priggishness. He truly possessed, as he wrote 
 later of himself in reference to his college days, "a certain 
 niceness [i. e., fastidiousness] of nature, an honest haughtiness 
 and self-esteem of what I was or what I might be (which let 
 envy call pride), and lastly that modesty whereof . . . though 
 not in the title-page, yet here I may be excused to make some 
 becoming profession." He was certainly an unusual student 
 — not so much in the assurance with which he criticised, in 
 part justly, the disciphne and teaching of the college authori- 
 ties, and stiJl more the manners and morals of his fellow- 
 students, who gave him the mocking title of "Lady," but in 
 the fact that he had already set before himself a definite am- 
 bition, to be a poet and write on the highest themes, and had 
 marked out for himself the means to attain it. After some 
 little friction he found a way to lead his own life and win the 
 full measure of profit he desired. An idea may be gained of 
 the character and aim of his studies from his retrospect of 
 his life at the University. He speaks of reading in the "grave 
 orators" and historians and poets, and of the necessity he felt, 
 in that in these evil and good were blended, of exercising care 
 in taking what was good and leaving what was unworthy. It 
 was not long after, he says, that he was confirmed in the opin- 
 
INTRODUCTION xv 
 
 ion "that he who would not be frustrate of his hope to write 
 well hereafter in laudable things ought himself to be a true 
 poem, that is, a composition and pattern of the best and hon- 
 orablest things; not presuming to sing high praises of heroic 
 men or famous cities, unless he have in himself the experi- 
 ence and the practice of all that which is praiseworthy." 
 Upon this lofty aim he concentrated himself, unheeding 
 what standards might satisfy others or what prizes they might 
 seek to gain — striving, with increasing knowledge, to maintain 
 in his personal conduct ever loftifer ideals of virtue, and, in 
 his studies, bending every effort not merely to survey, but to 
 make his own, in absolute conquest, whatever might contribute 
 to those ideals in ancient and modern literatures, history, 
 philosophy, and theology, with the intent to render a part of 
 himself whatever they might teach him of truth, eloquence, 
 and poetry. Nor did he make the mistake of centring his 
 life in books to the exclusion of other things important in 
 their place. Naturally well-formed and graceful — notably 
 handsome, it may be added, as well — he was careful to perfect 
 himself in the arts and accomplishments, such as horseman- 
 ship and fencing, appropriate to a gentleman. 
 
 The verse he wrote while at the University, even allowing 
 for later careful revision, displays abundant promise. More 
 particularly are to be noted the ode. On the Morning of Christ's 
 Nativity, At a Solemn Music, On Shakespeare, and the son- 
 net On His Having Arrived at the Age of Twenty-three. 
 
 It had been his father's hope that Milton would take orders 
 in the Established Church, but, before he left the University, 
 he had decided this to be impossible. All his sympathies 
 were with the Puritan movement, which had been slowly 
 gathering strength since the preceding century and in a few 
 years was to lead to civil war. The Church in England 
 after the Reformation was in law a national church, and in- 
 cluded nominally every subject of the throne, its constituted 
 head. Many, however, refused allegiance to it, being op- 
 posed to its doctrines or practice in various ways; indeed, 
 among its professed members, there were wide differences of 
 
xvi MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 opinion. So, in time, there arose, within and without the 
 Church, the Puritan party. 
 
 Properly, at the outset, the term Puritan might apply to 
 any one who made seriousness and sobriety of life a ruling 
 principle, and regarded with disapproval the worldliness and 
 laxity of life, with much that was scandalously evil, which 
 characterized the Court circle in general and not a few of the 
 bishops and clergy. More narrowly the term became identi- 
 fied with those who objected to doctrines or practices retained 
 in the Church which they considered as "Popish," who be- 
 lieved that the Sabbath should be rigidly observed throughout 
 as a day of prayer and meditation and not used in part as a 
 holiday for recreation and merrymaking, and who insisted 
 that the teachings of the Bible should be the sole rule and guide 
 to the exclusion of the traditions of the Church. Some, 
 moreover, did not believe in the union of the Church and 
 State, and an important body, the Presbyterians, objected to 
 the clerical orders, especially that of bishops, as not. in ac- 
 cordance with the practice of the primitive church as estab- 
 lished by Christ. Others wholly abjured the doctrine and 
 authority of the Established Church — the so-called Inde- 
 pendents, among whom the Baptists formed a notable body, 
 with many minor sects, over a hundred, it is said, in the time 
 of the Commonwealth. Even from this brief outline it is plain 
 what a variety of opinions and shades of opinion upon a host 
 of religious and political questions individual Puritans rep- 
 resented. God-fearing and God-seeking men there were on 
 both sides. Also, on the other hand, many among the non- 
 Puritans were utterly self-seeking and unprincipled, and 
 many among the Puritans were ignorant and intolerant 
 bigots and fanatics, wholly wild and unreasonable. 
 
 It is important to remember that the struggle originally 
 was not between a Church party on the one hand and a 
 Puritan party on the other; it went oh within the Church 
 itself. On one side within the Church were the " Prelatists," 
 so called as led by the bishops, who, either through honest 
 belief or motives of selfish interest, used every means, includ- 
 
INTRODUCTION xvii 
 
 ing cruel persecution, to uphold the authority of the Church 
 against what they termed unlicensed liberty of the individual 
 conscience, and to maintain the clerical orders with their 
 rights and privileges and the connection of Church and State, 
 on which the Church's wealth and poHtical power depended. 
 On the other side, within the Church as well as without, were 
 the Puritans, not necessarily opposed, many of them, in their 
 individual beliefs to Church doctrine or practice in general, 
 but maintaining the right of individual liberty of conscience, 
 and (a large part of them) opposing the order of bishops and 
 in particular condemning the manner of life of many of the 
 adherents of the Prelatical party. Milton's father was a 
 Puritan Churchman — he had been disinherited for becom- 
 ing a Protestant. So also by inheritance was Milton, but, 
 at the time he was at the University, the struggle between 
 the two parties had for long been sharp and bitter, and it was 
 the selfish worldliness, greed, tyranny, and arrogance of the 
 Prelatical party, their injustice and cruelty in the repression 
 of the Puritans, that made it impossible for him to take orders. 
 He had been "church-outed," he said, "by the prelates." 
 Later he was to break with all the organized religious bodies 
 of his time. 
 
 On leaving the University, Milton went to his father's 
 house in Horton in the midst of lovely country not far from 
 London. His father did not press the question of a pro- 
 fession, and for five years he continued the course of study 
 and meditation he had marked out for himself at the Uni- 
 versity. The time of preparation was long, but the fruits of 
 it may be seen in the breadth and accuracy of his scholarship, 
 the wealth of material he gathered for his poetry, the ex- 
 quisite sensitiveness of his taste, and that perfected power of 
 appreciating the just values and relations of things which con- 
 stitutes culture. He held his purpose clear before him — to be 
 a poet and sing. the loftiest themes — and spared no labor, re- 
 lieving his close study by walks and music and occasional 
 visits to London to procure books. Toward the close of 
 the five years he became a little impatient of his long seclu- 
 
xviii MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 sion, but even then did not believe himself ready. To Charles 
 Diodati, the dearly beloved friend of his school-days, he wrote, 
 "Hear me, my Diodati, and suffer me for a moment to speak 
 without blushing in a more lofty strain. Do you ask what I 
 am meditating? By the help of Heaven, an immortality of 
 fame. But what am I doing ? irrepocpvC}, I am letting my 
 wings grow and preparing to fly; but my Pegasus has not 
 feather enough to soar aloft in the fields of air." Finally in 
 1638 he left Horton for the Continent with the special object 
 of visiting Italy. His charm of manner and scholarly at- 
 tainments caused him to be received with marked distinction 
 in Paris, Florence, Rome, and Naples. News of the polit- 
 ical situation in England cut short his travels; he thought it 
 base to be travelling for pleasure when his fellow-country- 
 men were contending for their liberty. Returning in 1639, 
 he took lodgings in London, later leasing a comfortable house 
 with a garden in Aldersgate Street. Here the first period of 
 his lif ' closes. While at Horton he had composed L' Allegro 
 and It ^enseroso, Arcades, Comus, and Lycidas. In Italy 
 he wrote his Italian sonnets and a Latin poem addressed to 
 the Italian patron of learning and letters, Manso. Upon his 
 return he wrote an elegiac poem in Latin on the death of his 
 friend Diodati. Now, save for a few sonnets, he was to bid 
 farewell to poetry for nearly twenty years. 
 
 Settled in London, Milton undertook the teaching of his 
 two nephews. Several other pupils were in time added, 
 forming a small school. His real occupation, however, was 
 with the religious and political controversy which was en- 
 gaging all men's minds. The burning question of the mo- 
 ment was the form of church government which should pre- 
 vail in the Established Church. Twice the King had sent 
 armies into Presbyterian Scotland and had been repulsed. 
 Between these two campaigns he had convened Parliament 
 to obtain money, had been presented instead with a petition 
 for the redress of grievances, and had ordered its dissolution. 
 This Parliament, because of its short session, is called the 
 "Short Parliament." Failing in his second campaign, he 
 
INTRODUCTION xix 
 
 convoked what is termed from its long session the "Long 
 Parhament." Milton at once lent his aid in opposition to 
 Episcopacy. His series of pamphlets, four in all, appeared 
 in 1641, 1642. In 1643 he surprised his friends by suddenly 
 marrying a young girl belonging to a Royalist family, Mary 
 Powell. After little more than a month she left him and they 
 remained separated for two years, when they were reunited. 
 She died in 1653 or 1654, leaving three daughters. Milton's 
 separation from his wife led to his writing, in 1643-1645, 
 four pamphlets in behalf of divorce. In 1644 he published 
 his most notable prose work, the Areopagitica, a plea for the 
 liberty of unlicensed printing, that is, for a free press. In the 
 same year appeared a tractate. On Education, and, in 1645, 
 the first edition of his poems. He was also engaged at inter- 
 vals upon a history of England, not completed till much 
 later; and he composed at various times a few sonnets. 
 
 An important change in his life came in the year 1649. 
 For seven years war had been waged between the JP.'^yalists 
 and the Parliamentary forces. It ceased for a time with the 
 King's capture by the Scotch allies. A part of the Parlia- 
 mentary party favored the establishment of a State Church 
 under the Presbyterian form of government without recognition 
 of the Independents. Others, including Cromwell and the 
 army, favored, and were successful in obtaining, entire Uberty 
 of conscience and worship. After fruitless negotiations, an 
 alliance between the King and the Scots led to a renewal of 
 civil war, the capture of the King by the Parliamentary army, 
 and finally, in 1649, his trial and execution. There were many, 
 even among those opposed to the King, who regarded this act 
 with horror. Milton was not one of these; he defended and 
 justified it in his Tenure of Kings and Magistrates. His abil- 
 ity as a controversialist, as well as his learning and scholar- 
 ship, led to his appointment as Latin Secretary to the Com- 
 mittee of Foreign Affairs. In addition to purely secretarial 
 duties, he answered attacks upon the new Commonwealth. 
 The Eikon Basilike ("Royal Image"), designed to arouse pity 
 and indignation for the King's death and passing for a time 
 
XX MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 as the work of the King himself, Milton met with a tractate 
 entitled Eikonoklastes ("The Image Breaker"). In the fol- 
 lowing year, Salmasius of Leyden, perhaps the most notable 
 scholar of the day, put forth, under commission of the Royalists 
 in exile, his Defensio Regia. Milton, in his Pro Populo 
 Anglicano and a Defensio Secunda, published after his op- 
 ponent's death, disposed of Salmasius and those who had 
 taken the place of Salmasius in the controversy with such ef- 
 fectiveness that Europe was astonished alike by his command 
 of Latin and his powers of argument and invective. From 
 childhood Milton's eyesight had been weakened by assiduous 
 study. In spite of the warning conveyed by his losing the use 
 of one eye, he persisted in his labors for the Commonwealth, 
 and in 1652 had become totally blind. He still held his post 
 as Secretary with the aid of an assistant, until, with the year 
 1660, came the Restoration and the ruin of the cause he had 
 toiled to uphold. Here his second period closes. 
 
 Critics are at one in deploring Milton's devotion during 
 nearly twenty years to controversial writing. It was a loss to 
 poetry in any case, and, except for the Areopagitica, a truly 
 noble work, together with scattered passages of genuine ele- 
 vation and eloquence in other works, one might well wish the 
 prose works of this period had never been written. Milton 
 was inspired by a true passion for liberty, but, unfortunately, 
 he was constantly preoccupied in meeting vile personal abuse 
 with abuse as vile. It seems almost incredible that so naturally 
 fine a nature should have descended to such offensive person- 
 alities and scurrilities as he employed. The fact displays, 
 perhaps, the violent extremes to which a sensitive and refined 
 spirit may be driven in forcing itself to do what is naturally ahen 
 to its temperament and disposition. 
 
 It must have seemed as if the Restoration spelled irrevoca- 
 ble disaster to the poet. But, blind tTiough he was, ruined 
 in fortune as a political outlaw, in danger of his life and in 
 hiding till the Act of Indemnity left him safe, none the less no 
 event could have been more fortunate both for him and for the 
 world. Critics agree that his twenty years of controversy left 
 Milton narrowed and hardened, and with his natural tendency 
 
INTRODUCTION xxi 
 
 to harshness and intolerance increased. We may not say, 
 however, that it lessened the great powers that were now to 
 justify themselves in transcendent poetic achievement. Al- 
 ready in 1642 the first conception of Paradise Lost had appeared 
 among a number of his notes of subjects for dramas and poems. 
 The poet's intention then seems to have been to treat this sub- 
 ject in dramatic form, and he appears to have then actually 
 begun such a drama. He took up the theme again in the form 
 of an epic in 1658, completed it in 1665, and published it in 
 1667. The poet's Quaker friend, Elwood, who was the first 
 to read it, suggested by an inquiry its continuation in Paradise 
 Regained, which was pubhshed in 1671. With it was published 
 Samson Agonistes, a play in which the poet speaks of him- 
 self under the guise of the bUnded Samson, and which is 
 adjudged to approach more nearly than any other work in Eng- 
 lish to the simplicity and sublimity of Greek tragedy. Sev- 
 eral prose works belong also to this period— the History of 
 Britain, begun long before, a pamphlet on True Religion, 
 Heresy, Schism, and Toleration, not free from Milton's own 
 intolerance, a History of Muscovy, a Latin grammar, a treatise 
 in Latin on logic, and an extended exposition, also in Latin, 
 of Christian doctrine. 
 
 Milton's life during this third period was fairly peaceful, 
 despite the insubordination of his daughters, on whom he laid 
 tasks beyond their ability in the help he required of them in 
 his writing — they even, it is said, sold his books secretly to get 
 money for their needs — with the result, finally, that they were 
 sent away to shift for themselves. A second marriage, con- 
 tracted in 1656, had lasted only two years ; he married a third 
 time in 1663. His days were quietly spent in reading and dic- 
 tation, in caring for his garden, and in the enjoyment of music, 
 to which he was devoted throughout his life, either playing him- 
 self on the organ or listening to his wife singing. He had friends, 
 and visitors were drawn to his house by his reputation for learn- 
 ing and through admiration for his poetry. He died in 1674, 
 and was buried in St. Giles' Church, Cripplegate, London, 
 beside his father. 
 
jcxii MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 IL— THE POETRY OF MILTON 
 
 Like all great poets, Milton was indebted in part to the in- 
 fluences of his time, in part to the instinctive leadings of his 
 individual genius and temperament. His first period lies 
 within the close of the Elizabethan era, and his verse evidences 
 his close study of its poets, greater and less. Of these Spenser, 
 like himself Puritan and interpreter of ideals of virtue in poetry, 
 was his acknowledged master, and to Shakespeare — especially 
 in the use of the felicitous phrase, forming a poem in itself — his 
 debt was not small. But more important than such inspiration 
 is the fact that he, himself, is Elizabethan, and displays the 
 same influences (working, moreover, directly within him, not 
 through others) that made the Elizabethan period so great. 
 He has been called the last of the Elizabethans, and with truth, 
 if his relations to his age are rightly understood. 
 
 One main influence in the Elizabethan period was the Renais- 
 sance, and the new conceptions of life, scholarship, philosophy, 
 and literature it brought to England from France and Spain, 
 but most of all from Italy, where earliest and most fully the 
 change from mediaeval habits of thought, summed under the 
 term, were worked out. These new conceptions opened a 
 new world of opportunity, and, in their full fruition in Eng- 
 land toward the close of the sixteenth century, created men of 
 genius in such array as no other period in any country has 
 equalled, drawing them from every station of life. The liter- 
 ature of the Elizabethan period is characterized by its appar- 
 ently exhaustless creative energy, its delight in the new beauty 
 it sought for, found, and expressed, its extension of the range 
 of poetic conceptions and forms, its spontaneity and freshness. 
 This spirit and temper in literature, centring in the eager 
 search for and delight in the expression of new beauty, is known 
 by the term "romantic." Milton's inspiration, as we shall 
 
INTRODUCTION xxiii 
 
 see in a moment, was romantic in this sense. On the o'ther 
 hand, we must recall that Milton's life extended to 1674. Dur- 
 ing his lifetime, a change was coming over poetry. The age 
 had become more serious and reflective under the influence of 
 Puritanism and the awakening interest in scientific thought. 
 Milton's contemporaries, like him, drew inspiration from their 
 great forerunners; but a slackening of poetic energy can be 
 perceived, the verse, while often of great beauty, is of a more 
 grave and sober tone, more self-conscious, and there is a ten- 
 dency to model it on a set pattern. At the close of the century 
 poetry had become in general rhetorical; it is made to con- 
 form to what has grown to be the accepted taste of the time and 
 not a fresh image and form* of beauty conceived in th% poet's 
 mind. Poetry of this marked tendency is called "dUssical*," 
 as if patterned on a model held to be of classical excellence. It 
 seeks to appeal to the reader by treating with superior distinc- 
 tion subjects within a special range which are dictated by the 
 taste of the time as poetic, and in a special form demanded by 
 that taste. In brief, the taste of the time becomes the test of 
 poetic excellence, not the poet's instinctive sense, freely exer- 
 cised, of what is beautiful. 
 
 It is because Milton livjed while this change was going on, 
 but is not affected by it, that he may truly be called the last of 
 the Elizabethans. He was a true Elizabethan in that he was a 
 law unto himself as regards his conception of the beauty proper 
 to poetry. Still more, he was a true Elizabethan in searching out 
 and discovering for himself new stores of poetic beauty. This 
 he did, most notably, in his use of the poetry of the ancients, 
 especially Latin poetry, which he had studied so ardently at 
 school, at the University, and at Horton, during his period of 
 preparation. Others before him, of course, his own master 
 Spenser, for example, had drawn upon this poetry, and use of 
 it is common enough in Elizabethan literature. But no one 
 had studied it as he had done, or at least to such profit, with the 
 set intent of writing worthily in English verse. Where others 
 merely touched the surface and carried away an occasional 
 phrase or image, he explore and made his own an immense 
 
xxiv MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 treasure. The world of classic literature is to him what Italian 
 literature was to the earlier Elizabethans, a new world of beauty 
 to be brought over into English verse. 
 
 This was one main source of his verse. The Bible was an- 
 other. If his deep piety constrained his reverence for the 
 Scriptures, if his preoccupation with moral and religious ideals 
 led him to its study and use, by no means any the less was his 
 appreciation of the beauty of its sublime conceptions, its 
 graphic imagery, the verbal felicity of the English version 
 whose phrases are so often transferred bodily to his lines. 
 
 A point of the greatest importance in this connection is the 
 fact that in the common appeal to him of classic literature and 
 of the Scriptures through the element of poetic beauty, the two 
 became as if one to him. That is why he fails to feel a difference 
 in kind between Hebrew and Christian ideas and conceptions 
 and classical ideas and conceptions. He does not hesitate to 
 fuse them together, to pass from one to the other, seemingly 
 unconsciously, in his verse, in a way that would be quite im- 
 possible to-day. This failure to feel unlikeness in kind, this 
 willingness to bring together things dissimilar, so long as each 
 in its kind contributes to the poetic purpose in hand, is essen- 
 tially characteristic of the Renaissance. 
 
 If we see clearly that Milton was essentially an Elizabethan, 
 it is in the next place important to remember that he desired 
 to perfect himself as poet that he might express moral ideas, 
 set forth ideals of virtue in his verse. Moral ideas are, of course, 
 wholly suitable themes for poetry, though no one should make 
 the mistake common enough though so evident, of thinking that 
 literature or any other art exists or should exist for, or that ex- 
 cellence therein is bound up with, the expression of moral ideas. 
 Most surely poetry may express moral ideas, but it must do 
 this in a manner proper to poetry, or the result is not poetry 
 but something else. No poet can concern himself with the 
 expression of moral ideas that need didactic treatment, the 
 method of the teacher, exposition, argument, and exhortation, 
 without endangering the quality of his poetry. With Milton 
 the moral purpose is as constantly in mind as the artistic. In 
 
INTRODUCTION xxv 
 
 his verse from Comus through the great epics to Samson Ago- 
 nistes appear innumerable passages in which the moral purpose 
 is at variance with his instinctive poetic inspiration. This is 
 one reason, together with the studied perfection of his style 
 and its chastened severity due to his study of the ancients, 
 why many find fault with his poetry as being rhetorical. Rhe- 
 torical it seldom or never is in a bad sense. His emotional sen^ 
 sitiveness to beauty, his exquisite taste, the divine energy of his 
 genius, his exaltation of vision, lift even passages of argument 
 and moralizing above the. plane of rhetoric and insure them, as 
 by a miracle, some measure of the quality of magic that be- 
 longs to the highest poetry. 
 
 In considering the relation of Milton's themes, his subject 
 matter, to the form of its expression, it may be noted that his 
 Elizabethan passion -for beauty was regulated and controlled 
 by his study of the classics, and often to greater or' less extent 
 chilled and obstructed by didacticism. It is also necessary 
 to point out, as Bagehot and others have done, that Milton's 
 mind was not fruitful in varied thought and reflection. In 
 Shakespeare, and in many poets inferior to Milton, the centratl 
 theme, the character of the speaker as dramatically conceived 
 by the poet, a special incident in hand, suggestions of v^-ious 
 sorts, inspire thoughts that possess independent value and ap- 
 peal apart from their relation to the immediate theme. In 
 Milton there is little or nothing of this. His mind concentrated 
 itself upon a single idea, and this is repeated and reinforced, 
 unattended by associated or suggested thoughts. But on the 
 other hand he employs in the expression of the single idea a 
 multiplicity -oi imagery and illustration, drawing upon the 
 seemingly exhaustless stores of his reading and observation. 
 The poems in this volume display this characteristic; to it 
 rather 4;han to lack, of dramatic power may be referred his 
 weakness in characterization both in the epics and in Samson 
 Agonistes; his prose works also are all variations, without ad- 
 vance and development, upon single themes. In the words of 
 Bagehot, "We have a superficial complexity in illustration and 
 imagery and metaphor, and in contrast with it we observe a 
 
xxvi MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 latent simplicity of idea, an almost rude strength of concep- 
 tion. The underlying thoughts are few, though the flowers on 
 the surface are so many." 
 
 Whence, we may next ask, did Milton derive this wealth of 
 imagery and illustration ? How far was he indebted to nature 
 and life directly, how far to books? No one can doubt that 
 Milton was observant of the world about him, that he loved 
 and drew from nature, though, like other seventeenth-century 
 poets, the nature he preferred was one subdued to a kindly 
 relation with man's life — flowers, trees in smooth meadows, 
 the gently gliding stream, a smiling countryside. He was not 
 a close student of individual facts, and lacks the intimate 
 touches that show close sympathetic observation. In brief, 
 it is evident that whatever his inclination or ability to observe 
 facts in human life or in nature directly, the main source of his 
 poetic material was derived from books. His indebtedness in 
 words, phrases, allusions, images, to his predecessors in Eng- 
 lish verse, Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Fletcher, Browne, 
 Quarles, Drayton, and many another, and in incalculable 
 measure to the Latin and Greek poets he studied so assidu- 
 ously, appears everywhere. But, be it carefully noted, this is 
 not a mere borrowing, a bodily transference to his verse of 
 what served his purpose. In all cases he is guided by his in- 
 fallible perception of truth and beauty, and he makes what he 
 takes his own, giving it a new, individual, and imperishable 
 beauty of form and setting. No doubt, as Bagehot has said, 
 he was often unaware at the moment, so stored was his mind with 
 the fruits of his reading, that he was using what in some form 
 had been used before. Moreover, beautiful images and allu- 
 sions wholly original with him are also innumerable. 
 
 Before summing up the qualities of Milton's verse, a word 
 is necessary in regard to its metrical structure. It is of prime 
 importance to remember that it is in every respect true English 
 verse, idiomatic in its observance, even where most individual 
 and characteristic, of English traditions. It might be supposed 
 that Milton, in his writing of verse, might have been influenced 
 to model it in some way upon that of the classic poets he studied 
 
INTRODUCTION xxvii 
 
 so closely, just as he now and again introduces a Latin locution 
 into his English diction. But he does not — the balance and 
 movement of his blank-verse line may have caught something 
 from classic verse, but the metre is Enghsh. Individual pe- 
 culiarities there are in his verse, but these are not departures 
 from English tradition — they are his own consciously adopted 
 licenses in following out that tradition. How essentially 
 English his verse is may be seen in the fact that his blank-verse 
 line not infrequently has only four chief accents, a form of line 
 traceable back to the Old English alliterative long line. 
 
 Milton's place in English literature and in the literature of 
 the world is due to two causes of somewhat different kind. 
 The first is the sustained elevation of poetic quality in his verse, 
 both epic and lyric, notable even where a didactic purpose is 
 present — an elevation due at once to energy of inspiration, re- 
 finement of critical taste, and the amassed riches of his reading. 
 It has often been said that if he had written nothing but the 
 shorter poems of his first period, he would have taken a place in 
 the first rank of English poets. His indebtedness to the past, 
 his aspiration to emulate or to transcend its worthiest poetry, 
 his scrupulous loyalty to the highest ideals of taste, would by 
 themselves have insured his verse a high place in the literature 
 of the world; but also, in addition, he essayed in Paradise Lost 
 and in Paradise Regained at once the most sublime and the 
 most difficult themes possible, the Fall and Redemption of 
 Man. To this task, in addition to his poetic genius and train- 
 ing, he brought the inspiration of the loftiest faith and moral 
 purpose, impHcit trust in his own powers, and a concentration 
 of will in which was bound up the anticipations of a lifetime. 
 Matured as he was within the influences of the Renaissance, 
 he never dreamed of any inartistic incongruity in combining 
 material of whatever kind that lay to his hand, biblical and 
 classical. Christian and pagan, mythical or drawn from the 
 advanced scientific thought of his day. Nor did he hesitate, 
 as a poet of to-day would hesitate, to picture the affairs of heaven 
 as conducted like those of earth, in a way that sometimes makes 
 possible the cheap ridicule of the unhistoric and irreverent 
 
xxviii MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 critic. But, despite incongruities incidental to these causes, 
 despite the heavy burden of his didactic purpose, despite his 
 probable deficiency in dramatic ability, he lifts his narrative 
 not merely to the ideal elevation of the epic, but to a sublimity 
 so far transcending the conceptions of ordinary men as to make 
 it seem veritably an inspired record of what he describes, 
 "things unattempted yet in prose or rime." And here, three 
 hundred years after Milton's birth, it is worth while for a mo- 
 ment to touch upon the question whether, as has been asserted, 
 Milton has ever truly laid hold upon the popular heart. As 
 criticism, such an assertion is in one sense meaningless. Such 
 tests do not apply in such a case. An achievement like Mil- 
 ton's, time can no more touch than it can the pinnacles of the 
 mountain or the cathedral and its towers — save with the universal 
 decay which is the death of time — and, like the abbeys of Eng- 
 land, Nature "grants to it an equal date with Andes and with 
 Ararat." But, in itself, the assertion is not true. Milton's fame 
 is not alone due to the tributes of historians, the verdicts of 
 critics, the homage of brother-poets — "third among the sons of 
 light," "God-gifted organ-voice of England," — or to the fealty 
 alone of the scholarly and "cultured" class. The. old story 
 that he was not honored in his own time is fiction. Since that 
 time he has always had in all classes those who made him their 
 special poet, ])recisely in the sense in which we speak of Shake- 
 speare or Burns or Longfellow as close to the popular heart. 
 In England he has as j^oet commanded a veneration that links 
 his name with Shakespeare's even among those to whom Mil- 
 ton the man was virtually a regicide. In this country, when 
 he finally became known, his works were placed beside the 
 Bible alike in Puritan New England, in Quaker Pennsyl- 
 vania, and in the South, and it was a common thing three 
 generations ago for children or their elders to commit long 
 passages from the epics, even whole books, to memory. And 
 possibly it might surprise some persons who think of Milton 
 merely as a classic, honored but unread, could they but know 
 how many people — unliterary people — still set precious store by 
 him to-dav. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxix 
 
 If, however, many persons can pay only an intellectual tribute 
 to the great epics, not one of real liking, all must do honor to the 
 shorter poems included in this volume. What may the study 
 of these poems mean to us to-day ? They are set for examina- 
 tion, and are to be studied, because they are poems of a special 
 beauty, of a kind to help us to understand what true poetry is 
 and what it may mean to those who learn to care for it. There 
 are many persons in the world who have never learned what 
 poetry may mean to them, and who live lives so much the poorer 
 for lack of the pleasure it may bring. There are many so igno- 
 rant as to despise it as something only unpractical people care 
 for, as something likely to unfit one to be sensible and practical — 
 a wholly mistaken and absurd notion. A love for poetry is a 
 lifelong gain. Like a love for music or painting, or, in their 
 place, one or another bodily accomplishment, some trouble 
 must be taken to attain it. And poems like these help one to 
 a true appreciation of poetic beauty. Just as Milton trained 
 his taste by the study of English and classic poets to an 
 exquisite sensitiveness of perception, so may we to-day train 
 and refine ours by the study of the verse in which his perfected 
 taste found expression. 
 
 One or two practical suggestions may be made. In the 
 case of each poem, first read the special introduction given 
 in the notes. Then read the poem itself throughout before 
 studying it in detail. Read it aloud, for no good poetry is 
 meant for the eye alone; the mental ear in any case — much 
 better the physical ear — should hear it. Then turn to the study 
 of the poem line by line, making sure that each image and allu- 
 sion is understood, and all that Milton intended it -to convey. 
 The notes supply the necessary information, and here a word of 
 warning is necessary. It is not desirable to memorize the notes. 
 If, for example, it is pointed out that the poet is indebted to 
 some predecessor in a particular passage, the fact is of impor- 
 tance only in illustration of his frequent use of others and his 
 extraordinary gift of making what he took his own. This does 
 not, of course, apply to many of the classic allusions, espe- 
 cially in mythology, for these are often stock poetic allusions 
 
XXX MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 that should be famiUar to every one; so also the meaning of 
 unfamiliar words, such as are part of the vocabulary of poetry, 
 should be learned. But, in every case, it is to be remembered 
 that these things are all of secondary and minor importance as 
 compared with clearly understanding the verse and learning to 
 care for its beauty of meaning and sound. It is this which is 
 best worth while — that Milton may help us to know and to care 
 for all good poetry. 
 
MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 I 
 
 ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST'S 
 NATIVITY 
 
 This is the month, and this the happy morn, 
 
 Wherein the Son of Heaven's eternal King, 
 
 Of wedded maid and virgin mother born. 
 
 Our great redemption from above did bring; 
 
 For so the holy sages once did sing, 5 
 
 That he our deadly forfeit should release, 
 And with his Father work us a perpetual peace. 
 
 II 
 
 That glorious form, that light unsufferable, 
 And that far-beaming blaze of majesty, 
 
 Wherewith he wont at Heaven's high council-table lo 
 
 To sit the midst of Trinal Unity, 
 He laid aside; and, here with us to be. 
 Forsook the courts of everlasting day. 
 And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay. 
 
 3 
 
4 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 III 
 
 Say, Heavenly Muse, shall not thy sacred vein 15 
 
 Afford a present to the Infant God? 
 
 Hast thou no verse, no hymn, or solemn strain. 
 
 To welcome him to this his new abode, 
 
 Now while the Heaven, by the Sun's team untrod. 
 
 Hath took no print of the approaching light, 20 
 
 And all the spangled host keep watch in squadrons bright ? 
 
 IV 
 
 See how from far upon the eastern road 
 
 The star-led wizards haste with odors sweet! 
 
 O run, prevent them with thy humble ode. 
 
 And lay it lowly at his blessed feet; 25 
 
 Have thou the honor first thy Lord to greet. 
 
 And join thy voice unto the angel choir. 
 From out his secret altar touched with hallowed fire. 
 
 The Hymn 
 
 It was the winter wild. 
 
 While the Heaven-born Child 30 
 
 All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies; 
 Nature, in awe, to him 
 Had doffed her gaudy trim. 
 
 With her great master so to sympathize; 
 It was no season then for her 35 
 
 To wanton with the Sun, her lusty paramour. 
 
CHRIST'S NATIVITY 
 
 Only with speeches fair 
 She woos the gentle air 
 
 To hide her guilty front with innocent snow, 
 And on her naked shame, 40 
 
 Pollute with sinful blame, 
 
 Th^ saintly veil of maiden white to throw — 
 Confounded, that her Maker's eyes 
 Should look so near upon her foul deformities. 
 
 Ill 
 
 But he, her fears to cease, 45 
 
 Sent down the meek-eyed Peace; 
 
 She, crowned with ohve green, came softly sliding 
 Down through the turning sphere. 
 His ready harbinger, 
 
 With turtle wing the amorous clouds dividing, 50 
 
 And, waving wide her myrtle wand. 
 She strikes a universal peace through sea and land. 
 
 IV 
 
 No war, or battle's sound. 
 Was heard the world around; 
 
 The idle spear and shield were high uphung; 55 
 
 The hooked chariot stood 
 Unstained with hostile blood; 
 
 The trumpet spake not to the armed throng; 
 And kings sat still with awful eye, 
 As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by. 60 
 
6 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 V 
 
 But peaceful was the night 
 Wherein the Prince of Light . 
 
 His reign of peace upon the earth began. 
 The winds, with wonder whist, 
 Smoothly the waters kissed, 65 
 
 Whispering new joys to the mild ocean. 
 Who now hath quite forgot to rave, 
 While birds of calm sit brooding on the charmed wave. 
 
 VI 
 
 The stars, with deep amaze, 
 
 Stand fixed in steadfast gaze, 70 
 
 Bending one way their precious influence. 
 And will not take their flight. 
 For all the morning light. 
 
 Or Lucifer that often warned them thence, 
 But in their gUmmering orbs did glow, 75 
 
 Until their Lord himself bespake, and bid them go. 
 
 VII 
 
 And, though the shady gloom 
 Had given day her room, 
 
 The Sun himself withheld his wonted speed, 
 And hid his head for shame, 80 
 
 As his inferior flame 
 
 The new-enlightened world no more should need; 
 He saw a greater Sun appear 
 Than his bright throne or burning axletree could bear. 
 
CHRIST'S NATIVITY 7 
 
 VIII 
 
 The shepherds on the lawn, • 85 
 
 Or ere the point of dawn, 
 
 Sat simply chatting in a rustic row. 
 Full little thought they than 
 That the mighty Pan 
 
 Was kindly come to live with them below; 90 
 
 Perhaps their loves, or else their sheep, 
 Was all that did their silly thoughts so busy keep, 
 
 IX 
 
 When such music sweet 
 Their hearts and ears did greet 
 
 As never was by mortal finger strook, 95 
 
 Divinely-warbled voice 
 Answering the stringed noise, 
 
 As all their souls in blissful rapture took; 
 The air, such pleasure loath to lose. 
 With thousand echoes still prolongs each heavenly close. lOO 
 
 Nature, that heard such sound 
 Beneath the hollow round 
 
 Of Cynthia's seat the airy region thrilling, 
 Now was almost won 
 To think her part was done, 105 
 
 And that her reign had here its last fulfilling; 
 She knew such harmony alone 
 Could hold all heaven and earth in happier union. 
 
8 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 XI 
 
 At last surrounds their sight 
 
 A globe of circular light, no 
 
 That with long beams the shamefaced Night arrayed ; 
 The helmed Cherubim, 
 The sworded Seraphim 
 
 Are seen in glittering ranks with wings displayed, 
 Harping in loud and solemn choir, 115 
 
 With unexpressive notes, to Heaven's new-born Heir. 
 
