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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Milton's Comus, by John Milton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Milton's Comus
+
+Author: John Milton
+
+Editor: William Bell
+
+Release Date: November 15, 2006 [EBook #19819]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MILTON'S COMUS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Curtis Weyant, Louise Pryor and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by Case Western Reserve University Preservation Department
+Digital Library)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+{Transcriber's notes:
+    ~Bold~ text is surrounded by tildes ~, _italic_ text by underscores _.
+    +Greek+ text is transliterated and surrounded by plus signs +.
+    oe ligatures have been unpacked.
+    Letters with overscores are represented as {=a}, {=e}, {=o}.
+    The use of  e and e to indicate stresses is inconsistent, as is
+    the use of ae ligatures. No changes have been made to the original.
+}
+
+
+
+  MILTON'S COMUS
+
+  WITH
+  INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
+
+  BY
+  WILLIAM BELL, M.A.
+  PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY AND LOGIC, GOVERNMENT COLLEGE, LAHORE
+
+
+
+
+  London
+  MACMILLAN AND CO
+  AND NEW YORK
+  1891
+
+  [_All rights reserved_]
+
+
+
+
+  First Edition, 1890.
+  Reprinted, 1891.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+                                             PAGE
+  INTRODUCTION,                               vii
+  COMUS,                                        7
+  NOTES,                                       38
+  INDEX TO THE NOTES,                         113
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+Few poems have been more variously designated than _Comus_. Milton
+himself describes it simply as "A Mask"; by others it has been
+criticised and estimated as a lyrical drama, a drama in the epic style,
+a lyric poem in the _form_ of a play, a phantasy, an allegory, a
+philosophical poem, a suite of speeches or majestic soliloquies, and
+even a didactic poem. Such variety in the description of the poem is
+explained partly by its complex charm and many-sided interest, and
+partly by the desire to describe it from that point of view which should
+best reconcile its literary form with what we know of the genius and
+powers of its author. Those who, like Dr. Johnson, have blamed it as a
+drama, have admired it "as a series of lines," or as a lyric; one
+writer, who has found that its characters are nothing, its sentiments
+tedious, its story uninteresting, has nevertheless "doubted whether
+there will ever be any similar poem which gives so true a conception of
+the capacity and the dignity of the mind by which it was produced"
+(Bagehot's _Literary Studies_). Some who have praised it as an allegory
+see in it a satire on the evils both of the Church and of the State,
+while others regard it as alluding to the vices of the Court alone. Some
+have found its lyrical parts the best, while others, charmed with its
+"divine philosophy," have commended those deep conceits which place it
+alongside of the _Faerie Queen_, as shadowing forth an episode in the
+education of a noble soul and as a poet's lesson against intemperance
+and impurity. But no one can refuse to admit that, more than any other
+of Milton's shorter poems, it gives us an insight into the peculiar
+genius and character of its author: it was, in the opinion of Hallam,
+"sufficient to convince any one of taste and feeling that a great poet
+had arisen in England, and one partly formed in a different school from
+his contemporaries." It is true that in the early poems we do not find
+the whole of Milton, for he had yet to pass through many years of
+trouble and controversy; but _Comus_, in a special degree, reveals or
+foreshadows much of the Milton of _Paradise Lost_. Whether we regard its
+place in Milton's life, in the series of his works, or in English
+literature as a whole, the poem is full of significance: it is worth
+while, therefore, to consider how its form was determined by the
+external circumstances and previous training of the poet; by his
+favourite studies in poetry, philosophy, history, and music; and by his
+noble theory of life in general, and of a poet's life in particular.
+
+The mask was represented at Ludlow Castle on September 29th, 1634; it
+was probably composed early in that year. It belongs, therefore, to that
+group of poems (_L'Allegro_, _Il Penseroso_, _Arcades_, _Comus_, and
+_Lycidas_) written by Milton while living in his father's house at
+Horton, near Windsor, after having left the University of Cambridge in
+July, 1632. As he was born in 1608, he would be twenty-five years of age
+when this poem was composed. During his stay at Horton (1632-39), which
+was broken only by a journey to Italy in 1638-9, he was chiefly occupied
+with the study of the Greek, Roman, Italian, and English literatures,
+each of which has left its impress on _Comus_. He read widely and
+carefully, and it has been said that his great and original imagination
+was almost entirely nourished, or at least stimulated, by books: his
+residence at Horton was, accordingly, pre-eminently what he intended it
+to be, and what his father wisely and gladly permitted it to be--a time
+of preparation and ripening for the work to which he had dedicated
+himself. We are reminded of his own words in _Comus_:
+
+                    And Wisdom's self
+    Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude,
+    Where, with her best nurse, Contemplation,
+    She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings,
+    That, in the various bustle of resort,
+    Were all to-ruffled, and sometimes impaired.
+
+We find in _Comus_ abundant reminiscences of Milton's study of the
+literature of antiquity. "It would not be too much to say that the
+literature of antiquity was to Milton's genius what soil and light are
+to a plant. It nourished, it coloured, it developed it. It determined
+not merely his character as an artist, but it exercised an influence on
+his intellect and temper scarcely less powerful than hereditary
+instincts and contemporary history. It at once animated and chastened
+his imagination; it modified his fancy; it furnished him with his
+models. On it his taste was formed; on it his style was moulded. From it
+his diction and his method derived their peculiarities. It transformed
+what would in all probability have been the mere counterpart of
+Caedmon's Paraphrase or Langland's Vision into Paradise Lost; and what
+would have been the mere counterpart of Corydon's Doleful Knell and the
+satire of the Three Estates, into Lycidas and Comus." (_Quarterly
+Review_, No. 326.)
+
+But Milton has also told us that Spenser was his master, and the full
+charm of _Comus_ cannot be realised without reference to the artistic
+and philosophical spirit of the author of the _Faerie Queene_. Both
+poems deal with the war between the body and the soul--between the lower
+and the higher nature. In an essay on 'Spenser as a philosophic poet,'
+De Vere says: "The perils and degradations of an animalised life are
+shown under the allegory of Sir Guyon's sea voyage with its successive
+storms and whirlpools, its 'rock of Reproach' strewn with wrecks and
+dead men's bones, its 'wandering islands,' its 'quicksands of
+Unthriftihead,' its 'whirlepoole of Decay,' its 'sea-monsters,' and
+lastly, its 'bower of Bliss,' and the doom which overtakes it, together
+with the deliverance of Acrasia's victims, transformed by that witch's
+spells into beasts. Still more powerful is the allegory of worldly
+ambition, illustrated under the name of 'the cave of Mammon.' The Legend
+of Holiness delineates with not less insight those enemies which wage
+war upon the spiritual life." All this Milton had studied in the _Faerie
+Queene_, and had understood it; and, like Sir Guyon, he felt himself to
+be a knight enrolled under the banner of Parity and Self-Control. So
+that, in _Comus_, we find the sovereign value of Temperance or
+Self-Regulation--what the Greeks called +sophrosyne+--set forth
+no less clearly than in Spenser's poem: in Milton's mask it becomes
+almost identical with Virtue itself. The enchantments of Acrasia in her
+Bower of Bliss become the spells of Comus; the armour of Belphoebe
+becomes the "complete steel" of Chastity; while the supremacy of
+Conscience, the bounty of Nature and man's ingratitude, the unloveliness
+of Mammon and of Excess, the blossom of Courtesy oft found on lowly
+stalk, and the final triumph of Virtue through striving and temptation,
+all are dwelt upon.
+
+    It is the mind that maketh good or ill,
+    That maketh wretch or happie, rich or poore:
+
+so speaks Spenser; and Milton similarly--
+
+    He that has light within his own clear breast
+    May sit i' the centre, and enjoy bright day:
+    But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts
+    Benighted walks under the mid-day sun;
+    Himself is his own dungeon.
+
+In endeavouring still further to trace, by means of verbal or structural
+resemblances, the sources from which Milton drew his materials for
+_Comus_, critics have referred to Peele's _Old Wives' Tale_ (1595); to
+Fletcher's pastoral, _The Faithful Shepherdess_, of which Charles Lamb
+has said that if all its parts 'had been in unison with its many
+innocent scenes and sweet lyric intermixtures, it had been a poem fit to
+vie with _Comus_ or the _Arcadia_, to have been put into the hands of
+boys and virgins, to have made matter for young dreams, like the loves
+of Hermia and Lysander'; to Ben Jonson's mask of _Pleasure reconciled to
+Virtue_ (1619), in which Comus is "the god of cheer, or the Belly"; and
+to the _Comus_ of Erycius Puteanus (Henri du Puy), Professor of
+Eloquence at Louvain. It is true that Fletcher's pastoral was being
+acted in London about the time Milton was writing his _Comus_, that the
+poem by the Dutch Professor was republished at Oxford in 1634, and that
+resemblances are evident between Milton's poem and those named. But
+Professor Masson does well in warning us that "infinitely too much has
+been made of such coincidences. After all of them, even the most ideal
+and poetical, the feeling in reading _Comus_ is that all here is
+different, all peculiar." Whatever Milton borrowed, he borrowed, as he
+says himself, in order to better it.
+
+It is interesting to consider the mutual relations of the poems written
+by Milton at Horton. Everything that Milton wrote is Miltonic; he had
+what has been called the power of transforming everything into himself,
+and these poems are, accordingly, evidences of the development of
+Milton's opinions and of his secret purpose. It has been said that
+_L'Allegro_ and _Il Penseroso_ are to be regarded as "the pleadings, the
+decision on which is in Comus"--_L'Allegro_ representing the Cavalier,
+and _Il Penseroso_ the Puritan element. This is true only in a limited
+sense. It is true that the Puritan element in the Horton series of poems
+becomes more patent as we pass from the two lyrics to the mask of
+_Comus_, and from _Comus_ to the elegy of _Lycidas_, just as, in the
+corresponding periods of time, the evils connected with the reign of
+Charles I. and with Laud's crusade against Puritanism were becoming more
+pronounced. But we can hardly regard Milton as having expressed any new
+decision in _Comus_: the decision is already made when "vain deluding
+Joys" are banished in _Il Penseroso_, and "loathed Melancholy" in
+_L'Allegro_. The mask is an expansion and exaltation of the delights of
+the contemplative man, but there is still a place for the "unreproved
+pleasures" of the cheerful man. Unless it were so, _Comus_ could not
+have been written; there would have been no "sunshine holiday" for the
+rustics and no "victorious dance" for the gentle lady and her brothers.
+But in _Comus_ we realise the mutual relation of _L'Allegro_ and _Il
+Penseroso_; we see their application to the joys and sorrows of the
+actual life of individuals; we observe human nature in contact with the
+"hard assays" of life. And, subsequently, in _Lycidas_ we are made to
+realise that this human nature is Milton's own, and to understand how it
+was that his Puritanism which, three years before, had permitted him to
+write a cavalier mask, should, three years after, lead him from the
+fresh fields of poetry into the barren plains of controversial prose.