 XII 
 
 Such music (as 'tis said) 
 Before was never made. 
 
 But when of old the Sons of Morning sung, 
 While the Creator great 120 
 
 His constellations set, 
 
 And the well-balanced world on hinges hung, 
 And cast the dark foundations deep. 
 And bid the weltering waves their oozy channel keep. 
 
 XIII 
 
 Ring out, ye crystal spheres, 125 
 
 Once bless our human ears. 
 
 If ye have power to touch our senses so; 
 And let your silver chime 
 Move in melodious time, 
 
 And let the base of Heaven's deep organ blow; 130 
 
 And with your ninefold harmony 
 Make up full consort to the angelic symphony. 
 
CHRIST'S NATIVITY 9 
 
 XIV 
 
 For, if such holy song 
 Enwrap our fancy long, 
 
 Time will run back and fetch the Age of Gold; i35 
 
 And speckled Vanity 
 Will sicken soon and die. 
 
 And leprous Sin will melt from earthly mould; 
 And Hell itself will pass away, 
 And leave her dolorous mansions to the peering day. 140 
 
 XV 
 
 Yea, Truth and Justice then 
 Will down return to men, 
 
 Orbed in a rainbow, and, like glories wearing, 
 Mercy will sit between, 
 Throned in celestial sheen, 145 
 
 With radiant feet the tissued clouds down steering; 
 And Heaven, as at some festival, 
 Will open wide the gates of her high palace-hall. 
 
 XVI 
 
 But wisest Fate says no. 
 
 This must not yet be so; 150 
 
 The Babe lies yet in smiling infancy 
 That on the bitter cross 
 Must redeem our loss. 
 
 So both himself and us to glorify; 
 Yet first, to those ychained in sleep, 155 
 
 The wakeful trump of doom must thunder through the 
 deep. 
 
10 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 XVII 
 
 With such a horrid clang 
 As on Mount Sinai rang, 
 
 While the red fire and smouldering clouds outbrake; 
 The aged Earth, aghast, 160 
 
 With terror of that blast, 
 
 Shall from the surface to the centre shake, 
 When at the world's last session 
 The dreadful Judge in middle air shall spread his throne. 
 
 XVIII 
 
 And then at last our bliss 165 
 
 Full and perfect is, 
 
 But now begins; for, from this happy day, 
 The Old Dragon under ground. 
 In straiter limits bound, 
 
 Not half so far casts his usurped sway, 170 
 
 And, wroth to see his kingdom fail. 
 Swinges the scaly horror of his folded tail. 
 
 XIX 
 
 The oracles are dumb; 
 No voice or hideous hum 
 
 Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving. 175 
 
 Apollo from his shrine 
 Can no more divine. 
 
 With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos leaving. 
 No nightly trance, or breathed spell, 
 Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell. 180 
 
CHRIST'S NATIVITY 11 
 
 XX 
 
 The lonely mountains o'er, 
 And the resounding shore, 
 
 A voice of weeping heard and loud lament; 
 From haunted spring, and dale 
 Edged with poplar pale, i85 , 
 
 The parting Genius is with sighing sent; 
 With flower-inwoven tresses torn 
 The Nymphs in twilight shade of tangled thickets mourn. 
 
 XXI 
 
 In consecrated earth, 
 
 And on the holy hearth, 190 
 
 The Lars and Lemures moan with midnight plaint; 
 In urns and altars round, 
 A drear and dying sound 
 
 Affrights the Flam ens at their service quaint; 
 And the chill marble seems to sweat, 195 
 
 While each peculiar power foregoes his wonted seat. 
 
 XXII 
 
 Peor and Baalim 
 Forsake their temples dim. 
 
 With that twice-battered god of Palestine; 
 And mooned Ashtaroth, 200 
 
 Heaven's queen and mother both. 
 
 Now sits not girt with tapers' holy shine; 
 The Lybic Hammon shrinks his horn; 
 In vain the Tyrian maids their wounded Thammuz 
 mourn. 
 
12 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 XXIII 
 
 And sullen Moloch, fled, 205 
 
 Hath left in shadows dread 
 
 His burning idol all of blackest hue; 
 In vain with cymbals' ring 
 They call the grisly king, 
 
 In dismal dance about the furnace blue; 210 
 
 The brutish gods of Nile as fast, 
 Isis and Orus and the dog Anubis, haste. 
 
 XXIV 
 
 Nor is Osiris seen 
 
 In Memphian grove or green. 
 
 Trampling the unshowered grass with lowings loud, 215 
 Nor can he be at rest 
 Within his sacred chest; 
 
 Nought but profoundest Hell can be his shroud; 
 In vain, with timbrelled anthems dark. 
 The sable-stoled sorcerers bear his worshipped ark. 220 
 
 XXV 
 
 He feels from Judah's land 
 The dreaded Infant's hand; 
 
 The rays of Bethlehem bhnd his dusky eyn; 
 Nor all the gods beside 
 Longer dare abide, 225 
 
 Not Typhon huge ending in snaky twine; 
 Our Babe, to show his Godhead true, 
 Can in his swaddhng bands control the damnM crew. 
 
CHRIST'S NATIVITY 13 
 
 XXVI 
 
 So, when the sun in bed, 
 
 Curtained with cloudy red, 230 
 
 Pillows his chin upon an orient wave, 
 The flocking shadows pale 
 Troop to the infernal jail, 
 
 Each fettered ghost sHps to his several grave. 
 And the yellow-skirted fays 235 
 
 Fly after the night-steeds, leaving their moon-loved maze. 
 
 XXVII 
 
 But seel the Virgin blest 
 Hath laid her Babe to rest. 
 
 Time is our tedious song should here have ending; 
 Heaven's youngest-teemed star 240 
 
 Hath fixed her poHshed car, 
 
 Her sleeping Lord with handmaid lamp attending; 
 And all about the courtly stable 
 Bright-harnessed angels sit in order serviceable. 
 
II 
 
 ON SHAKESPEARE, 1630 
 
 What needs my Shakespeare for his honored bones 
 
 The labor of an age in piled stones? 
 
 Or that his hallowed reliques should be hid 
 
 Under a star-ypointing pyramid ? 
 
 Dear son of memory, great heir of fame, 5 
 
 What need'st thou such weak witness of thy name? 
 
 Thou in our wonder and astonishment 
 
 Hast built thyself a livelong monument. 
 
 For whilst to the shame of slow-endeavoring art 
 
 Thy easy numbers flow, and that each heart lo 
 
 Hath from the leaves of thy unvalued book 
 
 Those Delphic lines with deep impression took, 
 
 Then thou, our fancy of itself bereaving, 
 
 Dost make us marble with too much conceiving; 
 
 And so sepulchred in such pomp dost lie 15 
 
 That kings for such a tomb would wish to die. 
 
 14 
 
Ill 
 
 ON HIS HAVING ARRIVED AT THE 
 AGE OF TWENTY-THREE 
 
 How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, 
 Stolen on his wing my three and twentieth year! 
 My hasting days fly on with full career, 
 
 But 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, 
 
 Than some more timely-happy spirits endu'th. 
 
 Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow, 
 
 It shall be still in strictest measure even lo 
 
 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. 
 
 15 
 
IV 
 L'ALLEGRO 
 
 Hence, loathM Melancholy, 
 
 Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born. 
 In Stygian cave forlorn, 
 
 'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights 
 unholy ! 
 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 thy locks, 
 
 In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell. lo 
 
 But come, thou goddess fair and free, 
 In heaven yclept 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. 
 16 
 
L'ALLEGRO 17 
 
 Haste thee, nymph, and bring with thee 25 
 
 Jest and youthful JolHty, 
 
 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; so 
 
 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 honor 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-brier, 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; 
 
18 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 Some time walking, not unseen, 
 
 By hedge-row elms, on hillocks green, 
 
 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 laboring 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 neighboring eyes. 80 
 
 Hard by, a cottage chimney smokes 
 From betwixt two aged oaks, 
 Where Corydon and Thyrsis met 
 Are at their savory dinner set 
 
 Of herbs and other country messes, 85 
 
 Which the neat-handed Phillis dresses; 
 And then in haste her bower she leaves, 
 With Thestylis to bind the sheaves; 
 
L'ALLEGRO 19 
 
 Or, if the earlier season lead, 
 
 To the tanned haycock in the mead. 90 
 
 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 checkered 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, lOO 
 
 With stories told of many a feat, 
 How Faery Mab the junkets eat. 
 She was pinched and pulled, she said. 
 And he, by friar's lanthorn 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-laborers could not end. 
 Then Ues him down, the lubber fiend, no 
 
 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, ii5 
 
 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 
 
20 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 With stores of ladies, whose bright eyes 
 
 Rain influence, and judge the prize 
 
 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 youthful 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. 
 
V 
 IL PENSEROSO 
 
 Hence, vain deluding joys, 
 
 The brood of folly without father bred! 
 How little you bested. 
 
 Or fill the fixM mind with all your toys I 
 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. lo 
 
 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 might 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, — 
 21 
 
22 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 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 
 
 Of woody Ida's inmost grove, 
 
 While 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 
 
 '■' V' 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; so 
 
 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, 
 
IL PENSEROSO 23 
 
 In her sweetest, saddest plight, 
 
 Smoothing the rugged brow of night, 
 
 While Cynthia checks her dragon yoke 
 
 Gently o'er th' accustomed oak. 60 
 
 Sweet bird, that shunn'st the noise of folly, 
 
 Most musical, most melancholy! 
 
 Thee, chantress, 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; l\ 
 
 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, ! so 
 
 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 out-watch the Bear 
 
 With thrice-great Hermes, or unsphere 
 
24 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 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, 
 
 And of those demons 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 y^ 
 
 In sceptred pall come sweeping by, 
 
 Presenting Thebes', or Pelops' line, 
 
 Or the tale of Troy divine. loo 
 
 Or what (though rare) of later age 
 
 Ennobled hath the buskined stage. 
 
 But, O sad Virgin, that thy power 
 
 Might raise Musseus 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, no 
 
 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; ii5 
 
 And if aught else great bards beside 
 
 In sage and solemn tunes have sung, 
 
 Of tourneys, and of trophies hung; 
 
 Of forests, and enchantments drear. 
 
 Where more is meant than meets the ear. 120 
 
IL PENSEROSO 25 
 
 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. 
 
 But kerchiefed in a comely cloud, 125 
 
 While rocking winds are piping loud, 
 Or ushered with a shower still, ~p^ 
 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 the 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 honied 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 Hvely portraiture displayed. 
 
 Softly on my eyelids laid; iso 
 
 And, as I wake, sweet music breathe 
 Above, about or underneath, 
 
MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 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, 
 
 And love the high embowed roof, 
 
 With antic pillars massy proof. 
 
 And storied windows richly dight 
 
 Casting a dim religious light. 160 
 
 There let the pealing organ blow 
 
 To the full-voiced choir 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 I 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 Hve. 
 
VI 
 COMUS 
 
 THE PERSONS 
 
 The Attendant Spirit, afterward 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. 
 
 Spirit. 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 pin-fold 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, lo 
 
 Amongst the enthroned gods, on sainted seats. 
 Yet some there be that by due steps aspire 
 27 
 
28 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 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 
 
 I would not soil these pure ambrosial weeds 
 
 With the rank vapors 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 falHng 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, 
 
COMUS 29 
 
 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, 
 After the Tuscan mariners transformed. 
 Coasting the Tyrrhene shore, as the winds listed, 
 On Circe's island fell (who knows not Circe, so 
 
 The daughter of the Sun, whose charmed cup 
 Whoever tasted lost his upright shape, 
 And downward fell into a groveUing swine?). 
 This nymph, that gazed upon his clustering locks 
 With ivy berries wreathed and his bhthe 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 embowered, 
 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 countenance, 
 The express resemblance of the gods, is changed 
 Into some brutish form of wolf, or bear, 70 
 
 Or ounce, or tiger, hog, or bearded goat. 
 All other parts remaining as they were; 
 And they, so perfect is their misery, 
 Not once perceive their foul disfigurement. 
 But boast themselves more comely than before, 75 
 
30 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 And all their friends and native home forget, 
 
 To roll with pleasure in a sensual sty. 
 
 Therefore, when any favored of high Jove 
 
 Chances to pass through this adventurous glade. 
 
 Swift as the sparkle of a glancing star so 
 
 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 Ukeness of a swain 
 
 That to the service of this house belongs, 85 
 
 Who with his soft pipe and smooth-dittied song 
 
 Well knows to still the wild winds when they roar 
 
 And hush the waving woods; nor of less faith. 
 
 And in this office of his mountain watch 
 
 Likeliest and nearest to the present aid 90 
 
 Of this occasion. But I hear the tread 
 
 Of hateful steps; I must be viewless now. 
 
 CoMus enters with a charming-rod in one hand, his glass in the 
 other; with him a rout of monsters, headed like sundry sorts of 
 loild beasts, hut otherwise like men and women, their apparel 
 glistering; they come in making a riotous and unruly noise, 
 with torches in their hands. 
 
 Comus. The star that bids the shepherd fold 
 Now the top of heaven doth hold. 
 
 And the gilded car of day _ 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 lOO 
 
 Of his chamber in the east. 
 
COMUS 31 
 
 Meanwhile, welcome joy and feast, 
 
 Midnight shout and revelry, 
 
 Tipsy dance and jollity. 
 
 Braid your locks with rosy twine, i05 
 
 Dropping odors, dropping wine. 
 
 Rigor now is gone to bed, 
 
 And Advice with scrupulous head, 
 
 Strict Age, and sour Severity, 
 
 With their grave saws, in slumber lie. no 
 
 We that are of purer fire 
 
 Imitate the starry choir, 
 
 Who in their nightly watchful spheres 
 
 Lead in swift round the months and years. 
 
 The sounds and seas, with all their finny drove, ii5 
 
 Now to the moon in wavering morris move; 
 
 And on the tawny sands and shelves 
 
 Trip the pert fairies and the dapper elves; 
 
 By dimpled brook, and fountain brim. 
 
 The wood-nymphs, decked with daisies trim, 120 
 
 Their merry wakes and pastimes keep. 
 
 What hath night to do with sleep ? 
 
 Night hath better sweets to prove — 
 
 Venus now wakes, and wakens Love. 
 
 Come, let us our 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 — mysterious dame, 130 
 
 That ne'er art called but when the dragon womb , 
 
 Of Stygian darkness spits her thickest gloom 
 
 And makes one blot of all the air — 
 
32 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 Stay thy cloudy ebon chair. 
 
 Wherein thou ridest with Hecate, 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, 
 
 From her cabined loophole peep, 140 
 
 And to the telltale 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 i45 
 
 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, iso 
 And to my wily trains. I shall ere long 
 Be well stocked with as fair a herd as grazed 
 About my mother Circe. Thus I hurl 
 My dazzling spells into the spongy air. 
 Of power to cheat the eye with blear illusion 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 leo 
 
 And well-placed words of glozing courtesy. 
 Baited with reasons not unplausible. 
 
COMUS 33 
 
 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 here. 
 
 The Lady enters. 
 
 Lady. This way the noise was, if mine ear be true, i70 
 
 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 loath 
 To meet the rudeness and swilled insolence 
 Of such late wassailers; yet oh, where else 
 Shall I inform my unacquainted feet 180 
 
 In the blind mazes of this tangled wood? 
 My brothers, when they saw me wearied out 
 With this long way, resolving here to lodge 
 Under the spreading favor of these pines. 
 Stepped, as they said, to the next thicket-side i85 
 
 To bring me berries or such cooling fruit 
 As the kind hospitable woods provide. 
 They left me then, when the gray-hooded Even, 
 Like a sad votarist in palmer's weed, 
 Rose from the hindmost wheels of Phoebus' wain. 190 
 But where they are, and why they came not back, 
 
34 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 Is now the labor 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, i95 
 
 Why should'st thou, but for some felonious end, 
 
 In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars, 
 
 That Nature hung in heaven, and filled their lamps 
 
 With everlasting oil, to give due light 
 
 To the misled and lonely traveller? 200 
 
 This is the place, as well as I may guess, 
 
 Whence even now the tumult of loud mirth 
 
 Was rife and perfect in my listening ear; 
 
 Yet naught but single darkness do I find. 
 
 What might this be? A thousand fantasies 205 
 
 Begin to throng into my memory 
 
 Of calling shapes, and beck'ning 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 strongsiding 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 honor 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 
 
COMUS 35 
 
 Turn forth her silver lining on the night, 
 
 And casts a gleam over this tufted grove. 225 
 
 I cannot halloo to my brothers, but 
 
 Such noise as I can make to be heard farthest 
 
 I'll venture, for my new-enlivened spirits 
 
 Prompt me, and they perhaps are not far off. 
 
 Song 
 
 Sweet Echoy sweetest nymph, that livst unseen 230 
 
 Within thy airy shell 
 By slow Meander s mar gent green, 
 And in the violet-embroidered vale, 
 
 Where the lovelorn nightingale 
 Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well, 235 
 
 Canst thou not tell me of a gentle pair 
 That nicest thy Narcissus aref 
 
 O, if thou have 
 Hid them in some flowery cave. 
 
 Tell me but where, 240 
 
 Sweet Queen of Parley, daughter of the sphere, 
 So mayest thou be translated to the skies, 
 And give resounding grace to all heavens harmonies. 
 
 Enter Comus. 
 
 Comus. 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 
 
36 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 Of silence through the empty-vauUed 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. 
 Yet they in pleasing slumber lulled the sense 26O 
 
 And in sweet madness robbed it of itself. 
 But such a sacred and home-felt delight, 
 Such sober certainty of waking bliss, 
 I never heard till now. I'll speak to her. 
 And she shall be my queen. — Hail, foreign wonder! 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. 
 
 Comus. What chance, good lady, hath bereft you thus ? 
 
 Lady. Dim darkness, and this leavy labyrinth. 
 
 Comiis. Could that divide you from near-ushering 
 guides ? 
 
 Lady. They left me weary on a grassy turf. 280 
 
COMUS 37 
 
 Comus. By falsehood, or discourtesy, or why? 
 
 Lady. To seek i' the valley some cool friendly spring. 
 
 Comus. And left your fair side all unguarded, Lady ? 
 
 Lady. They were but twain, and purposed quick return. 
 
 Comus. Perhaps forestalling night prevented them. 285 
 
 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 labored 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; 
 r took it for a faery vision 
 Of some gay creatures of the element. 
 That in the colors of the rainbow live 300 
 
 And play i' the plighted clouds. I was awe-struck. 
 And as I passed, I worshipped. If those you seek, 
 It were a journey like the path to heaven 
 To help you find them. 
 
 La(£y. 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 starlight. 
 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, 
 
38 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 Dingle, or bushy dell of this wild wood, 
 And every bosky bourne from side to side, 
 My daily walks and ancient neighborhood; 
 And if your stray attendance be yet lodged ■ 815 
 
 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. 330 
 
 Enter the Two Brothers. 
 
 Elder Brother. Unmuffle, ye faint stars, and thou, fair 
 moon, 
 That wontest 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 
 
COMUS 39 
 
 With thy long levelled rule of streaming light, 340 
 
 And thou shalt be our star of Arcady, 
 Or Tyrian Cynosure. 
 
 Second Brother. Or, if our eyes 
 
 Be barred that happiness, might we but hear 
 The folded flocks penned in their wattled cotes. 
 Or sound of pastoral reed with oaten stops, 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 burrs and this- 
 tles? 
 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. 355 
 What if in wild amazement and affright. 
 Or, while we speak, within the direful grasp 
 Of savage hunger or of savage heat? 
 
 Elder Brother. Peace, brother, be not over-exquisite 
 
 To cast the fashion of uncertain evils, 360 
 
 For, grant they be so, while they rest unknown. 
 
 What need a man forestall his date of grief. 
 
 And run to meet what he would most avoid ? 
 
 Or if they be but false alarms of fear. 
 
 How bitter is such self-delusion! 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 Hght and noise 
 
40 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 (Not being in danger, as I trust she is not) 370 
 
 Could stir the constant mood of her calm thoughts 
 And put them into misbecoming plight. 
 Virtue could see to do what Virtue would 
 By her own radiant light, though sun and moon 
 Were in the flat sea sunk. And Wisdom's self 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 thoughts 
 Benighted walks under the mid-day sun; 
 Himself is his own dungeon. 
 Second Brother. '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 gray hairs any violence? 
 But beauty, like the fair Hesperian tree 
 Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard 
 Of dragon-watch wdth 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 
 
COMUS 41 
 
 Danger will wink on opportunity 
 
 And let a single helpless maiden pass 
 
 Uninjured in this wild surrounding waste. 
 
 Of night or loneliness it recks me not; 
 
 I fear the dread events that dog them both, 405 
 
 Lest some ill-greeting touch attempt the person 
 
 Of our unowned sister. 
 
 Elder Brother. I do not, brother, 
 
 Infer as if I thought my sister's state 
 Secure without all doubt or controversy; 
 Yet where an equal poise of hope and fear 410 
 
 Does arbitrate the event, my nature is 
 That I incline to hope rather than fear, 
 And gladly banish squint suspicion. 
 My sister is not so defenceless left 
 
 As you imagine; she has a hidden strength 415 
 
 Which you remember not. 
 
 Second Brother. What hidden strength. 
 
 Unless the strength of Heaven, if you mean that ? 
 
 Elder Brother. I mean that too, but yet a hidden strength 
 Which, if Heaven gave it, may be termed her own ; 
 '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, bandit, 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 
 
42 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 Be it not done in pride or in presumption. 
 
 Some say no evil thing that walks by night, 
 
 In fog, or fire, by lake, or moorish fen. 
 
 Blue meagre hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost 
 
 That breaks his magic chains at curfew time, 435 
 
 No goblin, or swart faery of the mine, 
 
 Hath hurtful power o'er true virginity. 
 
 Do ye beUeve 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 forever 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. 
 
COMUS 4a 
 
 And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence, 
 
 Till all be made immortal. But when lust 
 
 By unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk, 
 
 But most by lewd and lavish act of sin, 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 loath to leave the body that it loved. 
 
 And linked itself by carnal sensualty 
 
 To a degenerate and degraded state. 475 
 
 Second Brother. How charming is divine philosophy, 
 Not harsh, and crabbed, as dull fools suppose, 
 But musical as is Apollo's lute. 
 And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets. 
 Where no crude surfeit reigns! 
 
 Elder Brother. List, list! I hear 480 
 
 Some far-off halloo break the silent air. 
 
 Second Brother. Methought so too. What should it be ? 
 
 Elder Brother. For certain 
 
 Either some one like us night-foundered here, 
 Or else some neighbor woodman, or, at worst, 
 Some roving robber calling to his fellows. 485 
 
 Second Brother. Heaven keep my sister! Again, again, 
 and near! 
 Best draw, and stand upon our guard. 
 
 Elder Brother. I '11 halloo. 
 
 If he be friendly, he comes well; if not. 
 Defence is a good cause, and Heaven be for us. 
 
44 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 Enter the Attendant Spirit, habited like a shepherd. 
 
 That halloo I should know. What are you ? Speak ! 490 
 Come not too near; you fall on iron stakes else! 
 
 Spirit. What voice is that? — my young Lord? — speak 
 again. 
 
 Second Brother. O brother, 't is my father's shepherd, 
 sure. 
 
 Elder Brother. Thyrsis — 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 could'st thou find this dark sequestered nook ? 500 
 
 Spirit. O my loved master's heir, and his next joy, 
 I came not here on such a trivial toy 
 As a strayed ewe, or to pursue the stealth 
 Of pilfering wolf; not all the fleecy wealth 
 That doth enrich these downs is worth a thought 505 
 To this my errand, and the care it brought. 
 But, O my virgin Lady, where is she? 
 How chance she is not in your company? 
 
 Elder Brother. To tell thee sadly, shepherd, without 
 blame. 
 Or our neglect, we lost her as we came. 5 10 
 
 Spirit. Ay, me unhappy! then my fears are true. 
 
 Elder Brother. What fears, good Thyrsis ? Prithee briefly 
 shew. 
 
 Spirit. I '11 tell ye; 't is not vain, or fabulous 
 (Though so esteemed by shallow ignorance), 
 
COMUS 45 
 
 What the sage poets, taught by the heavenly Muse, 5i5 
 
 Storied of old in high immortal verse. 
 
 Of dire chimeras, and enchanted isles. 
 
 And rifted rocks whose entrance leads to hell. 
 
 For such there be, but unbeHef is blind. 
 
 Within the navel of this hideous wood, 620 
 
 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, 625 
 
 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 I have 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 unwitting by the way. 
 This evening late, by then the chewing flocks 540 
 
 Had ta'en their supper on the savory 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, 
 
46 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 To meditate my rural minstrelsy, 
 
 Till Fancy had her fill. But, ere a close, 
 
 The wonted roar was up amidst the woods' 
 
 And filled the air with barbarous dissonance; 550 
 
 At which I ceased, and listened them 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 solemif-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 did I perceive it was the voice 
 
 Of my most honored 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 
 
COMUS 47 
 
 Ye were the two she meant. With that I sprung 
 Into swift flight, till I had found you here, 
 But further know I not. 
 
 Second Brother. O night and shades, 580 
 
 How are ye joined with hell in triple knot 
 Against the unarmed weakness of one virgin, 
 Alone and helpless! Is this the confidence 
 You gave me, brother? 
 
 Elder Brother. Yes, and keep it still. 
 
 Lean on it safely. Not a period 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 itself, 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 grisly legions that troop . 
 Under the sooty flag of Acheron, 
 
 Harpies and Hydras, or all the monstrous forms 605 
 'Twixt Africa and Ind, I'll find him out, 
 
48 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 And force him to return his purchase back, 
 Or drag him by the curls to a foul death, 
 Cursed as his life. 
 
 Spirit. Alas! good venturous youth, 
 
 I love thy courage yet and bold emprise, 6io 
 
 But here thy sword can do thee little stead. 
 
 Far other arms and other weapons must 
 
 Be those that quell the might of hellish charms. 
 
 He with his bare wand can unthread thy joints, 
 
 And crumble all thy sinews. 
 
 Elder Brother. Why prithee, shepherd, 6 15 
 
 How durst thou then thyself approach so near 
 As to make this relation ? 
 
 Spirit. Care and utmost shifts 
 
 How to secure the Lady from surprisal 
 Brought to my mind a certain shepherd lad. 
 Of small regard to see to, yet well skilled 620 
 
 In every virtuous plant and healing herb 
 That spreads her verdant leaf to the morning ray. 
 He loved me well, and oft would beg me sing. 
 Which when I did, he on the tender grass 
 Would sit and hearken e'en to ecstasy, 625 
 
 And in requital ope his leathern scrip 
 And show me simples of a thousand names, 
 Telling their strange and vigorous faculties. 
 Amongst the rest a small unsightly root, 
 But of divine effect, he culled me out. 630 
 
 The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it. 
 But in another country, as he said, 
 Bore a bright golden flower, but not in this soil. 
 Unknown and Hke esteemed, and the dull swain 
 Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon, 635 
 
COMUS 49 
 
 And yet more med'cinal is it than that Moly 
 That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave. 
 He called it Hsemony, and gave it me, 
 And bade me keep it as of sovran use 
 'Gainst all enchantments, mildew-blast, or damp, 640 
 Or ghastly furies' apparition. 
 I pursed it up, but little reckoning made. 
 Till now that this extremity compelled. 
 But now I find it true; for by this means 
 I knew the foul enchanter though disguised, 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. 
 Elder Brother. Thyrsis, lead on apace, I'll follow thee 
 And some good angel bear a shield before us. 
 
 The scene changes to a stately palace, set out with all manner of de- 
 liciousness; soft mitsic, 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 
 
 Youf nerves are all chained up in alabaster, 660 
 
 And you a statue, or as Daphne was, 
 Root-bound, that fled Apollo. 
 
50 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 Lady. Fool, do not boast: 
 
 Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind 
 With all thy charms, although this corporal rind 
 Thou hast enmanacled while Heaven sees good. 665 
 
 Comus. Why are you vexed, Lady ? Why do you frown ? 
 Here dwell no frowns nor anger; from these gates 
 Sorrow flies far. See, here be all the pleasures 
 That Fancy can beget on youthful thoughts, 
 When the fresh blood grows lively and returns 670 
 
 Brisk as the April buds in primrose season. 
 And first behold this cordial julep here 
 That flames and dances in his crystal bounds. 
 With spirits of balm and fragrant sirups 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 Hfe 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. 'T will not, false traitor, 690 
 
 'T will not restore the truth and honesty 
 That thou hast banished from thy tongue with lies. 
 
COMUS 51 
 
 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 
 With visored falsehood and base forgery, 
 And would'st 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 7 10 
 
 With such a full and unwithdrawing hand, 
 Covering the earth with odors, 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, 7 15 
 
 That in their green shops weave the smooth-haired 
 
 silk, 
 To deck her sons. And that no corner might 
 Be vacant of her plenty, in her own loins 
 She hutched th' all-worshipped ore, and precious 
 
 gems, 
 To store her children with. If all the world "20 
 
 Should in a pet of temperance feed on pulse, 
 Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but frieze. 
 
52 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 Th' 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. 
 Who would be quite surcharged with her own weight, 
 And strangled with her waste fertility. 
 The earth cumbered, and the winged air darked with 
 
 plumes, 730 
 
 The herds would over-multitude their lords, 
 The sea o'erfraught would swell, and the unsought 
 
 diamonds 
 Would so emblaze the forehead of the deep, 
 And so bestud with stars, that they below 
 Would grow inured to light, and come at last 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, 
 Unsavory 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 the huswife's wool. 
 
COMUS 53 
 
 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 
 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 unsupetfluous 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 ? 
 
54 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 Thou hast not 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. 
 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 sympa- 
 thize, 
 And the brute earth would lend her nerves and 
 
 shake, 
 Till all thy magic structures, reared so high, 
 Were shattered into heaps o'er thy false head. 
 Comus. She fables not. I feel that I do fear 800 
 
 Her words set off by some superior power; 
 And, though not mortal, yet a cold shuddering 
 
 dew 
 Dips me all o'er, as when the wrath of Jove 
 Speaks thunder and the chains of Erebus 
 To some of Saturn's crew. I must dissemble, 805 
 
 And try her yet more strongly. 
 
 Come, no more! 
 This is mere moral babble, and direct 
 Against the canon laws of our foundation. 
 I must not suffer this, yet 't is but the lees 
 And settlings of a melancholy blood. 8 10 
 
 But this will cure all straight; one sip of this 
 
COMUS 55 
 
 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 
 resistance, but are all driven in. The Attendant Spirit comes 
 in. 
 
 Spirit. What, have you let the false enchanter 'scape? 
 
 O ye mistook, ye should have snatched his wand, 8i5 
 
 And bound him fast. Without his rod reversed, 
 
 And backward mutters of dissevering power, 
 
 We cannot free the Lady that sits here 
 
 In stony fetters fixed and motionless. 
 
 Yet stay, be not disturbed; now I bethink me, 820 
 
 Some other means I have which may be used. 
 
 Which once of Meliboeus old I learnt, 
 
 The soothest shepherd that e'er piped on plains. 
 
 There is a gentle nymph not far from hence, 
 That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn 
 
 stream. 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 embathe 
 In nectared lavers strewed with asphodel. 
 
5Q MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 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 twihght meadows. 
 
 Helping all urchin blasts and ill luck signs 845 
 
 That the shrewd meddling elf delights to make. 
 
 Which she with precious vialed hquors heals^ 
 
 For which the shepherds at their festivals 
 
 Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays, 
 
 And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream 850 
 
 Of pansies, pinks, and gaudy daffodils. 
 
 And, as the old swain said, she can unlock 
 
 The clasping charm, and thaw the numbing spell, 
 
 If she be right invoked in warbled song; 
 
 For maidenhood she loves, and will be swift 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, translucejit wave. 
 
 In twisted braids of lilies knitting 
 The loose train of thy amber-droppiiig hair. 
 Listen for dear honoris sake. 
 
 Goddess of the silver lake, 865 
 
 Listen and save ! 
 
 Listen and appear to us 
 In name of great Oceanus. 
 
COMUS 57 
 
 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 w^inding shell 
 
 And old soothsaying Glaucus' spejl. 
 
 By Leucothea's lovely hands 875 
 
 And her son that rules the strands, 
 
 By Thetis' tinsel-slippered feet 
 
 And the songs of Sirens sweet, 
 
 By dead Parthenope's dear tomb, 
 
 And fair Ligea's golden comb, sso 
 
 Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks 
 
 Sleeking her soft alluring locks, 
 
 By all the nymphs that nightly dance 
 
 Upon thy streams with wily glance, 
 
 Rise, rise, and heave thy rosy head 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 hank, 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, 
 
58 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 That bends not as I tread; 
 
 Gentle swain, at thy request 900 
 
 I am here! 
 Spirit. Goddess dear, 
 
 We implore thy powerful hand 
 
 To undo the charmed band 
 
 Of true virgin here distressed 905 
 
 Through the force and through the wile 
 
 Of unblest enchanter vile. 
 Sabrina. Shepherd, 't is my oflBce best 
 
 To help ensnared chastity: 
 
 Brightest Lady, look on me; 910 
 
 Thus I sprinkle on thy breast 
 
 Drops that from my fountain pure 
 
 I have kept of precious cure. 
 
 Thrice upon thy fingers' tip, 
 
 Thrice upon thy rubied lip, 916 
 
 Next, this marble venomed seat. 
 
 Smeared with gums of glutinous heat, 
 
 I touch with chaste palms moist and cold. 
 
 Now the spell hath lost his hold; 
 
 And I must haste, ere morning hour, 920 
 
 To wait in Amphitrite's bower. 
 
 Sabrina descends, and the Lady rises out of her seat. 
 
 Spirit. Virgin, daughter of Locrine, 
 Sprung of old Anchises' hne. 
 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 
 
COMUS 59 
 
 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. 
 
 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 hoUer 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. 
 
 The scene changes, presenting Ludlow town and the President's 
 castle; then come in Country Dancers, after them the Attend- 
 ant Spirit with the Two Brothers and the Lady, 
 
60 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 Song 
 
 Spirit. Back, shepherds, back! enough you play 
 Till next sunshine holiday. 
 
 Here be, without duck or nod, 960 
 
 Other ti'ippings to be trod 
 Of lighter toes, and such court guise 
 As Mercury did first devise 
 With the mincing Dryades, 
 On the lawns and on the leas. 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 tiixth. 
 
 And sent them here through hard essays 
 
 With a crown of deathless praise. 
 
 To triumph in victorious dance 
 
 O'er sensual folly, and intemperance. 975 
 
 The dances ended, the Spirit epilogizes. 
 
 Spirit. To the ocean now I fly, 
 
 And those happy climes that lie 
 
 Where day never shuts his eye, 
 
 Up in the broad fields of the sky: 
 
 There I suck the liquid air 980 
 
 All amidst the gardens fair 
 
 Of Hesperus and his daughters three 
 
 That sing about the .golden tree: 
 
 Along the crisped shades and bowers 
 
COMUS • 61 
 
 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 
 Waters the odorous banks that blow 
 Flowers of more mingled hue 
 
 Than her purfled scarf can show, 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 looo 
 
 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, lOOS 
 
 After her wand' ring labors 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, lOio 
 
 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, ioi5 
 
 And from thence can soar as soon 
 
MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 To the corners of the moon. 
 
 Mortals that would follow me, 
 Love Virtue — she alone is free. 
 
 She can teach ye how to chmb 1020 
 
 Higher than the sphery chime. 
 Or, if Virtue feeble were, 
 Heaven itself would stoop to her. 
 
VII 
 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 harsh 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. 
 
 For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime, 
 
 Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer. 
 
 Who would not sing for Lycidas ? He knew lo 
 
 Himself to sing, and build the lofty rime. 
 
 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 sweep the string. .VI 
 
 Hence with denial vain and coy excuse; ' 
 
 So may some gentle Muse 
 
 With lucky words favor my destined urn, 20 
 
 63 
 
 ^ 
 
64 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 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; 
 Together both, ere the high lawns appeared 25 
 
 Under the opening eyelids of the morn, 
 We drove afield, and both together heard 
 What time the gray-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 O 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 wiflows, 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, 
 
LYCIDAS 65 
 
 Where your old bards, the famous Druids, lie, 
 
 Nor on the shaggy top of Mona high, ^ 
 
 Nor yet where Deva spreads her wizard stream. 55 
 
 Ay me! I fondly dream i^j^ V 
 
 Had ye been there — for what could that have done ? 
 
 What could the Muse herself that Orpheus bore, . ^ 
 
 The Muse herself, for her enchanting son, i - 
 
 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 :0 p| 70 
 (That last infirmity of noble mind) iN^ \ 
 
 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 trembhng ears, 
 ''Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil. 
 Nor in the glistering foil 
 
 Set off to the world, nor in broad rumor Hes, so 
 
 But Uves 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." 
 

 66 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 ^ O fountain Arethuse, and thou, honored flood, 85 
 
 ;i^ Smooth-sUding Mincius, crowned with vocal reeds, 
 "^That strain I heard was of a higher mood, 
 f But now my oat proceeds, 
 5 And Hstens to the herald of the sea, 
 
 That came in ^eptune's plea. 90 
 
 e asked the waves, and asked the felon winds, 
 ?p-^What hard mishap hath doomed this gentle swain? 
 \ And questioned every gust of rugged wings 
 ^ That blows from off each beaked promontory. 
 "T They knew not of his story, 95 
 
 c And sage Hippotades their answer brings, 
 ^ That not a blast was from his dungeon strayed. 
 3 The air was calm, and on the level brine 
 ^ Sleek Panope with all her sisters played. 
 >J 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 rnantle hairy, and his bonnet sedge. 
 Inwrought with figures dim, and on the edge 105 
 
 < Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe. 
 V "Ah! who hath reft," quoth he, **my dearest pledge?" 
 i^ Last came, and last did go, 
 "Y^i^The Pilot of the Galilean lake; 
 
 V*^ Two massy keys he bore of metals twain i lO 
 
 (The golden opes, the iron shuts amain). 
 He shook his mitred locks, and stern bespake: 
 **How well could I have spared for thee, young swain, 
 Enow of such as for their bellies' sake 
 
 Creep, and intrude, and climb into the fold! ii5 
 
 Of other care they little reckoning make. 
 
 I 
 
LYCIDAS 67 
 
 Than how to scramble at the shearer's feast, 
 
 And shove away the worthy bidden guest. 
 
 BHnd mouths ! that scarce themselves know how to hold 
 
 A sheep-hook, or have learned aught else the least 120 
 
 That to the faithful herdman's art belongs! 
 
 What 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, 
 
 Rot 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 lap the swart star sparely looks, 
 Throw hither all your quaint enamelled eyes. 
 That on the green turf suck the honied 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, 
 With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head. 
 And every flower that sad embroidery wears; 
 
68 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 Bid amaranthus all his beauty shed, 
 
 And daffadillies 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, 16O 
 
 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. v V^ 
 
 Weep no more, woeful shepherds, weep no more, 165 
 
 For Lycidas, your sorrow, is not dead, 
 vSunk though he be beneath the watery floor. ^ 
 
 So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed, ^ 
 
 And yet anon repairs his drooping head, Ni 
 
 And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore j^ 170 
 Flames in the forehead of the morning sky. v? <t^ 
 
 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 unexpressive nuptial song. 
 In the blest kingdoms meek of joy and love. 
 There entertain him all the saints above. 
 In solemn troops and sweet societies, 
 That sing and, singing, in their glory move, I80 
 
LYCIDAS 69 
 
 And wipe the tears forever 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 gray; 
 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 dropped into the western bay. 
 At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blue: 
 To-morrow to fresh woods, and pastures new. 
 
VIII 
 TO MR. H. LA WES, ON HIS AIRS 
 
 Harry, whose tuneful and well-measured song 
 First taught our English music how to span 
 Words with just note and accent, not to scan 
 
 With Midas' ears, committing short and long, 
 
 Thy w^orth and skill exempts thee from the throng, 5 
 
 With praise enough for Envy to look wan; 
 To after age thou shalt be writ the man 
 
 That with smooth air couldst humor best our tongue. 
 
 Thou honor' st Verse, and Verse must lend her wing 
 
 To honor thee, the priest of Phoebus' quire, lo 
 
 That tun'st their happiest lines in hymn or story. 
 Dante shall give Fame leave to set thee higher • 
 
 Than his Casella, whom he wooed to sing. 
 Met in the milder shades of Purgatory. 
 
 70 
 
IX 
 
 ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN 
 PIEDMONT 
 
 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 Piedmontese, 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 lo 
 
 O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway 
 
 The triple Tyrant; that from these may grow 
 A hundredfold, who having learnt the way 
 
 Early may fly the Babylonian woe. 
 
 71 
 
X 
 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-labor, 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 lo 
 
 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." 
 
 72 
 
NOTES 
 
 I— ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST'S NATIVITY 
 
 Milton began this Ode on Christmas Day, 1629. The odes 
 on The Passion and The Circumcision were probably intended 
 to accompany it. It is significant to find the poet selecting 
 such themes already in his youth. 
 
 This Ode, or Hymn, the first of Milton's great poems, is a 
 wonderful achievement both in its conception and lyrical 
 quality for one so young, just twenty-one, and still at the 
 University. Its careful elaboration is too marked; hke L'Al- 
 legro and II Penseroso, it was doubtless more or less of a set 
 exercise, and the poet had not yet learned to perfect his art to 
 the point where it conceals itself. The tendency in it, also, to the 
 use of conceit, or extravagant metaphor, characteristic of the 
 age, and of Cambridge particularly, is so marked that it has been 
 called a piece of frozen Marinism (referring to the assumed 
 influence of the Italian, Marini, in promoting such conceit). 
 But, none the less, it is one of the most beautiful poems in the 
 language. We cannot do better than to recall here Verity's 
 fine appreciation of it. "Milton reveals here many of those 
 qualities which have won for Paradise Lost a place apart in our 
 literature. The Hymn is a foretaste of the epic. We have 
 the same learning, full for the classical scholar of far-reaching 
 suggestion: the same elevation and inspired enthusiasm of 
 tone: even (to note a small but not valueless detail) the same 
 happy device of weaving in the narrative names that raise in us 
 a vague thrill of awe, a sense of things remote and great and 
 mysterious: above all, the same absolute grandeur of style. 
 No other English poet rivals Milton in a certain majesty of 
 music* a dignity of sound so irresistible that the only thing to 
 which we can compare it (and the comparison has been made 
 a thousand times), is the strains of an organ. This command 
 over great effects of harmony places Paradise Lost beyond 
 
 73 
 
74 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 competition. It informs the best passages of Milton's prose- 
 works. And of all the early poems none displays it so con- 
 spicuously as the Nativity Ode.'' 
 
 Lovers of English verse hold it in memory with that other 
 transcendent poem on the Nativity by the ill-fated poet 
 Crashaw — each so beautiful, though so different. 
 
 Line 1-28. — The opening stanzas are in rhne royal, 
 {ababb c c) , but with an Alexandrine, or six-foot iambic verse, 
 in place of the usual five-foot verse in the last line. The rime 
 royal owed its vogue, which extended throughout the sixteenth 
 century, to Chaucer. Milton here follows Spenser's use of it in 
 his Four Hymns. 
 
 5. — sages. The prophets. 
 
 6. — deadly forfeit. The penalty of death incurred through 
 Adam and removed by Christ. 
 
 10. — wont. Was wont; past tense of won, dwell, be accus- 
 tomed — an archaism. 
 
 11. — midst. The middle (one); a Spenserian use. 
 
 15. — Compare Paradise Lost, I, 6. The nine Muses were the 
 goddesses of poetry, music, painting, and other "arts." They 
 were supposed to inspire those who invoked their aid in the pur- 
 suit of these arts; hence, the invocation of the "Muse" by 
 modern poets, as, in the present case, an imagined Muse of 
 sacred song. — vein. Humor, spirit; here, the spirit or mental 
 state in which "song," or poetry, is composed. 
 
 19. — team. The horses which drew the chariot of Phoebus. 
 
 20.— print. Of the hoofs of the "Sun's team." 
 
 21. — spangled. Distributed over and spangling the heavens. 
 
 23. — wizards. The wise men, or Magi; see Matthew, ii, 2. 
 
 24. — prevent. Come before, anticipate; the etymological 
 meaning. 
 
 28. — See Isaiah, vi, 6-7. — secret. In a place apart. 
 
 29. — The metre here changes to a stanza devised by Milton 
 made up of " tail rime, " a a b c c b, with lines of three and five 
 stresses, followed by a couplet consisting of a four-stressed line 
 followed by an Alexandrine. Note that in some lines the first 
 foot consists of a stressed syllable only. 
 
 33. — gaudy trim. Bright or gay attire, i. e., that of sum- 
 mer. 
 
 36. — paramour. Lover. 
 
 39. — guilty. As being under the curse of sin. Notice the 
 over-elaborate metaphor, or "conceit." See Camus, 197, n. 
 
NOTES 75 
 
 41. — pollute. Polluted; an adaptation of Latin pollutus. 
 Of many such adaptations in Elizabethan and seventeenth- 
 century English, one or two remain to-day — situate, consecrate. 
 
 47. — olive. The olive is associated with peace because of 
 the twig brought back by the dove after the Flood. 
 
 48. — the turning sphere. An allusion derived from the 
 Ptolemaic theory of the heavens. See Comus, 2, n. 
 
 50. — turtle wing. The wing of the turtle-dove. The turtle- 
 dove typifies meekness and undying loyalty. 
 
 51. ^myrtle. The myrtle was sacred to Venus, but there is 
 no obvious explanation of its association with peace. 
 
 56. — hooked. With wheels armed with blades like scythes or 
 reaping-hooks. Chariots thus armed were used by various 
 ancient peoples. 
 
 64. — whist. Hushed. Milton imitates The Tempest, I, ii, 
 378, 379, — " Court 'sied when you have, and kist the wild waves 
 whist"; i. e., "When you have court'sied and have caused by 
 your kissing the wild waves to become whist." Whist, origi- 
 nally an interjection, meaning "be quiet," came to be used as a 
 participle. Compare hist, II Penseroso, 55. 
 
 68. — birds of calm. The halcyons, or king-fishers, during 
 whose breeding period the sea, according to classical belief, re- 
 mained calm. Compare the phrase "halcyon days," /. Henry 
 VI, I, ii, 131. 
 
 71. — one way. Toward the Saviour's birthplace. — influence. 
 The power of the stars, according to the pseudo-science of 
 astrology, by which power they are enabled to shape the 
 characters and fortunes of men and to determine events. 
 Here the power is a tribute to the infant Saviour. 
 
 74. — Lucifer. The morning star, or, as the word implies, 
 "light-b ringer." 
 
 81. — as. — As if. 
 
 84. — axletree. Milton frequently uses the classical concep- 
 tion of the sun as a chariot. Compare Comus, 95, 96. 
 
 85. — lawn. A pasture, upland; originally a clear space in a 
 wood. 
 
 86. — or ere. Here "before" merely, though properly mean- 
 ing "before ever," an emphatic form not needed here. 
 
 87. — simply. In simple country fashion. 
 
 88. — than. Obsolete form of then. 
 
 89. — the mighty Pan. Pan was the god of the shepherds, and, 
 later, the god of fruitful Nature, the productive universe. Mil- 
 
76 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 ton here refers to Christ under this name, following Spenser, as 
 the great shepherd, the omnipotent one. The term mighty is 
 not intended, however, as sometimes explained, to set off 
 the "mighty" Pan, Christ, as against the pagan deity. 
 
 91, 92. — A reference to the pastoral convention of the shep- 
 herd's life. See the prefatory note to Lycidas below. 
 
 92. — silly. Innocent, harmless; its original sense. 
 
 95. — strook. Obsolete preterit and participle of strike. 
 
 97. — noise. Originally either inharmonious or, as here, har- 
 monious sound. 
 
 98. — took. Charmed, bewitched; an obsolete sense. 
 
 100. — close. Cadence, fall. 
 
 102, 103. — The "hollow round" is the sphere of the moon; 
 see II Penseroso, 88. The moon is called here by one of the 
 names of Artemis or Diana, goddess of the moon as Apollo or 
 Phoebus is god of the sun. The name is derived from Mount 
 Cynthus in Delos, their reputed birthplace. Cf. Comus, 441, n. 
 
 103. — region. A part of the universe; here, specifically, that 
 of the air (as in our "upper regions of the air"). 
 
 106. — its. Used only three times by Milton; here and in 
 Paradise Lost, I, 254; IV, 813. This new form of the neuter 
 genitive had not yet wholly ousted the original his. — last ful- 
 filling. Final completion or fulfilled end, heaven and earth 
 now seemingly made one. 
 
 107, 108. — The idea of the "music of the spheres," the divine 
 harmony of the universe under law, is a favorite one with Milton. 
 See 1. 125, n., and Arcades, 68-72. 
 
 108. — union. Trisyllabic. See for this and similar cases, 
 Comus, 1. 298, n. 
 
 110. — globe. An orb or sphere, a compact whole. 
 
 114. — displayed. Unfolded; the etymologic meaning. 
 
 116. — unexpressive. Not to be expressed or described. 
 
 119. — Sons of Morning. The morning stars; see Isaiah, xiv, 
 12. The stanza is based on Job, xxxviii, 4-11.— sung. A 
 number of preterit forms current in Milton's time are no longer 
 good usage. 
 
 120, 121. — Note the rime. Milton here (see also L' Allegro, 
 101, 102) used the Southern (Kentish) pronunciation gret. 
 
 125. — Milton drew from Plato the beautiful conception of 
 Pythagoras, of the "music of the spheres"; namely, the nine 
 crystal spheres (see Comus, 2, n.) in which the heavenly bodies 
 were set, having each its siren who, as the sphere revolved, sang 
 
NOTES 77 
 
 a characteristic note, these notes blending in harmony usually 
 unheard (hence the force of 1. 127), but now for once (1. 125) to 
 "bless our human ears." 
 
 130. — organ. Milton's favorite instrument. 
 
 131. — ninefold. Of the nine spheres. 
 
 132. — consort. Concord, harmony. 
 
 135. — Age of Gold. The Golden Age when Saturn reigned, 
 and man lived in innocence and peace without labor. 
 
 136. — speckled. That is, with the marks of disease. Com- 
 pare leprous, 1. 138. 
 
 140. — mansions. Used in its etymologic sense of "abiding- 
 places." 
 
 141-143. — In reference to Astraea, i. e., Justice, leaving the 
 earth when the Golden Age ended, together with Pudicitia, to 
 return when the Golden Age should return. 
 
 146. — tissued. Woven like silver or golden tissue. 
 
 155. — ychained. The y is the remnant of the A. S. participial 
 prefix, ge, still retained in German; an archaism imitated from 
 Spenser. — sleep. The sleep of death. 
 
 157.— See Exodus, xix, 16-20; Thessalonians, 13-16. 
 
 163. ^session. The technical word for the sitting of a court. 
 Trisyllabic like union above. 
 
 168. — The Old Dragon. Satan. See Revelation, xii, and xx, 2. 
 
 172. — swinges. Causes to swing, swings or lashes with vio- 
 lence. 
 
 173^. — Milton uses the tradition that at Christ's birth the 
 pagan deities left the earth and the pagan oracles became dumb. 
 
 174. — hideous. Causing terror; not as to-day, shocking, re- 
 pulsive. 
 
 178. — Delphos. More usually Delphi. 
 
 184. — In reference to the genii loci (1. 186) or local divinities 
 of the classic mythology. 
 
 188.— Nymphs. See Comus, 422, n. 
 
 191. — Lars and Lemures. The Lares were spirits of dead an- 
 cestors worshipped by the Romans on "the holy hearth," the 
 Lararia where their images were kept. The Lemures were 
 spirits of evil men, who came at night from their graves to 
 trouble the living, and required propitiation. 
 
 194. — Flamens. The priests of the Romans. — quaint. Strange 
 or curious; a sense now obsolete. 
 
 195. — The sweating of statues is frequently referred to by 
 the ancients as a portent. 
 
78 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 197.— Peor. Baal-Peor, a title of the chief male god of the 
 Phoenician and Canaanitish nations (Numbers, xxv, 18, xxxi, 
 16).— Baalim (ba'-a-lim). Plural of Baal, Lord, used to denote 
 the gods of these nations in general. 
 
 199.— twice-battered god. Dagon. See 2. Samuel, v, 3, 4. 
 200.— Ashtaroth. The chief female deity of the Phoenicians, 
 and the same as Astarte, Istar, and Aphrodite, typified by the 
 moon among the Phoenicians, and represented with the horns 
 of the crescent moon. See 204, n. The titles " heaven's queen 
 and mother" belong properly to Cybele and Juno (Verity). 
 
 203. — Lybic Hammon. Ammon, god of oracles in upper 
 Egypt, here called Lybic as worshipped in the Libyan Desert, 
 was represented as a ram with horns, typifying power; hence the 
 phrase "shrinks his horn." 
 
 204. — Thammuz (in the derived Greek myth, the human 
 youth, Adonis, beloved by Aphrodite, the Greek Ashtaroth) was 
 the sun-god of the Phoenicians. He was killed by a wild boar 
 in Lebanon, according to the myth, and brought back by Ashta- 
 roth from the lower world. At the festivals at Byblos in his 
 honor (held yearly at the time of the reddening of the waters of 
 the river Adonis, a local phenomenon ascribed to the blood of 
 Thammuz flowing afresh) women lamented his death, and then 
 turned to rejoice over his resurrection. Compare Ezekiel, viii, 
 14, and Paradise Lost, I, 446. — Tyrian. Of Tyre, i. e., Phoeni- 
 cian. 
 
 205. — Moloch. A god of the Canaanites to whom children 
 were offered as burnt sacrifices. According to a Rabbinical 
 tradition, of apparently ho truth, the children were placed in his 
 arms and thence fell into the flames. Milton could read of 
 "burning idol" in Sandys's Travels, where the idol is described 
 as of brass, filled with fire, whose heat burned to death the sac- 
 rifices placed in its arms, while "lest their lamentable shrieks 
 should sad the hearts of their parents, the priests of Moloch did 
 deaf their ears with the continual clang of trumpets and 
 timbrels." 
 
 211. — brutish. As worshipped under the form of animals. 
 
 212. — Isis. The goddess of the earth. — Orus, Horus, god of 
 the sun. — Anubis. Son of Osiris, who guided souls in the lower 
 world before Osiris for judgment. 
 
 213. — Osiris. The chief god of the Egyptians who became 
 identified with Apis and was worshipped under the form of the 
 Sacred Bull, the Apis, kept in the temple of Serapis at Memphis. 
 
NOTES 79 
 
 215. — unshowered. Referring to the fact that Egypt has no rain. 
 
 217. — Osiris was put to death by his brother Set, who, having 
 made a richly decorated chest, exactly adapted to Osiris 's figure, 
 offered it at a banquet to the person whom it would fit. Osiris, 
 when he lay down within it, was caught and thrown into the 
 Nile. Milton here uses Plutarch^s treatise on Isis and Osiris 
 (Osgood). Osiris finally became ruler of the lower regions and 
 judge of the souls of men. 
 
 220. — sable-stoled. In sable or black robes. The stola of the 
 Romans was a long robe for women. In modern English use, 
 it is a black or embroidered band worn by clergymen about the 
 neck and hanging down over the surplice. 
 
 223. — eyn. The archaic plural with -en of eye. 
 
 226. — Typhon. A huge monster of classical mythology, 
 human above, but with his thighs folded with serpents. In 
 battle with the gods, he was slain by Zeus. Milton evidently, 
 following Plutarch, identifies Typhon with Set, the brother and 
 enemy of Osiris. 
 
 228. — As Masson notes, the "snaky twine" suggested the 
 image of Hercules in the cradle strangling the serpents, which 
 Milton applies to the infant Christ. 
 
 229. — A pure conceit, grotesque in its suggestion to modern 
 taste. See Comus, 197, n. 
 
 232. — In figurative reference to the belief that ghosts may not 
 walk after dawn, being "fettered" by their "magic chains." 
 See Comus, 435, n. 
 
 234. — several. Separate. 
 
 236. — night-steeds. The steeds of the chariot of night. See 
 Comus, 553, n. — moon-loved maze. Winding or interwoven 
 dance, beloved of the moon. 
 
 240. — youngest-teemed. Youngest, wor latest, born. 
 
 242. — A conceit, not a reference to the parable of the Ten 
 Virgins. 
 
 243. — courtly. That has become a court. 
 
 244. — bright-harnessed. In bright harness, or armor. 
 
 II— ON SHAKESPEARE. 1630 
 
 The date is fixed by the title in the edition of 1645. It first 
 appeared in the Second Folio of Shakespeare, 1632. Milton 
 might well dedicate this beautiful tribute to a poet to whom, as 
 jioted above, he owed almost as much as he did to Spenser. 
 
80 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 Title. The title in the edition of 1645 is "On Shakespear, 
 1630." In the Second Foho it reads, "An epitaph on the ad- 
 mirable dramatic poet W. Shakespeare." 
 
 1. — What needs. What need hath my Shakespeare ... of 
 the labor, etc. What=why, for what purpose, is frequent in 
 this idiom in Shakespeare. — Shakespeare. Milton spells the 
 name without the final e. Many variant spellings of the poet's 
 name are found, but the weight of testimony is heavily in favor 
 of Shakespeare. 
 
 4. — star-ypointing. The y is the participial prefix, as in 
 yclept. See note on the Nativity Ode, 155. Milton, to whom 
 it is merely a poetic archaism, does not hesitate to use it with a 
 present participle. The sense is "pointing to the stars." 
 
 8. — livelong. "Lasting" in the Second Folio. 
 
 10. — easy numbers. Shakespeare's facility in composition is 
 attested by Ben Jonson in his Discoveries, and in the preface to 
 the First Folio by his fellow-players, Heminge and Condell, its 
 editors (Masson). Milton's art was, on the contrary, "slow- 
 endeavoring." 
 
 11. — unvalued. Invaluable. 
 
 12. — Delphic. Oracular (as if uttered at Delphi). 
 
 13. — our fancy of itself bereaving. Shakespeare, addressing 
 our fancy, bereaves us of it through " our wonder and astonish- 
 ment," and so we are made marble and his monument; a true 
 conceit (see Comus, 197, n.), and one frequently used, in its 
 general idea (that of a person so transfixed forever by an 
 emotion as to become its lasting memorial), by Elizabethan 
 poets. Its specific application here is a variation of the fa- 
 mous Latin phrase " monumentum aere perennius," "a monu- 
 ment more lasting than bronze," often paraphrased by modern 
 poets, and indeed, more^than once, in tributes to Shakespeare. 
 
 Ill— ON HIS HAVING ARRIVED AT THE AGE OF 
 TWENTY-THREE 
 
 The date is 1631. Note, in reference to Milton's long period 
 of preparation, his anxious self-examination, his doubt as to 
 the seasonable maturing of his powers, which appears in this 
 sonnet, as well as the proud humility and sincere piety of the 
 closing reflection. 
 
 4. — shew'th. Note the pronunciation as riming with youth, 
 truth. 
 
NOTES 81 
 
 IV— L'ALLEGRO 
 
 Milton probably wrote L' Allegro and II Penseroso at Horton 
 in 1632 or 1633. They seem in their subject, incidental refer- 
 ences, and style a natural expression of his life there and his 
 stage of poetic development at that time. No manuscript of 
 them is in existence. They appear first in the Poems of 1645. 
 
 Milton pictures in these two poems the pleasures of life — true 
 pleasures of an innocent kind — as they severally appeal to two 
 contrasted temperaments, or to contrasted moods of one per- 
 son. On the one hand is L'Allegro, the man of joyous, active 
 temperament, delighting in the gayety and brightness of life. 
 On the other hand is II Penseroso, the man whose mind is con- 
 templative, meditative, tinged with the musing soberness or 
 half-sadness which others before Milton had sung as in itself a 
 pleasure.} One must guard against reading into these poems, 
 with various critics, any definite moral purpose — that L'Allegro 
 pictures the careless and thoughtless person, and II Penseroso 
 one in whom the impulse to effective action is lost in reflection. 
 It seems less likely that Milton meant to picture two persons 
 than two contrasted moods he recognized in himself, in one of 
 which the contemplative life, in the other the active enjoyment 
 of life, seemed to possess an exclusive appeal. And with still 
 more certainty, one must guard against reading into them, even 
 remotely, any allegory of the contrasted ideals of life of the 
 Cavalier and the Puritan. Had such an idea been present in 
 Milton's mind, he would have contrived, even though speaking 
 as L'Allegro, to hold up to reprobation the reckless pursuit of 
 pleasure so general among the Cavaliers. 
 
 The suggestion for both poems seems unquestionably to have 
 been the Abstract of Melancholy prefixed to Burton's wonderful 
 book, The Anatomy of Melancholy. This is a "Dialogos," in 
 which the pleasures and pains of the melancholy temperament 
 are set forth in contrast, and might readily suggest the idea of 
 companion poems in which not merely the contrasted moods of 
 the melancholy man should be set forth, but active pleasures as 
 contrasted with contemplative. This fact, if given due weight, 
 will dispose of the theories sometimes urged in regard to the 
 priority of II Penseroso, and the various conclusions made to 
 hang thereupon, such as that Milton plainly favors II Penseroso, 
 that he was II Penseroso, and that he intended to point a moral 
 
82 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 in favor of one as against the other. Further, in respect to 
 sources, II Penseroso borrows from Burton's Abstract, and also 
 shows the influence of the beautiful song, " Hence, all you vain 
 delights," included in Fletcher's play. The Nice Valor, but 
 possibly, if tradition is correct, written by Fletcher's twin-soul 
 Beaumont. Padelford has endeavored to show that Milton 
 borrowed some of the details of L'Allegro from a poem in 
 Tottel's Miscellany (second edition), "The sun, when he had 
 spread his rays," but the correspondences seem merely acci- 
 dental. 
 
 After reading the poems through so as to get an impression of 
 each as a unity, compare them in detail to observe the balance 
 of form. Both open with a characteristic invocation, and close 
 with a like affirmation; the main portions, listing the sights and 
 sounds, occupations and pleasures, characteristic of the two 
 attitudes toward life, are in careful balance. In considering 
 these abstracts, touching lightly and quickly on one thing after 
 another, the reader must not be led astray by the somewhat 
 curious over-zeal of certain of the older critics, who urged the 
 view that Milton was depicting either an actual or an ideal day, 
 such as might be spent by the joy-loving or the contemplative 
 man. He merely takes up these sights and sounds, occupations 
 and pleasures, in a natural order, as they might be seen or 
 enjoyed at one time or another. 
 
 After the reader has learned to appreciate the fresh and 
 charming beauty of the two poems in imagery and phrasing, it 
 is worth noting, in illustration of the character and quality of 
 Milton's genius, that they were plainly, as the set character of 
 their themes and careful balance of subject and detail indicate, 
 a deliberate exercise in poetical composition, rhetorically con- 
 ceived and carried out. None the less they attain to a beauty 
 that is not merely rhetorical. Milton's poetic energy, the 
 exquisite sensitiveness of his taste, were such as to impart to 
 themes essentially rhetorical in conception something of the 
 magic of true poetry. 
 
 Title. The title (pronounced lal-la'-gro) is Italian, and 
 means "The joyful, or happy, [person]." There is no way of 
 determining whether Milton gave the two poems their Italian 
 titles before or after his visit to Italy. 
 
 1. — Milton adds Melancholy to the offspring of Midnight 
 (Death, Sleep, Nemesis, etc.) in classical mythology. Like his 
 master, Spenser, and other Renaissance poets, he modified, or 
 
NOTES 83 
 
 added to, classical mythology when he pleased. Compare II 
 Penseroso, 23. 
 
 2. — Cerberus. The monster in the form of a dog with three 
 heads that guarded the portals of Hades. 
 
 3. — Stygian. Of the Styx, or in Hades. The Styx was one of 
 the four fabled rivers of Hades. 
 
 5. — uncouth. Originally "unknown," hence, as here, un- 
 famihar, strange, inspiring dread; also (now only) rough and 
 untrained in appearance or demeanor. 
 
 6. — brooding. The sense is "pondering sullenly," but with 
 suggestion of the physical sense of covering eggs or fostering a 
 brood. 
 
 7. — night-raven. Like the "night-crow," any bird of ill 
 omen that cries at night, — the night-owl, night-heron, or night- 
 jar. Compare N. E. D. 
 
 10. — dark Cimmerian. Covered by "Cimmerian" darkness, 
 the darkness of the mythical country of the Cimmerii on the 
 western ocean, perpetually shrouded in black mists. 
 
 11. — free. Properly "of noble birth," but used as an indefi- 
 nite term of commendation. 
 
 12. — yclept. Called; past particle of the obsolete clepe, call, 
 with the participial prefix y (A.S. ge, Ger. ge). See Nativity 
 Ode, 155, n. — Euphrosyne (eu-phros'-i-ne). One of the Three 
 Graces. The name means "of happy mind," "cheerful," hence 
 1. 13. 
 
 14-16. — Zeus and one of several goddesses are usually re- 
 garded as the parents of the Graces. The alternative, 11. 17-24, 
 is apparently his own invention. — at a birth. At one birth. 
 
 15. — two sister XJraces Aglaia and Thalia. 
 
 16. — See Comus, 54, 55, n. 
 
 19. — Zephyr. The west wind and harbinger of spring. — 
 Aurora. 'The goddess of dawn. Verity suggests that Ben 
 Jonson in the Penates makes Aurora the companion of Favonius 
 or Zephyr. 
 
 20. — Milton imagines Aurora to go forth for flowers on May- 
 day, in accordance with the English custom. 
 
 24. — buxom. Blithe and happy. Originally, "willing to 
 bow to, or obey, others' wishes," hence "good-natured," hence 
 through "jolly," to "vigorous, plump," as to-day. — debonair. 
 Amiable. 
 
 26. — Note the series of personifications as characteristic of 
 Milton. 
 
84 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 27. — Quips. Witty (usually sharp) speeches. — Cranks Say- 
 ings containing an amusing turn of fancy and humor. — wanton 
 Wiles. Tricks of manner and speech to attract, used "wan- 
 tonly " or without restraint. 
 
 28. — Becks. A sign that beckons. — wreathed Smiles. Smiles 
 that wreathe the features in curves. 
 
 29. — Hebe. The goddess of youth and cupbearer to the gods. 
 
 32. — A verbal borrowing from Phineas Fletcher's Purple 
 Island, IV, 131-: " Here sportful Laughter dwells, here ever- 
 sitting. Defies all lumpish griefs, and wrinkled care." 
 
 33, 34.— Compare The Tempest, IV, i, 46.— "Each one, trip- 
 ping on his toe." 
 
 34. — fantastic. Following the guidance of fancy. 
 
 36. — Referring to the fact that liberty is peculiarly cherished 
 by dwellers in the mountains. 
 
 40. — unreproved. Not meriting reproof; innocent. 
 
 41. — The list of the pleasures that L'AUegro delights in here 
 begins. L'AUegro is roused by the lark which sings till the 
 dawn rises and comes (it is the dawn that comes to the window), 
 "in spite of sorrow" (with its power of bringing cheer and 
 banishing the heavy thoughts of night) and bids him good- 
 morrow. 
 
 48. — eglantine. Properly the same as sweetbrier, but also 
 used for several other roses. 
 
 55. — hoar. Gray; not, as sometimes explained, "covered 
 with hoar-frost." 
 
 57. — not unseen. Pointless, unless the balance is noted with 
 II Penseroso, 65, who walks "unseen." L'AUegro does not 
 avoid company. 
 
 58. — American students should note the characteristic feat- 
 ures of the English country-side. 
 
 60. — state. The stately progress or passage of a sovereign or 
 other great personage. 
 
 62. — livery. A prescribed dress for attendants, especially 
 servants, but not so definitely associated with servants' dress in 
 Milton's time as now. 
 
 67. — tells his tale. Counts the tale or known number of his 
 flock. This is unquestionably the correct interpretation as 
 over against the idea of love-making. 
 
 70. — landskip. Landscape; a form occasionally used to-day. 
 
 71. — russet. Reddish -gray. — lawns. Pastures. — fallows. 
 Ploughed land left uncropped to grow fertih. 
 
NOTES 85 
 
 74. — laboring. In labor, as about to produce rain. 
 
 78. — bosomed. Enclosed as if nestled in the bosom. — tufted 
 In clumps; a use now obsolete. 
 
 79. — lies. Lives or dwells; or better, "makes her residence." 
 
 80. — cynosure. See Comus, 341, 342, n. 
 
 83. — Conventional names of shepherds in pastoral verse, as 
 Phillis and Thestylis below are of shepherdesses. 
 
 85. — messes. Dishes of food as prepared for the table. 
 
 87. — bower. See Comus, 45, n. 
 
 90. — tanned. Dried in the sun. The verb is omitted in the 
 line, as being sufficiently suggested in 1. 87. 
 
 91. — secure. Without care or fear — the etymological sense. 
 
 92. — invite. Invite a visit by the pleasures they offer. 
 
 94. — rebecks. An early instrument of the violin family with 
 two or, later, three or four strings. The violin had in Milton's 
 time displaced it. In country hamlets it would still be used. 
 
 98. — sunshine. Sunshiny. Compare Comus, 959. 
 
 100. — Ale mulled and spiced. "Nut-brown" is a traditional 
 term of praise for ale. 
 
 101, 102. — Milton pronounced feat like fate. Eat is merely a 
 spelling for the preterit, pronounced, as now, ate. 
 
 102. — Mab. Queen Mab, queen of the fairies. Similar refer- 
 ences to Queen Mab are frequent in fairy literature and incidental 
 allusions in the seventeenth century. See Romeo and Juliet, I, 
 iv, and the following passage (cited first by Masson) in Ben 
 Jonson's masque of The Satyr: 
 
 This is Mab, the Mistress Fairy, 
 That doth nightly rob the dairy. 
 And she can hurt or help the churning, 
 As she please without discerning. . . . 
 She that pinches country wenches 
 If they rub not clean their benches, 
 And with sharper nails remembers 
 When they rake not up their embers; 
 But, if so they chance to feast her. 
 In a shoe she drops a tester. 
 
 103, 104. — A tale having been told of Mab's eating the jun- 
 kets, "she" (one of the "maids") tells her story, and "he" (one 
 of the "youths ") tells his. This demonstrative use of personal 
 pronouns, without definite antecedents, not infrequent in Mid- 
 dle English, is rare in Modern English, and is here due to the 
 exigencies of Milton's chosen method of brief reference, which 
 further causes the difficulty in 11. 104, 105, taken up below. 
 
86 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 103. — Pinching and pulling was the punishment, or reminder, 
 often inflicted upon mortals by fairies. Compare the passage 
 above, and Merry Wives, V, v. 
 
 104, 105. — "And he " — the one who was misled by the Friar's 
 lantern (and presumably tells about it) — tells also how "the 
 drudging goblin," etc. (The reading of the text is that of 1645, 
 usually, and rightly, retained by editors.) Milton felt the awk- 
 wardness of the passage, and in the edition of 1673 amends 1. 104 
 to " And by the Friar's lantern led," thereby throwing out " he," 
 and linking all the stories with a single story-teller, "she," of 1. 
 103. This has its own awkwardness in the abrupt introduction 
 of a new verb, "tells," and it seems better to keep the origi- 
 nal reading, in spite of the somewhat forced ellipsis of 1. 104 
 paraphrased above.— friar's lantern. This allusion has been 
 cleared up by Kittredge in "The Friar's Lantern and Friar 
 Rush," Publications of the Modern Language Association, 15 (8), 
 415. Milton evidently refers to the will-o'-the-wisp, which be- 
 comes, in folk-lore, the Jack-o'-the-Lantern, a malicious sprite 
 who, by his light, leads wayfarers astray in marshy places. 
 Kittredge shows the strong probability, owing to the part 
 friars play in popular stories (a number in Germany carry 
 lights), that a friar with a lantern may have become one of the 
 many forms in which the will-o'-the-wisp appears in popular 
 mythology. 
 
 105. — the drudging goblin. Robin Goodfellow, or Hobgoblin, 
 a house elf, who might either play tricks, or, if properly treated 
 by the setting forth of a cream bowl, might render most efficient 
 service. Shakespeare's Puck is a transformed Robin Good- 
 fellow. Among various names he or similar sprites bear are: 
 " Lob-lie-by-the-fire " (compare Mrs. Ewing's tale of that 
 title) and brownie (compare Miss Mulock's Adventures of a 
 Brownie). 
 
 110. — lies. The change of construction is justified by the 
 vigor and vividness thereby gained. 
 