+
+The Mask was a favourite form of entertainment in England in Milton's
+youth, and had been so from the time of Henry VIII., in whose reign
+elaborate masked shows, introduced from Italy, first became popular. But
+they seem to have found their way into England, in a crude form, even
+earlier; and we read of court disguisings in the reign of Edward III. It
+is usually said that the Mask derives its name from the fact that the
+actors wore masks, and in Hall's Chronicle we read that, in 1512, "on
+the day of Epiphany at night, the king, with eleven others, was
+disguised after the manner of Italy, called a Mask, a thing not seen
+before in England; they were appareled in garments long and broad,
+wrought all with gold, with _visors_ and caps of gold." The truth,
+however, seems to be that the use of a visor was not essential in such
+entertainments, which, from the first, were called 'masks,' the word
+'masker' being used sometimes of the players, and sometimes of their
+disguises. The word has come to us, through the French form _masque_,
+cognate with Spanish _mascarada_, a masquerade or assembly of maskers,
+otherwise called a mummery. Up to the time of Henry VIII. these
+entertainments were of the nature of dumb-show or _tableaux vivants_,
+and delighted the spectators chiefly by the splendour of the costumes
+and machinery employed in their representation; but, afterwards, the
+chief actors spoke their parts, singing and dancing were introduced, and
+the composition of masks for royal and other courtly patrons became an
+occupation worthy of a poet. They were frequently combined with other
+forms of amusement, all of which were, in the case of the Court, placed
+under the management of a Master of Revels, whose official title was
+Magister Jocorum, Revellorum et _Mascorum_; in the first printed English
+tragedy, _Gorboduc_ (1565), each act opens with what is called a
+dumb-show or mask. But the more elaborate form of the Mask soon grew to
+be an entertainment complete in itself, and the demand for such became
+so great in the time of James I. and Charles I. that the history of
+these reigns might almost be traced in the succession of masks then
+written. Ben Jonson, who thoroughly established the Mask in English
+literature, wrote many Court Masks, and made them a vehicle less for the
+display of 'painting and carpentry' than for the expression of the
+intellectual and social life of his time. His masks are excelled only
+by _Comus_, and possess in a high degree that 'Doric delicacy' in their
+songs and odes which Sir Henry Wotton found so ravishing in Milton's
+mask. Jonson, in his lifetime, declared that, next himself, only
+Fletcher and Chapman could write a mask; and apart from the compositions
+of these writers and of William Browne (_Inner Temple Masque_), there
+are few specimens worthy to be named along with Jonson's until we come
+to Milton's _Arcades_. Other mask-writers were Middleton, Dekker,
+Shirley, Carew, and Davenant; and it is interesting to note that in
+Carew's _Coelum Brittanicum_ (1633-4), for which Lawes composed the
+music, the two boys who afterwards acted in _Comus_ had juvenile parts.
+It has been pointed out that the popularity of the Mask in Milton's
+youth received a stimulus from the Puritan hatred of the theatre which
+found expression at that time, and drove non-Puritans to welcome the
+Mask as a protest against that spirit which saw nothing but evil in
+every form of dramatic entertainment. Milton, who enjoyed the
+theatre--both "Jonson's learned sock" and what "ennobled hath the
+buskined stage"--was led, through his friendship with the musician
+Lawes, to compose a mask to celebrate the entry of the Earl of
+Bridgewater upon his office of "Lord President of the Council in the
+Principality of Wales and the Marches of the same." He had already
+written, also at the request of Lawes, a mask, or portion of a mask,
+called _Arcades_, and the success of this may have stimulated him to
+higher effort. The result was _Comus_, in which the Mask reached its
+highest level, and after which it practically faded out of our
+literature.
+
+Milton's two masks, _Arcades_ and _Comus_, were written for members of
+the same noble family, the former in honour of the Countess Dowager of
+Derby, and the latter in honour of John, first Earl of Bridgewater, who
+was both her stepson and son-in-law. This two-fold relation arose from
+the fact that the Earl was the son of Viscount Brackley, the Countess's
+second husband, and had himself married Lady Frances Stanley, a daughter
+of the Countess by her first husband, the fifth Earl of Derby. Amongst
+the children of the Earl of Bridgewater were three who took important
+parts in the representation of _Comus_--Alice, the youngest daughter,
+then about fourteen years of age, who appeared as _The Lady_; John,
+Viscount Brackley, who took the part of the _Elder Brother_, and Thomas
+Egerton, who appeared as the _Second Brother_. We do not know who acted
+the parts of _Comus_ and _Sabrina_, but the part of the _Attendant
+Spirit_ was taken by Henry Lawes, "gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and
+one of His Majesty's private musicians." The Earl's children were his
+pupils, and the mask was naturally produced under his direction.
+Milton's friendship with Lawes is shown by the sonnet which the poet
+addressed to the musician:
+
+    Harry, whose tuneful and well measur'd song
+      First taught our English music how to span
+      Words with just note and accent, not to scan
+      With Midas' ears, committing short and long;
+    Thy worth and skill exempts thee from the throng,
+      With praise enough for Envy to look wan;
+      To after age thou shalt be writ the man,
+    That with smooth air could'st humour best our tongue.
+    Thou honour'st Verse, and Verse must lend her wing
+      To honour thee, the priest of Phoebus' quire,
+      That tun'st their happiest lines in hymn, or story.
+    Dante shall give Fame leave to set thee higher
+      Than his Casella, who he woo'd to sing,
+      Met in the milder shades of Purgatory.
+
+We must remember also that it was to Lawes that Milton's _Comus_ owed
+its first publication, and, as we see from the dedication prefixed to
+the text, that he was justly proud of his share in its first
+representation.
+
+Such were the persons who appeared in Milton's mask; they are few in
+number, and the plan of the piece is correspondingly simple. There are
+three scenes which may be briefly characterised thus:
+
+    I. The Tempter and the Tempted: lines 1-658.
+       _Scene_: A wild wood.
+
+   II. The Temptation and the Rescue: lines 659-958.
+       _Scene_: The Palace of Comus.
+
+  III. The Triumph: lines 959-1023.
+       _Scene_: The President's Castle.
+
+In the first scene, after a kind of prologue (lines 1-92), the interest
+rises as we are introduced first to Comus and his rout, then to the Lady
+alone and "night-foundered," and finally to Comus and the Lady in
+company. At the same time the nature of the Lady's trial and her
+subsequent victory are foreshadowed in a conversation between the
+brothers and the attendant Spirit. This is one of the more Miltonic
+parts of the mask: in the philosophical reasoning of the elder brother,
+as opposed to the matter-of-fact arguments of the younger, we trace the
+young poet fresh from the study of the divine volume of Plato, and
+filled with a noble trust in God. In the second scene we breathe the
+unhallowed air of the abode of the wily tempter, who endeavours, "under
+fair pretence of friendly ends," to wind himself into the pure heart of
+the Lady. But his "gay rhetoric" is futile against the "sun-clad power
+of chastity"; and he is driven off the scene by the two brothers, who
+are led and instructed by the Spirit disguised as the shepherd Thyrsis.
+But the Lady, having been lured into the haunt of impurity, is left
+spell-bound, and appeal is made to the pure nymph Sabrina, who is "swift
+to aid a virgin, such as was herself, in hard-besetting need." It is in
+the contention between Comus and the Lady in this scene that the
+interest of the mask may be said to culminate, for here its purpose
+stands revealed: "it is a song to Temperance as the ground of Freedom,
+to temperance as the guard of all the virtues, to beauty as secured by
+temperance, and its central point and climax is in the pleading of these
+motives by the Lady against their opposites in the mouth of the Lord of
+sensual Revel." _Milton: Classical Writers_. In the third scene the Lady
+Alice and her brothers are presented by the Spirit to their noble father
+and mother as triumphing "in victorious dance o'er sensual folly and
+intemperance." The Spirit then speaks the epilogue, calling upon mortals
+who love true freedom to strive after virtue:
+
+    Love Virtue; she alone is free.
+    She can teach ye how to climb
+    Higher than the sphery chime;
+    Or, if Virtue feeble were,
+    Heaven itself would stoop to her.
+
+The last couplet Milton afterwards, on his Italian journey, entered in
+an album belonging to an Italian named Cerdogni, and underneath it the
+words, _Coelum non animum muto dum trans mare curro_, and his
+signature, Joannes Miltonius, Anglus. The juxtaposition of these verses
+is significant: though he had left his own land Milton had not become
+what, fifty or sixty years before, Roger Ascham had condemned as an
+"Italianated Englishman." He was one of those "worthy Gentlemen of
+England, whom all the Siren tongues of Italy could never untwine from
+the mast of God's word; nor no enchantment of vanity overturn them from
+the fear of God and love of honesty" (Ascham's _Scholemaster_). And one
+might almost infer that Milton, in his account of the sovereign plant
+Haemony which was to foil the wiles of _Comus_, had remembered not only
+Homer's description of the root Moly "that Hermes once to wise Ulysses
+gave,"{16:A} but also Ascham's remarks thereupon: "The true medicine
+against the enchantments of Circe, the vanity of licentious pleasure,
+the enticements of all sin, is, in Homer, the herb Moly, with the black
+root and white flower, sour at first, but sweet in the end; which Hesiod
+termeth the study of Virtue, hard and irksome in the beginning, but in
+the end easy and pleasant. And that which is most to be marvelled at,
+the divine poet Homer saith plainly that this medicine against sin and
+vanity is not found out by man, but given and taught by God." Milton's
+_Comus_, like his last great poems, is a poetical expression of the same
+belief. "His poetical works, the outcome of his inner life, his life of
+artistic contemplation, are," in the words of Prof. Dowden, "various
+renderings of one dominant idea--that the struggle for mastery between
+good and evil is the prime fact of life; and that a final victory of the
+righteous cause is assured by the existence of a divine order of the
+universe, which Milton knew by the name of 'Providence.'"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{16:A} It is noteworthy that Lamb, whose allusiveness is remarkable,
+employs in his account of the plant Moly almost the exact words of
+Milton's description of Haemony; compare the following extract from _The
+Adventures of Ulysses_ with lines 629-640 of _Comus_: "The flower of the
+herb Moly, which is sovereign against enchantments: the moly is a small
+unsightly root, its virtues but little known, and in low estimation; the
+dull shepherd treads on it every day with his clouted shoes, but it bears
+a small white flower, which is medicinal against charms, blights,
+mildews, and damps."
+
+
+
+
+  COMUS.
+
+
+  A MASK
+
+  PRESENTED AT LUDLOW CASTLE, 1634.
+
+  BEFORE
+
+  JOHN, EARL OF BRIDGEWATER,
+
+  THEN PRESIDENT OF WALES.
+
+
+
+
+_The Copy of a Letter written by Sir Henry Wotton to the Author upon the
+following Poem._
+
+
+From the College, this 13 of April, 1638.
+
+SIR,
+
+It was a special favour, when you lately bestowed upon me here the first
+taste of your acquaintance, though no longer than to make me know that I
+wanted more time to value it, and to enjoy it rightly; and, in truth, if
+I could then have imagined your farther stay in these parts, which I
+understood afterwards by Mr. H., I would have been bold, in our vulgar
+phrase, to mend my draught (for you left me with an extreme thirst), and
+to have begged your conversation again, jointly with your said learned
+friend, at a poor meal or two, that we might have banded together some
+good authors of the antient time; among which I observed you to have
+been familiar.
+
+Since your going, you have charged me with new obligations, both for a
+very kind letter from you dated the sixth of this month, and for a
+dainty piece of entertainment which came therewith. Wherein I should
+much commend the tragical part, if the lyrical did not ravish me with a
+certain Doric delicacy in your songs and odes, whereunto I must plainly
+confess to have seen yet nothing parallel in our language: _Ipsa
+mollities_.{19:A} But I must not omit to tell you, that I now only owe
+you thanks for intimating unto me (how modestly soever) the true
+artificer. For the work itself I had viewed some good while before, with
+singular delight, having received it from our common friend Mr. R. in
+the very close of the late R.'s poems, printed at Oxford; whereunto it
+is added (as I now suppose) that the accessory might help out the
+principal, according to the art of stationers, and to leave the reader
+_con la bocca dolce_.{20:A}
+
+Now, Sir, concerning your travels, wherein I may challenge a little more
+privilege of discourse with you; I suppose you will not blanch{20:B}
+Paris in your way; therefore I have been bold to trouble you with a few
+lines to Mr. M. B., whom you shall easily find attending the young Lord
+S. as his governor, and you may surely receive from him good directions
+for shaping of your farther journey into Italy, where he did reside by
+my choice some time for the king, after mine own recess from Venice.
+
+I should think that your best line will be through the whole length of
+France to Marseilles, and thence by sea to Genoa, whence the passage
+into Tuscany is as diurnal as a Gravesend barge. I hasten, as you do, to
+Florence, or Siena, the rather to tell you a short story, from the
+interest you have given me in your safety.
+
+At Siena I was tabled in the house of one Alberto Scipione, an old Roman
+courtier in dangerous times, having been steward to the Duca di
+Pagliano, who with all his family were strangled, save this only man,
+that escaped by foresight of the tempest. With him I had often much chat
+of those affairs; into which he took pleasure to look back from his
+native harbour; and at my departure toward Rome (which had been the
+centre of his experience) I had won confidence enough to beg his advice,
+how I might carry myself securely there, without offence of others, or
+of mine own conscience. _Signor Arrigo mio_ (says he), _I pensieri
+stretti, ed il viso sciolto_,{21:A} will go safely over the whole world.
+Of which Delphian oracle (for so I have found it) your judgment doth
+need no commentary; and therefore, Sir, I will commit you with it to the
+best of all securities, God's dear love, remaining
+
+                                         Your friend as much to command
+                                         as any of longer date,
+
+                                         HENRY WOTTON.
+
+_Postscript._
+
+Sir,--I have expressly sent this my footboy to prevent your departure
+without some acknowledgment from me of the receipt of your obliging
+letter, having myself through some business, I know not how, neglected
+the ordinary conveyance. In any part where I shall understand you fixed,
+I shall be glad and diligent to entertain you with home-novelties, even
+for some fomentation of our friendship, too soon interrupted in the
+cradle.{21:B}
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{19:A} It is delicacy itself.
+
+{20:A} With a sweet taste in his mouth (so that he may desire more).
+
+{20:B} Avoid.
+
+{21:A} "Thoughts close, countenance open."
+
+{21:B} This letter was printed in the edition of 1645, but omitted in
+that of 1673. It was written by Sir Henry Wotton, Provost of Eton
+College, just in time to overtake Milton before he set out on his journey
+to Italy. As a parting act of courtesy Milton had sent Sir Henry a letter
+with a copy of Lawes's edition of his _Comus_, and the above letter is an
+acknowledgment of the favour.
+
+
+
+
+TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE{22:A}
+
+JOHN, LORD VISCOUNT BRACKLEY,
+
+_Son and Heir-Apparent to the Earl of Bridgewater, etc._
+
+
+MY LORD,
+
+This Poem, which received its first occasion of birth from yourself and
+others of your noble family, and much honour from your own person in the
+performance, now returns again to make a final Dedication of itself to
+you. 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; and
+now to offer it up, in all rightful devotion, to those fair hopes and
+rare endowments of your much-promising youth, which give a full
+assurance to all that know you, of a future excellence. Live, sweet
+Lord, to be the honour of your name, and receive this as your own, from
+the hands of him who hath by many favours been long obliged to your most
+honoured Parents, and as in this representation your attendant
+_Thyrsis_,{22:B} so now in all real expression,
+
+                                Your faithful and most humble Servant,
+
+                                H. LAWES.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{22:A} Dedication of the anonymous edition of 1637: reprinted in the
+edition of 1645, but omitted in that of 1673.
+
+{22:B} See Notes, line 494.
+
+
+
+
+THE PERSONS.
+
+  The ATTENDANT SPIRIT, afterwards in the habit of THYRSIS.
+  COMUS, with his Crew.
+  The LADY.
+  FIRST BROTHER.
+  SECOND BROTHER.
+  SABRINA, the Nymph.
+
+  The Chief Persons which presented were:--
+      The Lord Brackley;
+      Mr. Thomas Egerton, his Brother;
+      The Lady Alice Egerton.
+
+
+
+
+
+COMUS.
+
+
+_The first Scene discovers a wild wood._
+
+_The ATTENDANT SPIRIT descends or enters._
+
+    Before the starry threshold of Jove's court
+    My mansion is, where those immortal shapes
+    Of bright aerial spirits live insphered
+    In regions mild of calm and serene air,
+    Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot
+    Which men call Earth, and, with low-thoughted care,
+    Confined and pestered in this pinfold here,
+    Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being,
+    Unmindful of the crown that Virtue gives,
+    After this mortal change, to her true servants                    10
+    Amongst the enthroned gods on sainted seats.
+    Yet some there be that by due steps aspire
+    To lay their just hands on that golden key
+    That opes the palace of eternity.
+    To such my errand is; and, but for such,
+    I would not soil these pure ambrosial weeds
+    With the rank vapours of this sin-worn mould.
+      But to my task. Neptune, besides the sway
+    Of every salt flood and each ebbing stream,
+    Took in by lot, 'twixt high and nether Jove,                      20
+    Imperial rule of all the sea-girt isles
+    That, like to rich and various gems, inlay
+    The unadorned bosom of the deep;
+    Which he, to grace his tributary gods,
+    By course commits to several government,
+    And gives them leave to wear their sapphire crowns
+    And wield their little tridents. But this Isle,
+    The greatest and the best of all the main,
+    He quarters to his blue-haired deities;
+    And all this tract that fronts the falling sun                    30
+    A noble Peer of mickle trust and power
+    Has in his charge, with tempered awe to guide
+    An old and haughty nation, proud in arms:
+    Where his fair offspring, nursed in princely lore,
+    Are coming to attend their father's state,
+    And new-intrusted sceptre. But their way
+    Lies through the perplexed paths of this drear wood,
+    The nodding horror of whose shady brows
+    Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger;
+    And here their tender age might suffer peril,                     40
+    But that, by quick command from sovran Jove,
+    I was despatched for their defence and guard:
+    And listen why; for I will tell you now
+    What never yet was heard in tale or song,
+    From old or modern bard, in hall or bower.
+      Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape
+    Crushed the sweet poison of misused wine,
+    After the Tuscan mariners transformed,
+    Coasting the Tyrrhene shore, as the winds listed,
+    On Circe's island fell: (who knows not Circe,                     50
+    The daughter of the Sun, whose charmed cup
+    Whoever tasted lost his upright shape,
+    And downward fell into a grovelling swine?)
+    This Nymph, that gazed upon his clustering locks,
+    With ivy berries wreathed, and his blithe youth,
+    Had by him, ere he parted thence, a son
+    Much like his father, but his mother more,
+    Whom therefore she brought up, and Comus named:
+    Who, ripe and frolic of his full-grown age,
+    Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields,                             60
+    At last betakes him to this ominous wood,
+    And, in thick shelter of black shades imbowered,
+    Excels his mother at her mighty art;
+    Offering to every weary traveller
+    His orient liquor in a crystal glass,
+    To quench the drouth of Phoebus; which as they taste
+    (For most do taste through fond intemperate thirst),
+    Soon as the potion works, their human count'nance,
+    The express resemblance of the gods, is changed
+    Into some brutish form of wolf or bear,                           70
+    Or ounce or tiger, hog, or bearded goat,
+    All other parts remaining as they were.
+    And they, so perfect is their misery,
+    Not once perceive their foul disfigurement,
+    But boast themselves more comely than before,
+    And all their friends and native home forget,
+    To roll with pleasure in a sensual sty.
+    Therefore, when any favoured of high Jove
+    Chances to pass through this adventurous glade,
+    Swift as the sparkle of a glancing star                           80
+    I shoot from heaven, to give him safe convoy,
+    As now I do. But first I must put off
+    These my sky-robes, spun out of Iris' woof,
+    And take the weeds and likeness of a swain
+    That to the service of this house belongs,
+    Who, with his soft pipe and smooth-dittied song,
+    Well knows to still the wild winds when they roar,
+    And hush the waving woods; nor of less faith,
+    And in this office of his mountain watch
+    Likeliest, and nearest to the present aid                         90
+    Of this occasion. But I hear the tread
+    Of hateful steps; I must be viewless now.
+
+_COMUS enters, with a charming-rod in one hand, his glass in the other;
+with him a rout of monsters, headed like sundry sorts of wild beasts,
+but otherwise like men and women, their apparel glistering. They come 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
+    His glowing axle doth allay
+    In the steep Atlantic stream;
+    And the slope sun his upward beam
+    Shoots against the dusky pole,
+    Pacing toward the other goal                                     100
+    Of his chamber in the east.
+    Meanwhile, welcome joy and feast,
+    Midnight shout and revelry,
+    Tipsy dance and jollity.
+    Braid your locks with rosy twine,
+    Dropping odours, dropping wine.
+    Rigour now is gone to bed;
+    And Advice with scrupulous head,
+    Strict Age, and sour Severity,
+    With their grave saws, in slumber lie.                           110
+    We, that are of purer fire,
+    Imitate the starry quire,
+    Who, in their nightly watchful spheres,
+    Lead in swift round the months and years.
+    The sounds and seas, with all their finny drove,
+    Now to the moon in wavering morrice move;
+    And on the tawny sands and shelves
+    Trip the pert fairies and the dapper elves.
+    By dimpled brook and fountain-brim,
+    The wood-nymphs, decked with daisies trim,                       120
+    Their merry wakes and pastimes keep:
+    What hath night to do with sleep?
+    Night hath better sweets to prove;
+    Venus now wakes, and wakens Love.
+    Come, let us our rights begin;
+    'Tis only daylight that makes sin,
+    Which these dun shades will ne'er report.
+    Hail, goddess of nocturnal sport,
+    Dark-veiled Cotytto, to whom the secret flame
+    Of midnight torches burns! mysterious dame,                      130
+    That ne'er art called but when the dragon womb
+    Of Stygian darkness spets her thickest gloom,
+    And makes one blot of all the air!
+    Stay thy cloudy ebon chair,
+    Wherein thou ridest with Hecat', and befriend
+    Us thy vowed priests, till utmost end
+    Of all thy dues be done, and none left out,
+    Ere the blabbing eastern scout,
+    The nice Morn on the Indian steep,
+    From her cabined loop-hole peep,                                 140
+    And to the tell-tale Sun descry
+    Our concealed solemnity.
+    Come, knit hands, and beat the ground
+    In a light fantastic round.           [_The Measure._
+      Break off, break off! I feel the different pace
+    Of some chaste footing near about this ground.