 114. — matin. Explained as a " morning note or song " in the 
 dictionaries, the use starting with this passage. It would seem 
 more probable that Milton used the word in its common sense of 
 early morning service (matins being still often said), and used 
 the singular through Shakespeare'^ influence {Hamlet, I, v, 89) 
 or merely for euphony. 
 
 117. — then. Not used literally, but to mark transition to 
 another class of pleasures — after the country, the city. 
 
NOTES 87 
 
 120. — weeds. Garments; now used only specifically of mourn- 
 ing. — triumph. A public festivity as a pageant or tourna- 
 ment, especially the latter, as here. 
 
 122. — rain influence. That is, like that of the stars. See 
 Nativity Ode, 71, n. 
 
 125. — Hymen. The god of marriage, conventionally repre- 
 sented as clad in a saffron robe, with a torch (not taper, as here) 
 in his hand. 
 
 127. — pomp. A formal or solemn procession. 
 
 128. — mask. See prefatory note to Comus below. — pageantry. 
 Pageants; scenes or tableaux displayed in public on festive 
 occasions. 
 
 132.— Ben Jonson (1573-1637) represents the "classical" im- 
 pulse, as Shakespeare does the "romantic." He is famous 
 chiefly for his "comedy of humors," depicting special traits of 
 character (called humors), intensified in single characters, and 
 for his masques, and for his criticism. He was the first great 
 English critic and, by his personal force, his erudition, and his 
 own charmingly poetic and beautifully accurate verse, exercised, 
 chiefly through personal intercourse, a most important influence 
 on the younger poets of the seventeenth century and on the 
 trend of poetry toward classicism. — sock. The low shoe worn 
 by players of comedy in Greece; hence used to typify com- 
 edy, as the buskin, or high shoe, tragedy. 
 
 134. — It has been pointed out that this characterization of 
 Shakespeare is far from apt, unless Milton means by "wood- 
 notes wild" merely much the same as the "easy numbers" of 
 his sonnet On Shakespeare. It is not just to argue that Milton 
 grew to depreciate Shakespeare, as Verity suggests. He might 
 well regard him as a marvel, and yet differ with him in respect 
 to the proper form of tragedy and other matters of poetic 
 art. 
 
 135. — eating cares. From Horace, Odes, I, xviii, 4. 
 
 136. — Lydian airs. Music in the Lydian mode was thought of 
 by the ancients as soft and tender. 
 
 139. — bout. A turn or change. 
 
 145. — Orpheus. The wonderful singer and player in Greek 
 myth who could draw beasts and even inanimate things after 
 him by his music. His music led to the surrender of his dead 
 wife Eurydice by Pluto on condition he should not look back 
 as she followed, till both were out of Hades, a condition he 
 broke, thus losing her forever. 
 
88 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 V— IL PENSEROSO 
 
 [For preface, see L' Allegro, above.] 
 
 Title. Milton has been accused of error in using penseroso 
 both as regards its form, the contention being that the proper 
 form is pensieroso, and as regards the special sense assumed of 
 one inclined to sober reflection, contemplation. In the Italian 
 of his time, however, it did have both this form and meaning. 
 The pronunciation is el pen-sli-ro'-so. 
 
 1. — Verity suggests the influence of certain lines in Sylvester's 
 Henry the Great: 
 
 Hence, hence, false Pleasures, momentary Joys; 
 Mock us no more with your iiluding Toys, 
 ... all World's-hopes as dreams do fly. 
 
 The student must not forget to note the close balance of struct- 
 ure with L' Allegro. 
 
 3, — bested. Help, avail, profit. 
 
 4. — fixed. Not to be swayed easily; firm. — toys. Idle 
 trifles. 
 
 6. — fond. Foolish; the etymological meaning. 
 
 10. — pensioners. Attendants (e. g., the body-guard of a 
 sovereign) on pension or regular pay. — Morpheus. One of the 
 gods of dreams, and in stock poetical reference the god of sleep. 
 
 12. — It must be remembered that Milton is using Melancholy, 
 in a temporary Elizabethan use, of a sober, pensive frame of 
 mind, touched with sadness, but not unpleasantly. 
 
 14. — hit. Fall in, or agree, with; a metaphorical sense. 
 
 18. — Memnon. King of the Ethiopians, famed for his 
 beauty (Odyssey, XI, 522). Milton may have imagined a sister 
 like him or have known of a sister mentioned by Dictys Cre- 
 tensis. 
 
 19. — starred. Placed among the constellations. — Ethiop 
 queen. Cassiopeia. The Nereids (" Sea-nymphs ") were avenged 
 through a sea-monster sent by Poseidon to ravage Ethiopia. 
 Andromeda, the daughter of Cassiopeia, was offered up to the 
 monster, but was rescued by Perseus. 
 
 23. — Vesta. Goddess of the hearth. Saturn (I. 24), father 
 of Jove and displaced by him and driven into exile, may here 
 typify Solitude. Milton invents the union and parentage, and 
 his meaning is not apparent. The simplest explanation would 
 
NOTES 89 
 
 be that Melancholy is the child of solitude and devotion to one's 
 hearth as opposed to the preoccupations of the outer world. 
 There may also be suggestion of Saturn's characteristic melan- 
 choly, but this is of a different sort, being morose, from that 
 which Milton is praising. 
 
 25. — Saturn's reign. The Golden Age. See Nativity Ode, 135, n. 
 
 29. — Ida. Mount Ida in Crete. 
 
 30; — fear of Jove. Saturn devoured his children, all save 
 Jove, who was removed and hidden in Crete, and through the 
 gift of the thunderbolt by the giants, was able to overthrow his 
 father. 
 
 33. — grain. Dye, or color (see Comus, 750, n.). It is not 
 probable that Milton here intends the specific sense of scarlet 
 (grain being used for cochineal), or a purple derived from it. 
 
 35. — stole. Here, a cloak, hood, or veil; compare Nativity 
 Ode, 220. — cypress lawn. Crape. Cypress (so-callpd as origi- 
 nally brought from Cyprus) was different from lawn, though 
 the fabrics were similar; the meaning is a crape thin like lawn. 
 
 39. — commercing. Holding commerce or intercourse. 
 
 43. — sad. Serious. 
 
 46. — diet. Dine. No mythological allusion is intended here; 
 Milton uses "gods" to imply the highest beings. 
 
 48. — Jove's altar. On Helicon, referred to by Hesiod. 
 
 54. — See Ezekiel, x. According to mediaeval theologians, the 
 cherubim among the angels had as their peculiar property wis- 
 dom and contemplation of divine things. 
 
 55. — hist. Summon with a word (as "hist! ") or gesture im- 
 posing silence in obedience. This rare use of hist as a verb 
 starts with this passage. 
 
 66. — Philomel. The nightingale; so called from Philomela, 
 sister of Procne, who was ravished by Tereus, Procne's husband, 
 and her tongue cut out, upon which she was changed to a 
 nightingale (in one account). 
 
 58. — Compare Comus, 251. 
 
 59. — The chariot drawn by dragons really belongs to Ceres, 
 not Diana. 
 
 60. — accustomed. Perhaps, as Verity suggests, Milton was 
 thinking of some special tree in the garden at Horton. 
 
 61. — The student should specially note this famous passage 
 on the nightingale, a favorite theme with English poets from 
 the Anglo-Saxon riddle to Keats's Ode and Matthew Arnold's 
 Philomela. 
 
90 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 74. — Note the special beauty, the magical quality of these 
 lines, in evoking a picture realized through the senses both of 
 sight and sound. 
 
 77. — Milton rarely gets as near prose as this. 
 
 83. — bellman. The night-watchman, who called the hours, 
 often in a rime that closed with an invocation or bless- 
 ing. 
 
 87. — out-watch the Bear. Watch till dawn, as the Bear never 
 sets. The Greater and Lesser Bears are northern constellations, 
 stars of which form what in America is more usually called the 
 Dipper. 
 
 88. — Hermes. Hermes Trismegistus, a mythical Egyptian 
 king, the reputed author of the Hermetic books on various 
 subjects. The Hermetic books, parts of which have been 
 handed down under that name, are really Neo-Platonist writ- 
 ings, of the fourth century of the school of Alexandria, on God, 
 the Cosmos, and similar subjects, written in opposition to He- 
 brew and Christian theology. The name of Hermes is often 
 called in by alchemists, astrologers, and magicians in the Middle 
 Ages. Milton cites him probably merely as a great and obscure 
 name, and not because of any personal familiarity with his 
 assumed works. — unsphere. Call from its assigned sphere in 
 the heavens. See Comus, 2, 3, n. 
 
 93-96. — And of those demons. Tell is understood after and, 
 being implied in unfold above. The demons, or spirits, of fire, 
 air, water, and earth, are respectively the Salamanders, Sylphs, 
 Nymphs, and Gnomes. They belong to Neo-Platonist and 
 mediaeval mysticism and pseudo-science, not to Plato, particu- 
 larly as regards the doctrine of their connection with the planets 
 and the elements they inhabit. Verity cites Pope's amusing 
 use of these spirits in Rape of the Lock, I, 57-65. 
 
 97. — gorgeous. Clad in rich and glowing array, but implying 
 splendor and majesty in general. 
 
 98. — sceptred pall. Royal mantle. The pall is the mantle 
 worn by tragic actors. 
 
 99, 100. — A reference, in brief, to the chief Greek tragedies. 
 These would be (as enumerated by Verity) for Thebes, the 
 Seven Against Thebes of iEschylus, and the CEdipus Rex and 
 Antigone of Sophocles; for Pelops's line, the Oresteia of iEschy- 
 lus, the Electra of Sophocles, and the Electro and two dramas on 
 Iphigeneia by Euripides; for the tale of Troy, the Hecuba and 
 Troades. 
 
NOTES 91 
 
 100. — divine. Used of Troy, according to Newton, as built 
 by the gods. 
 
 101, 102. — Not necessarily, as has been assumed, a reference 
 to Shakespeare in particular. 
 
 102.— buskined. See L' Allegro, 132, n. 
 
 104. — Musaeus. The son or pupil of Orpheus, here probably, 
 as Verity notes, representing lyric verse. 
 
 105-108.— See U Allegro, 145, n. 
 
 109-115. — Chaucer, to whom Milton's master, Spenser, owed 
 so much. Chaucer had long been recognized as the father of 
 English poetry, and Milton appropriately cites him in a reference 
 designed to include by suggestion the great bards of all times 
 and countries. The reference is to the Squire's Tale, a choice 
 of special interest in view of the fact that it was only "half 
 told," left unfinished, and of its strikingly romantic character. 
 In the story, a knight visits the court of Cambinskan (the 
 Cambuscan of Milton), the "Tartar king," and presents him 
 with a horse of brass that will carry its owner wherever he 
 wishes, and a sword that will cut anything and can heal any 
 wounds it makes, and also gives to Canacee (Canace) a ring which 
 enables the wearer to understand the speech of birds and the 
 uses of all plants, and a mirror which givers warning of misfor- 
 tune, enemies, and unfaithful lovers. Camball and Algarsife 
 are the Cambalo and Algarsyfe of Chaucer, Cambinskan's sons. 
 The reference in 1. 112 takes its point from Chaucer's reference 
 to a fight for Canacee's hand. 
 
 113. — virtuous. Possessing virtues, or special properties. 
 
 116. — Milton is here thinking of Spenser and the Itahan 
 writers of epic romance, Ariosto, Tasso, and Boiardo. 
 
 118. — tourneys. Tournaments. — trophies hung. Arms or 
 standards won in battle, hung up in token of victory. 
 
 121. — pale. Dim, faint, lacking in some special quality under- 
 stood. 
 
 122. — civil-suited. In civil or simple dress, not "tricked and 
 frounced" (1. 123). 
 
 123. — tricked. Tricked up with adornments. — frounced. 
 With the hair curled. 
 
 124. — Attic boy. Cephalus, with whom Aurora, the goddess 
 of dawn, fell in love. 
 
 125. — Essentially of the nature of a conceit, but saved by the 
 beauty of the diction. 
 
 128.— his. See the Nativity Ode, 106, n. 
 
92 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 130. — minute drops. Falling slowly at intervals as if of a 
 minute. Compare "minute guns." 
 
 134. — brown. Dusky, dark in color, — -the original sense. — 
 Sylvan. The god of fields and forests. 
 
 135. — monumental oak. Like, or suggesting, a monument in 
 its age, size, or strength. It is not impossible that Milton may 
 have meant "used for making monuments or memorials." 
 
 145. — consort. Harmony; cf. Nativity Ode, 132. 
 
 147-150. — This passage has caused a great deal of difficulty. 
 It is plain that the dream, displayed in an airy stream of lively 
 portraiture (scenes, as vivid as if real, flowing after each other in 
 its unsubstantial fabric), is "softly on my eyelids laid." But 
 the exact meaning of "wave at his wings" seems impossible of 
 precise definition. The phrase would seem to mean "let some 
 dream waver and pass at the waving of the wings of sleep," the 
 verb "wave" applying both to sleep and the dream. 
 
 154. — Genius. The special deity of a place in classic mythol- 
 ogy- 
 
 156. — cloister's pale. A roofed walk, with the roof borne on 
 one or both sides by a row (the "pale" of the verse) of pillars, 
 at the side of a building, or connecting two buildings. They 
 commonly form part of either college or religious buildings, but 
 Milton here uses the cloister as typical of the colleges of a 
 university, such as may be seen in Cambridge or Oxford. 
 
 157. — embowed roof. The arched roof of a Gothic cathedral. 
 
 158. — antic. Covered with fantastic tracery or grotesque 
 decoration, as the pillars of mediaeval cathedrals commonly are. 
 Verity rightly defends this reading as over against antique, old. 
 He points out that the word in the editions Milton oversaw is 
 spelled antick while in U Allegro, 128, the spelling antique is 
 used for the word meaning old. It may also be pointed out that 
 the word is technical, does not mean "curious" or "strange" 
 but describes a form of ornamentation peculiarly characteristic 
 of cathedrals, and that it is in balance with "richly dight," or 
 decorated, of the next line. — massy proof. So in the original 
 editions, and better so retained, though proof is rather adjective 
 than noun. If explained as a noun, massy is an adjective, 
 and the phrase is elliptical for "of massy proof," that is, of 
 proved or sufficient stability through their massiveness. 
 
 169. — hairy gown. The garment of hair-cloth worn by 
 hermits in mortification of the flesh. 
 
 170, 171.— spell of. Study over, learn of. 
 
NOTES 93 
 
 VI— COMUS 
 
 TIME AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF COMPOSITION 
 
 Milton's friend, the noted musician Henry Lawes, to whom 
 he wrote a sonnet which is included in this volume, numbered 
 among his pupils certain of the fifteen children of the first Earl 
 of Bridgewater. When the Earl, who had been made Lord 
 President of Wales in 1631, entered upon his duties in 1634, his 
 induction into office was celebrated at the vice-regal residence, 
 Ludlow Castle, by festivities, one feature of which was the 
 masque of Comus. The music of Comus was written by Henry 
 Lawes, and the text, at his request, by Milton. Milton's earlier 
 masque, or rather fragment of one. Arcades, had been written in 
 honor of the Dowager Countess of Derby, the mother of the 
 Countess of Bridgewater — doubtless also at Lawes's request, 
 though his connection with it is not actually known. This later 
 and highly finished production was given on Michaelmas night, 
 1634. It was probably written early in that year. Lawes 
 staged it, and took part in it in the character of the Attendant 
 Spirit. 
 
 THE THEME OF " COMUS " 
 
 Milton devised a most happy idea for the main theme of the 
 masque. Three of the children of the Earl, two brothers and 
 their sister, "The Lady," are supposed to have become lost on 
 their way to the festivities in their father's honor. The Lady 
 falls into the power of an enchanter, but is finally released 
 through the aid of the Attendant Spirit. These parts, the 
 Elder and the Second Brother and the Lady, were taken 
 respectively by the Earl's third but eldest surviving son, John, 
 Viscount Brackley, twelve years old, his next younger brother, 
 Thomas, and Lady Alice Egerton, the eleventh daughter, then 
 not more than thirteen years old. Both the sons had acted 
 before at Whitehall in Carew's Ccelum Britannicum, and an 
 elder sister. Lady Penelope, had acted at Court in Jonson's 
 Masque of Chloridia. By Milton's plan the children were at 
 the same time taking parts in the masque and acting in their 
 own characters. In reading the play, it will be seen how 
 effective this device is and how much pleasure it must have given 
 their parents through Milton's use of it for purposes of compli- 
 ment. There is no ground whatsoever for the story that an 
 
9'4 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 actual incident of the children's becoming lost was used by 
 Milton. Whether other gentlefolk took part in. the principal 
 characters is not known; very probably the bands of maskers 
 were, as usual, in whole or in part gentlefolk. Professional 
 performers were, no doubt, also included as usual. 
 
 PUBLICATION AND TEXT 
 
 Comus was first printed in 1637 by Lawes, with perhaps, as 
 has been pointed out on the testimony of the motto on the 
 title-page, some unwillingness on Milton's part; his name cer- 
 tainly is not given. In his dedication to Lord Brackley, Lawes 
 says, " Although not openly acknowledged by the author, yet it 
 is a legitimate offspring, so lovely and so much desired that the 
 often copying of it hath tired my pen to give my several friends 
 satisfaction, and brought me to a necessity of producing it to 
 the public view." A letter of Sir Henry Wotton is also often 
 cited in evidence of the impression it produced. The two 
 editions of the Poems in Milton's lifetime, 1645 and 1673, con- 
 tain it with separate title-page, and Milton's original draft at 
 Cambridge and what is assumed to be the stage copy (the 
 Bridgewater MS.) are extant. The present text is from the 
 edition of 1645,. collated with the facsimile of Lawes's edition of 
 1637, with reference, when necessary, to that of 1673, Todd's 
 collation of the MSS., and the facsimile of the Cambridge MS. 
 It may be added that the masque has been frequently performed 
 in several much altered versions in the eighteenth and nineteenth 
 centuries, and the original version has at various times been 
 given memorial performances, the last noted being in 1909. As 
 a spectacle it could hardly fail to be beautiful, but those who 
 have seen it say that it is far more effective dramatically than 
 one might expect, the beauty of the verse making up for the 
 slowness of the action. 
 
 "comus" as a masque 
 
 Comus is a masque with a dramatic theme developed some- 
 what more than is usual or at least common. To understand 
 this, we must understand clearly what a masque is. The 
 masque came from Italy, and was at first merely a dance, or 
 series of dances, presenting an allegorical subject, performed 
 by bands of maskers as a setting for a ball. In course of time 
 
NOTES 95 
 
 choruses, leading characters with individual songs, soliloquies, 
 and dialogues, to present the story to better advantage, and 
 a scenic background with elaborate changes and spectacular 
 effects, were added. An addition of some interest artistically, 
 though not important historically, due to the greatest of 
 masque writers, Ben Jonson, was the inclusion within the 
 masque proper of one or more antimasques— dances and 
 choruses of a humorous, fantastic, or grotesque character, 
 serving as a relief and foil to the beauty of the masque. It 
 should be noted that while the part the leading characters took 
 came necessarily to assume a certain importance, the dances 
 and choruses, performed by bands of maskers, remained the 
 essential and characteristic feature. Delightful, often marvel- 
 lous, from the spectacular point of view, these entertainments 
 must have been. Poet, musician,' artist, were at rivalry in 
 achieving the joint masterpiece — quarreUing, no doubt, not in- 
 frequently, like the master hands in this kind, Ben Jonson and 
 Inigo Jones. Extremely costly — several, it is known, cost the 
 modern equivalent of $60,000 and one $400,000 — masques re- 
 mained what we should call private theatricals, given under 
 professional direction and with professional aid, and were 
 practically confined to the Court circle and the "Revels" of 
 the four great legal societies, the Inns of Court. 
 
 Comus includes all the features of the masque, even the anti- 
 masque, with full justice done the operatic features and dances; 
 but it differs from the pure masque (like several others) in pos- 
 sessing a true dramatic plot, slight but still a plot, and in the 
 fact that the development of this plot in the action of the 
 leading characters is intended to hold the chief interest of the 
 auditors. Milton, however, has been careful to keep the dra- 
 matic element in congruity with the operatic element, through 
 its allegorical character and, indeed, its very slightness of theme. 
 On the other hand, he has weighted the poem with a didactic 
 purpose totally out of keeping, in the directness and vigor of its 
 expression, with the spirit of the masque. Even the beauty 
 of his diction cannot prevent one's feeling this in certain pas- 
 sages. Yet it remains true that he has contrived with admirable 
 art a poetic drama that blends into masque, when the fitting 
 moment comes, without loss of artistic unity. 
 
96 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 SOURCES OF THE POEM 
 
 The sources of the poem call for a moment's attention, rather 
 as a matter of interest than as helping us to its better under- 
 standing. The main theme of a sister entranced by a magician 
 and released by her brothers, Milton found in George Peele's 
 play, The Old Wives^ Tale, printed in 1595. The debt appears 
 plainly in points of detail, such as the fact that the magician 
 learned his arts from his mother, that a potion is used to en- 
 trance the sister, that aid is extended to the brothers in her 
 release, in this case by an old man himself versed in magic. 
 For the magician, Milton substituted Conius, a personification 
 of sensual pleasure in late classical mythology, who derived his 
 name apparently from the kw/xos or company Of revellers, which 
 celebrated festivities in honor of Dionysos or Bacchus, the god 
 of wine, after the vintage. Comus had been used by Ben 
 Jonson in the masque of Pleasure Reconciled, but the character 
 is there a burlesque allegorical portraiture of coarse gluttony 
 and lust. Milton was undoubtedly influenced rather by the 
 Latin play, Comus, 1608, of Hendrik van der Putten, reprinted 
 at Oxford in the year Milton wrote his masque. The Comus of 
 Puteanus much more closely resembles Milton's conception in 
 the elements of dangerous charm and allurement, though it falls 
 far short of it. Milton also adds enormously to the impressive- 
 ness of Comus by associating him with Circe and gifting him 
 with like powers learned from his mother. The direct sug- 
 gestion for this may have been derived from Browne's Inner 
 Temple Masque (1614), the theme of which is the adventures of 
 Ulysses on Circe's island. The idea was no less felicitous than 
 bold: by thus associating his creation with the well-known 
 mjrth, Milton at once endowed it for the spectator with a suit- 
 able background and atmosphere. Equally felicitous was his 
 use of the EngUsh "Sabrina," the "nymph" of the Severn, as 
 the means whereby the Lady is released from her enchantment. 
 With Sabrina's story (for which see the Notes) Milton was 
 familiar in the original, Geoffrey of Monmouth, as well as in 
 Spenser, Drayton, and elsewhere; he told it himself later in his 
 History of Britain. It is in this portion of Comus in which 
 Sabrina appears that we find most unmistakably the influence 
 of Fletcher's pastoral play. The Faithful Shepherdess, composed 
 before 1625, which had recently been given in 1633, 1634. As 
 
NOTES 97 
 
 ■ often noted, the whole masque is indebted in its spirit to this 
 play, but Verity has rightly laid stress upon the special indebted- 
 ness attested by the identity of motive, namely, the strength of 
 purity, and the fact that the disenchantment scene markedly 
 betrays, in the conception of the nymph Sabrina, in its incidents, 
 and in its lyric movement, the spell which Fletcher's genius 
 exercised over Milton. A final reference must be made to 
 Milton's continual indebtedness, here as elsewhere, to Enghsh 
 poets and the classics, for imagery and phrasing, transmuted, 
 however, to a special fitness and perfection of beauty unequivo- 
 cally his own. 
 
 THE PLACE OF " COMUS " IN MILTON's LIFE AND IN LITERATURE 
 
 In its relation to Milton's development, the poem bears wit- 
 ness to the fruition of his years of study and meditation at the 
 University; in its expression of his ideal of the inviolable sover- 
 eignty of virtue, especially as centred in purity of word and 
 thought; in the perfected refinement of taste it displays; and 
 in the garnered wealth of thought and imagery drawn from his 
 reading. In its relation to its time, the poem represents, on the 
 one hand, the attitude of the more broad-minded Puritans who 
 would not condemn the drama or music or dancing as evil in 
 themselves, but only their abuse; and, on the other hand, it 
 clearly typifies in Comus and his crew the evils in Court and 
 State against which the Puritan set his face, and over which, as 
 Milton felt, virtue, though delivered for a time into captivity, 
 must ultimately triumph. But of greatest importance is the 
 relation of the poem to the reader of to-day as a precious part 
 of his inheritance in English literature. Critics have pointed 
 out defects in the poem; for example, its lack of movement, its 
 overweight of moral purpose, the frequent didacticism of its 
 dialogue, and notably its lack of humor, a fundamental defect 
 in Milton which, as Verity has truly said, more than aught else 
 makes Milton Shakespeare's inferior. With these faults of the 
 poem the reader need concern himself but little. What does 
 concern him is the beauty of the verse, both in the dramatic 
 and lyrical portions, and the beauty of the imagery and phras- 
 ing. These are a delight in themselves and afford also an 
 admirable discipline in poetic taste. Moreover, the poem 
 enforces the noblest ideals of virtue. Rare indeed is it that in 
 a poem with such a theme, in passages demanding didactic 
 
98 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 methods that are flatly at variance with poetic inspiration, and 
 with the proper agencies of poetic expression, the sustained 
 elevation of the poet is such that he hardly perceptibly flags 
 in his level flight. 
 
 Title. In the MSS., Lawes's edition, and the 1645 and 1673 
 editions supervised by Milton, the play is merely entitled A 
 Masque. The title of the 1645 edition, for example, reads, "A 
 Mask of the same Author presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634, 
 before the Earl of Bridgewater, then President of Wales. 
 Anno Dom. 1645." 
 
 The Persons. — Attendant Spirit. The messenger of Jove sent 
 to attend the Lady in her peril; an adaptation by the poet of 
 the Christian conception of a guardian angel to his mythological 
 setting. — habit. Dress. 
 
 Comus. The god of evil indulgence in pleasures of the 
 sense; not merely an embodiment, as in Jonson, of reckless 
 mirth and gluttonous revelry, but a tempter, gifted with arts of 
 persuasion, and sinister as the master spirit of midnight rites. 
 See the prefatory note. — crew. The god's troop of fellow 
 revellers, partly transformed to beasts. 
 
 The Lady, First Brother, Second Brother. The Lady repre- 
 sents the virtue of innocence and purity, helpless in one sense 
 as possessing no physical powers of defence, but triumphing 
 through courage and the powerlessness of evil to harm, to injure 
 pure virtue. The brothers typify virtue active and militant 
 that, by heavenly guidance, puts the power of evil to flight. 
 The allegory, plain enough, must not be strained too far; the 
 story has interest as a story, and was primarily devised by 
 Milton to provide little Lady Alice and her brothers with suit- 
 able parts. Because the play was written for them, and the 
 parts they play are half make-believe, half in their real charac- 
 ters, Milton does not give them names different from their own. 
 See the prefatory note above. 
 
 Sabrina. The nymph of the river Severn. In classical 
 mythology, the nymphs were minor deities of trees, mountains, 
 fountains, rivers, and the sea. Sabrina was a mortal made 
 immortal and the goddess of the river, as told in 11. 825 ff. Lud- 
 low, where the masque was given, is on a branch of the Severn, 
 the Teme, but the goddess of the chief river is invoked to help 
 the Lady — fittingly enough in any case, but also because of her 
 romantic story. 
 
 The chief persons only are mentioned who " presented " (pre- 
 
NOTES 99 
 
 sented the play, or acted it). We know that Henry Lawes 
 took the part of the Spirit, but not who represented Comus and 
 Sabrina — both parts demanding special skill. 
 
 The first Scene. This has reference to the stage-setting 
 rather than to the action of the play. Shifts of scene take place 
 at 11. 658 and 957. 
 
 discovers. Discloses. A curtain or screen was probably 
 used, the removal of which disclosed the scene on the stage. 
 
 descends or enters. The Spirit may either descend a slope, 
 representing a hill at the back, a common device, or enter at the 
 side. It is possible that an actual descent from above may be 
 meant, as the character is a spirit and elaborate spectacular 
 devices were used in the masques. 
 
 1-92. This speech is not a soliloquy, but a prologue ad- 
 dressed to the audience, just as at the close the children are 
 presented from the stage directly to their parents. It corre- 
 sponds in length to the closing scene (11. 958-1023), which 
 serves as an epilogue. 
 
 1. — Jove's court. Here in the heavens, not as in the earlier 
 classical conception, on Olympus. The phrase "Jove's high 
 court" occurs in Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess, II, ii, from 
 which Milton drew. 
 
 2. — mansion. Abiding-place; the etymologic sense. — those. 
 This demonstrative does not introduce a relative clause under- 
 stood or, as sometimes explained, convey the sense of "well- 
 known." It introduces two phrases, both referring to the same 
 thing, one descriptive, the second explanatory of what the first 
 refers to, an idiom more frequent and famihar in colloquial use, 
 in phrases such as "that rascal of a servant," "those dogs of 
 Saracens." 
 
 3. — bright. Of resplendent beauty, not merely resplendent 
 — a traditional poetic use. Compare "Lady bright," 1. 966. — 
 insphered. A figurative use of the theory usually ascribed to 
 Ptolemy, but developed by several Greek philosophers, which 
 explained the motion of the heavenly bodies by supposing them 
 fixed in concentric crystal spheres which turn about the earth, 
 the relation of their axes and the manner in which they are 
 geared within each other being most ingeniously assumed in 
 certain developments of the system to account for the apparent 
 motion of the bodies in the sky. Milton, here and elsewhere, 
 represents these spheres as the abiding-places of celestial spirits 
 or the spirits of the great dead. Cf. Lycidas, 125, n. 
 
100 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 4. — serene. Frequently in Milton (as generally in Shake- 
 speare) dissyllabic adjectives and participles which have their 
 accent on the last syllable shift it to the first syllable, if they 
 come before an accent. Possibly the accent was not shifted, 
 but the two syllables pronounced with even stress. Compare 
 for other examples, 11. 11, 37, 39 {forlorn before unaccented and 
 retains its usual accentuation), 69, 200, 273. The line recalls the 
 description in the Odyssey, VI, 42-45, of the abode of the gods. 
 
 5. — dim. Not, as explained by various editors, "dimmed by 
 distance as seen from the Spirit's home." The word is used in 
 its original sense, "not bright, shadowy, dark, dusky" (so fre- 
 quently in Shakespeare, even with reference to the color of the 
 violet, and compare 1. 278, "dim darkness"). Here the word 
 points the contrast between the limitless and radiant upper 
 heaven and the narrow and dark earth. 
 
 6-8. — An elliptical construction. The words "in which." 
 felt to be necessary after and in 1. 6 are contained by implication 
 in the here of 1. 7: "Which men call Earth, and [in which] . . . 
 [they] strive," etc. Ellipses of the relative of this character, 
 impossible now, may be found occasionally in prose at this 
 time and later. 
 
 7. — pestered. Restrained (as by a clog, load, etc.) from free 
 movement. Milton's use of the word with pinfold, a pound for 
 cattle, may indicate that he had the original meaning of pester 
 in mind, to hobble an animal to graze. 
 
 9-14. — Specific Christian conceptions and Scriptural refer- 
 ences are included in each of these six lines. The passage is 
 an excellent example of Milton's unhesitating freedom in blend- 
 ing Hebrew and Christian with classic conceptions. Note espe- 
 cially that he describes the true servants wearing the crown 
 of sainthood as sitting among the enthroned gods. 
 
 9. — the crown that Virtue gives. The heavenly crown given 
 to those who achieve sainthood. "Now they do it to obtain a 
 corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible" (1. Corinthians, 
 ix, 25), "Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a 
 crown of life" (Revelation, ii, 10). 
 
 10. — this mortal change. Change of, or produced by, death. 
 The use of the demonstrative is not idiomatic; it should be the 
 or that. It has not hitherto been noted that Milton obviously 
 has in mind the beautiful passage in Corinthians, xv, 51 ff., 
 used in the Burial Service: "Behold, I show you a mystery; 
 we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a mo- 
 
NOTES 101 
 
 ment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the 
 trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, 
 and we shall he changed. For this corruptible must put on in- 
 corruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." 
 
 11. — The student must guard against the easy and current 
 error of supposing that the enthroned gods occupy the sainted 
 seats — an error prevented, it is hoped, in this edition, by the use 
 of commas before and after "amongst the enthroned gods." 
 It has long been pointed out that Milton's reference is to the 
 four and twenty seats of the elders in Revelation, v, 4 (which 
 see), but it has not been noted that, as shown by Revelation, v, 
 8-10, the elders typify those who have won sainthood, i. e., 
 the "true servants." 
 
 12. — be. The old plural of the present indicative of the verb 
 "to be," now supplanted in standard Enghsh by the Scandi- 
 navian "are," but retained in rustic and provincial use. — by 
 due steps. By steps set in the path of duty, that is, by ob- 
 servance of their duty; compare II Penseroso, 155. 
 
 13. — just hands. As being hands of "just" men, "justified" 
 before God; the familiar Bibhcal use. — golden key. See the 
 note on Lycidas, 110, 111. 
 
 16. — ambrosial. Not " of or pertaining to ambrosia, the food 
 of the gods," but by figurative transfer of its etymological 
 sense, "immortal, hence celestial, heavenly." 
 
 17. — mould. Bodily form; human shape, "sin-worn," as 
 defaced by the curse of original sin. 
 
 18-23. — After the overthrow of Saturn, his sons divided his 
 realm, Jupiter taking the upper world and the mainland, 
 Pluto the underworld, Neptune the seas and streams and the 
 islands of the sea. Neptune's portion accordingly lay between 
 that of high Jove, Jupiter himself, and of Pluto, "nether Jove". 
 The epithets "high" and "nether" (though not thus put in 
 antithesis) go back to Homer (see Osgood). 
 
 23. — unadorned. Otherwise not adorned, its surface being 
 .level and unvarying, unlike that of the earth. 
 
 24. — tributary gods. The lesser deities of the sea who 
 owed him tribute and allegiance. Cf. 11. 870 ff. 
 
 25. — by coiurse. In due or proper order. — several govern- 
 ment. Separate government; that is, one to each. 
 
 26. — sapphire. Used as a gem of appropriate color. 
 
 27.— But this Isle. Cf. Richard II, II, i, 40 ff. Note care- 
 fully the significance of the but. The mistake has frequently 
 
102 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 been made of supposing that it sets off the " blue-haired deities " 
 of 1. 29 against the "tributary gods" of 1. 24. This is not the 
 case. It sets off quarters, 1. 29, against "commits to several 
 government," 1. 25. Other isles he commits to several govern- 
 ment, but this he quarters. 
 
 29. — quarters. The verb quarter may mean "to divide into 
 four parts," or, in a free use, to divide into less or more parts. 
 The point is in a sense immaterial, except that if Milton meant 
 literally a division into four, we may suppose he referred, as 
 Keightley surmised, to four centres of government, namely, 
 those in Edinburgh and London, together with the Presidencies 
 of the North and of Wales. — blue-haired. There are frequent 
 references in the masques and elsewhere (for example, Drayton, 
 Polyolbion, II, 45) to the sea gods as blue or green, epithets 
 which go back to the cceruleus, blue, and glaucus, bluish or green- 
 ish gray, of Latin authors. Milton's epithet, as Osgood notes, 
 seems an adaptation of an epithet applied to Poseidon (Nep- 
 tune) in the Iliad (XIII, 563, XIV, 390). 
 
 30-36. — One of several direct references of a complimentary 
 character to persons connected with or concerned in the giving 
 of the play and incidental to its occasional character. The 
 peer is the Earl of Bridgewater, in whose honor it was given. 
 See the prefatory note. The sceptre was not newly entrusted," 
 but the reference is quite justified by the fact that the play 
 was in honor of his induction into office. 
 
 31. — of mickle trust. Of great trustworthiness. 
 
 32. — has. This form, originally Northern, is rare in Milton. 
 He usually uses the Midland and Southern hath. — with tempered 
 awe. With the reverential dread inspired by his office, tem- 
 pered by his just and merciful discharge of its duties. 
 
 33. — The Welsh. Milton's tribute, as Trent notes, was not 
 merely an empty compliment on his part, as the epic he planned 
 on Arthur and his History of Britain show. 
 
 34.— Where. To which (the "tract" of 1. 30), whither. 
 