+    Run to your shrouds within these brakes and trees;
+    Our number may affright. Some virgin sure
+    (For so I can distinguish by mine art)
+    Benighted in these woods! Now to my charms,                      150
+    And to my wily trains: I shall ere long
+    Be well stocked with as fair a herd as grazed
+    About my mother Circe. Thus I hurl
+    My dazzling spells into the spongy air,
+    Of power to cheat the eye with blear illusion,
+    And give it false presentments, lest the place
+    And my quaint habits breed astonishment,
+    And put the damsel to suspicious flight;
+    Which must not be, for that's against my course.
+    I, under fair pretence of friendly ends,                         160
+    And well-placed words of glozing courtesy,
+    Baited with reasons not unplausible,
+    Wind me into the easy-hearted man,
+    And hug him into snares. When once her eye
+    Hath met the virtue of this magic dust,
+    I shall appear some harmless villager
+    Whom thrift keeps up about his country gear.
+    But here she comes; I fairly step aside,
+    And hearken, if I may, her business here.
+
+_The LADY enters._
+
+    _Lady._ This way the noise was, if mine ear be true,
+    My best guide now. Methought it was the sound
+    Of riot and ill-managed merriment,                               172
+    Such as the jocund flute or gamesome pipe
+    Stirs up among the loose unlettered hinds,
+    When, for their teeming flocks and granges full,
+    In wanton dance they praise the bounteous Pan,
+    And thank the gods amiss. I should be loth
+    To meet the rudeness and swilled insolence
+    Of such late wassailers; yet, oh! where else
+    Shall I inform my unacquainted feet                              180
+    In the blind mazes of this tangled wood?
+    My brothers, when they saw me wearied out
+    With this long way, resolving here to lodge
+    Under the spreading favour of these pines,
+    Stepped, as they said, to the next thicket-side
+    To bring me berries, or such cooling fruit
+    As the kind hospitable woods provide.
+    They left me then when the grey-hooded Even,
+    Like a sad votarist in palmer's weed,
+    Rose from the hindmost wheels of Phoebus' wain.                  190
+    But where they are, and why they came not back,
+    Is now the labour of my thoughts. 'Tis likeliest
+    They had engaged their wandering steps too far;
+    And envious darkness, ere they could return,
+    Had stole them from me. Else, O thievish Night,
+    Why shouldst thou, but for some felonious end,
+    In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars
+    That Nature hung in heaven, and filled their lamps
+    With everlasting oil to give due light
+    To the misled and lonely traveller?                              200
+    This is the place, as well as I may guess,
+    Whence even now the tumult of loud mirth
+    Was rife, and perfect in my listening ear;
+    Yet nought but single darkness do I find.
+    What might this be? A thousand fantasies
+    Begin to throng into my memory,
+    Of calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire,
+    And airy tongues that syllable men's names
+    On sands and shores and desert wildernesses.
+    These thoughts may startle well, but not astound                 210
+    The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended
+    By a strong siding champion, Conscience.
+    O, welcome, pure-eyed Faith, white-handed Hope,
+    Thou hovering angel girt with golden wings,
+    And thou unblemished form of Chastity!
+    I see ye visibly, and now believe
+    That He, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill
+    Are but as slavish officers of vengeance,
+    Would send a glistering guardian, if need were,
+    To keep my life and honour unassailed....                        220
+    Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud
+    Turn forth her silver lining on the night?
+    I did not err: there does a sable cloud
+    Turn forth her silver lining on the night,
+    And casts a gleam over this tufted grove.
+    I cannot hallo to my brothers, but
+    Such noise as I can make to be heard farthest
+    I'll venture; for my new-enlivened spirits
+    Prompt me, and they perhaps are not far off.
+
+_Song._
+
+    Sweet Echo, sweetest nymph, that liv'st unseen                   230
+          Within thy airy shell
+        By slow Meander's margent green,
+    And in the violet-embroidered vale
+        Where the love-lorn nightingale
+    Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well:
+    Canst thou not tell me of a gentle pair
+        That likest thy Narcissus are?
+          O, if thou have
+        Hid them in some flowery cave,
+          Tell me but where,                                         240
+      Sweet Queen of Parley, Daughter of the Sphere!
+      So may'st thou be translated to the skies,
+    And give resounding grace to all Heaven's harmonies!
+
+    _Comus._ Can any mortal mixture of earth's mould
+    Breathe such divine enchanting ravishment?
+    Sure something holy lodges in that breast,
+    And with these raptures moves the vocal air
+    To testify his hidden residence.
+    How sweetly did they float upon the wings
+    Of silence, through the empty-vaulted night,                     250
+    At every fall smoothing the raven down
+    Of darkness till it smiled! I have oft heard
+    My mother Circe with the Sirens three,
+    Amidst the flowery-kirtled Naiades,
+    Culling their potent herbs and baleful drugs,
+    Who, as they sung, would take the prisoned soul,
+    And lap it in Elysium: Scylla wept,
+    And chid her barking waves into attention,
+    And fell Charybdis murmured soft applause.
+    Yet they in pleasing slumber lulled the sense,                   260
+    And in sweet madness robbed it of itself;
+    But such a sacred and home-felt delight,
+    Such sober certainty of waking bliss,
+    I never heard till now. I'll speak to her,
+    And she shall be my queen.--Hail, foreign wonder!
+    Whom certain these rough shades did never breed,
+    Unless the goddess that in rural shrine
+    Dwell'st here with Pan or Sylvan by blest song
+    Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog
+    To touch the prosperous growth of this tall wood.                270
+
+    _Lady._ Nay, gentle shepherd, ill is lost that praise
+    That is addressed to unattending ears.
+    Not any boast of skill, but extreme shift
+    How to regain my severed company,
+    Compelled me to awake the courteous Echo
+    To give me answer from her mossy couch.
+
+    _Comus._ What chance, good Lady, hath bereft you thus?
+
+    _Lady._ Dim darkness and this leafy labyrinth.
+
+    _Comus._ Could that divide you from near-ushering guides?
+
+    _Lady._ They left me weary on a grassy turf.                     280
+
+    _Comus._ By falsehood, or discourtesy, or why?
+
+    _Lady._ To seek i' the valley some cool friendly spring.
+
+    _Comus._ And left your fair side all unguarded, lady?
+
+    _Lady._ They were but twain, and purposed quick return.
+
+    _Comus._ Perhaps forestalling night prevented them.
+
+    _Lady._ How easy my misfortune is to hit!
+
+    _Comus._ Imports their loss, beside the present need?
+
+    _Lady._ No less than if I should my brothers lose.
+
+    _Comus._ Were they of manly prime, or youthful bloom?
+
+    _Lady._ As smooth as Hebe's their unrazored lips.                290
+
+    _Comus._ Two such I saw, what time the laboured ox
+    In his loose traces from the furrow came,
+    And the swinked hedger at his supper sat.
+    I saw them under a green mantling vine,
+    That crawls along the side of yon small hill,
+    Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots;
+    Their port was more than human, as they stood
+    I took it for a faery vision
+    Of some gay creatures of the element,
+    That in the colours of the rainbow live,                         300
+    And play i' the plighted clouds. I was awe-strook,
+    And, as I passed, I worshiped. If those you seek,
+    It were a journey like the path to Heaven
+    To help you find them.
+
+    _Lady._                Gentle villager,
+    What readiest way would bring me to that place?
+
+    _Comus._ Due west it rises from this shrubby point.
+
+    _Lady._ To find out that, good shepherd, I suppose,
+    In such a scant allowance of star-light,
+    Would overtask the best land-pilot's art,
+    Without the sure guess of well-practised feet.                   310
+
+    _Comus._ I know each lane, and every alley green,
+    Dingle, or bushy dell, of this wild wood,
+    And every bosky bourn from side to side,
+    My daily walks and ancient neighbourhood;
+    And, if your stray attendance be yet lodged,
+    Or shroud within these limits, I shall know
+    Ere morrow wake, or the low-roosted lark
+    From her thatched pallet rouse. If otherwise,
+    I can conduct you, lady, to a low
+    But loyal cottage, where you may be safe                         320
+    Till further quest.
+
+    _Lady._              Shepherd, I take thy word,
+    And trust thy honest-offered courtesy,
+    Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds,
+    With smoky rafters, than in tapestry halls
+    And courts of princes, where it first was named,
+    And yet is most pretended. In a place
+    Less warranted than this, or less secure,
+    I cannot be, that I should fear to change it.
+    Eye me, blest Providence, and square my trial
+    To my proportioned strength! Shepherd, lead on.
+
+[_Exeunt._
+
+_Enter the TWO BROTHERS._
+
+    _Elder Brother._ Unmuffle, ye faint stars; and thou, fair moon,  331
+    That wont'st to love the traveller's benison,
+    Stoop thy pale visage through an amber cloud,
+    And disinherit Chaos, that reigns here
+    In double night of darkness and of shades;
+    Or, if your influence be quite dammed up
+    With black usurping mists, some gentle taper,
+    Though a rush-candle from the wicker hole
+    Of some clay habitation, visit us
+    With thy long levelled rule of streaming light,                  340
+    And thou shalt be our star of Arcady,
+    Or Tyrian Cynosure.
+
+    _Second Brother._       Or, if our eyes
+    Be barred that happiness, might we but hear
+    The folded flocks, penned in their wattled cotes,
+    Or sound of pastoral reed with oaten stops,
+    Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock
+    Count the night-watches to his feathery dames,
+    'Twould be some solace yet, some little cheering,
+    In this close dungeon of innumerous boughs.
+    But, Oh, that hapless virgin, our lost sister!                   350
+    Where may she wander now, whither betake her
+    From the chill dew, amongst rude burs and thistles?
+    Perhaps some cold bank is her bolster now,
+    Or 'gainst the rugged bark of some broad elm
+    Leans her unpillowed head, fraught with sad fears.
+    What if in wild amazement and affright,
+    Or, while we speak, within the direful grasp
+    Of savage hunger, or of savage heat!
+
+    _Elder Brother._ Peace, brother: be not over-exquisite
+    To cast the fashion of uncertain evils;                          360
+    For, grant they be so, while they rest unknown,
+    What need a man forestall his date of grief,
+    And run to meet what he would most avoid?
+    Or, if they be but false alarms of fear,
+    How bitter is such self-delusion!
+    I do not think my sister so to seek,
+    Or so unprincipled in virtue's book,
+    And the sweet peace that goodness bosoms ever,
+    As that the single want of light and noise
+    (Not being in danger, as I trust she is not)                     370
+    Could stir the constant mood of her calm thoughts,
+    And put them into misbecoming plight.
+    Virtue could see to do what Virtue would
+    By her own radiant light, though sun and moon
+    Were in the flat sea sunk. And Wisdom's self
+    Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude,
+    Where, with her best nurse, Contemplation,
+    She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings,
+    That, in the various bustle of resort,
+    Were all to-ruffled, and sometimes impaired.                     380
+    He that has light within his own clear breast
+    May sit i' the centre, and enjoy bright day:
+    But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts
+    Benighted walks under the mid-day sun;
+    Himself is his own dungeon.
+
+    _Second Brother._            'Tis most true
+    That musing meditation most affects
+    The pensive secrecy of desert cell,
+    Far from the cheerful haunt of men and herds,
+    And sits as safe as in a senate-house;
+    For who would rob a hermit of his weeds,                         390
+    His few books, or his beads, or maple dish,
+    Or do his grey hairs any violence?
+    But Beauty, like the fair Hesperian tree
+    Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard
+    Of dragon-watch with unenchanted eye
+    To save her blossoms, and defend her fruit,
+    From the rash hand of bold Incontinence.
+    You may as well spread out the unsunned heaps
+    Of miser's treasure by an outlaw's den,
+    And tell me it is safe, as bid me hope                           400
+    Danger will wink on Opportunity,
+    And let a single helpless maiden pass
+    Uninjured in this wild surrounding waste.
+    Of night or loneliness it recks me not;
+    I fear the dread events that dog them both,
+    Lest some ill-greeting touch attempt the person
+    Of our 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,
+    Which you remember not.
+
+    _Second Brother._        What hidden strength,
+    Unless the strength of Heaven, if you mean that?
+
+    _Elder Brother._ I mean that too, but yet a hidden strength,
+    Which, if Heaven gave it, may be termed her own.
+    'Tis chastity, my brother, chastity:                             420
+    She that has that is clad in complete steel,
+    And, like a quivered nymph with arrows keen,
+    May trace huge forests, and unharboured heaths,
+    Infamous hills, and sandy perilous wilds;
+    Where, through the sacred rays of chastity,
+    No savage fierce, bandite, or mountaineer,
+    Will dare to soil her virgin purity.
+    Yea, there where very desolation dwells,
+    By grots and caverns shagged with horrid shades,
+    She may pass on with unblenched majesty,                         430
+    Be it not done in pride, or in presumption.
+    Some say no evil thing that walks by night,
+    In fog or fire, by lake or moorish fen,
+    Blue meagre hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost,
+    That breaks his magic chains at curfew time,
+    No goblin or swart faery of the mine,
+    Hath hurtful power o'er true virginity.
+    Do ye believe me yet, or shall I call
+    Antiquity from the old schools of Greece
+    To testify the arms of chastity?                                 440
+    Hence had the huntress Dian her dread bow
+    Fair silver-shafted queen for ever chaste,
+    Wherewith she tamed the brinded lioness
+    And spotted mountain-pard, but set at nought
+    The frivolous bolt of Cupid; gods and men
+    Feared her stern frown, and she was queen o' the woods.
+    What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shield
+    That wise Minerva wore, unconquered virgin,
+    Wherewith she freezed her foes to congealed stone,
+    But rigid looks of chaste austerity,                             450
+    And noble grace that dashed brute violence
+    With sudden adoration and blank awe?
+    So dear to Heaven is saintly chastity
+    That, when a soul is found sincerely so,
+    A thousand liveried angels lackey her,
+    Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt,
+    And in clear dream and solemn vision
+    Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear;
+    Till oft converse with heavenly habitants
+    Begin to cast a beam on the outward shape,                       460
+    The unpolluted temple of the mind,
+    And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence,
+    Till all be made immortal. But, when lust,
+    By unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk,
+    But most by lewd and lavish act of sin,
+    Lets in defilement to the inward parts,
+    The soul grows clotted by contagion,
+    Imbodies, and imbrutes, till she quite loose
+    The divine property of her first being.
+    Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp                     470
+    Oft seen in charnel-vaults and sepulchres,
+    Lingering and sitting by a new-made grave,
+    As loth to leave the body that it loved,
+    And linked itself by carnal sensualty
+    To a degenerate and degraded state.
+
+    _Second Brother._ How charming is divine Philosophy!
+    Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose,
+    But musical as is Apollo's lute,
+    And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets,
+    Where no crude surfeit reigns.
+
+    _Elder Brother._               List! list! I hear                480
+    Some far-off hallo break the silent air.
+
+    _Second Brother._ Methought so too; what should it be?
+
+    _Elder Brother._                                       For certain,
+    Either some one, like us, night-foundered here,
+    Or else some neighbour woodman, or, at worst,
+    Some roving robber calling to his fellows.
+
+    _Second Brother._ Heaven keep my sister! Again, again, and near!
+    Best draw, and stand upon our guard.
+
+    _Elder Brother._                     I'll hallo.
+    If he be friendly, he comes well: if not,
+    Defence is a good cause, and Heaven be for us!
+
+_Enter the ATTENDANT SPIRIT, habited like a shepherd._
+
+    That hallo I should know. What are you? speak.                   490
+    Come not too near; you fall on iron stakes else.
+
+    _Spirit._ What voice is that? my young Lord? speak again.
+
+    _Second Brother._ O brother, 'tis my father's shepherd, sure.
+
+    _Elder Brother._ Thyrsis! whose artful strains have oft delayed
+    The huddling brook to hear his madrigal,
+    And sweetened every musk-rose of the dale.
+    How camest thou here, good swain? Hath any ram
+    Slipped from the fold, or young kid lost his dam,
+    Or straggling wether the pent flock forsook?
+    How couldst thou find this dark sequestered nook?                500
+
+    _Spirit._ O my loved master's heir, and his next joy,
+    I came not here on such a trivial toy
+    As a strayed ewe, or to pursue the stealth
+    Of pilfering wolf; not all the fleecy wealth
+    That doth enrich these downs is worth a thought
+    To this my errand, and the care it brought,
+    But, oh! my virgin Lady, where is she?
+    How chance she is not in your company?
+
+    _Elder Brother._ To tell thee sadly, Shepherd, without blame
+    Or our neglect, we lost her as we came.                          510
+
+    _Spirit._ Ay me unhappy! then my fears are true.
+
+    _Elder Brother._ What fears, good Thyrsis? Prithee briefly shew.
+
+    _Spirit._ I'll tell ye. 'Tis not vain or fabulous
+    (Though so esteemed by shallow ignorance)
+    What the sage poets, taught by the heavenly Muse,
+    Storied of old in high immortal verse
+    Of dire Chimeras and enchanted isles,
+    And rifted rocks whose entrance leads to Hell;
+    For such there be, but unbelief is blind.
+      Within the navel of this hideous wood,                         520
+    Immured in cypress shades, a sorcerer dwells,
+    Of Bacchus and of Circe born, great Comus,
+    Deep skilled in all his mother's witcheries,
+    And here to every thirsty wanderer
+    By sly enticement gives his baneful cup,
+    With many murmurs mixed, whose pleasing poison
+    The visage quite transforms of him that drinks,
+    And the inglorious likeness of a beast
+    Fixes instead, unmoulding reason's mintage
+    Charactered in the face. This have I learnt                      530
+    Tending my flocks hard by i' the hilly crofts
+    That brow this bottom glade; whence night by night
+    He and his monstrous rout are heard to howl
+    Like stabled wolves, or tigers at their prey,
+    Doing abhorred rites to Hecate
+    In their obscured haunts of inmost bowers.
+    Yet have they many baits and guileful spells
+    To inveigle and invite the unwary sense
+    Of them that pass unweeting by the way.
+    This evening late, by then the chewing flocks                    540
+    Had ta'en their supper on the savoury herb
+    Of knot-grass dew-besprent, and were in fold,
+    I sat me down to watch upon a bank
+    With ivy canopied, and interwove
+    With flaunting honeysuckle, and began,
+    Wrapt in a pleasing fit of melancholy,
+    To meditate my rural minstrelsy,
+    Till fancy had her fill. But ere a close
+    The wonted roar was up amidst the woods,
+    And filled the air with barbarous dissonance;                    550
+    At which I ceased, and listened them awhile,
+    Till an unusual stop of sudden silence
+    Gave respite to the drowsy frighted steeds
+    That draw the litter of close-curtained Sleep.
+    At last a soft and solemn-breathing sound
+    Rose like a steam of rich distilled perfumes,
+    And stole upon the air, that even Silence
+    Was took ere she was ware, and wished she might
+    Deny her nature, and be never more,
+    Still to be so displaced. I was all ear,                         560
+    And took in strains that might create a soul
+    Under the ribs of Death. But, oh! ere long
+    Too well I did perceive it was the voice
+    Of my most honoured Lady, your dear sister.
+    Amazed I stood, harrowed with grief and fear;
+    And "O poor hapless nightingale," thought I,
+    "How sweet thou sing'st, how near the deadly snare!"
+    Then down the lawns I ran with headlong haste,
+    Through paths and turnings often trod by day,
+    Till, guided by mine ear, I found the place                      570
+    Where that damned wizard, hid in sly disguise
+    (For so by certain signs I knew), had met
+    Already, ere my best speed could prevent,
+    The aidless innocent lady, his wished prey;
+    Who gently asked if he had seen such two,
+    Supposing him some neighbour villager.
+    Longer I durst not stay, but soon I guessed
+    Ye were the two she meant; with that I sprung
+    Into swift flight, till I had found you here;
+    But further know I not.
+
+    _Second Brother._       O night and shades,                      580
+    How are ye joined with hell in triple knot
+    Against the unarmed weakness of one virgin,
+    Alone and helpless! Is this the confidence
+    You gave me, brother?
+
+    _Elder Brother._          Yes, and keep it still;
+    Lean on it safely; not a period
+    Shall be unsaid for me. Against the threats
+    Of malice or of sorcery, or that power
+    Which erring men call Chance, this I hold firm:
+    Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt,
+    Surprised by unjust force, but not enthralled;                   590
+    Yea, even that which Mischief meant most harm
+    Shall in the happy trial prove most glory.
+    But evil on itself shall back recoil,
+    And mix no more with goodness, when at last,
+    Gathered like scum, and settled to itself,
+    It shall be in eternal restless change
+    Self-fed and self-consumed. If this fail,
+    The pillared firmament is rottenness,
+    And earth's base built on stubble. But come, let's on!
+    Against the opposing will and arm of Heaven                      600
+    May never this just sword be lifted up;
+    But, for that damned magician, let him be girt
+    With all the grisly legions that troop
+    Under the sooty flag of Acheron,
+    Harpies and Hydras, or all the monstrous forms
+    'Twixt Africa and Ind, I'll find him out,
+    And force him to return his purchase back,
+    Or drag him by the curls to a foul death,
+    Cursed as his life.
+
+    _Spirit._           Alas! good venturous youth,
+    I love thy courage yet, and bold emprise;                        610
+    But here thy sword can do thee little stead.
+    Far other arms and other weapons must
+    Be those that quell the might of hellish charms.
+    He with his bare wand can unthread thy joints,
+    And crumble all thy sinews.
+
+    _Elder Brother._            Why, prithee, Shepherd,
+    How durst thou then thyself approach so near
+    As to make this relation?
+
+    _Spirit._                  Care and utmost shifts
+    How to secure the Lady from surprisal
+    Brought to my mind a certain shepherd lad,
+    Of small regard to see to, yet well skilled                      620
+    In every virtuous plant and healing herb
+    That spreads her verdant leaf to the morning ray.
+    He loved me well, and oft would beg me sing;
+    Which when I did, he on the tender grass
+    Would sit, and hearken even to ecstasy,
+    And in requital ope his leathern scrip,
+    And show me simples of a thousand names,
+    Telling their strange and vigorous faculties.