 35. — to attend their father's state. To wait upon their 
 father, in token of dutiful respect, on his assumption of his new 
 dignities, and be present at the ceremonials signalizing his in- 
 stallation. Attend still implied a service of duty in Milton's 
 time. 
 
 37. — perplexed. Interwoven, entangled; the original use. 
 
 40. — Note the reference to the children's age. See the 
 prefatory note. 
 
NOTES 103 
 
 41. — sovran. A shortened form of soveram (whence, by in- 
 fluence of reign, our spelUng sovereign). 
 
 45. — hall or bower. A traditional phrase in poetic and other 
 reference. The hall was the great living-room, and the bower 
 the inner or private room of the lord or, perhaps, more specially 
 the lady (as now in pseudo-archaic use), in a castle or manor. 
 The bard or minstrel of early days might be called to sing in 
 either, choosing appropriate songs or tales in each case. 
 
 46-49. — The sailors (pirates, in fact) on the ship on which 
 Bacchus, god of wine, was proceeding to Naxos, plotted to sell 
 him into slavery. As they were on the point of seizing him, he 
 caused the ship to be wreathed with ivy, turned their oars to 
 serpents, and changed them to dolphins. 
 
 47. — sweet poison of misused wine. Poison when mis- 
 used. 
 
 48. — After the transformation of the Tuscan mariners; a 
 Latin construction. Compare post urhein conditam, after the 
 building of the city. Such a phrase in English as " after their 
 changed condition" for "after the change in their condition" is 
 somewhat similar. Tuscan and Tyrrhene (in the next line) are 
 practically equivalent. The sailors in the legend were Tyr- 
 rhenians (see Osgood). The sea of that name lay between 
 Italy, Sardinia, Corsica, and Sicily, and, it will be remembered, 
 modern Tuscany borders upon it. 
 
 50. — This part of the story is, apparently, Milton's invention, 
 "never yet . . . heard in tale or song." The island of Circe, 
 according to Vergil and others, was in the Tyrrhenian Sea. 
 Milton evidently placed it at Circeii. For the story of Circe see 
 the Odyssey, X. 
 
 bb. — The ivy was sacred to Bacchus. 
 
 59. — Grown to full age, and exulting (compare our frolic- 
 some) in the enjoyment of it. Of as connected with ripe 
 means "as respects," as connected with frolic means "because 
 of." 
 
 60, 61. — To give the illusion of reality to the story. As 
 Bacchus his father roved westward, Comus ranges the Celtic 
 (French) and Iberian (Spanish) fields, and so comes to England. 
 The same instinct leads the poet in 1. 61 to change from the 
 past tense to the present, bringing the pagan deity, Comus, 
 into proper relation with his purpose in point of time as in the 
 previous line in point of place. 
 
 61. — ominous. Of evil omen, hence forbidding. 
 
104 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 65. — orient. Lustrous like gems of the fine quality spe- 
 cially characteristic of those of the Orient; hence, brilliant. — 
 crystal glass. Glass vessels were in use from the Anglo-Saxon 
 period and earlier, but their use was not general for drinking 
 purposes, as "a glass" might denote a vessel of any kind, 
 bottle, chemical implement, reliquary, etc. 
 
 66. — drouth of Phoebus Thirst caused by the sun. Note 
 the redundant syllable before the caesura, a license Milton did 
 not permit himself in his later poems, except when partial 
 elision was possible. 
 
 67. — fond. Foolish; still in dialectal and literary use. 
 
 71. — ounce. A kind of lynx. 
 
 72. — An unpoetical line. It prepares, as editors note, for 
 the appearance of the monsters in Comus's following, shortly to 
 enter. The change wrought by Comus is less complete than that 
 of Circe as respects bodily features, but more complete in its 
 total transformation of the victim mentally and spiritually. 
 In a dramatic production, bodily change in respect to coun- 
 tenance only was expedient because of convenience, and 
 because here complete animal form would have involved 
 grotesqueness and would have suggested purely comic anti- 
 masques. 
 
 73. — perfect. Complete, utter. — misery. Pitiable state; the 
 use follows the Latin. 
 
 79. — adventurous. Full of risk; perilous. 
 
 80. — glancing. Moving in a slanting direction. The line 
 suggests a falling star. 
 
 83. — spun out of Iris' woof. Iris was the goddess of the 
 rainbow. Milton exercises the freedom of the true poet. To 
 spin what is woven is, from the prosaic point of view, impos- 
 sible. Two figures are here superimposed; the woof (note the 
 suggestion of the bands of color) or fabric which Iris weaves, 
 delicate and immaterial as it is, is such as can be spun to 
 make the robes of spirits. But such complex images are beauti- 
 ful in general suggestion (impressionistic, one might call them). 
 
 84. — Another personal compliment — here to Henry Lawes, 
 to whom Milton attributes powers like those of Orpheus. 
 
 86. — smooth-dittied. Set to music "smoothly." Smooth is 
 often used in the seventeenth century in this connection; it 
 means "composed with unvarying skill and charming effect." 
 The milkmaid sang the "smooth" song which Raleigh wrote to 
 Izaak Walton. 
 
NOTES 105 
 
 88.— nor of less faith. Not less faithful than skilful. 
 
 89. — mountain watch. Over his sheep on the hills. 
 
 90. — Most likely to be here and the one nearest at hand to 
 render aid. 
 
 92. — Stage direction, charming-rod. The customary wand of 
 the enchanter. — rout. A disorderly company. — glistering. Glis- 
 tening, shining, or sparkling. This portion of the masque 
 constitutes an antimasque. See the prefatory note. 
 
 93. — The star that bids the shepherd fold. Hesperus, the 
 evening star. L. 93 echoes Shakespeare's " the unfolding star 
 calls up the shepherd," Measure for Measure, IV, ii, 218. It 
 holds its place high in the heavens (by hyperbole, the "top of 
 heaven") just after sunset. 
 
 95-97. — The gilded car of day is the chariot of the sun-god, 
 Phoebus. Osgood (so Todd) notes that Milton may have de- 
 rived his allusion to the cooling {allay, 1. 96, which had this 
 special meaning) of the sun's glowing axle in the Atlantic from 
 the reference in Statins or in Juvenal to the hissing of the 
 chariot of Hyperion as it plunged into the western ocean at 
 sunset. The poet speaks of the Atlantic stream with reference 
 to the mythological conception of the ocean as a great stream 
 that girdled the earth. The epithet steep has met with varied 
 explanations — *'deep," "glittering," "faUing abruptly "(as sug- 
 gested by the sun's descent), may serve as'examples. Two ex- 
 planations are possible. One is that the poet refers to the 
 appearance of the sea as sloping upward to the horizon. The 
 other, and preferable, explanation is that while Milton refers 
 to the chariot of the sun, his conception of the earth here in- 
 volved is partly modern as well as classical, as shown by the 
 succeeding lines; he therefore had in mind the downward slope 
 of the ocean beyond the horizon, a steep corresponding to the 
 " Indian steep " of 1. 139 on the eastern side. 
 
 93-144. — The speech of Comus to his followers, in which he 
 announces the coming of evening and summons them to join in 
 their revels, leads up to and anticipates the spirit of the dance 
 which follows. It is therefore in a lyric or songlike measure, 
 not in the blank verse in which the direct action of the play, that 
 which directly concerns the fortunes of the chief personages, is 
 carried on. The difference is in the shorter line, varied move- 
 ment, and use of rime. 
 
 98-101. — This passage, left without comment by many edi- 
 tors, is really one of great difficulty. One explanation, satis- 
 
106 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 factory at first sight, is that the sun, "slope" as sunk on its 
 sloping course below the horizon, still shoots an upward beam 
 toward the zenith, here called the pole, which is growing dusk as 
 the sun disappears. But pole is not used for the zenith; 
 the nearest use of it to this sense is for the sky or heavens. 
 That Milton did not have in mind the last beams of the sun 
 lingering in a sky growing dusky is apparent from the original 
 reading in the MS., which was "northern pole." Dr. H. B. 
 Evans informs me that no accurate astronomical explanation 
 can be offered for the passage but that Milton may here refer to 
 the Aurora Borealis, having heard of certain theories regard- 
 ing it not printed till later in the century. 
 
 101. — The usual reference hereto Psalms, xix, 4, 5, is not in 
 point. Nothing is said there of the east, merely that the sun 
 comes forth as a bridegroom. Milton has in mind the famihar 
 classical conception. So also the "other goal" was possibly 
 suggested by Homer (see Osgood, s. v. Apollo). 
 
 105. — rosy twine. A twine or garland of roses. 
 
 110. — grave saws. Maxims or moral sayings of serious 
 nature uttered gravely in exhortation or rebuke. 
 
 111. — of purer fire. With less of the earthly than mortals; 
 the fire being taken, according to the classic conception, as 
 the principle of life or more nearly resembling it. 
 
 112. — starry choir. The reference is to the music of the 
 spheres. See Nativity Ode, 1. 125, n. The spheres are 
 "watchful," as being observant of their proper times and 
 motions. 
 
 115. — sounds and seas. The narrower and wider parts of the 
 ocean. — finny drove. Compare Horace, Odes, I, ii, 7-9. 
 
 116. — The tidal motion of the sounds and seas responsive to 
 the moon's attraction is likened to the morris dance (by deriva- 
 tion a Moorish dance), popular in mediaeval times and still 
 traditional in parts of England, in which various figures are 
 danced by a number of characters, the Hobby-horse, Queen of 
 the May, Robin Hood, Maid Marian, and others. 
 
 117. — tawny sands. Verity notes that Milton first used 
 " yellow " and changed it because it would suggest a copying of 
 Ariel's song in The Tempest. — shelves. That is, of rock. 
 
 118. — pert. Trim, neat, trig (with suggestion of pettiness of 
 size); an obsolete sense in a different line of development from 
 its present use. — dapper. Trim, neat in appearance (retained 
 in latter sense). 
 
NOTES 107. 
 
 119. — brim. Its original sense, the shore of the sea or other 
 body of water. 
 
 121. — wakes. A wake is a night-watch or vigil. Milton's 
 use includes the associations the word has with vigils held 
 before church festivals, which, like the watches beside dead 
 persons before burial, served as an occasion for festivity and 
 merrymaking. 
 
 125. — rites. Milton's spelling rights has suggested the query 
 whether the meaning is not "our rightful festivities." The 
 word intended, however, is rites. 
 
 127. — dun. Properly dark brown; in extended (poetic) use, 
 dark, dusky. 
 
 129. — Ootytto (ko-tit'-to). A goddess, originally Thracian, 
 whose worship was conducted in secret and by night. Milton 
 may have drawn here, as Osgood points out, from a reference to 
 Cotytto in Juvenal {Satiros, II, 91 /.). 
 
 131. — The Stygian darkness is like a dragon's womb or belly 
 that spits up the thick smoke and reek characteristic of the 
 dragons of our Northern mythology. Milton may well have 
 had the idea of dragons suggested to him in this connection by 
 descriptions of the chariot of Night, or that which bore Medea, 
 as drawn by dragons. 133. — one blot. An emphatic use of one 
 in the sense "of one kind " (compare all one, one whole). Trent 
 aptly cites "he is one mass of conceit." Note the idea of ob- 
 literation in blot. 
 
 134. — chair. Chariot. 
 
 135. — Hecate. Hecate was originally a moon-goddess, as 
 Osgood notes, but in a later conception goddess of witchcraft 
 and sorcery, and, in general, of horrors suggested by darkness. 
 She is associated with Cotytto, because of her frequent associa- 
 tion with other deities of darkness in classical reference. The 
 last vowel of Hecate is here elided — the usual pronunciation 
 among the Elizabethans. 
 
 139. — nice. Modest or shy, or affectedly so; not over- 
 particular or precise, as usually explained in accordance with 
 the modern sense. — the Indian steep. The slope in the far 
 east corresponding in Milton's poetic conception of the sun's 
 course to the steep of the Atlantic stream implied in 1. 97. 
 Compare Spenser's phrase "eastern hill," similar in idea, but 
 less imaginative in expression. 
 
 147. — shrouds. This use is derived from the verb in its sense 
 of "to cover, conceal." — brakes. Tangles of brushwood or 
 briers; thickets. 
 
108 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 151. — trains. Lures. So used by Spenser and Shakespeare. 
 
 154. — dazzling spells. The MS. reads, "powder'd spells," the 
 use of a powder hurled into the air being also indicated by the 
 "magic dust" of 1. 165. Masson suggested that the change to 
 dazzling may imply use of a combustible powder; this is possible, 
 or perhaps the use of powdered tinsel or the like is indicated. — 
 spongy air. So called as taking up and holding the wizard's 
 spells in suspension, 
 
 155. — blear illusion. Illusion that blears or dims the eyes to 
 what is real, rendering "false presentments" possible. 
 
 157. — quaint habits. Strange or unusual garments. 
 
 158. — suspicious flight. Flight caused by suspicion. 
 
 161. — glozing courtesy. To gloze is to cause something 
 wrong to appear as if right; also, an obsolete sense, to flatter. 
 The former sense is intended, as the parallel word unplausible, 
 1. 162, shows. 
 
 163. — wind me. Compare the metaphor involved in this 
 use with that in insinuate. 
 
 164. — hug. A use now obsolete: to caress (a person) to 
 gain his good-will or trust. Cf. Julius Caesar, I, ii, 74. 
 
 167. — about his country gear. In seeing to the affairs or 
 duties with which a countryman is occupied. Gear, now 
 archaic, in its original and chief senses means clothes, arms, or 
 equipment of any kind. 
 
 168. — fairly. Quietly; an obsolete sense, in origin a develop- 
 ment from use of the word in such phrases as "to part fairly," 
 "to leave fairly," that is, to part or go away from a person on 
 pleasant terms, hence peaceably, and hence gently or quietly. 
 
 172. — ill-managed. An unfamiliar use to us in its suggestion. 
 Milton used it as we would use "ill-regulated," in the sense of 
 "not under proper control." 
 
 173. — The flute or pipe when playing "gamesome" or 
 "jocund" music. 
 
 174. — loose unlettered hinds. Hinds or rustics untaught and 
 therefore ignorant or heedless of proper behavior — here in the 
 stronger sense, loose in morals, lax and vicious. 
 
 175. — teeming. Bearing young abundantly. — granges. Gran- 
 aries, barns. 
 
 176.— Pan. See Nativity Ode, 1. 89, n. 
 
 177. — thank the gods amiss. In a way not proper and truly 
 acceptable. 
 
 178. — swilled. To "swill" is to drink greedily and intemper- 
 ately. Our phrase would be "drunken insolence." 
 
NOTES 109 
 
 179. — wassailers. Drinkers, carousers. A wassail is a drink- 
 ing-bout from the old pledge "waes hael," "may it be to your 
 health or welfare," "here's to your health," 
 
 180. — inform. Direct, guide. 
 
 181. — mazes. Compare the similar use of labyrinth, 1. 278 
 Maze is used in the plural to denote the many windings of a 
 maze, as if one were involved in a succession of different 
 mazes. 
 
 188-190. — sad. Intent, serious, but with some coloring of 
 the usual modern sense. — votarist. One bound by a vow, as to 
 make a pilgrimage or perform a penance. — palmer. A pilgrim 
 entitled to wear the palm as having made the pilgrimage to 
 Jerusalem. The cha acteristic gray, hooded cloak of palmers 
 is referred to in the previous line. 
 
 The figure combines images somewhat incongruous to our 
 modern habit of thought, but riot to that of Milton's age. 
 Moreover, indeed, in Milton's time the chariot of Phoebus was 
 not definitely " classical " in association as it is to us, so wholly 
 naturalized had it become in poetic reference. Evening like a 
 gray-hooded palmer rises (rose is literal, not figurative), following 
 upon the flaming chariot of day as it departs. The figure is not 
 one consistent figure, but two figurative images balanced in an- 
 tithesis on the literal word rose. To which it may be added that 
 "the hindmost wheels of Phoebus' wain" do not imply, as some 
 editors have noted, that Milton supposed Phoebus 's chariot to 
 have two pairs of wheels. The phrase is a Latinism for " im- 
 mediately at the back of Phoebus' wain," that is, evening closely 
 followed. the departure of day. 
 
 193. — engaged. Put to use or service (now only in the broader 
 sense, "provide occupation for," and chiefly passive, "to be 
 engaged on"), but with coloring of the obsolete sense, "to ad- 
 vance (an army, etc.) so far as to render withdrawal difficult. 
 
 195-225. — This passage is omitted in the Bridgewater MS., 
 which probably represents the acting version of the play. The 
 portion omitted was inappropriate to a child playing the part. 
 
 195. — stole. An obsolete variant of the past participle 
 stolen. Compare the similar forms wove, prove, clove, spoke, etc., 
 for woven, proven, etc. — thievish Night. Osgood notes that this 
 is suggested by Ovid's furtivce nodes (Eleg., I, xl, 3). 
 
 197. — The metaphor in this passage is of the elaborate or 
 over-fanciful kind (often beautiful, but transcending good taste 
 through extravagance or over-ingenuity) called a "conceit." 
 
110 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 203. — rife. Continuous and persistent. — perfect. Perfectly 
 heard, unmistakable. 
 
 204. — single darkness. Darkness alone, unmingled with any 
 light; 80 used by poets before Milton, usually (as not here) of 
 freedom from commixture with a baser element. This passage 
 contains the earliest reference to a "dark lantern" (note the 
 connection with "thievish Night"). 
 
 205. — Editors follow each other in citing The Tempest, 
 Purchases abstract of Marco Polo, Heywood's Hierarchy of 
 Angels, Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess (to which Milton was 
 elsewhere indebted), and other works, as possible sources for 
 this passage (especially 11. 207-209). 
 
 210. — well. By poetic license, for the sake of the metre, 
 well follows instead of preceding the verb as it usually would. 
 
 212. — siding. That sides with, or takes the part of, one. It 
 is perhaps worth mention that Milton in his Commonplace Book 
 (Camden Society, 1878) has the following note: "The cause of 
 valour a good conscience, for an evil conscience, as an English 
 author noteth well, will otherwise knaw at the roots of valour 
 like a worm and undermine all resolutions. Ward. Militar. 
 Sect. 7." — Conscience. Pronounce as three syllables. 
 
 213-215. — The Lady is not apostrophizing the Christian 
 virtues as guiding principles of life; she addresses the three that 
 appear to her spiritual vision as those which will aid her in her 
 peril — Faith upholding her, Hope to lead her on. Chastity as 
 her guard from every harm. 
 
 216. — ye. The nominative used as accusative: common in 
 Elizabethan use, and at present in provincial use. Compare the 
 oblique case thee for nominative thou in Quaker speech. 
 
 217. — to whom. Pronounced to'oom, one of the elisions 
 regularly admitted by Milton. 
 
 219-220. — The theme of the play that no ill can come to true 
 chastity here first receives direct expression. Note the belief 
 expressed in 11. 217 /., which is a corollary of it, that all things 
 ill are in "slavish" subjection to the Supreme Good and used 
 only as officers of vengeance on things and beings that are evil — 
 that evil can prey only upon evil. Milton drew his conception 
 of his theme from Christian, not from classical poets and philoso- 
 phers, where it also may be found, but in a different form. 
 In the present passage, while embodying the Christian concep- 
 tion, he has to avoid any direct reference at odds with his 
 mythological setting. Hence God is referred to as the " Supreme 
 
NOTES 111 
 
 Good," a term which may permissibly refer also to Jove, and the 
 phrase "glistering guardian" is used which, while it directly 
 suggests the guardian angels, and the glistering garments of the 
 angels, in the Scriptures, also may refer, without a suggestion of 
 incongruity, to the Attendant Spirit sent by Jove. 
 
 221. — The question uttered half in hope, half in fear, with 
 which the Lady interrupts herself, is repeated, when assurance 
 oomes, in the form of an affirmation. — sable. Deep black; 
 this use is derived from the *' tincture" in heraldry, originally 
 named from the Russian fur, the best of which is black. 
 
 225. — casts. This is not the anacoluthon or change of con- 
 struction it first seems. Taking the sentence by itself one would 
 expect an infinitive corresponding to turn. But it is only the 
 first clause that is inverted for emphasis in response to the 
 previous question. This clause is additional and is in the direct 
 form, with the verb therefore in the indicative. — tufted. A 
 more or less frequent poetic epithet in Milton's predecessors, as 
 noted under L' Allegro, 1. 78. 
 
 226. — The Lady was not able to shout the halloo, as customa- 
 rily used, for example, in calling to dogs in hunting; knowing her 
 inability to make her voice carry in that way, she therefore 
 uses the best way she knows to make "such noise as can be 
 heard farthest." 
 
 It should be noted that this line is a "run-on line," that is, 
 it ends with a word expressing relation only, namely but, which 
 must necessarily be read in close connection with the clause it 
 introduces. To make up for this the pause at the last logical 
 break, just before but, is lengthened. The metrical unity of 
 the lines is not really broken by this license; the ear detects it 
 and in fact enjoys the variation from the usual "end-stopped" 
 line. 
 
 230-243. — Songs addressed to Echo are frequent in the 
 masques. Scenes in which Echo is addressed appear also in a 
 number of plays other than masques (for a famous example, see 
 Webster's Vittoria Corrombona). In these, and often in the 
 masques, Echo answers, the question being so contrived that 
 the repetition of the last few words by Echo provides a suitable 
 reply, frequently with a new and divertingly unexpected change 
 of meaning. Milton does not use this device here apparently, 
 as there is no stage direction to that effect and the words of the 
 song would not provide answers. It is possible, however, that 
 they may have been apparently echoed, for the Lady says in 
 
112 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 11. 275 /., that she was compelled to awake the "courteous 
 Echo" to give her answer. 
 
 Milton wrote few songs, but his great skill as a metrist 
 insured him such success in this mode, despite its special diffi- 
 culties, as to justify a comparison on equal terms with even the 
 greatest Elizabethans. The differences are those that might 
 be anticipated. Exquisite as is the imaginative conception of 
 this song and beautiful as are its images and diction, it suggests 
 studied art, as Shakespeare's and Ben Jonson's, for example, do 
 not. Exquisite also, judged as a poem, as a song it has not the 
 unity and directness of movement, the lightness of accent, the 
 accurate regulation of balance of accents and quantities in the 
 lyric pattern which characterize those masters of song-writing 
 at their best. See, in regard to the song, the Introduction to 
 Schelling's Elizabethan Lyrics and read in comparison with this 
 song "Hark, hark, the lark." 
 
 In reading songs it is particularly necessary to use the sus- 
 tained voice, to read slowly at first .until the relation of the 
 shorter lines to the longer is clearly perceived (one is apt to 
 hurry these unduly), and to make sure that one observes the 
 actual stresses of human speech. Line 233 is an example of 
 this last point. It should not be read: 
 
 And in the violdt embroidered vdle, 
 
 but with an anapest in the second foot — 
 
 And in the violet embroidered vdle. 
 
 The same pattern is used in 11. 235, 236. Line 241 is a 
 notable variation on the simple two-syllable movement. 
 
 Swe^t Que^n of Pdrley, daughter of the sphere. 
 
 The following line, apparently a pentameter, has really four 
 stresses in reading 
 
 S6 may'st thou bd translated to the skids 
 
 Note the regular rhythm of the Alexandrine at the close (as of 
 the opening pentameter), and how all its stresses but the first 
 fall on syllables of marked length and openness. 
 
 A word of comment is necessary in regard to the rimes of the 
 Bong. The pronunciation of practically all words in Milton's 
 
NOTES 113 
 
 time was sensibly different from that of to-day. Are, 1. 237, 
 was pronounced, as now in rustic use, air, and made a true 
 rime with pair, as also with where and sphere, 11. 240, 241. 
 Have (in one standard pronunciation) and cave, 11. 238, 239, 
 both had an a like that in part. This a was short in have and 
 long in cave, but this difference would disappear with have 
 under metrical and logical stress. 
 
 230. — Echo was a nymph, daughter of the Earth and Air, 
 whom Juno punished for betraying Jove's secrets, condemning 
 her never to speak except in answer to questions. She fell in 
 love with Narcissus (1. 237) and pined away till only her voice 
 was left. See Ovid, Metamorphoses, III, 351 ff. 
 
 231. — airy shell. Editors have suggested that Milton meant 
 the immaterial body of Echo, as reduced merely to a voice; 
 or the musical shell, the conch, used as a trumpet; or a sea- 
 shell with its murmuring. A variant cell, noted by the poet for 
 consideration on the edge of the MS., shows that the true 
 meaning is the shell or concave of the air, the " sphere " of 1. 241. 
 But there can be little doubt that Milton used the word to 
 suggest also the sea-shell with its echo of the sea. 
 
 232. — Meander. Our word " to meander " is derived from the 
 name of this river of Phrygia, famed for its many windings. The 
 airy habitation of Echo may be anywhere. — margent. Margin. 
 
 233. — Probably, as Hales suggests, Milton drew here from a 
 reference in Sophocles to the nightingales of Colonus, near 
 Athens, still famous, as Hales shows, for its violets and nightin- 
 gales. Milton here mentions the violet, the flower of Athens, 
 the "violet-crowned" city, and in Paradise Regained, IV, 425, 
 he definitely associates the nightingale with Athens. 
 
 234. — lovelorn. Bereft of one loved, or pining because of 
 love. Bell explained this as a reference to Aedon who, changed 
 to a nightingale, lamented her son whom she had killed by 
 mistake. The allusion usually accepted is that the nightingale 
 is pining because of love, which is not in accordance with the 
 actual story of Philomel. See note to II Penseroso, 1. 56. 
 
 237. — Narcissus. The beautiful youth for love of whom 
 Echo pined away, as he himself did later — becoming the flower 
 that bears his name — out of love of his own image reflected in 
 a stream. 
 
 239. — flowery cave. Compare also the mossy coiLch of 1. 276. 
 Classical references represent Echo as dwelling in woods and 
 caves. See Osgood and compare Ovid, Metamorphoses, III, 393. 
 
114 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 241. — Parley. Interchange of speech, perhaps with partial 
 implication of its formal use of a debate to which one is sum- 
 moned, in allusion to Echo's being permitted to speak only 
 when addressed. — sphere. Of the air, but also anticipatory 
 of the graceful fancy following that, if she will but tell, it may be 
 given her to add grace to the music of the spheres. 
 
 243. — Comus comes from his hiding-place into the view of the 
 audience, having disguised himself as a "harmless villager" or 
 shepherd. His speech is an "aside" until he advances and 
 addresses the Lady in 1. 265. 
 
 247. — the vocal air. The air as giving voice to the song. 
 This is the usual and to us the natural sense owing to our famil- 
 iarity with such phrases as "the air was vocal with melody," 
 "birds rendered the air vocal." It is possible, however, that 
 Milton uses air in its obsolete sense of "breath," and that 
 "vocal air" means literally the breath giving voice to the 
 song. The something holy lodges in that breast and there 
 moves the vocal air to testify his hidden residence. 
 
 249. — It is interesting to note how the figure of the "wings of 
 silence" is echoed by the beautiful figure in 1. 251 of the "raven 
 down of darkness." The down is smoothed till it shines with 
 smoothness — hence, in vivid metaphor, smiles. 
 
 251. — fall. A falling sequence of notes in music, a cadence. 
 253.— the Sirens three. The Sirens (see the Odyssey, XII, 
 39 Jf., 166 jf.) were beings in the form of women who, seated 
 near the edge of the sea (in a meadow, in the Odyssey; on rocks 
 by the water's edge, in Vergil and elsewhere), beguiled sea- 
 farers to their destruction by their beauty and the sweetness of 
 their singing. In the classics they are in no way associated, 
 as here, with Circe. It is clear (see note on 11. 257 ff.) that the 
 island of Circe was for Milton at Circeii in geographical prox- 
 imity to the Sirens, whose abiding-place lay between it and 
 Scylla and Charybdis. 
 
 Two of the Sirens are mentioned in 11. 879, 880: Parthenope, 
 said to have been buried in Naples, the "dear tomb," of 1. 879, 
 and Ligea, to whom Milton ascribes "soft alluring locks "on 
 the authority probably of Vergil, Georgics, IV, 337. Milton 
 also pictures her as combing her locks, like, as Masson pointed 
 out, a Teutonic mermaid (Lorelei) rather than a classic 
 Siren. 
 
 254. — Naiades. Nymphs of springs and streams. The Odys- 
 sey (X, 350), as Osgood points out, speaks of Circe's hand- 
 
NOTES 115 
 
 maids as " born of the wells, and of the woods, and of the holy 
 rivers." The phrase " flowery-kirtled " is probably a borrowing 
 of Ovid's pictis incinctce vestibus, Fasti, V, 217, used of the 
 Hours. Various commentators upon Ovid (Osgood) speak of 
 the Hours as wearing garments made of flowers. 
 
 255. — This line, as Osgood notes, was probably suggested by 
 Ovid (Metamorphoses, XIV, 267 /.) in his account of Circe. 
 
 257. — elysium. Elysium, in classical mythology, was a place 
 where good men dwell eternally, by special election of the gods, 
 without tasting death. From classic references to the fields of 
 asphodel, "the idea of Elysium is closely associated in the 
 mind of Milton with that of flowers," of. L' Allegro, 145-147, 
 Paradise Lost, III, 358 /., Comus, 992-998, and the present 
 passage (Osgood). The poet does not use the word figuratively, 
 as the phrase "lap it in elysium" proves, and it should not here 
 be printed, as it is in modernized editions, with a capital. It 
 had already, long before Milton's time, lost its specific sense, 
 and come to be used to mean a state of blissful happiness. 
 
 — Scylla. Scylla was a rock in the Straits of Messina, 
 and Charybdis (1. 259) the whirlpool opposite. These have 
 given rise to various stories. Circe, jealous because of the love 
 the sea-god Glaucus bore for the nymph Scylla, poisoned the 
 spring where she bathed, which caused her to change into a suc- 
 cession of monstrous forms. She threw herself into the sea and 
 became {Mneid, III, 551-560) a monster in a cave surrounded 
 by " barking waves " {latrantihus undis) . Milton's version (see 
 Osgood) is from Ovid, Metamorphoses, XIV, 40-74, as proved 
 by Paradise Lost, II, 660), namely, that Scylla was trans- 
 formed by Circe while bathing in the Sicilian Straits, in such 
 wise that she was surrounded by barking dogs which she could 
 not flee from, as they were a part of her, and so in the extremity 
 of her grief was changed to a rock. 
 
 263. — waking bliss. Bliss actually known in "sober cer- 
 tainty" while awake, though such as one would think would 
 come only in the unreality of dreams. 
 
 265. — foreign. From without this country-side. 
 
 267. — unless. Unless (thou art). — rural shrine. Every 
 country-side among the ancients might have its special tutelar 
 deity worshipped by the country folk together with the greater 
 gods and invoked with them for aid and protection. Comus 
 pretends to see such a goddess in the Lady, who by the blest 
 influence of her song is charming away evil influences. The 
 
116 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 indirect personal compliment to Lady Alice and her parents 
 implied in the whole speech of Comus (remembering that the 
 Lady is acting half in her own character) is apparent. 
 
 268. — Sylvan. Sylvanus was properly a god of the woods, 
 but, according to Vergil (see Osgood), of the fields also. Com- 
 pare II Penseroso, 134; Paradise Lost, IV, 707. 
 
 269. — fog. The dampness and cold of fog are "unkindly,' 
 as thought to produce mildew and blight. Compare 1. 433. 
 
 271. — gentle shepherd. This use of gentle as a complimentary 
 term of address (compare "gentle sir, gentle lady," etc., and the 
 "gentle taper" of 1. 337), if not archaic and poetic only in 
 Milton's time, became so shortly afterward. It survives only 
 in "gentle reader" in other than archaic use. Its use with 
 shepherd, owing to Milton chiefly, became a poetic idiom. — 
 ill is lost. In ill wise is lost or wasted; a Latinism, male 
 perditur. 
 
 273. — boast of skill. Desire to show off my skill in singing. 
 — extreme shift. For the accentuation, see the note on 1. 4. 
 The use of shift is a pregnant poetic use, " difficulty and danger 
 leading to the use of any shift or resource that may bring 
 help." 
 
 278-290. — A notable example of stichomythia, or dialogue in 
 alternate lines, as used in Greek tragedy, in Seneca, and in 
 English tragedies under classic influence. 
 
 278. — dim darkness. Dusky or shadowy darkness; see the 
 note on 1. 5. — leavy. This is the form the word would naturally 
 assume, but the influence of the primitive leaf is constantly 
 felt, rendering leafy the more common form. Tennyson seemed 
 to prefer leavy. — labyrinth. The same figure is used in 1. 
 181. 
 
 279. — near-ushering. The guides went before (implied in 
 ushering), but near at hand. The word may be used also with 
 implication of ceremonious or deferential guidance (its usual 
 sense), in compliment to the Lady. 
 
 282. — As Verity notes, a somewhat different reason is given 
 in 11. 185 /. 
 
 283. — The construction is elliptic on a Latin model, "and left 
 your side (and you so fair) unguarded. " The body of the phrase 
 perhaps follows the Latin tegere latus alicui, to walk close by the 
 side of, as Verity suggests. 
 
 285.— prevented. Perhaps in the obsolete sense " anticipate," 
 but quite as probably in its present familiar sense. 
 
NOTES 117 
 
 286. — hit. This use of hit, "to reach or strike something 
 aimed at," is confined practically to physical relations to-day, 
 except in such phrases as "to hit the point," " he hit it exactly." 
 The meaning is not to " hit upon," or guess. 
 
 287. — " Is their loss a matter of concern or importance aside 
 from the present need?" The real purpose of Comus, to ascer- 
 tain the character of the Lady's companions, is satisfied by her 
 answer. 
 
 291. — what time. At such time as; at the time when. — la- 
 bored. That has been worked hard, hence, wearied with labor; 
 compare swinked, 1. 293. 
 
 292. — The idea of an ox in traces, loosed from the plough, is 
 unfamiliar to Americans. 
 
 293. — swinked. The obsolete verb swink, from A. S. 
 swincan, implies hard toil. It was obsolete in Milton's time, 
 except perhaps dialectally. It survives only in a variant form 
 and in the phrase "a swingeing blow," one of great force. 
 
 294. — mantling. Forming a mantle or covering; hence, of 
 a vine, spreading over and covering what it hangs or rests on. 
 
 295. — yon small hill. Comus points, as Verity suggests, to 
 some part of the scenery in the background. Or possibly, as 
 we would say, "off the wings." 
 
 297. — port. The way a person carries himself, bearing, hence 
 his aspect as due to this; frequent in Elizabethan use. 
 
 298. — faery. A variant of fairy and used in the same general 
 range of senses, namely, the realm of the fairies, fairies collec- 
 tively, a single fairy. — vision. The ending -ion, more rarely 
 -ean, may form two syllables — its earlier pronunciation — and, 
 by virtue of the secondary accent on -on when so pronounced, 
 serve as a full foot (so, at the end of the line, in 11. 365, 377, 
 413, 457, 467, 641, 685, 749, c/. also Conscience, 1. 212— and 
 within the line in 1. 603). 
 
 299. — creatures of the element. The spirits of the air (see 
 the note on II Penseroso, 93), the context indicating that air is 
 the element meant. Water and fire are also thus alluded to, 
 less often earth; water even to-day, and both water and air in 
 the trite phrase "the war of the elements." 
 
 301. — plighted. Plaited or folded, disposed in folds. 
 
 308. — starlight. Normally this word is stressed on the first 
 syllable. The word really, however, here receives two stresses, 
 and the line is an example of Milton's occasional use of two 
 stresses in conjunction following upon two normally unaccented 
 
118 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 syllables. In reading a light stress should be put upon of and 
 two nearly equal stresses upon the syllables of starlight. 
 
 309. — land-pilot's art. This phrase is suggested to the Lady 
 by the form of the direction Comus gives in 1. 306. 
 
 311. — alley. A walk or path in a garden or wood; the earli- 
 est recorded sense in English and the current sense in German. 
 
 312. — dingle. In dialectal use, a deep valley between hills; 
 in literary use, perhaps owing to Milton (see N. E. D.), a deep 
 dell (valley or hollow), wooded or overshadowed by trees. 
 
 313. — bosky bourne. " Bushy " or wooded brook. Bourne is 
 more familiar in its Northern (Scottish) form hum. 
 
 314. — ancient. Known of old. 
 
 315. — attendance. Those who afford attendance, attendants; 
 an obsolete use. 
 
 316. — shroud. Find cover, hide or shelter; compare the 
 use of the noun in 1. 147, and note. 
 