+    Amongst the rest a small unsightly root,
+    But of divine effect, he culled me out.                          630
+    The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it,
+    But in another country, as he said,
+    Bore a bright golden flower, but not in this soil:
+    Unknown, and like esteemed, and the dull swain
+    Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon;
+    And yet more med'cinal is it than that Moly
+    That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave.
+    He called it Haemony, and gave it me,
+    And bade me keep it as of sovran use
+    'Gainst all enchantments, mildew blast, or damp,                 640
+    Or ghastly Furies' apparition.
+    I pursed it up, but little reckoning made,
+    Till now that this extremity compelled.
+    But now I find it true; for by this means
+    I knew the foul enchanter, though disguised,
+    Entered the very lime-twigs of his spells,
+    And yet came off. If you have this about you
+    (As I will give you when we go) you may
+    Boldly assault the necromancer's hall;
+    Where if he be, with dauntless hardihood                         650
+    And brandished blade rush on him: break his glass,
+    And shed the luscious liquor on the ground;
+    But seize his wand. Though he and his curst crew
+    Fierce sign of battle make, and menace high,
+    Or, like the sons of Vulcan, vomit smoke,
+    Yet will they soon retire, if he but shrink.
+
+    _Elder Brother._ Thyrsis, lead on apace; I'll follow thee;
+    And some good angel bear a shield before us!
+
+_The Scene changes to a stately palace, set out with all manner of
+deliciousness: soft music, tables spread with all dainties. COMUS
+appears with his rabble, and the LADY set in an enchanted chair: to whom
+he offers his glass; which she puts by, and goes about to rise._
+
+    _Comus._ Nay, lady, sit. If I but wave this wand,
+    Your nerves are all chained up in alabaster,                     660
+    And you a statue, or as Daphne was,
+    Root-bound, that fled Apollo.
+
+    _Lady._                        Fool, do not boast.
+    Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind
+    With all thy charms, although this corporal rind
+    Thou hast immanacled while Heaven sees good.
+
+    _Comus._ Why are you vexed, lady? why do you frown?
+    Here dwell no frowns, nor anger; from these gates
+    Sorrow flies far. See, here be all the pleasures
+    That fancy can beget on youthful thoughts,
+    When the fresh blood grows lively, and returns                   670
+    Brisk as the April buds in primrose season.
+    And first behold this cordial julep here,
+    That flames and dances in his crystal bounds,
+    With spirits of balm and fragrant syrups mixed.
+    Not that Nepenthes which the wife of Thone
+    In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena
+    Is of such power to stir up joy as this,
+    To life so friendly, or so cool to thirst.
+    Why should you be so cruel to yourself,
+    And to those dainty limbs, which Nature lent                     680
+    For gentle usage and soft delicacy?
+    But you invert the covenants of her trust,
+    And harshly deal, like an ill borrower,
+    With that which you received on other terms,
+    Scorning the unexempt condition
+    By which all mortal frailty must subsist,
+    Refreshment after toil, ease after pain,
+    That have been tired all day without repast,
+    And timely rest have wanted. But, fair virgin,
+    This will restore all soon.
+
+    _Lady._                     'Twill not, false traitor!           690
+    'Twill not restore the truth and honesty
+    That thou hast banished from thy tongue with lies.
+    Was this the cottage and the safe abode
+    Thou told'st me of? What grim aspects are these,
+    These oughly-headed monsters? Mercy guard me!
+    Hence with thy brewed enchantments, foul deceiver!
+    Hast thou betrayed my credulous innocence
+    With vizored falsehood and base forgery?
+    And would'st thou seek again to trap me here
+    With liquorish baits, fit to ensnare a brute?                    700
+    Were it a draught for Juno when she banquets,
+    I would not taste thy treasonous offer. None
+    But such as are good men can give good things;
+    And that which is not good is not delicious
+    To a well-governed and wise appetite.
+
+    _Comus._ O foolishness of men! that lend their ears
+    To those budge doctors of the Stoic fur,
+    And fetch their precepts from the Cynic tub,
+    Praising the lean and sallow Abstinence!
+    Wherefore did Nature pour her bounties forth                     710
+    With such a full and unwithdrawing hand,
+    Covering the earth with odours, fruits, and flocks,
+    Thronging the seas with spawn innumerable,
+    But all to please and sate the curious taste?
+    And set to work millions of spinning worms,
+    That in their green shops weave the smooth-haired silk,
+    To deck her sons; and, that no corner might
+    Be vacant of her plenty, in her own loins
+    She hutched the all-worshipped ore and precious gems,
+    To store her children with. If all the world                     720
+    Should, in a pet of temperance, feed on pulse,
+    Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but frieze,
+    The All-giver would be unthanked, would be unpraised,
+    Not half his riches known, and yet despised;
+    And we should serve him as a grudging master,
+    As a penurious niggard of his wealth,
+    And live like Nature's bastards, not her sons,
+    Who would be quite surcharged with her own weight,
+    And strangled with her waste fertility:
+    The earth cumbered, and the winged air darked with plumes,       730
+    The herds would over-multitude their lords;
+    The sea o'erfraught would swell, and the unsought diamonds
+    Would so emblaze the forehead of the deep,
+    And so bestud with stars, that they below
+    Would grow inured to light, and come at last
+    To gaze upon the sun with shameless brows.
+    List, lady; be not coy, and be not cozened
+    With that same vaunted name, Virginity.
+    Beauty is Nature's coin; must not be hoarded,
+    But must be current; and the good thereof                        740
+    Consists in mutual and partaken bliss,
+    Unsavoury in the enjoyment of itself.
+    If you let slip time, like a neglected rose
+    It withers on the stalk with languished head.
+    Beauty is Nature's brag, and must be shown
+    In courts, at feasts, and high solemnities,
+    Where most may wonder at the workmanship.
+    It is for homely features to keep home;
+    They had their name thence: coarse complexions
+    And cheeks of sorry grain will serve to ply                      750
+    The sampler, and to tease the huswife's wool.
+    What need of vermeil-tinctured lip for that,
+    Love-darting eyes, or tresses like the morn?
+    There was another meaning in these gifts;
+    Think what, and be advised; you are but young yet.
+
+    _Lady._ I had not thought to have unlocked my lips
+    In this unhallowed air, but that this juggler
+    Would think to charm my judgment, as mine eyes,
+    Obtruding false rules pranked in reason's garb.
+    I hate when vice can bolt her arguments                          760
+    And virtue has no tongue to check her pride.
+    Impostor! do not charge most innocent Nature,
+    As if she would her children should be riotous
+    With her abundance. She, good cateress,
+    Means her provision only to the good,
+    That live according to her sober laws,
+    And holy dictate of spare Temperance.
+    If every just man that now pines with want
+    Had but a moderate and beseeming share
+    Of that which lewdly-pampered Luxury                             770
+    Now heaps upon some few with vast excess,
+    Nature's full blessings would be well dispensed
+    In unsuperfluous even proportions,
+    And she no whit encumbered with her store;
+    And then the Giver would be better thanked,
+    His praise due paid: for swinish gluttony
+    Ne'er looks to Heaven amidst his gorgeous feast,
+    But with besotted base ingratitude
+    Crams, and blasphemes his Feeder. Shall I go on?
+    Or have I said enow? To him that dares                           780
+    Arm his profane tongue with contemptuous words
+    Against the sun-clad power of chastity
+    Fain would I something say;--yet to what end?
+    Thou hast nor ear, nor soul, to apprehend
+    The sublime notion and high mystery
+    That must be uttered to unfold the sage
+    And serious doctrine of Virginity;
+    And thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know
+    More happiness than this thy present lot.
+    Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric,                           790
+    That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence;
+    Thou art not fit to hear thyself convinced.
+    Yet, should I try, the uncontrolled worth
+    Of this pure cause would kindle my rapt spirits
+    To such a flame of sacred vehemence
+    That dumb things would be moved to sympathise,
+    And the brute Earth would lend her nerves, and shake,
+    Till all thy magic structures, reared so high,
+    Were shattered into heaps o'er thy false head.
+
+    _Comus._ She fables not. I feel that I do fear                   800
+    Her words set off by some superior power;
+    And, though not mortal, yet a cold shuddering dew
+    Dips me all o'er, as when the wrath of Jove
+    Speaks thunder and the chains of Erebus
+    To some of Saturn's crew. I must dissemble,
+    And try her yet more strongly.--Come, no more!
+    This is mere moral babble, and direct
+    Against the canon laws of our foundation.
+    I must not suffer this; yet 'tis but the lees
+    And settlings of a melancholy blood.                             810
+
+    But this will cure all straight; one sip of this
+    Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight
+    Beyond the bliss of dreams. Be wise, and taste.
+
+_The BROTHERS rush in with swords drawn, wrest his glass out of 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,
+    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:
+    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;
+    Who, piteous of her woes, reared her lank head,
+    And gave her to his daughters to imbathe
+    In nectared lavers strewed with asphodel,
+    And through the porch and inlet of each sense
+    Dropt in ambrosial oils, till she revived,                       840
+    And underwent a quick immortal change,
+    Made Goddess of the river. Still she retains
+    Her maiden gentleness, and oft at eve
+    Visits the herds along the twilight meadows,
+    Helping all urchin blasts, and ill-luck signs
+    That the shrewd meddling elf delights to make,
+    Which she with precious vialed liquors heals:
+    For which the shepherds, at their festivals,
+    Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays,
+    And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream                  850
+    Of pansies, pinks, and gaudy daffodils.
+    And, as the old swain said, she can unlock
+    The clasping charm, and thaw the numbing spell,
+    If she be right invoked in warbled song;
+    For maidenhood she loves, and will be swift
+    To aid a virgin, such as was herself,
+    In hard-besetting need. This will I try,
+    And add the power of some adjuring verse.
+
+_Song._
+
+      Sabrina fair,
+        Listen where thou art sitting                                860
+      Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,
+        In twisted braids of lilies knitting
+      The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair;
+        Listen for dear honour's sake,
+        Goddess of the silver lake,
+            Listen and save!
+
+      Listen, and appear to us,
+      In name of great Oceanus.
+      By the earth-shaking Neptune's mace,
+      And Tethys' grave majestic pace;                               870
+      By hoary Nereus' wrinkled look,
+      And the Carpathian wizard's hook;
+      By scaly Triton's winding shell,
+      And old soothsaying Glaucus' spell;
+      By Leucothea's lovely hands,
+      And her son that rules the strands;
+      By Thetis' tinsel-slippered feet,
+      And the songs of Sirens sweet;
+      By dead Parthenope's dear tomb,
+      And fair Ligea's golden comb,                                  880
+      Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks
+      Sleeking her soft alluring locks;
+      By all the Nymphs that nightly dance
+      Upon thy streams with wily glance;
+      Rise, rise, and heave thy rosy head
+      From thy coral-paven bed,
+      And bridle in thy headlong wave,
+      Till thou our summons answered have.
+                            Listen and save!
+
+_SABRINA rises, attended by Water-nymphs, and sings._
+
+      By the rushy-fringed bank,                                     890
+      Where grows the willow and the osier dank,
+        My sliding chariot stays,
+      Thick set with agate, and the azurn sheen
+      Of turkis blue, and emerald green,
+        That in the channel strays;
+      Whilst from off the waters fleet
+      Thus I set my printless feet
+      O'er the cowslip's velvet head,
+        That bends not as I tread.
+      Gentle swain, at thy request                                   900
+          I am here!
+
+      _Spirit._ Goddess dear,
+      We implore thy powerful hand
+      To undo the charmed band
+      Of true virgin here distressed
+      Through the force and through the wile
+      Of unblessed enchanter vile.
+
+      _Sabrina._ Shepherd, 'tis my office best
+      To help ensnared chastity.
+      Brightest Lady, look on me.                                    910
+      Thus I sprinkle on thy breast
+      Drops that from my fountain pure
+      I have kept of precious cure;
+      Thrice upon thy finger's tip,
+      Thrice upon thy rubied lip:
+      Next this marble venomed seat,
+      Smeared with gums of glutinous heat,
+      I touch with chaste palms moist and cold.
+      Now the spell hath lost his hold;
+      And I must haste ere morning hour                              920
+      To wait in Amphitrite's bower.
+
+_SABRINA descends, and the LADY rises out of her seat._
+
+      _Spirit._ Virgin, daughter of Locrine,
+      Sprung of old Anchises' line,
+      May thy brimmed waves for this
+      Their full tribute never miss
+      From a thousand petty rills,
+      That tumble down the snowy hills:
+      Summer drouth or singed air
+      Never scorch thy tresses fair,
+      Nor wet October's torrent flood                                930
+      Thy molten crystal fill with mud;
+      May thy billows roll ashore
+      The beryl and the golden ore;
+      May thy lofty head be crowned
+      With many a tower and terrace round,
+      And here and there thy banks upon
+      With groves of myrrh and cinnamon.
+        Come, Lady; while Heaven lends us grace,
+      Let us fly this cursed place,
+      Lest the sorcerer us entice                                    940
+      With some other new device.
+      Not a waste or needless sound
+      Till we come to holier ground.
+      I shall be your faithful guide
+      Through this gloomy covert wide;
+      And not many furlongs thence
+      Is your Father's residence,
+      Where this night are met in state
+      Many a friend to gratulate
+      His wished presence, and beside                                950
+      All the swains that there abide
+      With jigs and rural dance resort.
+      We shall catch them at their sport,
+      And our sudden coming there
+      Will double all their mirth and cheer.
+      Come, let us haste; the stars grow high,
+      But Night sits monarch yet in the mid sky.
+
+_The Scene changes, presenting Ludlow Town, and the President's Castle;
+then come in Country Dancers; after them the ATTENDANT SPIRIT, with the
+Two BROTHERS and the LADY._
+
+_Song._
+
+      _Spirit._ Back, shepherds, back! Enough your play
+      Till next sunshine holiday.
+      Here be, without duck or nod,                                  960
+      Other trippings to be trod
+      Of lighter toes, and such court guise
+      As Mercury did first devise
+      With the mincing Dryades
+      On the lawns and on the leas.
+
+_This second Song presents them to their Father and Mother._
+
+      Noble Lord and Lady bright,
+      I have brought ye new delight.
+      Here behold so goodly grown
+      Three fair branches of your own.
+      Heaven hath timely tried their youth,                          970
+      Their faith, their patience, and their truth,
+      And sent them here through hard assays
+      With a crown of deathless praise,
+      To triumph in victorious dance
+      O'er sensual folly and intemperance.
+
+_The dances ended, the SPIRIT epiloguizes._
+
+      _Spirit._ To the ocean now I fly,
+      And those happy climes that lie
+      Where day never shuts his eye,
+      Up in the broad fields of the sky.
+      There I suck the liquid air,                                   980
+      All amidst the gardens fair
+      Of Hesperus, and his daughters three
+      That sing about the golden tree.
+      Along the crisped shades and bowers
+      Revels the spruce and jocund Spring;
+      The Graces and the rosy-bosomed Hours
+      Thither all their bounties bring.
+      There eternal Summer dwells,
+      And west winds with musky wing
+      About the cedarn alleys fling                                  990
+      Nard and cassia's balmy smells.
+      Iris there with humid bow
+      Waters the odorous banks, that blow
+      Flowers of more mingled hue
+      Than her purfled scarf can shew,
+      And drenches with Elysian dew
+      (List, mortals, if your ears be true)
+      Beds of hyacinth and roses,
+      Where young Adonis oft reposes,
+      Waxing well of his deep wound,                                1000
+      In slumber soft, and on the ground
+      Sadly sits the Assyrian queen.
+      But far above, in spangled sheen,
+      Celestial Cupid, her famed son, advanced
+      Holds his dear Psyche, sweet entranced
+      After her wandering labours long,
+      Till free consent the gods among
+      Make her his eternal bride,
+      And from her fair unspotted side
+      Two blissful twins are to be born,                            1010
+      Youth and Joy; so Jove hath sworn.
+        But now my task is smoothly done,
+      I can fly, or I can run
+      Quickly to the green earth's end,
+      Where the bowed welkin slow doth bend,
+      And from thence can soar as soon
+      To the corners of the moon.
+      Mortals, that would follow me,
+      Love Virtue; she alone is free.
+      She can teach ye how to climb                                 1020
+      Higher than the sphery chime;
+      Or, if Virtue feeble were,
+      Heaven itself would stoop to her.
+
+
+
+
+NOTES.
+
+
+~discovers~, exhibits, displays. The usual sense of 'discover' is to find
+out or make known, but in Milton and Shakespeare the prefix _dis-_ has
+often the more purely negative force of _un-_: hence discover = uncover,
+reveal. Comp.--
+
+                        "Some high-climbing hill
+    Which to his eye _discovers_ unaware
+    The goodly prospect of some foreign land."
+
+    _Par. Lost_, iii. 546.
+
+~Attendant Spirit descends~. The part of the attendant spirit was taken by
+Lawes (see Introduction), who, in his prologue or opening speech,
+explains who he is and on what errand he has been sent, hints at the
+plot of the whole masque, and at the same time compliments the Earl in
+whose honour the masque is being given (lines 30-36). In the ancient
+classical drama the prologue was sometimes an outline of the plot,
+sometimes an address to the audience, and sometimes introductory to the
+plot. The opening of _Comus_ prepares the audience and also directly
+addresses it (line 43). For the form of the epilogue in the actual
+performance of the masque see note, l. 975-6.
+
+1. ~starry threshold~, etc. Comp. Virgil: "The sire of gods and monarch of
+men summons a council to the starry chamber" (_sideream in sedem_),
+_Aen._ x. 2.
+
+2. ~mansion~, abode. Trench points out that this word denotes strictly "a
+place of tarrying," which might be for a longer or a shorter time: hence
+'a resting-place.' Comp. _John_, xiv. 2, "In my Father's house are many
+_mansions_"; and _Il Pens._ 93, "Her _mansion_ in this fleshly nook."
+The word has now lost the notion of tarrying, and is applied to a large
+and important dwelling-house. ~where~, in which: the antecedent is
+separated from the relative, a frequent construction in Milton (comp.
+lines 66, 821, etc.). So in Latin, where the grammatical connection
+would generally be sufficiently indicated by the inflection. ~shapes ...
+spirits~. An instance of the manner in which Milton endows spiritual
+beings with personality without making them too distinct. "Of all the
+poets who have introduced into their works the agency of supernatural
+beings Milton has succeeded best" (Macaulay). We see this in _Par. Lost_
+(_e.g._ ii. 666). Compare the use of the word 'shape' (Lat. _umbra_) in
+l. 207: also _L'Alleg._ 4, "horrid _shapes_ and shrieks"; and _Il Pens._
+6, "fancies fond with gaudy _shapes_ possess." Milton's use of the
+demonstrative ~those~ in this line is noteworthy; comp. "_that_ last
+infirmity of noble mind," _Lyc._ 71: it implies that the reference is to
+something well known, and that further particularisation is needless.
+
+3. ~insphered~. 'Sphere,' with its derivatives 'sphery,' 'insphere,' and
+'unsphere' (_Il Pens._ 88), is used by Milton with a literal reference
+to the cosmical framework as a whole (see _Hymn Nat._ 48) or to some
+portion of it. In Shakespeare 'sphere' occurs in the wider sense of 'the
+path in which anything moves,' and it is to this metaphorical use of the
+word that we owe such phrases as 'a person's sphere of life,' 'sphere of
+action,' etc. See also _Comus_, 112-4, 241-3, 1021; _Arc._ 62-7; _Par.
+Lost_, v. 618; where there are references to the music of the spheres.
+
+4. ~mild~: an attributive of the whole clause, 'regions of calm and serene
+air.' ~calm and serene~. These are not mere synonyms: the Lat. _serenus_ =
+bright or unclouded, so that the two epithets are to be respectively
+contrasted with 'smoke' and 'stir' (line 5); 'calm' being opposed to
+'stir' and 'serene' to 'smoke.' Compare Homer's description of the seat
+of the gods: "Not by wind is it shaken, nor ever wet with rain, nor doth
+the snow come nigh thereto, but _most clear_ air is spread about it
+_cloudless_, and the white light floats over it," _Odyssey_, vi.: comp.
+note, l. 977.
+
+5. ~this dim spot~. The Spirit describes the Earth as it appears to those
+immortal shapes whose presence he has just quitted.
+
+6. There are here two attributive clauses: "which men call Earth" and
+"(in which) men strive," etc. ~low-thoughted care~; narrow-minded anxiety,
+care about earthly things. Comp. the form of the adjective 'low-browed,'
+_L'Alleg._ 8: both epithets are borrowed by Pope in his _Eloisa_.
+
+7. This line is attributive to 'men.' ~pestered ... pinfold~, crowded
+together in this cramped space, the Earth. _Pester_, which has no
+connection with _pest_, is a shortened form of _impester_, Fr.
+_empetrer_, to shackle a horse by the foot when it is at pasture. The
+radical sense is that of clogging (comp. _Son._ xii. 1); hence of
+crowding; and finally of annoyance or encumbrance of any kind. 'Pinfold'
+is strictly an enclosure in which stray cattle are _pounded_ or shut up:
+etymologically, the word = _pind-fold_, a corruption of _pound-fold_.
+Comp. _impound_, sheep-_fold_, etc.
+
+8. ~frail and feverish~. Comp. "life's fitful fever" (_Macbeth_, iii. 2.
+23). This line, like several of the adjacent ones, is alliterative.
+
+9. ~crown that Virtue gives~. This is Scriptural language: comp. _Rev._
+iv. 4; 2 _Tim._ iv. 8, "Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of
+righteousness."
+
+10. ~this mortal change~. In Milton's MS. line 7 was followed by the
+words, 'beyond the written date of mortal change,' _i.e._ beyond, or
+after, man's appointed time to die. These words were struck out, but we
+may suppose that the words 'mortal change' in line 10 have a similar
+meaning. Milton frequently uses 'mortal' in the sense of 'liable to
+death,' and hence 'human' as opposed to 'divine': the mortal change is
+therefore 'the change which occurs to all human beings.' Comp. _Job_,
+xiv. 14: "all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my
+_change_ come": see also line 841. Prof. Masson takes it to mean 'this
+mortal state of life,' as distinguished from a future state of
+immortality. The Spirit uses 'this' as in line 8, in contrast with
+'those,' line 2.