 317. — low-roosted lark. The lark does not roost, but makes 
 her nest on the ground. This nest, of dry grasses, forming her 
 pallet or bed (1. 318) is spoken of as "thatch'd" because it is 
 like thatch and suggests that it was made as one makes thatch 
 for a roof. The reader will not need to be reminded of the part 
 which the skylark with her thrilling flight and song has played 
 in English poetry from Chaucer to Shelley, and in familiar 
 reference ("to be up with the lark," "to sing like a lark"). 
 
 319, 320. — to a low, But loyal cottage. To a cottage lowly 
 and humble (as cottages are), but (with inmates) loyal to 
 what is right and worthy of trust. 
 
 323-326. — Comparisons of this character are frequent in 
 lyric and other verse throughout the seventeenth century and 
 earlier. So common are they that we need not suppose a 
 special personal animus in the passage presaging the republican 
 Milton of a later day, as the editors suggest. 
 
 325. — where it first was named. Courtesy meant originally 
 the manners and address appropriate to a court, and is derived 
 from court. Milton here runs counter to Spenser, Faerie 
 Queene, VI, i, 1. 
 
 327. — Less warranted than this. Offering less warrant of 
 safety. 
 
 , 329. — Eye me. Keep watch over me, regard me. — square. 
 Shape, adjust. 
 
 330. — To my proportioned strength. To my strength as it is 
 proportioned; so as to be proportionate to my strength. 
 
NOTES 119 
 
 331-489. — This scene of 159 lines, more than a tenth of the 
 whole, is of undue length when considered in relation to the 
 service it renders in advancing the action of the play. Editors 
 comment upon this fact and the lack of characterization in the 
 two brothers as exemplifying Milton's lack of dramatic ability. 
 He was probably deficient in this respect. However, Milton 
 here gives formal and elaborate expression to the theme of the 
 play already enunciated in brief by the Lady. Such an ex- 
 pression of it was needed in the play at this point. The minds 
 of the audience are prepared for it and the repetition enforces it, 
 especially in view of the fact that the Lady has just put herself 
 in the power of Comus. Moreover, the play is a masque and an 
 elaborate statement of its theme is justified; to its explicit 
 presentation, action in the ordinary sense is subordinate. A 
 similar criticism might just as well apply to many of Jonson's 
 masques. In respect to the characterization of the brothers, 
 it need only be added that they are playing in their own 
 characters. The appeal to the spectators and especially to 
 their parents resides in the fact that they become the 
 mouthpieces of such lofty morality and beautiful poetry, as 
 if these were, as might justly be conceived to be, natural to 
 them. 
 
 331. — Unmuffle. Muffle meant originally " to wrap warmly " 
 (it is connected with muff), hence, "to wrap closely for conceal- 
 ment." Milton's use of it in reference to stars and the moon 
 has been imitated by several poets. 
 
 332. — wontest. Art wont or accustomed. 
 
 333. — amber cloud. Of the color of amber, yellowish- 
 brown; referring to the color often seen when the moon shines 
 through a cloud. 
 
 334. — disinherit Chaos. Inherit in a secondary use, now 
 obsolete, came to mean "to take possession, or to hold, as one's 
 right." It appears in early Biblical use, in Shakespeare, and in 
 Milton (see Samson Agonistes, 1012, and N. E. D.). Verity's 
 gloss "dispossess" is an apt equivalent. Chaos in the classical 
 conception, like the formless void of Hebrew belief, was the 
 original abyss of warring elements before the ordered universe 
 came into being, or, further, the region of this character re- 
 maining above hell. This conception is sometimes personified. 
 
 336. — influence. Milton uses this word in its ordinary sense, 
 but it was suggested to him (as it would not be to us) by its 
 special astrological use with reference to the supposed power of 
 
120 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 the heavenly bodies upon the earth and the fortunes of men. 
 Note how its etymological meaning suggested to Milton the 
 phrase "dammed up." 
 
 337. — some gentle taper. A direct address, as shown by 
 "thy" and "thou" below. For gentle, see 1. 271, n. 
 
 338.— Though. Though but (a rush-candle). The Elder 
 Brother calls up a picture of the rudest and simplest conditions 
 of life — a cotter's hut of clay, the window unglazed and filled 
 with a grating of woven boughs (the door might possibly be a 
 bundle of thorn or other brush), and the candle one made by 
 dipping a rush for wick. 
 
 340. — rule. Referring to the sharpness and straightness of a 
 beam of light through a window, as if ruled. Verity notes that 
 the alliteration suggests the line of light; cf. Matthew Arnold's 
 The Scholar- Gipsy y "The line of festal light in Christ-Church 
 Hall." 
 
 341, 342. — The "star of Arcady" is an example of the some- 
 what recondite form in which Milton sometimes delights to 
 couch his mythical allusions. Calisto, daughter of Lycaon, 
 king of Arcadia (whence "Arcady"), having taken refuge 
 among the nymphs of Diana, was loved by Jupiter and there- 
 fore changed, by Diana, Juno, or Jupiter himself, according to 
 various versions of the story, into a bear and placed with her 
 son Areas among the stars, where they form the constellations 
 of the Great and the Lesser Bear. The " star of Arcady," there- 
 fore stands for the constellation of the Great Bear. The " Cyno- 
 sure (Gr. for "dog's tail") of the next line was another name 
 for the Lesser Bear, because of its fancied resemblance to a dog's 
 tail, and hence for the Pole Star at the tip of the tail (for a 
 further development see the note on L' Allegro, 77). The Great 
 Bear, according to the ancients, was used by Greek sailors in 
 their navigation, the Cynosure by the Phoenicians (whence 
 Milton's "Tyrian"). The sense of the passage is, therefore, 
 " Thou shalt be our guiding-star in the darkness, as the Great 
 Bear was to the Greeks, the Cynosure to the Tyrians." 
 
 344. — wattled cotes. Sheds or shelters made of hurdles., 
 
 345. — pastoral reed with oaten stops. The shepherd's pipe, 
 familiar in classic and later reference, properly made then and 
 now of a reed or other woody hollow stem with the mouth end 
 stopped as in our whistles, and with holes (stops) for the fingers. 
 Jerram, in commenting upon Lycidas, 33, notes that there is no 
 authority for the oaten pipe frequently referred to in English 
 
NOTES ni 
 
 verse. This is probably due to Vergil's tenui avena (Eclogue, I, 
 2), though avena may mean any straw or stalk. Milton uses 
 reed, it will be noticed, simply as meaning pipe, not a reed pipe. 
 The stops or openings are cut in an "oaten" straw. 
 
 346. — lodge. The hunting lodge, or keeper's house, which 
 might be expected in the forest. 
 
 349. — innumerous. Innumerable. 
 
 355. — Leans. Not necessarily intransitive, with head as its 
 subject, as some editors note. The she of 1. 351 is felt as a 
 subject all the way through, despite 1. 353, as shown by its 
 omission in 1. 356. 
 
 356. — What if. What if [she should be], etc. — amazement. 
 Overpowering terror, panic; one of several obsolete senses 
 (stupefaction, frenzy, distraction, or bewilderment). 
 
 358. — heat. Desire or passion. Newton paraphrased the 
 line aptly, "the hunger of savage beasts or the lust of men as 
 savage as they." 
 
 359. — over-exquisite. Overanxiously careful in searching 
 out; a special use of the obsolete sense "scrupulous in detail, 
 accurate, precise." 
 
 360. — cast. Forecast, conjecture; a sense now obsolete. 
 Milton's use is a little unusual. The usual phrases are "to 
 cast peril, danger, peril, the worst." Milton uses the word of 
 "evils," but interpolates "fashion." 
 
 361-364. — grant they be so. That they are evils (be is indic- 
 ative; cf. 1. 12, n.). A correlative phrase follows in 1. 364, 
 "Or if they be but false alarms of fear" (here be is subjunctive 
 and equivalent to "should prove to be"). 
 
 Warburton, in the eighteenth century, commented, "This 
 line obscures the thought, and loads the expression; it had 
 been better out." The criticism is not just, for the line con- 
 tains an idea essential to the sense, "while they rest unknown." 
 But Warburton probably felt what is true of this line in particu- 
 lar, as in some measure of the whole passage it introduces 
 (11. 361-365), namely, that the level of the poetry here sinks 
 sensibly nearer to that of prose; cf. 11. 407-413. Perhaps it 
 was Milton's design to make clear beyond question by set 
 argument, the Elder Brother's studious and very proper care in 
 the performance of his duty as guide and counsellor of his 
 younger brother, and his poise and balance of mind under the 
 responsibility involved in the loss of his sister. That he speaks 
 with authority as the Elder Brother is unmistakable; note that 
 
122 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 while the Second Brother speaks of "our" sister (11. 350, 407) in 
 talking with his brother (using " my " only once in a prayer to 
 Heaven for her), his brother speaks of " my " sister (11. 366, 415). 
 But throughout the Elder Brother's speeches (as definitely in 
 the passage 375-380, which is unquestionably autobiographical, 
 as Pattison suggested) there is much that speaks directly from 
 the least lovely side of Milton's character, noble as it was, 
 namely, the tone of arrogance and conscious superiority he 
 betrays when assuming the office of moralist. 
 
 The idea in the passage that it is foolish to anticipate "un- 
 certain evils" is one familiar in proverbial warnings against 
 "running to meet trouble half-way" (referred to in 1. 363), 
 "crossing a bridge before one comes to it," and the like. 
 
 362. — What need a man. ' Why does a man need to . . .'etc. 
 — date of grief. Appointed time of unhappiness; probably 
 rather in the sense of period or season (frequent in poetry of the 
 period and earlier) than appointed time of beginning. 
 
 366. — so to seek. So wanting in what is sought or desired. 
 
 367. — unprincipled. Unschooled in the teachings of virtue 
 and the ensuing peace of soul, preventing fear, which should 
 form basic principles of character. 
 
 368. — bosoms. Holds cherished in the bosom. 
 
 369. — single want. Want alone, mere want. — noise. See 
 Nativity Ode, 97, n. 
 
 370. — The absolute participial clause needs no subject, for 
 the subject of the sentence sister is clearly held in mind through- 
 out it. 
 
 371. — constant. Standing firm, steadfast, unchanging; the 
 primitive etymological meaning. 
 
 372. — plight. State or condition; here, as often, implying 
 an unfortunate or evil state through mischance. 
 
 373-375. — Milton here echoes the Faerie Queene, I, i, 12, 
 "Virtue gives herself light through darkness far to wade." 
 
 375. — flat sea. The editors note Lycidas, 98, "the level 
 sea," as a close parallel. A variation of the same idea ap- 
 pears in 1. 23 above, "The unadorned bosom of the deep." 
 Milton's use of fat here perhaps expresses the emphasis of 
 the speaker, picturing sun and moon sunk and the sea level 
 over them. 
 
 375-380. — This passage is very probably autobiographical, as 
 Pattison suggested, referring to the years Milton spent at 
 Horton. 
 
NOTES 123 
 
 376. — seeks to. Resorts to; c/. in the 1611 Si6Ze, Deuteron- 
 omy, xii, 5, and elsewhere. 
 
 377-380. — This would seem mixed metaphor, but, as else- 
 where, Milton includes a figure within a figure. Having realized 
 Wisdom in her retirement with Contemplation, he starts a new 
 figure within the figurative world he has created as if it were 
 itself a physical world. 
 
 378. — plumes. Preens; dresses, arranges. Warton urged 
 the emendation prunes (equivalent to preens) as a specific 
 term used in hawking and of birds generally, but Milton un- 
 questionably wrote plumes. 
 
 379. — various bustle of resort. The press of varied activities 
 in places where many resort. 
 
 380. — all to-ruffled. The editions which Milton supervised 
 print all to ruffled. Early editors, unfamiliar with the prefix 
 involved, emended to to too. The to is A. S. to-, M. E. to-, an 
 intensive with the meaning asunder, cognate with German zer- 
 and similar in meaning and use. All was often prefixed, as here, 
 as an additional intensive, just as in our phrase "all to pieces." 
 
 381-385. — Milton used this theme again, in a more elaborate 
 and dramatic form, in Samson Agonistes, 151-163, with 
 reference to Samson blinded and in bondage. The greater 
 effectiveness of its use there is worth noting. 
 
 386. — affects. To show a preference for by habitual use. 
 
 387. — pensive. Permitting or conducive to thought. — 
 desert cell. The thoughts of the Second Brother are led at once 
 to the hermits of the earlier period of the Church who, enlarging 
 upon Biblical example, betook themselves, to secure a life of 
 uninterrupted meditation and devotion, to the "desert" — the 
 desert actually where it was possible in the Orient (as in Egypt), 
 or in such wild and solitary places, forests, or mountains, as 
 offered themselves. . The hermit is a familiar figure in mediaeval 
 romances and the literature which draws from it. The Greek 
 original means "one who dwells in the desert." 
 
 388. — Gray perhaps patterns on Milton here, as Verity sug- 
 gests, though with a different intention in meaning, in the 
 Elegy in a Country Churchyard, 73, "Far from the madding 
 crowd's ignoble strife." 
 
 389. — Editors note that Milton has in mind the sanctity 
 which invested the Roman senate. Verity adds a reference to 
 Cromwell's disregard of the privilege of Parliament, April 20, 
 1653. 
 
lU MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 390. — weeds. Clothing (see note on U Allegro, 120) — here, 
 the hermit's frock and other garments. Milton used "hairy- 
 gown" in II Penseroso, 169. In this line for weeds he first 
 wrote beads, and the following line read "his books, his hairy- 
 gown, or maple dish," as Sampson notes from his examination 
 of the Cambridge MS. 
 
 391. — The few possessions permitted by his vow of poverty — 
 books of devotion, a string of beads or rosary for keeping ac- 
 count of his prayers, and a wooden bowl. The bowl is of maple 
 here, but, as Masson notes, the hermit or sage in Milton's sixth 
 Elegy has one of beech. 
 
 393. — Hesperian tree. The tree with golden boughs and 
 leaves bearing the golden apples, the marriage gift of Juno, 
 guarded by a dragon and in the charge of the Hesperides, 
 maidens with exquisite powers of song, whom Milton makes 
 the daughters of Hesperus (1. 982). The gardens of the Hes- 
 perides (so called by the ancients, but called "Hesperian 
 gardens" by Milton) were at the confines of the earth in 
 the west. Milton identifies them with Elysium and the Islands 
 of the Blest {Paradise Lost, III, 568, IV, 250). Osgood 
 (whom see in general) notes that but little is said in the classics 
 of the beauty of the Hesperides or of their gardens. The 
 gardens particularly, however, became a stock allusion in mod- 
 ern literature and a set theme (introduced, for example, into 
 several masques) for passages of glowing description, as below, 
 11. 981 ff. Another description was cut out of the opening speech 
 of the Attendant Spirit after 1. 4. See further at note on 1. 981. 
 
 395. — with unenchanted eye. With eyes whose close watch 
 may not be caused to relax through enchantment. 
 
 398. — unsunned. Kept hidden from the light. Perhaps 
 suggested by the Faerie Queene, II, viii, 4 /. 
 
 401. — Danger will close his eyes to what Opportunity offers. 
 The suggestion has been made that the use of Desire in place 
 of Danger would have made the passage simpler and clearer, 
 but the personification of Danger as a maleficent being, watch- 
 ful for a chance to put a person in risk of harm, is far more 
 effective. 
 
 404. — it recks me not. The impersonal for the direct use " I 
 reck not of," that is, "am not concerned regarding." Cf. 
 Lycidas, 122. This use is not common, but is a natural develop- 
 ment like the similar use "it concerns me not," "it does not 
 matter to me." 
 
NOTES 125 
 
 405. — dog. Follow closely and stealthily for a purpose. 
 Note how this line echoes the idea in 1. 401. 
 
 406. — ill-greeting. Addressing or approaching in ill or evil 
 wise. 
 
 407. — unowned. Unaccompanied by persons having her in 
 charge, hence unprotected. 
 
 408. — Infer. Make inference, argue. 
 
 411. — arbitrate the event. Weigh or pass judgment (as 
 arbiter between hope and fear) upon the possible outcome. 
 
 413. — squint suspicion. Squint as eyeing things askance in 
 doubt and distrust. 
 
 418-431. — The theme of the masque, already referred to in 
 more general terms in another relation by the Lady (11. 210-212) 
 to the effect that virtue insures fortitude (to use the accepted 
 term of the moralists), as also by the Elder Brother (11. 366-372), 
 here receives more explicit and forcible expression. Chastity 
 is itself a sure defence (1. 420). In 11. 432-475, the Elder 
 Brother adduces proof for his faith. The entire passage, as 
 Masson says, "is not only a concentrated expression of the 
 moral of the whole masque, but also an exposition of what was 
 a cardinal idea with Milton through his whole life, and perhaps 
 the most central idea of his personal philosophy in early man- 
 hood." 
 
 It is because of the familiarity of the fact of Milton's intimate 
 indebtedness to Spenser that editors have not been at pains to 
 refer specifically to Una and the Lion and her immunity in 
 general from the powers of evil that surround her. The passage 
 in the Faithful Shepherdess, cited in illustration of 11. 432-437, in 
 part closely suggests the present passage. 
 
 421. — complete steel. For the stress in complete, see the 
 note on 1. 11. The phrase echoes Hamlet, I, iv, 52, as editors 
 in general have noted; possibly also, as Warton suggested, 
 Phineas Fletcher's Parthenia (the name means "virgin one") in 
 the Purple Island, X, 27 Jf., who is described as " all in steel and 
 gilded arms." 
 
 422. — The nymphs in classical mythology were lesser deities 
 of the woods, mountains, springs, rivers, or of particular 
 localities. They are a famihar poetic convention in Enghsh and 
 other literatures, and play a special and important part in the 
 pastoral. The nymphs here referred to are followers of Diana 
 (see 1. 441). Like her they are virgin, and like her carry bow 
 and quiver. 
 
126 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 423. — trace. Pass through or over, traverse; a common 
 Elizabethan use. — unharbored. Offering no harbor or shelter. 
 
 424. — Infamous. Of evil repute; a Latinism. Editors cite 
 Phineas Fletcher, Piscatorie Eclogues, I, 14, "Th' infamous 
 woods and downs," and Horace, Odes, I, iii, 20, "infames 
 scopulos." The accentuation here used is recorded as late as 
 the eighteenth century, but Milton also uses our present ac- 
 centuation. 
 
 426. — mountaineer. One having the savage traits of a dweller 
 in the mountains. Verity cites Cymbeline, IV, ii, 120, "call'd 
 me traitor, mountaineer." 
 
 428. — very. True, hence absolute, utter. 
 
 429. — grots. Grot, now only poetical, is from the French 
 word, as grotto from the Italian. — shagged. Made shaggy; 
 common in poetry of the first half of the seventeenth century. — 
 horrid shades. Properly "bristhng" or "shaggy" shades 
 ("shades" by metonymy for "woods"), .a Latinism not infre- 
 quently used from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, 
 but here used also with implication of its ordinary meaning. 
 
 430. — unblenched. Unswerving, that will not swerve or flinch 
 through fear. 
 
 432-437. — Milton here cites proof, possibly true, from popu- 
 lar belief. At 1. 438 he passes to evidence adduced from the 
 ancient philosophers, "the old schools of Greece," 1. 439. 
 This passage seems unquestionably to have been suggested by 
 Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess, as pointed out by Newton. 
 
 434. — Blue. Livid, slate-color; from Old Norse bla (whence 
 bio, bice, in dialectal use), changed by analogy to similarity with 
 blue, the color of the sky, which is of different derivation. — 
 meagre. Thin, lean. The graphic quality of these two epithets 
 is notable. — stubborn unlaid ghost. One that walks and will 
 not rest, not having been "laid" or put to rest by the rite of 
 exorcism, the office of the church prescribed for that purpose. 
 
 435. — Ghosts were believed to walk from curfew (the legal 
 hour for covering fires according to the old usage, that is, eight 
 or nine o'clock) till cock-crow. The reason is one which belongs 
 to "magic"; hence Milton speaks of the "magic chains" 
 which bind them at other times (c/. "each fettered ghost " in 
 Nativity Ode, 234). 
 
 436. — swart faery. Black elf or gnome. Gobhns and 
 spirits who live in the earth (c/. 11 Penseroso, 93 /., n.), or, more 
 particularly, in mines, play an important part in folk-lore. 
 
NOTES 127 
 
 439. — The speaker now appeals to the schools of the philos- 
 ophers. 
 
 441. — Dian. The Anglicized form of Diana, retained in 
 poetic and general literary use. Diana was the goddess of the 
 moon (hence she is here called "silver-shafted," perhaps with 
 double reference to the shafts in her quiver) and also of the 
 chase. A virgin goddess, she was fabled to spend her time in 
 hunting with her nymphs, virgin like her, and contemning love 
 (setting at naught the "frivolous bolt of Cupid," 11. 444 /.). 
 Cf. 11. 422 if., n., and 1. 340, n. 
 
 443. — blinded. Brindled, streaked, and spotted; probably 
 from brended, of a burnt color, whence also branded. 
 
 444. — pard. Panthdr, leopard. 
 
 445. — frivolous. Without importance or seriousness; of 
 trifling nature. The word has become more limited in applica- 
 tion and less serious in meaning than in Milton's time. — bolt of 
 Cupid. The arrow of the god of love; in a specific sense, a bolt 
 was the arrow used in a cross-bow. 
 
 447-449. — Of the three Gorgons, Medusa alone was mortal. 
 Having committed sacrilege in the temple of Minerva, her 
 hair was changed to serpents, which gave her an aspect so ter- 
 rible that all who beheld her were turned to stone. Perseus 
 filew her, guiding his blows by her reflection in his shield 
 (Benvenuto Cellini's famous statue will be remembered), and 
 her head was fixed on the shield of Minerva. Osgood notes that 
 Milton follows Ovid, Metamorphoses, IV, 771 ff. 
 
 449. — freezed. This weak preterite here used by Milton first 
 appeared in the Middle English period. — congealed. For the 
 stress, see 1. 4, n. 
 
 451. — dashed. Abashed, overpowered. 
 
 455. — liveried angels lackey her. Angels in their heavenly 
 livery attend her as lackeys or servants. The term lackey 
 makes it clear that Milton used livery in the sense of the dis- 
 tinctive dress of servants, not merely in the sense, still current 
 in his time, of distinctive dress. 
 
 458. — gross. Lacking delicacy in hearing, dull to what is 
 fine. 
 
 459. — oft. Frequent. 
 
 460. — Milton changed begins to begin in the MS., that is, from 
 the indicative to the subjunctive, but did not similarly change 
 turns, 1. 462. Masson may be right in thinking this intentional 
 and designed to imply certain accomplishment of the changOv 
 
128 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 463-475. — This passage, as Newton first pointed out, is 
 based on Plato, Phcedo, 81. The passage, in Jowett's transla- 
 tion (third edition, II, 224), is as follows: 
 
 "But the soul which has been polluted, and is impure at the 
 time of her departure, and is the companion and servant of the 
 body always, and is in love with and fascinated by the body 
 and by the desires and pleasures of the body, until she is led 
 to beheve that the truth only exists in a bodily form, which a 
 man may touch and see and taste, and use for the purpose of 
 his lusts, — the soul, I mean, accustomed to hate and fear and 
 avoid the intellectual principle, which to the bodily eye is 
 dark and invisible, and can be attained only by philosophy — 
 do you suppose that such a soul will depart pure and unalloyed? 
 
 Impossible, he replied. 
 
 She is held fast by the corporeal, which the continual associa- 
 tion and constant care of the body have wrought into her 
 nature. 
 
 Very true. 
 
 And this corporeal element, my friend, is heavy and 
 weighty and earthy, and is that element of sight by which a 
 soul is depressed and dragged down again into the visible 
 world, because she is afraid of the invisible and of the world 
 below — prowling about tombs and sepulchres, near which, as 
 they tell us, are seen certain ghostly apparitions of souls which 
 have not departed pure, but are cloyed with sight and therefore 
 visible." 
 
 The conception of the body's being changed to the soul's 
 essence in 11. 459-463, through "converse with heavenly hab- 
 itants," Milton used later in Paradise Lost, V, 493. 
 
 465. — lavish. Unrestrained, licentious; an obsolete use. 
 
 468. — Imbodies and imbrutes. Grows to be of a material, not 
 spiritual, nature and becomes brutish. 
 
 473. — Each shadow is thought of as sitting by its former 
 body — hence the singular in place of the plural. 
 
 474. — sensualty. In former use, interchange of the endings 
 -ty and -ity is common. 
 
 476. — This line is an acknowledgment to Plato, from whom 
 the substance of the previous passage is taken. 
 
 478.^Editors cite Love's Labour's Lost, IV, iii, 342 /., "as 
 sweet and musical as bright Apollo's lute," and a similar com- 
 parison in Milton's Tractate of Education, in which he uses the 
 harp of Orpheus. 
 
NOTES 129 
 
 479. — nectared. Made delicious with or as with nectar, the 
 drink of the gods. 
 
 480. — crude surfeit. Excess attended by or producing indi- 
 gestion; a rare Latinism, now obsolete. 
 
 483. — night-foundered. Sunk or lost in the night like a ship 
 in the sea. Cf. Paradise Lost, I, 204. 
 
 489. — Defence is a good cause. Defence is justified in that case. 
 
 490. — That halloo I should know. These words would seem 
 properly to belong to the Attendant Spirit, as one of the brothers 
 has just hallooed. The explanation is that a necessary stage 
 direction, given in both MSS., is omitted in Lawes's edition, in 
 both of Milton's, and in subsequent editions. This stage direc- 
 tion, according to Masson, following Todd, ran in the Cambridge 
 MS., " He hallos: the Guardian Daemon hallos again, and enters 
 in the habit of a shepherd," and in the Bridgewater MS., "He 
 hallos and is answered: the Guardian Daemon comes in, habited 
 like a shepherd." This makes it clear that the speech is prop- 
 erly accredited to the Elder Brother, who recognizes something 
 familiar in the halloo (the spirit having assumed the guise of a 
 shepherd of his father's), but as a precaution bids him declare 
 himself and menaces him with attack if he come too near. 
 Masson and other editors state incorrectly that the omitted 
 stage direction is in Lawes's edition. See the facsimile. 
 
 491. — iron stakes. The points of the brothers' swords. The 
 figure seems to be drawn from the use of stakes of iron or iron- 
 pointed in ditches or rivers to impale an enemy, a common 
 device. The word ''iron" may be pronounced as two "light" 
 syllables taking the place of a strong stress — i. e., it is a case of 
 resolved stress, or it may be that Milton 'pronounced it, as in 
 dialectal and sometimes in individual use, as a monosyllable. 
 
 494-496. — Thyrsis. A traditional name for a shepherd in 
 pastoral literature from Theocritus down. A compliment is 
 here paid to Henry Lawes, the composer of the music of the 
 masque, who played the part. 
 
 494. — artful. Full of art, composed with art. 
 
 495-512. — The recognition of the shepherd and mention of 
 his music is signalized by the use of rime. Similarly, in Ben 
 Jonson's Sad Shepherd, rimed verse is used with blank verse for 
 its pastoral suggestion. (Todd, Masson.) 
 
 495. — huddling. That drives or hurries on with an irregular 
 or uneven pace, hurrying. — madrigal. A short love-song or 
 its setting; specifically such a song written in parts to be sung 
 
130 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 without instrumental accompaniment. Note that madrigal 
 rimes with dale. The use of rime is due to the pastoral char- 
 acter of the reference. 
 
 501. — his next joy. Both brothers are addressed, the elder 
 as heir, the younger as next in age. 
 
 502. — toy. A trifling thing as if of value only for amusement 
 or for a time. 
 
 503. — stealth. That which is stolen. 
 
 505. — downs. Down, in its original sense, means hill; later, 
 a high stretch of open land. 
 
 506. — To. As compared with. — care. Anxiety, anxious 
 thought. 
 
 508. — How chance. How does it chance; an idiomatic use 
 in which the verb takes no inflection and (see the N. E. D.) 
 almost assumes the character of an adverb, as if, in the present 
 case, "How, by chance, is she not in your company?" 
 
 509. — sadly. In serious fashion, in earnest, truly. — without 
 blame. Without blameworthiness, by no fault (of ours). 
 
 511. — Ay me. Ay is the Middle English interjection ey, O, 
 ah. Its use with me is probably adopted from or influenced by 
 P>ench ahi as in Old French aymi, Italian ahime, Spanish ay de 
 mi. (N. E. D.) 
 
 512. — Prithee. A frequent contraction of pray thee (tell me). 
 — shew. The pronunciation of shew as riming with true still 
 remains in provincial and old-fashioned use. 
 
 515. — sage poets. Milton conceived truly ^reat poets to 
 possess a special wisdom imparted through inspiration. They 
 are "sage and solemn" in II Penseroso, 117. They (Milton 
 uses the phrase of himself in Paradise Lost, III, 19) are "taught 
 by the Heavenly Muse." The poets Milton has here in mind are 
 Homer, Vergil, Tasso, and Spenser. Here Milton passes directly 
 from the "enchanted isles" to the gate of Hades in the next 
 line, which, on the other hand, is a direct echo of Vergil, JEneid, 
 VI, 237-241. Milton's reference is, however, to isles in the 
 plural, and may include, as editors have suggested, the " Wan- 
 dering Islands" of The Faerie Queene, II, xii. 
 
 519. — Milton is surely not merely pretending seriousness of 
 belief here; the world of classical myth had, whether in a 
 literal or symbolic sense, become real to him. 
 
 520. — navel. Central point; a diminutive of naiw, the hub 
 of a wheel. 
 
 526. — murmurs. Murmured spells or incantations. 
 
NOTES 131 
 
 529. — unmoulding reason's mintage. Milton's word "un- 
 moulding," though from a hteral point of view inappropriate 
 — coins are stamped with a die — feUcitously suggests the melt- 
 ing of a coin and its loss, by that means, of its impress. 
 
 530. — Charactered. Incised or stamped with characters or 
 figures, marked. Both noun and verb are common in Eliza- 
 bethan English, but the verb is obsolete or archaic now. 
 
 531. — crofts. Pieces of land closed in from rough open land 
 for tillage or pasture: here, probably, bits of natural pasture 
 as occurring among the woods or rocks of the hills. 
 
 532. — brow. Overhang, as a brow the face. — bottom glade. 
 Valley of low-lying land. Bottom, in the sense of an alluvial 
 flat, is used dialectically both in England and America. Its 
 use attributively, as here, is unusual. 
 
 533. — monstrous rout. Rout of monsters. See Stage direc- 
 tion after 1. 92, n. 
 
 534. — stabled wolves. The phrase may perhaps mean 
 "wolves in their lairs," if the use of stabled here is similar to that 
 in Paradise Lost, XI, 752, where sea-monsters are spoken of as 
 stabling in the palaces overwhelmed by the Flood. Its use in 
 that passage may, however, be merely a special figurative use, 
 and Milton may here refer to wolves in the sheepfold (editors 
 cite Vergil's third Eclogue, 80, triste lupus stabulis, a wolf is 
 grievous in the fold), which would parallel ''tigers at their 
 prey." Or it is remotely possible that it refers to wolves caught 
 by being shut in the fold into which they have gone in search of 
 prey. The comparison involved may have been suggested, as 
 Todd noted, to Ovid, Metamorphoses, XIV, 405, " longis Hecaten 
 ululantibus orat," as the rout of Comus do "abhorred rites to 
 Hecate" in their secret haunts — which would support the first 
 interpretation. 
 
 535. — Doing abhorred rites. This use of do, to perform (a 
 ceremony), goes back to the Anglo-Saxon period, though per- 
 haps originally derived, or continuously taken over, from the 
 Latin. — Hecate. See note on 1. 135. 
 
 536. — obscured. Made obscure (with a view to secrecy), 
 hidden from sight. This somewhat special use is made clear 
 and emphasized by the parallel phrase "inmost bowers." 
 
 537. — baits. Enticements, lures; a figurative use of bait in 
 its original sense of food offered to attract fish or other animals. 
 There are natural enticements, in addition to which they use 
 the power of magic in their "guileful spells." 
 
132 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 539. — unwitting. Not knowing (their true character or 
 what they mean). 
 
 540. — by then. By the time that. The original phrase "by 
 the time that" was shortened to "by then that," "by then," 
 and "by that." 
 
 541. — herb. Herbage. 
 
 542. — knot-grass. One of various grasses, so called as having 
 knotty stalks or stems; here probably the edible grasses of 
 several varieties called "false oats." — besprent. Besprinkled; 
 past participle from the obsolete verb bespreng. 
 
 546. — melancholy. See the prefatory note to U Allegro. 
 
 647. — meditate. Practise, exercise. See Lycidas, 66, n. 
 
 548. — ere a close. Ere the close or cadence of a measure. 
 
 551. — listened them. The original construction (with a 
 dative case) with hearken, listen, hear, now usual only with hear 
 ("I heard him through"). 
 
 553. — drowsy-flighted. Lawes's edition and the two editions 
 published in Milton's lifetime read "drowsie frighted." The 
 Cambridge MS. reads "drowsy flighted." The claims of both 
 readings, or variants of them, have been urged as follows: 
 
 1. — drowsy frighted. The three early editions so read. The 
 steeds which draw the litter of Sleep are characteristically 
 "drowsy," but at the moment they are "frighted" by the up- 
 roar of Comus and his crew. But this reading may be due 
 simply to an error in Lawes's edition, and its correctness in 
 view of the violent conjunction of opposed ideas is improbable, 
 especially as compared with (4). 
 
 2. — drowsy- frighted (with a hyphen). There is no gain, but 
 rather the reverse, in the slight modification of meaning ("in a 
 drowsy fright"). 
 
 3. — drowsy-freighted, that is, "drawing a drowsy freight." 
 This reading is of the "ingenious" order and unwarranted. 
 
 4.— drowsy- flighted. This is the reading of Milton's original MS., 
 except that (as must often be done) a hyphen is inserted. Edi- 
 tors note that the compound adjective is distinctively Miltonic in 
 character, and that there can be but little question that Milton 
 had in mind the following passage in 2. Itenry VI, IV, i, 3-6: 
 
 And now loud-howling wolves arouse the jades 
 That drag the tragic melancholy night; 
 Who with their drowsy, slow, and flagging wings 
 Clip dead men's graves. 
 
 This reading is in every way preferable. 
 
NOTES 133 
 
 554. — litter. A bed or couch with curtains designed to be 
 drawn or carried. "Close-curtained" is a reminiscence, prob- 
 ably of "curtained sleep" (applied to the old canopied bed) in 
 Macbeth, II, i, 51, aijd "spread thy close curtain, night," in 
 Romeo and Juliet, III, ii,"5. Milton's figure, creating a litter 
 for sleep corresponding with the chariot of Phoebus by day, is 
 in general his own, but rests, as Osgood notes, on various 
 references in the classics to the chariot of Night, Sleep as 
 driving the horses of Night, and the chariot of the Moon. 
 
 555-562. — Note the Shakespearean movement of 11. 557-560. 
 Masson notes that the " quaintly daring fancy, partly repeated 
 in Paradise Lost, IV, 604," rather disturbed the eighteenth- 
 century critics, Warton venturing to say, " The conceit in both 
 passages is unworthy the poet." A conceit it may be, but of 
 the sort that justifies itself as the purest poetry. 
 
 556. — steam of . . . perfumes, <S^eam is misprinted stream in 
 the second, and hence in other editions. Todd cites a parallel 
 (in which the same comparison is used, but reversed) from the 
 forty-sixth essay of Bacon, " And because the breath of flowers 
 is far sweeter in the air (where it comes and goes hke the 
 warbling of music) than in the hand, therefore nothing is more 
 fit for that delight, than to know what be the flowers and plants 
 that do best perfume the air." 
 
 562. — the ribs of Death. The image is probably derived 
 from a wood-cut in Quarles's Emblems, picturing a child (the 
 soul) within the ribs of a skeleton (typifying death), with the 
 motto (Romans, vii, 24), "O wretched man that I am! Who 
 shall deliver me from the body of this death?" 
 
 573. — prevent. Come before, anticipate. 
 
 575. — such two. As we should say "such and such per- 
 sons." 
 
 578. — sprung. A preterite due to use of the participle in place 
 of the true preterite sprang, now no longer possible in good 
 usage. Compare drunk for drank, sung for sang, etc. 
 
 583. — confidence. The word is used here in a legitimate, but 
 unusual, if not indeed isolated, sense, namely, "that on which 
 confidence may be based, the grounds or substance of confi- 
 dence." 
 
 585. — period. Sentence; the original meaning of the word, 
 as derived from the Greek, is a " circuit " or " cycle," hence, in a 
 rhetorical connection, a sentence of some length and of more 
 or less elaborate form. 
 
134 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 587-592. — The theme of the masque is again enunciated — 
 here with a further corollary concerning evil (11. 593-597), 
 which differs from, but is consonant with, that in the speech 
 of the Lady, 11. 217 ff., and of the First Brother, 11. 420 ff. 
 
 592. — happy trial. Happy in its outcome, and therefore not 
 to be regarded as grievous, but fortunate. 
 
 598. — pillared firmament. Editors cite in parallel Paradise 
 Regained, IV, 455, "the pillared frame of heaven," and Job, 
 xxvi, 11, "the pillars of heaven tremble." References in the 
 classics to the pillars which bear up heaven might readily be 
 added. 
 
 603. — grisly. Inspiring terror; used characteristically in 
 Milton's time and earlier (sometimes still) of ghostly things. 
 Spenser was fond of the word. 
 
 604. — the sooty flag of Acheron. One of the five rivers of the 
 Lower World (see Osgood, s. v. Rivers of Hell, and read Milton's 
 description of them in Paradise Lost, II, 574-584), here used 
 by metonymy for Hell itself. The phrase " sooty flag " may 
 possibly have been suggested by Phineas Fletcher's Locusts, 
 "All hell run out, and sooty flags display." 
 
 605. — Harpies and Hydras. The Harpies were loathsome 
 winged monsters described by Vergil {^neid. III, 216 ff.) as 
 seizing the food of ^Eneas and his followers. The Hydra was 
 the many-headed monster slain by Hercules; Milton uses the 
 word in the plural to include such monsters in general. His 
 association of them with Hell (compare also Paradise Lost, II, 
 627 f., and see Osgood) seems referable to Vergil's description 
 of .them (jEneid, VI, 286 ff.) as stationed at the mouth of 
 Hades. 
 
 606. — Ind. An Anglicized form of French Inde, retained in 
 poetic use (c/. Dian, 1. 441, n.). 
 
 607. — purchase. Spoils, booty; a sense common in Eliza- 
 bethan English. Cf. Richard III, III, vii, 186, "Made prize 
 and purchase of his wanton eye." 
 
 608. — curls. Curled locks are attributed to Comus as con- 
 ventionally characteristic (from classic times) of votaries of 
 pleasure. 
 
 610, 611. — yet. Still, as certainly. The sense is, "I love 
 thy courage and bold emprise (high-spirited eagerness to under- 
 take this task) quite as surely and certainly (despite the fact 
 I go on to state, namely), but here thy sword can give thee little 
 aid." Modern editions (even one which ^ves the meaning of 
 
NOTES 135 
 
 yet approximately as above) punctuate with a semicolon in place 
 of a comma after emprise. The comma seems preferable. 
 
 611. — do thee little stead. Render thee little aid; do is 
 similarly used now only with service, good, honor, harm, etc. 
 
 614. — bare wand. Mere wand, wand alone. — unthread thy 
 joints. Render the joints powerless by destroying the " threads " 
 that bind and move them, namely, the hgaments and tendons. 
 The idea is that of destroying all power of motion, and the 
 completeness with which Comus can do this is indicated by the 
 further phrase in the next line, "and crumble all thy sinews," 
 {i. €., nerves, as also in 1. 660). 
 
 619. — a certain shepherd lad. Milton probably had in thought 
 here his well-beloved friend, Charles Diodati, who was both a 
 physician and a botanist. He addresses him in the Canzone, 
 inscribed the first Elegy to him, and in the Epitaphiu7n Damonis 
 referred to himself and friend as "Thyrsis et Damon, ejusdem 
 vicinise pastores, eadem studia sequuti, a pueritia amici erant, 
 ut qui plurimum." In this poem he refers to Diodati 's knowl- 
 edge of plants and their healing properties. 
 
 620. — Of small regard to see to. Of small consequence to look 
 upon. 
 
 621. — virtuous. Having virtue or power. 
 
 626. — scrip. A bag. 
 
 627. — simples. Herbs used medicinally; so called as indi- 
 vidually efficacious in some single malady. 
 
 628. — faculties. Special powers. 
 
 630-633.— Verity calls attention to the awkward succession 
 of "but's" in these lines. 
 
 633. — A subject has to be supplied for bore. 
 
 635. — clodted. Patched, or, possibly, hobnailed. — shoon. 
 Shoes; an -en plural like oxen. 
 
 638. — Haemony. Probably coined from a classical name for 
 Thessaly as a land of magic, Hcemonia. Osgood calls attention 
 also to Ovid, Metamorphoses, VII, 159 ff., 264 /. The word 
 as a name for a plant comparable with moly is Milton's in- 
 vention. 
 
 640. — mildew-blast. The use of blast in the sense of blight 
 came from the belief that mildew was due to the blowing upon a 
 thing of an evil spirit. An idea of similar kind (but without 
 supernatural suggestion) is bound up in damp, a noxious air or 
 exhalation, as in fire-damp. 
 
 642. — little reckoning. Supply "of it." 
 
136 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 646. — lime-twigs. Limed twigs; twigs smeared with bird- 
 lime to catch birds. 
 
 655. — sons of Vulcan. Commonly referred, says Osgood, to 
 Vergil, A^neid, VIII, 191 ff., where Cacus is described as a son 
 of Vulcan. The plural use may be similar to that of " Hydras 
 and Chimaeras dire." See 517, 605, nn. But, according to 
 Vergil and Ovid, there were other sons than Cacus. 
 
 Stage direction. The scene was changed presumably by the 
 "traverse" or screen usually employed for the purpose. — puts 
 by. Refuses by pushing aside, or by a gesture as if so doing. — 
 goes about to rise. Sets about rising. 
 
 660. — nerves. Sinews; an etymologic sense. 
 
 661. — Daphne, beloved by Apollo and fleeing from him, was 
 saved by being turned into a laurel-tree by her father, Peneus; 
 hence, according to the fable, the use of the laurel to crown 
 poets. 
 
 664. — corporal rind. Shell or hull of the body (as enclosing 
 the soul). Compare the Teutonic and Celtic conception of the 
 body as a garment, and later figurative references to it as a 
 tenement of clay. 
 
 665. — while. While Heaven sees fit to permit it. 
 
 672. — cordial julep. Cordial is here used in its original 
 medicinal sense, "having power to refresh or invigorate the 
 heart," whence the noun. Julep, also, is used in its original 
 sense of a sirup of water and sugar, but in the further limited 
 sense of a medicinal drink of mildly invigorating character. The 
 word in its Persian form means rose-water. 
 
 675. — Nepenthes. A drug which made end of all pain, sor- 
 row, and anger, given to Menelaus by Helen, daughter of Jove, 
 his wife, who obtained it of Polydamna, wife of Thon, a woman 
 of Egypt. See the Odijssey, IV, 219-230. 
 
 681. — delicacy. Luxuriousness, pleasurable indulgence. 
 
 682. — covenants. Agreements or contracts implied by her 
 trust. 
 
 685. — unexempt condition. Condition or article, that was not 
 left out or "exempt" in the covenant. 
 
 688. — The antecedent of that, as the verb shows, is the you of 
 11. 682, 684. 
 
 698. — vizored. Wearing a vizor, and hence disguised. 
 
 700. — lickerish. Pleasant to the taste, tempting; with a 
 suggestion also of lickerous, pleasant, hence enticing, evil. 
 The two words had a similar development. 
 
• NOTES 137 
 
 701. — Juno. The wife of Jupiter, and, moreover, the pattern 
 of virtue among the gods. 
 
 707. — budge. Pretentiously solemn; pompous. The ety- 
 mology is obscure; N. E. D. suggests comparison with bug, bog, 
 boggish, in the same sense, and possible association with budge, 
 a kind of fur with the wool dressed outward, sometimes used 
 with a depreciatory or contemptuous implication. Milton, 
 having in mind the scholastic furred gowns or hoods {budge 
 was used at Cambridge for hoods, according to Todd, at least 
 in the fifteenth century), may have coined the phrase " budge 
 doctors" intending to suggest contemptuously the budge bach- 
 elors so called, a company of poor old men dressed in gowns of 
 budge, who attended the Lord Mayor in the procession on Lord 
 Mayor's Day. — the Stoic fur. A figurative use of the furs ap- 
 propriated to distinguish special academic rank, degrees, or 
 subject. A leading principle of the Stoic and of the Cynic phi- 
 losophy was renunciation of the pleasures of the senses. 
 
 708. — the Cynic tub. Of Diogenes, the leading exponent of 
 the Cynic philosophy, who, according to the story, in rebuke of 
 ostentation and pride, made his home in a tub. 
 
 711. — unwithdrawing hand. Not drawing back or ceasing 
 its gifts. 
 
 714. — curious. Careful in choice; hence difficult to please. 
 
 716. — smooth-haired silk. Not rough like wool or linen fibre. 
 
 718. — her own loins. The earth is considered as the body of 
 productive nature. 
 
 719. — hutched. Stored as in a hutch or chest. — all-wor- 
 shipped ore. Gold. 
 
 721. — pet. A sudden fit of ill-humor. — pulse. Dried peas 
 or beans as used for cooking or as cooked. 
 
 722. — frieze. A kind of coarse woollen cloth rough in finish 
 on one side: used allusively as worn characteristically by the 
 poor. 
 
 725. — as a grudging master. As if he were a grudging 
 master. 
 
 728. — surcharged. Overweighted. 
 
 732-736. — This passage is a conceit of the gorgeously hyper- 
 bolic kind. The meaning is as follows: The sea "o'erfraught" 
 (overfreighted, loaded down with its multitudes) passes its 
 banks and discovers the "unsought" diamonds (that is, those 
 unknown to men) where they lie in the earth, which the"reupon 
 emblaze the forehead of the encroaching flood, and there serve 
 
138 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 as if stars, so that "they below" (the inhabitants of the deep) 
 grow "inured to Hght" and thus, in a way contrary to their 
 nature, come at last to gaze upon the sun itself without averting 
 their gaze, shamed by its brilliance, as before. 
 
 The meaning, in a somewhat different form, comes out more 
 clearly in the original MS. version. The term " centre," it may 
 be premised, is presumably used elliptically, as elsewhere by 
 Milton and by poets of the period, for "centre of the earth." 
 
 The sea o'erfraught would heave her waters up 
 Above the shore, and the unsought diamonds 
 Would so bestud the centre with their starlight . . . 
 
 745. — brag. Boast, that which Nature may boast of. 
 
 748, 749. — homely . . . home. Not a play on words, as 
 editors are careful to note. Comus merely appeals to the 
 etymology. 
 
 750. — of sorry grain. Poor or inferior in point of color. — 
 Grain in the sense of dye (hence color) is due to the old error 
 of supposing the dried bodies of cochineal insects, as imported, 
 to be the seeds or berries of a plant, which they closely resemble. 
 Compare the etymology of cochineal, crimson, vermilion. 
 
 750, 751. — ply the sampler. Work the sampler, or set piece 
 of embroidery formerly embroidered by girls as a sample or 
 proof of their skill with the needle. — tease. Card or comb with 
 teasels (heads of a certain kind of thistle armed with stiff hooked 
 barbs). The reader will note the striking use of metonymy in 
 this passage, complexions and cheeks being spoken of as plying 
 the sampler and teasing the wool. 
 
 751. — huswife. A variant of housewife; compare husband. 
 
 752. — vermeil-tinctured. Tinctured with vermilion. 
 
 755.— Think what. Supply "that is." 
 
 756. — to have unlocked. The use of the perfect infinitive 
 after a past tense, logically incorrect, is still frequent, more 
 especially in British English. 
 
 758. — To deceive my judgment, as he did my eyes by his 
 disguise. 
 
 759. — Obtruding. Thrusting forward or urging (something 
 objectionable or not desired). — pranked. Decked out. 
 
 760. — I hate. I hate it. — bolt. Sift out, examine as by 
 sifting. The figure is drawn from the "bolting" or sifting of 
 flour. 
 
 761. — pride. Arrogant assumption. 
 
NOTES 139 
 
 767. — spare Temperance. Sparing or moderate. 
 
 768-779. — Editors point out the parallel passages, perhaps in 
 Milton's mind, in Lear, III, iv, 33-36; IV, i, 73 /. 
 
 770. — lewdly. In a manner characterized by loose indulgence. 
 
 773. — In unsuperfluous even proportion. In even shares, not 
 giving an unnecessary amount to any one. 
 
 780.— enow. Enough. Enow came from the inflected, 
 enough from the uninflected forms of A. S. genoh. The form 
 enow was usual with plurals. 
 
 785. — notion. Idea. The word is now cheapened in mean- 
 ing through familiar use. 
 
 790. — dear. Hard to come by, forced. — gay. Showy, pre- 
 tentious. 
 
 791. — fence. Use of the sword in fencing, art or practice of 
 fencing: used figuratively. 
 
 797. — brute earth. Brutish or insensate earth; an echo of 
 Horace's bruta tellus (Odes, I, xxxiv, 9). — nerves. Sinews. 
 
 800. — fables. Speaks falsely, fabricates. 
 
 802. — dew. Sweat; so still in "dews of death." 
 
 803. — Dips. Suffuses or covers with moisture as if by dip- 
 ping into a liquid. — wrath of Jove. Against his father, Saturn, 
 and against the giants or Titans. Jove, by means of his 
 thunder-bolts (" speaks thunder ") hurled the Titans down to the 
 underworld. 
 
 807.— direct. Directed. 
 
 808. — canon laws of our foundation. First principles or es- 
 sential rules on which our existence is based. 
 
 810. — melancholy blood. Blood affected by preponderance 
 of "melancholy," one of the four "humors" (blood, choler, 
 phlegm, and melancholy) which, according to the old medical 
 theory, determined by their relative proportion at any time the 
 mental and physical condition of a person. Melancholy was 
 said to sink like lees in wine in the blood and corrupt it (so Nash, 
 in his Terrors of the Night, cited by Todd). 
 
 816, 817. — Such a reversal of spells in both actions and 
 words is the characteristic mode in magic to dissever or break a 
 charm. 
 
 822. — MelibcEus. A stock name for a shepherd in pastoral 
 poetry derived from Vergil's first Eclogue. The reference here 
 is to Spenser {Faerie Queene, II, x, st. 14-19), not, as is some- 
 times said, to Geoffrey of Monmouth, who first told the story of 
 Sabrina. 
 
140 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 823. — soothest. Truest, most trustworthy. 
 
 825. — curb. Curb bit, not our colloquial "curb" for curb- 
 rein; compare 1. 887. 
 
 827. — Whilom. Once on a while. 
 
 828. — Brute. A descendant of iEneas who, according to 
 Celtic and, by appropriation, English, tradition, landed in 
 Britain and became the forefather of the British people. 
 
 830. — Milton alters the story. Guendolen was not Sabrina's 
 step-dame. In the original, in Geoffrey of Monmouth (and in 
 Milton's own History of Britain), Guendolen makes war upon 
 Locrine, the king, who has put her aside for the worthless 
 Estrildis, Sabrina's mother, and throws Estrildis and Sabrina 
 into the river, which thereafter bears Sabrina's name in com- 
 memoration. By his changes and by saying nothing of Es- 
 trildis, he makes Sabrina a more nearly perfect type of innocence 
 for his purpose, and heightens the pathos of her fate. 
 
 834. — pearled. Commentators have endeavored to justify or to 
 explain Milton's references to pearls, to Nereus (1. 835), to coral 
 (1. 886), in connection with an English river. But these adorn- 
 ments are traditionally appropriate to sea-nymphs, and were 
 used by Drayton in describing Sabrina {Polyolhion, V, 13 ff.). 
 
 835. — aged Nereus. One of the more important of the sea- 
 gods under Neptune. He is called the "Ancient One" by 
 Homer {Iliad, XVIII, 141) and grandoevus by Vergil. His 
 kindness to Sabrina is in accordance with the just and gentle 
 character ascribed to- him by Hesiod. See Osgood, s. v., "sea- 
 gods." 
 
 836. — lank. Languid, drooping; a rare, perhaps an individual 
 use. 
 
 837. — imbathe. To place in a bath; the prefix has somewhat 
 the effect of an intensive, "to bathe with care or with a special 
 purpose." 
 
 838. — nectared lavers. Perfumed bathing vessels. Milton, 
 as Osgood points out, drew the suggestion of perfume in con- 
 nection with nectar, the drink of the gods, from the classics, and 
 hence his use of nectar in the sense of an ointment {Death of a 
 Fair Infant, 49, and Lycidas, 175) may be • explained. — as- 
 phodel. A liliaceous plant transmuted by the classic poets 
 into the deathless flower that covered the fields of Elysium. 
 A variant of the derived modern word gave us (how is un- 
 known, but possibly owing to French fieur d'affodil) our plant 
 name daffodil. 
 
NOTES 141 
 
 839. — The eyes, mouth, nostrils, and ears. Editors point out 
 the reminiscence of Hamlet, I, v, 63, "the porches of mine 
 ears." 
 
 840. — ambrosial. Immortal. See 16, n. 
 
 845. — urchin blasts. The word urchin, meaning properly a 
 hedgehog, came to be applied to imps and elves, as supposed to 
 take that shape, and was hence applied humorously to small 
 children, especially boys, giving the sense in which we most 
 commonly meet it. Here the sense is "elfish blasts." For 
 blasts, seel.' 640, n. 
 
 846. — shrewd. Mahcious; an obsolete sense. 
 
 858. — adjuring. That serves to call or invoke. 
 
 863. — amber-dropping. Dropping perfume as of ambergris 
 (the original meaning of amber). When amber came to be ap- 
 plied to the fossil resin, its original meaning was specially indi- 
 cated by the addition of gris, gray. Ambergris is a waxy sub- 
 stance, a morbid secretion of the whale found floating or in the 
 whale's body. It is of great value in making perfumes and was 
 originally also used in cookery. 
 
 868. — Oceanus. The god of the ocean-stream fabled to 
 girdle the earth. The epithet "great," as Osgood notes, is ap- 
 plied to him by Homer and Hesiod. Note the change to rime. 
 
 869. — mace. The trident. Milton may have taken the word 
 mace from Drayton's Polyolbion, XI, 104. 
 
 870. — Tethys. The wife of Oceanus. 
 
 871. — wrinkled. As being the "Ancient One" of the sea. 
 
 872. — the Carpathian wizard's hook. Proteus. Milton 
 styles him wizard, or "wise man;" because he is referred to as a 
 vates, or soothsayer, by Vergil and Ovid. Milton speaks of his 
 hook because he was the shepherd of the flocks, namely the 
 seals, of Neptune (Ben Jonson calls him the "shepherd of the 
 seas" in the Fortunate Isles). He is called "Carpathian," as 
 dwelling in the Carpathian sea, named from the island of Car- 
 pathos between Crete and Rhodes. The line is sometimes 
 referred to as an example of the occasionally recondite char- 
 acter of Milton's allusions. 
 
 873. — Triton. A sea-monster and divinity with a forked 
 fish's tail (hence "scaly"). He blows upon the twisted shell 
 to summon the deities of the sea in his capacity as the herald of 
 Neptune. 
 
 874. — Glaucus. A fisherman who became immortal by 
 means of an herb and was changed to a sea-god. He was a 
 
U2 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 soothsayer, according to classic tradition. Compare Spenser, 
 Faerie Queene, IV, xi, 3, as noted by Osgood. 
 
 875, 876. — Leucothea. A mortal, Ino, wife of Athamas, who, 
 in terror lest Athamas in his madness should slay herself and 
 her remaining son as he had the other, plunged with him into 
 the sea, where they became divinities, Ino under the name of 
 Leucothea, and her son under the name of Palsemon, or, in 
 Latin, Portumnus, god of harbors. Homer speaks of her fair 
 ankles and of her hands. 
 
 877.— Thetis. A Nereid, mother of Achilles. Milton's 
 "tinsel-footed" is an adaptation of Homer's "silver-footed." 
 
 878.— See 1. 253 and n. 
 
 Stage direction, rises. Probably through a trap, a device 
 frequently used in masques. The play from now on is pure 
 masque and in a metre characteristic of the masque. 
 
 893. — azurn. A rare, perhaps individual use on Milton's 
 part, of azure parallel to leathern, silvern, for leather, silver. 
 
 895. — Milton is not referring to actual precious stones. 
 Sabrina is speaking of her sliding chariot, namely, the river itself. 
 The precious stones that "stray" in the channel figure the 
 changeful colors of the water, agate, the azure sheen of tur- 
 quoise, and emerald. She steps, as she says in the next line, 
 from the sliding waters fleet, where they pause in the eddying 
 back-water by the bank. 
 
 897. — printless feet. From the Tempest, V, i, 34. The idea, 
 frequently used by poets, has its general origin in Vergil's 
 description of Camilla, Mneid, VII, 808. 
 
 898. — velvet head. From Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess, one 
 of the sources of Milton's inspiration. 
 
 904.— band. Bond. 
 
 913. — precious cure. Precious power to cure. 
 
 914. — Touching of eyes, ears, lips, etc., frequently appears as 
 essential to a charm. Jonson, for example, uses it in the 
 Fortunate Isles, which may have been the special suggestion of 
 its use to Milton. 
 
 916. — seat. The poisoned chair in Which the Lady sits. 
 
 917. — heat. Quality, specific property: an obsolete sense. 
 
 921. — Amphitrite. The wife of Neptune, Sabrina being 
 represented as one of her ladies-in-waiting. 
 
 923. — Anchises' line. Locrine was the son of Brutus (see 1. 
 828, n.). and hence sprung through Silvius, Ascanius, and 
 iEneas, from Anchises. 
 
NOTES 143 
 
 927.— snowy hills. Of Wales. 
 
 928. — singed air. As if itself burned with heat. 
 
 932, 933.— See 1. 834, n. 
 
 934-937. — " May thy lofty source be crowned with towers and 
 terraces, and here and there upon thy banks may thou be 
 crowned with groves of myrrh and cinnamon," that is, groves 
 of spicy perfume as if of myrrh and cinnamon. 
 
 Stage direction. Country Dancers. Masquers taking part in 
 a contra-dance, in which the dancers stand opposite each other 
 in lines. Our Virginia Reel is a contra or "country" dance. 
 
 960. — duck or nod. The bobbed courtesies and bowings 
 characteristic of a rustic dance. 
 
 962. — court guise. Fashion of the court. 
 
 963. — Osgood points out (s. v. Hermes) that while no specific 
 authority can be quoted for this passage the classics support 
 it by implication. 
 
 964. — mincing. Moving daintily. — Dryades. The nymphs 
 of the woods. 
 
 965. — lawns and . . . leas. Pastures and meadows. 
 
 972. — assays. Trials, here probably in the concrete sense of 
 "that which tries, afflictions, tribulations," as elsewhere in 
 Milton. 
 
 Stage direction. Dances. The series of dances for which 
 the dramatic portion of a masque affords a setting. 
 
 976. — Ariel's song in The Tempest, V, i, 88, is usually cited as 
 a parallel to this passage. 
 
 980. — liquid. Clear (like clear water), a Latinism, from the 
 use of liquidus in poetry, still used in this phrase, but with 
 liquid generally understood as meaning "easily flowing." 
 
 981-983.— See 1. 393, n. 
 
 984. — crisped. According to N. E. D. of uncertain sense as 
 applied to trees. Herrick uses it of the yew. Milton's use is 
 poetically suggestive, merely, no doubt, rather than definite. 
 The physical sense is "curled," used of the hair, but it was also 
 early used of surfaces covered with waves or ripples. That the 
 figure is, however, definitely that of "curled," used of the hair, 
 seems clear from the fact that Drayton {Polyolbion, V, 231) 
 speaks of the "curled top" of Narber, a forest nymph. 
 
 985. — spruce. Originally "finely dressed in a modish way." 
 The word bettered in meaning, and Milton uses it to convey an 
 impression of neatness and freshness. It implies now a rather 
 unrefined smartness and tidiness of appearance. 
 
144 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 986. — The Graces, traditionally three, though Homer does 
 not limit the. number, were goddesses who had the power of 
 bestowing upon others the graces of beauty and personal 
 charm which they themselves embody. They are frequently 
 associated in the classics with the Hours which, as Osgood 
 notes, are associated in Homer with all the seasons, but by 
 later classical writers, whom Milton foUow^s, with Spring 
 and the flowers. "Rosy-bosomed" refers to their glowing 
 beauty. 
 
 989. — musky. Used, as also nard and cassia below, merely 
 allusively, not literally, to suggest rare and delicious perfume. 
 
 990.— cedarn. See 1. 893, n. 
 
 991. — Nard. The aromatic plant which yielded the ointment 
 of the same name used by the ancients. The word is ultimately 
 of Oriental origin. It appears as the main element of the com- 
 pound spikenard. — cassia. A plant producing an inferior kind 
 of cinnamon, the Cinnamomum cassia of botanists. 
 
 992.— See 1. 83, n. 
 
 993. — blow. Bear; a transitive use of blow, blossom. 
 
 995. — purfled. Banded, though purfled really means edged 
 or bordered. The term is still used of an edging of inlay on an 
 instrument or elsewhere. 
 
 999. — See Nativity Ode, 204. In the Greek myth Adonis is 
 loved by Aphrodite. Milton refers to the Oriental myth in 
 "Assyrian queen," 1. 1002. 
 
 1003, 1004. — far above. . . advanced. Cupid and Psyche serve 
 to typify a higher type of love. In the late classical myth (or 
 perhaps allegory). Psyche (who, as her name indicates, typifies 
 the soul), because of her extraordinary beauty, was ordered by 
 Venus, through jealousy, to be exposed upon a mountain. 
 Cupid rescues her and makes her his wife, coming to her, in the 
 beautiful palace he provides, by night, so that she does not 
 know who her husband is. Her sisters visit her and advise her 
 to steal a look at her husband while he sleeps, in spite of his 
 orders, lest he might be a monster. She does so, beholds the 
 divinely beautiful god, but unfortunately wakens him by a 
 drop of burning oil from her lamp. She'wanders over the earth 
 mourning his loss, and is followed by the continued hatred 
 of Venus, who imposes upon her a series of impossible labors 
 which she performs by miraculous help. Finally at Cupid's 
 prayer Jupiter makes her immortal and they are reunited. 
 Osgood notes that in our source for the myth, Apuleius, Cupid 
 
NOTES 145 
 
 and Psyche have but one child, Voluptas, while Milton gives 
 them two (11. 1010, 1011). 
 
 1012. — smoothly. Successfully, skilfully. 
 
 1015. — The bowed or bent welkin is imagined as curving less 
 at the extremes of the earth, where it is more like a vertical 
 wall. 
 
 1017. — corners. The horns of the moon; perhaps borrowed 
 from Macbeth, III, v, 23. 
 
 1021. — sphery chime. The music of the spheres, here, by 
 metonymy, for the spheres or stars themselves. 
 
 VII. LYCIDAS 
 
 Lijcidas was written in 1637, and published in Cambridge in 
 1638 in a volume containing thirty-six poems in Greek, Latin, 
 and English, in memory of Edward King, who was drowned 
 in the Irish Sea, August 10, 1637. Edward King was Fellow of 
 Christ's College at the time of his death, and greatly admired 
 and loved as these tributes prove. The original manuscript, 
 and a copy of the 1638 edition, with corrections by Milton, are 
 preserved at Cambridge. A number of revisions appear in the 
 edition of 1645, and still a few more in that of 1673. They 
 illustrate in an instructive way Milton's care in perfecting his 
 work. 
 
 Lycidas is a pastoral elegy. An elegy is a poem lamenting 
 the death of a person and paying tribute to his memory. The 
 writing of such poems had long been customary in England, and 
 not a few, in imitation of famous classical elegies, had been 
 written in the pastoral mode. A pastoral is a poem in imitation 
 of the songs of shepherds, or, in a later development, a narrative 
 poem of country life with shepherds and rustic folk as the 
 characters. The famous Greek writers of pastoral, Theocritus 
 and Moschus, and, in Latin, Vergil, who copied the Greek 
 pastoral closely, were more or less faithful in picturing the 
 real country, even though they idealized it somewhat and 
 sometimes represented themselves, their friends, or some cur- 
 rent event, in these poems allegorically. Their pastorals were 
 imitated by Italian, French, Spanish, and English poets of the 
 Renaissance, to whom the mode was wholly an artificial, though 
 charming, convention. These later pastorals portray, most of 
 them, an entirely imaginary country life of ideal happiness and 
 contentment, simplicity and homely virtues, where shepherds 
 
146 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 spend their time tending their sheep and singing in contests of 
 skill or in praise of the happiness of their lives or of the lovely 
 shepherdesses who have conquered their hearts. Elements 
 originally foreign to the mode were added — characters from 
 classic mythology, knights, magicians, and lovely ladies from 
 the romances, witches, spells, and superstitions from native 
 folk-lore. The mode was used in prose romances and in plays 
 as well as in poems. In England the fashion of the pastoral, 
 which was at its height from 1580 to 1590, was set by Spenser's 
 Shepherds^ Calendar and Sidney's prose romance, the Arcadia. 
 It persisted into the seventeenth century, and so general was 
 its use that we find it employed in most curious ways — for 
 example, Phineas Fletcher gave his poem on the human body, 
 The Purple Island, a pastoral setting. 
 
 The use of the pastoral form for an elegy may at first seem 
 strange, but, in point of fact, Theocritus and Moschus, and after 
 them Vergil had done this, and Milton might well follow them, 
 even though he might not observe a similar degree of fidelity 
 and appropriateness to the demands of the form. He did not 
 do so — especially in the famous passage, 11. 108-131, in which 
 he arraigned the evils in the Church. For the artistic unfitness 
 of this passage it is not possible to offer apology — that Milton 
 felt it is shown by the sub-title of the poem. The bonds of the 
 pastoral were, to be sure, of the loosest: one might take what 
 liberty one willed, and, as has been shown, Milton's master, 
 Spenser, had set forth the contest between Catholicism and 
 Protestantism in the Shepherds^ Calendar, and Phineas Fletcher 
 had attacked the "corrupted clergy " in his Piscatory Eclogues. 
 The true justification of the passage, however, is the fact that 
 it is an outburst of passionate personal feeling. In any case 
 we could ill spare it, whatever academic objections may be 
 brought against it. Another charge against the poem is its 
 awkward collocation of matters Christian and pagan. Milton's 
 characteristic freedom in this regard has been treated in the 
 Introduction ; there was nothing repugnant in such a collocation 
 to Milton's critical taste or that of Milton's time, whether in 
 pastoral poetry or elsewhere. The charge, that one cannot feel 
 Lycidas to be an expression of true feeling, that too much of 
 Milton himself appears in it, merits a brief word. We really do 
 not know how well Milton knew Edward King. He may 
 merely have been asked to contribute to a volume in honor of a 
 fellow-collegian whose distinguished abilities and untimely 
 
NOTES 147 
 
 death made a general expression of feeling appropriate. If 
 this is true, the usual reply that the poem is primarily a work of 
 art is quite sufficient. 
 
 Lycidas marks unmistakably an advance in Milton's poetic 
 power. With due allowance for the fact that Comus is a longer 
 poem, that its inspiration must needs flag now and again under 
 stress of its didactic purpose, and with clearest recognition of 
 its noble beauty throughout, the admission must still be made 
 that in perfection of form, combined sweetness and majesty of 
 movement, the essentially concrete, purely poetic, character of 
 its imagery and diction, even in its polemic passage, Lycidas is 
 supreme. It is, as Tennyson termed it, a "touchstone of 
 poetic taste." 
 
 Title. Milton selects for Edward King, as the elegy is in the 
 form of a pastoral, the name Lycidas, found as a shepherd's 
 name in Theocritus, Idyls, VII, and in Vergil, Eclogues, IX. 
 The MS. was originally entitled simply "Lycidas: Novemb., 
 1637." In the edition of 1645, the title was altered to its 
 present form. 
 
 Monody. A lyric ode, so called as supposed to be sung by 
 a single voice, among modern poets, as here, an elegy or 
 dirge. 
 
 1-6. — once more. Milton refers to the fact that he had 
 written little or no verse since Comus in 1634. He pictures his 
 return to poetry figuratively by representing himself as coming 
 to pluck the berries and leaves of the laurel, myrtle, and ivy, 
 plants associated directly or indirectly with poetry — the laurel 
 because poets were crowned with it, the myrtle as sacred to 
 Venus, the ivy as sacred to Bacchus. The reference to his 
 coming "before the mellowing year" and disturbing their 
 "season due" (plucking them out of proper season) indicates 
 that Milton, as when he wrote Comus, still felt that he was not 
 yet fully prepared for the high service of poetry. Note, how- 
 ever, also the time of the year of King's death. 
 
 3. — crude. Unripe. 
 
 5. — Shatter. Throw into confusion in the act of picking. 
 
 10. — Imitated from Vergil, Eclogues, X, 2, 3, "neget quis 
 carmina Gallo." — He knew. Edward King had written Latin 
 verse, which is extant, and perhaps other verse which Milton 
 had seen. The omission of how before the infinitive is frequent 
 in Elizabethan English and is still used in poetic diction. 
 
 11. — In the MS. Milton used the correct spelling, rime. 
 
148 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 13. — welter. Toss or roll irregularly. — parching. Edward 
 King's body is conceived of as weltering on the sea, then thrown 
 on shore, then carried away again by the tide. (See 1. 154 and 
 note.) The wind parches the body as it lies on the sand. 
 
 14. — melodious tear. A notable example of poetic ellipsis. 
 
 15-22. — These lines, forming the invocation, are modelled 
 
 upon Theocritus, Idyls, I, 64. 
 
 f 15. — Sisters of the sacred well. Milton is here following He- 
 
 t siod in the opening of his Theogony, who describes the Muses as 
 
 dancing about the dark spring of Aganippe on Mount Helicon, 
 
 and about the altar of the mighty son of Chronos, Milton's 
 
 "seat of Jove." See Osgood, s. v. Muses. Milton, as Verity 
 
 notes, invented the source of the spring as beneath the altar. 
 
 / 19. — Muse. Here used for poet. 
 
 20. — lucky. Offering good wishes. — urn. Urns were used by 
 the ancients to hold the ashes of the dead. 
 
 22. — shroud. Sometimes explained as the shroud meaning 
 shelter, but usually interpreted as the winding-sheet. 
 
 23-36. — This imagery, appropriate to the pastoral form, 
 must b • taken merely as general in its reference. Edward King 
 and the poet were together in Christ's College, both were en- 
 gaged in study. The detail is merely incidental to the pastoral 
 style and not specific. 
 
 26. — The metaphor, as Verity notes, is one used by many 
 poets before and since Milton. The MS. and edition of 1638 
 have glimmering in place of opening. 
 
 27. — drove. That is, "drove our flocks." 
 
 28. — gray-fly. The precise fly meant is uncertain. The 
 dor-bug, which flies after sunset, has been suggested. 
 
 30. — The evening star is meant, though it do^s not rise. 
 Compare Comus, 93, n. 
 
 32-36. — While the details of this description are largely 
 conventional, this passage may refer, as Verity suggests, to the 
 activity of Cambridge in poetry at this time. 
 
 33. — See Comus, 345, n. 
 I 34. — Fauns. The Latin name for the Satyrs, a name orig- 
 inally Greek, though used in Latin. 
 
 36. — old Damoetas. A shepherd's name used by Theocritus 
 and Vergil. This might appear a specific reference, but may 
 simply be intended to suggest an old shepherd listening with 
 pleasure to the younger as they play. 
 
 45. — canker. The canker-worm. 
 
NOTES 149 
 
 46. — taint-worm. The worm meant is not known. A spider, 
 called a "tainct," described by Sir Thomas Browne, has been 
 suggested, but a spider is not a worm, and the term taint is one 
 that might be applied to any insect supposedly injurious. 
 
 48. — white-thorn. The hawthorn. 
 
 50. — Verity notes that this appeal to the Nymphs is modelled 
 on Theocritus, Idyls, I, 66-69, and on Vergil, Eclogues, X, 9-12. 
 The places referred to are near the scene of his loss. 
 
 52. — Perhaps, as Warton suggested, the Druid burial-places 
 at Kerig y Druidion in Denbighshire, spoken of by Camden. 
 
 54. — Mona. The isle of Anglesey. 
 
 55. — Deva. The Dee, a "wizard stream," as able, according 
 to tradition, to foretell the fortunes of England and Wales, 
 between which it flows, by changing its course. 
 
 61-63.— Orpheus, having, after the loss of Eurydice, treated the 
 Thracian women with scorn, was torn to pieces by them, and his 
 head thrown into the Hebrus, whence it was carried to Lesbos. 
 
 61. — rout. A company, especially a disorderly company, of 
 persons. Comus's band are described as a rout. See Stage 
 direction a,t\. 93. .-,.. o. 
 
 64-84. — This famous passage is sometimes regarded as a 
 digression, and in one sense it is, but it is not one like that in 
 11. 113-131, and it is connected with and naturally suggested by 
 what precedes, though Milton is plainly thinking more about 
 himself than of Edward King. 
 
 65. — "Shepherd" is here used, as in the pastoral allegory 
 above, as practically equivalent to poet. 
 
 66. — meditate the thankless Muse. To meditate the Muse 
 (Vergil's " musam meditari," Eclogues, I, 2, 6, 8) is to compose 
 poetry. The Muse is "thankless" in that the poet gets httle or 
 nothing in return. 
 
 67. — use. Are used to do. 
 
 68> 69. — Amaryllis,- Neaera. Names of sweethearts used in 
 pastoral verse. 
 
 70. — Fame is sufficient reward, but (1. 73) Death ever fore- 
 stalls this. — clear. Pure, single in intention. 
 
 71. — A mind so noble that it has conquered other infirmities 
 may still feel the desire for fame. The idea is taken from 
 classical sources. 
 
 74. — blaze. Glory, brilliance: a metaphorical use of blaze in 
 its sense of a sudden or brilliant flashing into flame, found from 
 the fifteenth century to our own day. 
 
150 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 75. — blind Fury, Atropos, one of the three Fates (not 
 Furies) is intended. The three Fates controlled the lives of 
 men. Clotho spun the thread, Lachesis determined the 
 destiny, and Atropos severed it with her shears. 
 
 76. — slits. Cut, not in the specialized sense of "cut length- 
 wise." — But not. But does not sever or destroy. 
 
 77. — Phoebus. Apollo, the god of poetry. He touches the 
 ears as the seat of memory to intimate that the poet needs a 
 reminder of what he should not forget. 
 
 79. — The meaning may be cleared of difficulty either by 
 supplying lies from the next line, or by supplying a copula. 
 The sense is, " Nor is fame set off to the world in the glittering 
 foil (that is, gold-leaf, typifying external show) nor," etc., or 
 " Nor does fame lie (consist) in the foil set off (made a show of) 
 to the world, nor," etc. 
 
 81. — But lives and spreads aloft through the infallible de- 
 cision assured by the clear-judging scrutiny and the wholly just 
 testimony of Jove (here, as elsewhere in Milton, the Deity under 
 the classic name to accord with the classic coloring of the 
 pastoral). 
 
 85.-^Arethuse. The spring Arethusa in Ortygia, near Syra- 
 cuse. Arethusa, beloved by Alpheus in Arcadia, fled to Sicily 
 and became this spring. Here used, as Alpheus in 1. 132, to 
 typify pastoral poetry, Sicily and Arcadia being the land of 
 pastorals. 
 
 86. — The Mincius flowed near Mantua, the birthplace of 
 Vergil, and here typifies Latin pastoral poetry, as Arethusa the 
 Greek. 
 
 87. — that strain. What Apollo has said. 
 
 89. — herald of the sea. Triton (see Comus, 873, w.), herald 
 of Neptune, god of the sea, who called the lesser deities to his 
 counsels. 
 
 96. — Hippotades. The son of Hippotes, iEolus, god of the winds. 
 
 97. — Verity points out the curious fact that Edward King's 
 brother, Henry King, in his poem in the memorial volume (see 
 the prefatory note) distinctly refers to the vessel's having 
 struck on a rock during a gale. Whether Milton was or was 
 not informed of this fact, he certainly takes a poetical license. 
 
 99. — Panope. with all her sisters. The Nereids, the fifty 
 daughters of the sea-god, Nereus. 
 
 101. — eclipse. Referring to the belief that anything done 
 at the time of an eclipse is destined to evil fortune. 
 
NOTES 151 
 
 103'. — Camus. The deity of the river Cam, and therefore 
 used to represent Cambridge. 
 
 104. — bonnet sedge. His bonnet (the word was formerly ap- 
 pHed to caps and other head-coverings of men) is of sedge as 
 characteristic of a river-god. 
 
 105. — dim. Presumably with age, if used in its present 
 sense, but dim in Milton's time meant* also simply "dark" 
 (as in Comus, 5), and this is probably the sense here. Some 
 commentators explain the "figures" as the markings on the 
 sedge, but this does not accord with its edging of crimson. 
 
 106. — sanguine flower. The hyacinth which sprang from 
 the blood of Hyacinthus, slain by Zephyrus. It is "inscribed 
 with woe," as the ancients read the markings of the petals as 
 oi'at, "alas!" 
 
 107. — pledge. Child. This use is derived from a child con- 
 sidered as a pledge of love between its parents. 
 
 108-131. — Ruskin has a full commentary on the passage in 
 Sesame and Lilies. 
 
 109. — the Pilot. St. Peter, to whom Christ gave the keys of 
 the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew, xvi, 19), here introduced 
 as representing the Church, Edward King having purposed to 
 take orders. Milton calls him "pilot" (steersman, not neces- 
 sarily in the special modern sense), though he and his brother 
 are referred to simply as fishermen. It must not of course be 
 supposed that in using St. Peter in this way Milton subscribed 
 to the Roman Catholic doctrine that St. Peter was the founder 
 of the Roman church, and that to it is therefore given exclu- 
 sively the "power of the keys." 
 
 110. — The keys are traditionally regarded as two in number, 
 the one representing the power of binding, the other of loosing. 
 Milton very effectively makes the one of gold, the other of iron, 
 in place of gold and silver, as in Dante. 
 
 112. — mitred. Wearing the mitre, or bishop's cap, in token 
 of his authority. 
 
 113. — The appropriateness of this passage of passionate 
 denunciation, as out of keeping with the pastoral setting of the 
 poem, ;s discussed in the prefatory note. 
 
 114.^— Enow. Enough, that is, plenty. Verity suggests that 11. 
 114, 115 come with special force from St. Peter; see 1. Peter, v, 2. 
 
 116.— Of other care. Of other duty. 
 
 117. — Than how to scramble for the largest share at the feast 
 provided for the shearers. 
 
152 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 119. — Blind mouths. "Men naught else but mouths, and 
 bhnd to all save what they may devour." 
 
 119-121. — Milton here makes effective use of the traditional 
 representation of the clergy as pastors or shepherds of their 
 "flocks," and essays to bring this passage in some measure into 
 unity with the pastoral character of the poem by its means 
 through the word ''swain" in 1. 113. 
 
 122. — What recks. Of what account is it? — sped. Provided 
 for, cared for, 
 
 123. — flashy. Frothy, hence without substance, vapid. 
 Milton often refers in his prose writings to the emptiness and 
 ignorance of the preaching of his day. 
 
 124. — scrannel. Weak, thin, piping (used of the voice). 
 Wright gives an illustration from the Nottinghamshire dialect: 
 "She had such a scrannel voice." 
 
 128, 129.— Usually held to refer to the secret ("privy") 
 activity of the Roman Catholics in making proselytes at this 
 time, without any serious attempts ("and nothing said") being 
 made to put an end to it by the authorities of the Church. 
 
 130. — two-handed engine. "Engine" here has its general 
 sense of "tool" or "instrument." Milton undoubtedly means 
 a sword, the adjective "two-handed" being apparently a 
 reminiscence of 2. Henry VI, II, i, 46, but the question what 
 sword he refers to, literally or figuratively, is still in doubt, 
 despite many conjectures. The "engine" has been explained 
 as the axe which should, as it did later, assail the evil in the 
 Church by beheading Laud, as the axe laid to the root of the 
 tree in the parable (Matthew, iii, 10) ; as the two houses of Pariia- 
 ment; as the two-edged sword of Revelation, i, 16; as the sword 
 of St. Michael (merely because this was two-handed in Paradise 
 Lost, II, 294, VI, 250-253); and as the sword of Justice. This 
 last conjecture, that offered by Verity, is the best. He cites 
 from Milton's Tenure of Kings, "be he king, or tyrant, or 
 emperor, the sword of Justice is above him," and, again, "the 
 trial of Justice which is the sword of God, superior to all mortal 
 things." — at the door. Close at hand. 
 
 132, 133.— Alpheus. See 1. 85, n. 
 
 137. — wanton. Unrestrained. 
 
 138. — swart star. Sirius, the dog-star, here called swart, or 
 dark, because of his connection with the dog-day heats, and the 
 withering they cause. — sparely looks. Looks but little, little 
 affects. 
 
NOTES 153 
 
 139. — quaint. Noticeably beautiful: an obsolete sense. — 
 enamelled. Beautified with various colors like enamel work. 
 
 142.— rathe. Early. 
 
 143. — crow-toe. The wild hyacinth; now obsolete in this 
 use. — pale. White. 
 
 144. — freaked. Streaked or spotted. 
 
 146. — well-attired woodbine. Milton's woodbine is probably 
 the honeysuckle, and "well-attired" probably refers to its 
 profusion of flowers. 
 
 149. — amaranthus. The prince's feather, or the love-lies- 
 bleeding, according to the old herbals. Milton does not here 
 mean the classic amaranthus, the unfading flower of heaven, 
 or he would not pass on to speak of " daffadillies." 
 
 150. — daffadilly. The familiar daffadowndilly, or narcissus. 
 See Comus, 838, n. 
 
 151. — laureate hearse. The hearse here meant is a special 
 structure used in funerals, including the bier and frame above 
 bearing armorial bearings and other decorations. To this 
 often elegiac verses were pinned by friends of the dead person, 
 rendering less figurative than it appears to us Milton's epithet 
 "laureate," decked with laurel, by which he means the poems 
 contributed by himself and others to the memorial volume on 
 Edv/ard King. 
 
 152. — " For so, to ease us a moment of our grief, let our 
 thoughts, ' frail ' because the real truth soon comes back to us, 
 dally with the false surmise that the body of Lycidas is with us, 
 while really (11. 154 ^.) still at the mercy of the sea." 
 
 154. — "Whilst back and forth from sea to shore thou art 
 washed." A Uold ellipsis, but justified by its vigor. 
 
 158. — monstrous world. World of, that is, peopled by, 
 monsters. Compare Comus, 533. 
 
 159. — moist vows. Votive rites accompanied by tears. 
 
 160. — fable of Bellerus. Fabled Bellerus. Bellerus is Mil- 
 ton's own personification of Land's End, or Bellerium, the op- 
 posite extreme from the Hebrides. 
 
 161. — vision of the guarded mount. The apparition of St. 
 Michael, occupying, according to tradition, the "chair" called 
 by his name on St. Michael's Mount near Penzance, and hence 
 "guarded." 
 
 162./— ^Namancos. A town, or possibly only a castle, in 
 Galicia, near Finisterre, shown in Mercator's Atlas, 1623 and 
 1636, and there presumably seen by Milton. — Bayona's hold. 
 
154 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 Bayona and its fortress were south of Namancos in Galicia. 
 Milton presumably took the two names directly from the Atlas, 
 selecting the coast of Spain as less familiar and more remote 
 and picturesque than that of France. A glance at the map will 
 show that a line from Penzance escaping France will directly 
 strike Galicia. 
 
 164. — Arion, the musician, thrown into the sea, was rescued 
 by dolphins. 
 
 168. — day-star. Here the sun, though usually the morning- 
 star, Lucifer. 
 
 170. — tricks. Arranges. — ore. Gold. 
 
 175.— See Comus, 838, n. 
 
 176. — unexpressive. That may not be expressed or de- 
 scribed. — nuptial song. Of the marriage of the Lamb, de- 
 scribed in Revelation, xix, 7. 
 
 181. — Compare Revelation, vii, 7, xxi, 4. 
 
 183[ — Genius. The tutelary divinity of a special place in 
 classic mythology. 
 
 186. — uncouth. Probably in the sense of simple, rude, un- 
 taught. Sidey, in Modern Language Notes, 23, 92, refers to 
 Vergil, Eclogues, III, 26, 27. 
 
 188. — tender stops of various quills. The holes stopped by 
 the fingers are "tender" from the elegiac notes that come from 
 them. The "various quills" are "the varied strains of the 
 elegy" (at 11. 76, 88, 113, 132, 165). 
 
 189.— Doric lay. Pastoral lay, the Doric being the dialect 
 of Greek in which Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus wrote. 
 
 190. By lengthening their shadows. 
 
 192. — blue. Not so common a color as gray for shepherds* 
 dress among the poets. 
 
 192. — Modelled, as Verity points out, on a line in Fletcher's 
 Purple Island, VI, 77: 
 
 Home then, my lambs; the falling drops eschew; 
 To-morrow shall ye feast in pastures new; 
 
 and often, as he notes, misquoted with substitution of "fields" 
 for "woods." The reference is to Milton's proposed change of 
 life, either his resolve to change his residence from Horton to 
 London, as Verity thinks possible, or, if decided at the time 
 of this poem, his plan to travel. 
 
NOTES 155 
 
 VIII— TO MR. H. LAWES, ON HIS AIRS 
 
 This sonnet was written in 1646, and printed among the 
 prefatory verses to the Choice Psalms of Henry and William 
 Lawes, published in 1648. It is inserted here because of the 
 connection of Henry Lawes with Comus, explained above. It 
 may be added that Milton's praise is not merely the language 
 of friendship; Henry Lawes is credited with having brought 
 about by his songs a closer union and harmony between words 
 and music. 
 
 4. — Midas' ears. King Midas, having decided in Pan's 
 favor in judging a contest of musical skill between Pan and 
 Phoebus, was given asses' ears by the latter. 
 
 11. — hymn. In reference to the volume in which it first 
 appeared. — story. According to Warton, Cartwright's story of 
 Ariadne was set to music by Lawes. 
 
 13. — See Dante's Purgatory, II. 
 
 14. — milder. In comparison with those of hell. 
 
 IX— ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN PIEDMONT 
 
 The massacre of the Vaudois by the Duke of Savoy because 
 of their refusal to become Roman Cathohcs excited the utmost 
 horror in England. It called forth a sharp protest and chal- 
 lenge from Cromwell on behalf of the Commonwealth. Milton, 
 as Latin Secretary, despatched this message, and phrased his 
 own sorrow and indignation in this, one of his finest sonnets. 
 The date was 1655. 
 
 7. — Described in contemporary accounts. 
 
 12.— triple Tyrant. The Pope, in reference to his triple 
 crown, typical of power on earth, in heaven, and in hell. 
 
 13. — A hundredfold. A variation of the famous saying of 
 Tertullian, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church," 
 as noted by Masson. 
 
 14.— Babylonian woe. The Church of Rome so styled by the 
 Puritans through their application of Revelation, xvii and xviii. 
 
 X— ON HIS BLINDNESS 
 
 No date is afl[ixed to this sonnet. Milton became blind in 
 1652. Masson, after referring to the exultation of his enemies, 
 who maintained that his misfortune was a divine judgment, 
 
156 MILTON'S SHORTER POEMS 
 
 says: "Again and again in Milton's later writings, in prose and 
 in verse, there are passages of the most touching sorrow over 
 his darkened and desolate condition, with yet a tone of the 
 most pious resignation, and now and then an outbreak of a 
 proud conviction that God, in blinding his bodily eyes, had 
 meant to enlarge and clear his inner vision, and make him one 
 of the world's truest seers and prophets. The present sonnet 
 is one of the first of these confidences of Milton on the subject 
 of his bhndness." 
 
 2. — Ere half my days, Milton became completely blind on or 
 shortly after his forty-third year. 
 
 3.— See Matthew, xv, 14-30. 
 
 12. — thousands. The angels, his messengers, as their name 
 implies. 
 
 14. — A famous line often quoted. 
 
INDEX TO THE NOTES 
 
 A, 83 
 
 accustomed, 89 
 Acheron, 134 
 adjuring, 141 
 adventurous, 104 
 affects, 123 
 Age of Gold, 77 
 airy shell, 113 
 allay, 105 
 alley, 118 
 amaranthus, 153 
 Amaryllis, 149 
 amazement, 121 
 amber cloud, 119 
 amber-dropping, 141 
 ambrosial, 101, 141 
 amiss, 108 
 Amphitrite, 142 
 Anchises' line, 142 
 ancient, 118 
 antic, 92 
 Anubis, 78 
 Arcady, 120 
 Arethuse, 150 
 Arion, 154 
 artful, 129 
 as, 75, 137 
 Ashtaroth, 78 
 asphodel, 140 
 assays, 143 
 attendance, 118 
 Attendant Spirit, 98 
 at the door, 152 
 Attic boy, 91 
 Aurora, 83 
 awe, 102 
 axle-tree, 75 
 ay me, 130 
 azurn, 142 
 
 Baalim, 78 
 
 Babylonian woe, 155 
 
 baits, 131 
 
 band, 142 
 
 bare wand, 135 
 
 Bayona's hold, 153-154 
 
 be. 101 
 
 Bear, the, 90 
 
 becks, 84 
 
 bellman, 90 
 
 besprent, 132 
 
 bested, 88 
 
 birds of calm, 75 
 
 blasts, 141 
 
 blaze, 149 
 blear illusion, 108 
 bhnd Fury, 150 
 blind mouths, 152 
 blot, 107 
 blow, 144 
 blue, 154 
 blue-haired, 102 
 boast of skill, 116 
 bolt, 138 
 
 bonnet sedge, 151 
 bosky bourne, 118 
 bosomed, 85 
 bosoms, 122 
 bottom glade, 131 
 bout, 87 
 bower, 85 
 brag, 138 
 brakes, 107 
 bright, 99 
 
 bright-harnessed, 79 
 brim, 107 
 brooding, 83 
 brow, 131 
 brown, 92 
 Brute, 140 
 brute earth, 139 
 brutish, 78 
 budge, 137 
 buskined, 91 
 bustle, 123 
 but not, 150 
 buxom, 83 
 by course, 101 
 by due steps, 101 
 by them, 132 
 
 Camus, 151 
 
 canker, 148 
 
 canon laws of our foundation, 139 
 
 care, 130, 151 
 
 Carpathian wizard's hook, the, 141 
 
 cassia, 144 
 
 cast, 121 
 
 casts, 111 
 
 Cerberus, 83 
 
 chair, 107 
 
 change, 100 
 
 charactered, 131 
 
 charming-rod, 105 
 
 Chaucer, 91 
 
 cherubim, 89 
 
 Cimmerian, 83 
 
 civil-suited, 91 
 
 157 
 
158 
 
 INDEX TO THE NOTES 
 
 clear, 149 
 
 cloister's pale, 92 
 
 close, 76 
 
 clouted, 135 
 
 commercing, 89 
 
 Comus, 93-98 
 
 confidence, 133 
 
 Conscience, 110 
 
 consort, 77, 92 
 
 constant, 122 
 
 cordial julep, 136 
 
 corners, 145 
 
 corporal rind, 136 
 
 Cotytto, 107 
 
 country dancers, 143 
 
 courtesy, 118 
 
 court guise, 143 
 
 courtly, 79 
 
 covenants, 136 
 
 cranks, 84 
 
 creatures of the element, 117 
 
 crew, 98 
 
 crispfed, 143 
 
 crofts, 131 
 
 crown that Virtue gives, the, 100 
 
 crow-toe, 153 
 
 crude, 147 
 
 crude surfeit, 129 
 
 crystal glass, 104 
 
 Cupid, 144, 145 
 
 curb, 140 
 
 cure, 142 
 
 curious, 137 
 
 curls, 134 
 
 Cynic tub, the, 137 
 
 cynosure, 85 
 
 cypress lawn, 89 
 
 daffadilly, 153 
 
 Damoetas, 148 
 
 dances, 143 
 
 dapper, 106 
 
 date of grief, 122 
 
 day-star, 154 
 
 dazzling spells, 108 
 
 deadly forfeit, 74 
 
 dear, 139 
 
 Death, ribs of, 133 
 
 debonair, 83 
 
 defence is a good cause, 129 
 
 delicacy, 136 
 
 Delphic, 80 
 
 Delphos, 77 
 
 demons, 96 
 
 descends or enters, 99 
 
 desert cell, 123 
 
 Deva, 149 
 
 dews, 139 
 
 diet, 89 
 
 dim, 100, 151 
 
 dim darkness, 116 
 
 dingle, 118 
 
 Diodati, 135 
 
 dips, 139 
 
 direct, 139 
 
 discovers, 99 
 
 disinherit Chaos, 119 
 
 displayed, 76 
 
 divine, 91 
 
 doing abhorrfed rites, 131 
 
 Doric lay, 154 
 
 do thee little stead, 135 
 
 downs, 130 
 
 Dragon, Old, 77 
 
 drouth of Phoebus, 104 
 
 drove, 148 
 
 drowsy-flighted, 132 
 
 drudging goblin, the, 86 
 
 Dryades, 143 
 
 duck or nod, 143 
 
 dun, 107 
 
 easy numbers, 80 
 eating cares, 87 
 Echo, 111, 112, 113 
 eclipse, 150 
 eglantine, 84 
 element, 117 
 elysium, 115 
 embowfed roof, 92 
 enamelled, 153 
 engaged, 109 
 engine, 152 
 enow, 139, 151 
 ere a close, 132 
 ere half my days, 156 
 Ethiop queen, 88 
 Euphrosyne, 83 
 Extreme shift, 116 
 eye, 124 
 eye me, 118 
 eyne, 79 
 
 fable of Bellerus, 153 
 
 fables, 139 
 
 faculties, 135 
 
 faery, 117 
 
 fairly, 108 
 
 faith, 105 
 
 fall, 114 
 
 fallows, 84 
 
 fantastic, 84 
 
 Fauns, 148 
 
 fear of Jove, 89 
 
 fence, 139 
 
 finny drove, 106 
 
 fire, 106 
 
 First Brother, 98 
 
 first Scene, *he, 99 
 
 fixfed. 88 
 
 flamens, 77 
 
 flashy, 152 
 
 flat sea, 122 
 
 flowery cave. 113 
 
 fog, 116 
 
 fond, 88, 104 
 
INDEX TO THE NOTES 
 
 159 
 
 foreign, 115 
 freaked, 153 
 free, 83 
 
 friar's lantern, 86 
 frieze, 137 
 frounced, 91 
 
 gaudy trim, 74 
 gay, 139 
 gear, 108 
 Genius, 92 
 genius, 154 
 gentle, 116, 120 
 glancing, 104 
 Glaucus, 141, 142 
 glistering, 105 
 globe, 76 
 
 glozing courtesy, 108 
 goblin, drudging, 86 
 goes about to rise, 136 
 golden key. 101 
 gorgeous, 90 
 Graces, the, 144 
 grain, 89, 138 
 granges, 108 
 grant they be so, 121 
 grave saws, 106 
 gray-fly, 148 
 grisly, 134 
 Guendolen, 140 
 guilty, 74 
 
 habit, 98, 108 
 
 Haemony, 135 
 
 hairy gown, 92 
 
 halloo, 129 
 
 hall or bower, 103 
 
 happy trial, 134 
 
 Harpies and Hydras, 134 
 
 has, 102 
 
 heat, 121, 142 
 
 Hebe, 84 
 
 Hecate, 107 
 
 he knew, 147 
 
 herald of the sea, 150 
 
 herb, 132 
 
 Hermes, 90 
 
 her own loins, 137 
 
 Hesperian tree, 124 
 
 hideous, 77 
 
 hills, snowy, 143 
 
 hinds, 108 
 
 Hippotades, 150 
 
 his, 91 
 
 hist, 89 
 
 hit, 88, 117 
 
 hoar, 84 
 
 hollow round, 76 
 
 homely, 138 
 
 hooked, 75 
 
 how chance, 130 
 
 huddling, 129 
 
 bug, 108 
 
 hundredfold, 155 
 huswife, 138 
 hutched, 137 
 Hymen, 87 
 hymn, 155 
 
 Ida, 89 
 
 I hate, 138 
 ill is lost, 116 
 ill-managed, 108 
 
 II Penseroso, 81, 82, 88 
 imbathe, 140 
 
 Ind, 134 
 
 Indian steep, 107 
 
 influence, 75, 87, 119, 120 
 
 inform, 109 
 
 innumerous, 121 
 
 insphered, 99 
 
 in unsuperfluous even proportion, 139 
 
 invite, 85 
 
 Iris, 104 
 
 iron stakes, 129 
 
 Isis, 78 
 
 Isle, but this, 101 
 
 its, 76 
 
 Jonson, 87 
 Jove, 89, 99, 130 
 joy, 136 
 Juno, 137 
 just hands, 101 
 
 keys, 101, 151 
 knot-grass, 132 
 
 labored, 117 
 laboring, 85 
 labyrinth, 116 
 Lady, 98 
 U Allegro, 81, 82 
 land-pilot's art, 118 
 landskip, 84 
 lank, 140 
 
 Lars and Lemures, 77 
 last fulfilling, 76 
 laureate hearse, 153 
 lawn, 75 
 lawns, 84 
 lawns and 
 leans, 121 
 leavy, 116 
 Leucothea, 142 
 lewdly, 139 
 lickerish, 136 
 lies, 85, 86 
 lime-twigs, 136 
 liquid, 143 
 listened them, 132 
 litter, 133 
 livelong, 80 
 livery, 84 
 lodge, 121 
 loose, 108 
 
 . leas, 143 
 
160 
 
 INDEX TO THE NOTES 
 
 lovelorn, 113 
 
 low-roosted lark, 118 
 
 Lucifer, 75 
 
 lucky, 148 
 
 Lybic Hammon, 78 
 
 Lycidas, 145-147 
 
 Lydian airs, 87 
 
 Mab, 85 
 
 mace, 141 
 
 madrigal, 129 
 
 mansion, 99 
 
 mansions, 77 
 
 mantling, 117 
 
 margent, 113 
 
 masque, 87 
 
 massy proof, 92 
 
 matin, 86 
 
 mazes, 109 
 
 Meander, 113 
 
 meditate, 132 
 
 meditate the thankless muse, 149 
 
 melancholy blood, 139 
 
 Meliboeus, 139 
 
 melodious tear, 148 
 
 Memnon, 88 
 
 messes, 85 
 
 mickle, 102 
 
 Midas' ears, 155 
 
 midst, 74 
 
 mighty Pan, the, 75 
 
 milder, 155 
 
 mildew-blast, 135 
 
 mincing, 143 
 
 mintage, 131 
 
 minute drops, 92 
 
 misery, 104 
 
 mitred, 151 
 
 moist vows, 153 
 
 Moloch, 78 
 
 Mona, 149 
 
 Monody, 147 
 
 monstrous rout, 131 
 
 monstrous world, 153 
 
 monumental oak, 92 
 
 moon-loved maze, 79 
 
 Morpheus, 88 
 
 morris dance, 106 
 
 mortal, 100 
 
 mould, 101 
 
 mount, 162 
 
 mountain watch, 105 
 
 mouths, 152 
 
 murmurs, 130 
 
 Musseus, 91 
 
 Muse, 148, 149 
 
 Muses, the, 74, 148 
 
 music of the spheres, 76, 145 
 
 musky, 144 
 
 myrtle, 75 
 
 Naiades, 114 
 Namancos, 153 
 
 Narcissus, 113 
 nard, 144 
 navel, 130 
 near-ushering, 116 
 Nesera, 149 
 nectared, 129 
 nectared lavers, 140 
 Nepenthes, 136 
 Nereus, 140 
 nerves, 136, 139 
 next, 136 
 nice, 107 
 
 night-foundered, 129 
 night-raven, 83 
 night-steeds, 79 
 ninefold, 77 
 noise, 76 
 notion, 139 
 nuptial song, 154 
 nut-brown, 85 
 Nymphs, 77 
 
 oaten, 120 
 
 obscurfed, 131 
 
 obtruding, 138 
 
 Oceanus, 141 
 
 Old Dragon, the, 77 
 
 olive, 75 
 
 onftinous, 103 
 
 once more, 147 
 
 one, 107 
 
 one way, 75 
 
 On His Blindness, 155-156 
 
 On His Having Arrived at the Age of 
 
 Twenty-three, 80 
 On Shakespeare, 79, 80 
 On the Late Massacre in Piedmont, 
 
 155 
 On the Morning of Christ's Nativity, 
 
 73, 74 
 ore, 137, 154 
 or ere, 75 
 organ, 77 
 orient, 104 
 Orpheus, 87, 149 
 Orus, 78 
 Osiris, 78, 79 
 ounce, 104 
 
 outwatch the Bear, 90 
 over-exquisite, 120 
 
 pageantry, 87 
 pale, 91, 153 
 palmer, 109 
 Pan, 108 
 Panope, 150 
 paramour, 74 
 parching, 148 
 parley, 114 
 pastoral reed, 120 
 pearled, 140 
 pensioners, 88 
 pensive, 123 
 
INDEX TO THE NOTES 
 
 161 
 
 Peor, 78 
 
 perfect, 104, 110 
 period, 133 
 perplexed, 102 
 pert, 106 
 pestered, 100 
 pet, 137 
 Philomel, 89 
 Phoebus, 150 
 pillared, 134 
 Pilot, the, 151 
 pinching, 86 
 pledge, 151 
 plight, 122 
 plighted, 117 
 plumes, 123 
 ply the sampler, 138 
 poison, 103 
 pole, 106 
 pollute, 75 
 pomp, 87 
 port, 117 
 pranked, 138 
 prevent, 74, 133 
 prevented, 116 
 pride, 138 
 print, 74 
 
 printless feet, 142 
 prithee, 130 
 proportioned, 118 
 Psyche, 144, 145 
 pulling, 86 
 pulse, 137 
 purchase, 134 
 purfled, 144 
 puts by. 136 
 
 quaint, 77, 108, 153 
 quarters, 102 
 quills, 154 
 quips, 84 
 
 rathe, 153 
 
 rebecks, 85 
 
 recks 124 
 
 reed, 120 
 
 regard, 135 
 
 region, 76 
 
 resort, 123 
 
 ribs of Death, the, 133 
 
 rife, 110 
 
 rime royal, 74 
 
 rises, 142 
 
 rites, 107 
 
 rout, 105, 149 
 
 rule, 120 
 
 russet. 84 
 
 sable. 111 
 sable-stolfed, 79 
 Sabrina. 98-99, 140, 142 
 
 sad, 89, 109 
 
 sadly, 130 
 
 8age poets, 130 
 
 sages, 74 
 
 sampler, 138 
 
 sanguine flower, 151 
 
 sapphire, 101 
 
 Saturn's reign, 89 
 
 sceptred pall, 90 
 
 scrannel, 152 
 
 scrip, 135 
 
 Scylla, 115 
 
 seat, 142 
 
 Second Brother, 98 
 
 secret, 74 
 
 secure, 85 
 
 seeks to, 123 
 
 serene, 100 
 
 session, 77 
 
 several, 79 
 
 several government, 101 
 
 Shakespeare, 80, 87 
 
 shatter, 147 
 
 shelves, 106 
 
 shepherd lad, 135 
 
 shew, 130 
 
 shew'th, 80 
 
 shoon, 135 
 
 shrewd, 141 
 
 shrine, rural, 115 
 
 shroud. 118. 148 
 
 shrouds, 107 
 
 siding. 110 
 
 silly. 76 
 
 simples, 135 
 
 simply, 75 
 
 singM air, 143 
 
 single, 122 
 
 single darkness, 110 
 
 Sirens three. 114 
 
 Sisters of the sacred well. 148 
 
 sleep. 77 
 
 slits. 150 
 
 slope. 106 
 
 smooth-dittied, 104 
 
 smooth-haired silk. 137 
 
 smoothly, 145 
 
 snaky twine, 79 
 
 Sons of Morning, 76 
 
 soothest, 140 
 
 sooty flag of Acheron, the, 134 
 
 so to seek, 122 
 
 sounds and seas, 106 
 
 sovran, 103 
 
 spangled, 74 
 
 sparely looks, 152 
 
 spare Temperance, 139 
 
 speckled, 77 
 
 sped. 152 
 
 spell of, 92 
 
 spheres, the, 76, 106, 114, 145 
 
 spongy air, 108 
 
 spruce, 143 
 
162 
 
 INDEX TO THE NOTES 
 
 sprung, 133 
 square, 118 
 stabled wolves, 131 
 starlight, 117 
 Star of Arcady, 120 
 starry choir, 106 
 starved, 88 
 star-ypointing, 80 
 state, 84, 102 
 stealth, 130 
 steep, 105 
 Stoic fur, the, 137 
 stole, 89, 109 
 stops, 154 
 story, 155 
 strook, 76 
 Stygian, 83 
 such two, 133 
 sung, 76 
 sunshine, 85 
 surcharged, 137 
 suspicious flight, 108 
 swart star, 152 
 swilled, 108 
 swinges, 77 
 swinked, 117 
 Sylvan, 92, 116 
 
 taint-worm, 149 
 
 tale, 84 
 
 tamed, 85 
 
 tawny sands, 106 
 
 team, 74 
 
 tease, 138 
 
 teeming, 108 
 
 tells his tale, 84 
 
 tender, 154 
 
 Tethys, 141 
 
 Thammuz, 78 
 
 than, 75 
 
 then, 86 
 
 Thetis, 142 
 
 thievish Night, 109 
 
 think what, 138 
 
 this, 100 
 
 those, 99 
 
 though, 120 
 
 thousands, 156 
 
 Thyrsis, 129 
 
 tissued, 77 
 
 to. 130 
 
 To Mr. H. Lawes, on His Airs, 155 
 
 took, 76 
 
 to-ruffled, 123 
 
 tourneys, 91 
 
 toy, 88, 130 
 
 trains, lu8 
 
 tributary gods, 101 
 
 tricked, 91 
 
 tricks, 154 
 
 triple Tyrant, 155 
 
 Triton, 141 
 
 triumph, 87 
 
 trophies hung, 91 
 trust, 102 
 tufted. 85, 111 
 turning sphere, 75 
 turtle-wing, 75 
 twice-battered god, 78 
 twine, 79, 106 
 two-handed engine, 152 
 Typhon, 79 
 Tyrant, triple, 155 
 Tyrian, 78 
 
 unadomfed, 101 
 uncouth, 83, 154 
 unexempt condition, 136 
 unexpressive, 76, 154 
 union, 76 
 unless, 115 
 unmoulding, 131 
 unmuffle, 119 
 unprincipled, 122 
 unreprovfed, 84 
 unseen, 84 
 unshowered, 79 
 unsphere, 90 
 unsunned, 124 
 unthread thy joints, 135 
 unvalued, 80 
 unwilHng, 132 
 unwithdrawing hand, 137 
 urchin blasts, 141 
 urn, 148 
 use, 149 
 
 various bustle of resort, 123 
 
 vein, 74 
 
 velvet heads, 142 
 
 vermeil-tinctured, 138 
 
 Vesta, 88 
 
 virtuous, 91, 135 
 
 vision, 117 
 
 vision of the guarded mount, 
 
 153 
 vizored, 136 
 vocal air, 114 
 votarist, 109 
 Vulcan, 136 
 
 wakes, 107 
 
 waking bliss, 115 
 
 wanton, 152 
 
 wanton wiles, 84 
 
 warranted, 118 
 
 wassailers, 109 
 
 wattled cotes, 120 
 
 weeds, 87, 124 
 
 well, 110 
 
 well-attired woodbine, 153 
 
 welter, 148 
 
 what, 138 
 
 what if, 121 
 
 what needs, 80, 122 
 
INDEX TO THE NOTES 
 
 163 
 
 what recks, 152 
 what time, 117 
 where, 102 
 while, 136 
 whist, 75 
 white-thorn, 149 
 wind me, 108 
 wizards, 74 
 wonest, 119 
 wont, 74 
 woodbine, 153 
 
 wreathfed smiles, 84 
 wrinkled, 141 
 
 ychained, 77 
 
 yclept, 83 
 
 ye, 110 
 
 yet, 134 
 
 yon small hill, 117 
 
 youngest-teemfed, 79 
 
 Zephyr, 83 
 
APR 181910 
 
 Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
 Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
 Treatment Date: March 2009 
 
 PreservationTechnologies 
 
 A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 
 
 111 Thomson Park Drive 
 Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
 (724)779-2111 
 
One copy del. to Cat. Div.