+
+11. ~enthroned gods~, etc. In allusion to _Rev._ iv. 4, "And upon the
+thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, arrayed in white garments;
+and on their heads crowns of gold." Milton frequently speaks of the
+inhabitants of heaven as _enthroned_. The accent here falls on the first
+syllable of the word.
+
+12. ~Yet some there be~, etc.: 'Although men are generally so exclusively
+occupied with the cares of this life, there are nevertheless a few who
+aspire,' etc. _Be_ is here purely indicative. This usage is frequent in
+Elizabethan English, and still survives in parts of England. Comp.
+_Lines on Univ. Carrier_, ii. 25, where it occurs in a similar phrase,
+"there be that say 't": also lines 519, 668. It is employed to refer to
+a number of persons or things, regarded as a class. ~by due steps~,
+_i.e._ by the steps that are due or appointed: comp. '_due_ feet,' _Il
+Pens._ 155. _Due_, _duty_, and _debt_ are all from Lat. _debitus_, owed.
+
+13. ~their just hands~. 'Just' belongs to the predicate: 'to lay their
+just hands' = to lay their hands with justice. ~golden key~. Comp. _Matt._
+xvi. 19, "I will give unto thee the _keys_ of the kingdom of heaven";
+also _Lyc._ 111:
+
+    "Two massy keys he bore of metals twain
+    (The _golden_ opes, the iron shuts amain)."
+
+15. ~errand~: comp. _Par. Lost_, iii. 652, "One of the seven Who in God's
+presence, nearest to his throne, Stand ready at command, and are his
+eyes That run through all the Heavens, or down to the Earth Bear his
+swift _errands_": also vii. 579. ~but for such~, _i.e._ unless it were for
+such.
+
+16. 'I would not sully the purity of my heavenly garments with the
+noisome vapour of this sin-corrupted earth.' ~ambrosial~, heavenly; also
+used by Milton in the sense of 'conferring immortality': comp. l. 840;
+_Par. Lost_, ii. 245; iv. 219, "blooming _ambrosial_ fruit."
+'Ambrosial,' like 'amaranthus' (_Lyc._ 149), is cognate with the
+Sanskrit _amrita_, undying; and is applied by Homer to the hair of the
+gods: similarly in Tennyson's _Oenone_, 174: see also _In Memoriam_,
+lxxxvi. Ben Jonson (_Neptune's Triumph_) has 'ambrosian hands,' _i.e._
+hands fit for a deity. Ambrosia was the food of the gods. ~weeds~: now
+used chiefly in the phrase "widow's weeds," _i.e._ mourning garment.
+Milton and Shakespeare use it in the general sense of garment or
+covering: in the lines _On the Death of a Fair Infant_, it is applied to
+the human body itself; comp. also _M. N. D._ ii. 1. 255, "_Weed_ wide
+enough to wrap a fairy in." See also _Comus_, 189, 390.
+
+18. ~But to my task~, _i.e._ but I must proceed to my task: see l. 1012.
+
+19. ~every ... each~. It is usual to write _every ... every_, or _each ...
+each_, but Milton occasionally uses 'every' and 'each' together: comp.
+l. 311 and _Lyc._ 93, "_every_ gust ... off _each_ beaked promontory."
+_Every_ denotes each without exception, and can now only be used with
+reference to more than two objects; _each_ may refer to two or more.
+
+20. ~by lot~, etc. When Saturn (Kronos) was dethroned, his empire of the
+universe was distributed amongst his three sons, Jupiter ('high' Jove),
+Neptune (the god of the Sea), and Pluto ('nether' or Stygian Jove). In
+_Iliad_ xv. Neptune (Poseidon) says: "For three brethren are we, and
+sons of Kronos, whom Rhea bare ... And in three lots are all things
+divided, and each drew a domain of his own, and to me fell the hoary
+sea, to be my habitation for ever, when we shook the lots." ~nether~,
+lower: comp. the phrase 'the upper and the nether lip,' and the name
+Netherlands. Hell, the abode of Pluto, is called by Milton 'the nether
+empire' (_Par. Lost_, ii. 295). The form _nethermost_ (_Par. Lost_, ii.
+955) is, like _aftermost_ and _foremost_, a double superlative.
+
+21. ~sea-girt isles~. Ben Jonson calls Britain a 'sea-girt isle': comp. l.
+27. _Isle_ is the M.E. _ile_, in which form the _s_ has been dropped: it
+is from O.F. _isle_, Lat. _insula_. It is therefore distinct from
+_island_, where an _s_ has, by confusion, been inserted. Island = M.E.
+_iland_, A.S. _igland_ (_ig_ = island: _land_ = land). In line 50 Milton
+wrote 'iland.'
+
+22. ~like to rich and various gems~, etc. Shakespeare describes England as
+a 'precious stone set in the silver sea,' _Richard II._ ii. 1. 46: he
+also speaks of Heaven as being _inlayed_ with stars, _Cym._ v. 5. 352;
+_M. of V._ v. 1. 59, "Look how the floor of heaven Is thick _inlaid_
+with patines of bright gold." Compare also _Par. Lost_, iv. 700, where
+Milton refers to the ground as having a rich _inlay_ of flowers. But for
+its inlay of islands the sea would be bare or unadorned. ~like~: here
+followed by the preposition _to_, and having its proper force as an
+adjective: comp. _Il Pens._ 9. Whether _like_ is used as an adjective
+or an adverb, the preposition is now usually omitted: comp. l. 57.
+
+24. ~to grace~, _i.e._ to show favour to: a clause of purpose.
+
+25. ~By course commits~, etc., _i.e._ "In regular distribution he commits
+to each his distinct government." ~several~: separate or distinct.
+Radically _several_ is from the verb _sever_: it is now used only with
+plural nouns.
+
+26. ~sapphire~. This colour is again associated with the sea in line 29:
+see note there.
+
+27. ~little tridents~, in contrast with that of Neptune, who, "with his
+trident touched the stars" (_Neptune's Triumph, Proteus' Song_, Ben
+Jonson).
+
+28. ~greatest and the best~. Comp. Shakespeare's eulogy in _Rich. II._ ii.
+1: also Ben Jonson's "Albion, Prince of all his Isles," _Neptune's
+Triumph, Apollo's Song_.
+
+29. ~quarters~, divides into distinct regions. Comp. Dryden, _Georg. I._
+208:
+
+    "Sailors _quarter'd_ Heaven, and found a name
+    For every fixt and ev'ry wandering star."
+
+Some would take the word as strictly denoting division into _four_
+parts: "at that time the island was actually divided into four separate
+governments: for besides those at London and Edinburgh, there were Lords
+President of the North and of Wales." (Keightley). ~blue-haired deities~.
+These must be distinct from the tributary gods who wield their little
+tridents (line 27), otherwise the thought would ill accord with the
+complimentary nature of lines 30-36. Regarding the epithet 'blue-haired'
+Masson asks: "Can there be a recollection of blue as the British colour,
+inherited from the old times of blue-stained Britons who fought with
+Caesar? Green-haired is the usual epithet for Neptune and his
+subordinates": in Spenser, for example, the sea-nymphs have long green
+hair. But Ovid expressly calls the sea-deities _caerulei dii_, and
+Neptune _caeruleus deus_, thus associating blue with the sea.
+
+30. 'And all this region that looks towards the West (_i.e._ Wales) is
+entrusted to a noble peer of great integrity and power.' The peer
+referred to is the Earl of Bridgewater. As Lord President he was
+entrusted with the civil and military administration of Wales and the
+four English counties of Gloucester, Worcester, Hereford, and
+Shropshire. That he was a nobleman of high character is shown by the
+fact that from 1617, when he was nominated one of "his Majestie's
+Counsellors," he had continued to serve in various important public and
+private offices. On his monument there is the following: "He was a
+profound Scholar, an able Statesman, and a good Christian: he was a
+dutiful Son to his Mother the Church of England in her persecution, as
+well as in her great splendour; a loyal Subject to his Sovereign in
+those worst of times, when it was accounted treason not to be a traitor.
+As he lived 70 years a pattern of virtue, so he died an example of
+patience and piety." ~falling sun~: Lat. _sol occidens_. Orient and
+occident (lit. 'rising' and 'falling') are frequently used to denote the
+East and the West.
+
+31. ~mickle~ (A.S. _micel_) great. From this word comes _much_. 'Mickle'
+and 'muckle' are current in Scotland in the sense of great. Comp. _Rom.
+and Jul._ ii. 3. 15, "O, _mickle_ is the powerful grace that lies In
+herbs," etc.
+
+33. ~An old and haughty nation~. The Welsh are Kelts, an Aryan people who
+probably first entered Britain about B.C. 500: they are therefore
+rightly spoken of as an old nation. Compare Ben Jonson's piece _For the
+Honour of Wales_:
+
+    "I is not come here to taulk of Brut,
+    From whence the Welse does take his root," etc.
+
+That they were haughty and 'proud in arms' the Romans found, and after
+them the Saxons: the latter never really held more than the counties of
+Monmouth and Hereford. In the reign of Edward I. attempts were made by
+that king to induce the Welsh to come to terms, but the answer of the
+Barons was: "We dare not submit to Edward, nor will we suffer our prince
+to do so, nor do homage to strangers, whose tongue, ways and laws we
+know not of: we have only raised war in defence of our lands, laws and
+rights." By a statute of Henry VIII. this 'haughty' people were put in
+possession of the same rights and liberties as the English. ~proud in
+arms~: this is Virgil's _belloque superbum_, _Aen._ i. 21 (Warton).
+
+34. ~nursed in princely lore~, brought up in a manner worthy of their high
+position. It is to be noted that the Bridgewater family was by birth
+distantly connected with the royal family. Milton may allude merely to
+their connection with the court. _Lore_ is cognate with _learn_.
+
+35. ~their father's state~. This probably refers to the actual ceremonies
+connected with the installation of the Earl as Lord President. The old
+sense of 'state' is 'chair of state': comp. _Arc._ 81, and Jonson's
+_Hymenaei_, "And see where Juno ... Displays her glittering _state and
+chair_."
+
+36. ~new-intrusted~, an adjective compounded of a participle and a simple
+adverb, _new_ being = newly; comp. 'smooth-dittied,' l. 86. Contrast the
+form of the epithet "blue-haired," where the compound adjective is
+formed as if from a noun, "blue-hair": comp. "rushy-fringed," l. 890.
+Strictly speaking, the Earl's power was not 'new-intrusted,' though it
+was newly assumed. See Introduction.
+
+37. ~perplexed~, interwoven, entangled (Lat. _plecto_, to plait or
+twist). The word is here used literally and is therefore applicable to
+inanimate objects. The accent is on the first syllable.
+
+38. ~horror~. This word is meant not merely to indicate terror, but also
+to describe the appearance of the paths. Horror is from Lat. _horrere_,
+to bristle, and may be rendered 'shagginess' or 'ruggedness,' just as
+_horrid_, l. 429, means bristling or rugged. Comp. _Par. Lost_, i. 563,
+"a _horrid_ front Of dreadful length, and dazzling arms." ~shady brows~:
+this may refer to the trees and bushes overhanging the paths, as the
+brow overhangs the eyes.
+
+39. ~Threats~: not current as a verb. ~forlorn~, now used only as an
+adjective, is the past participle of the old verb _forleosen_, to lose
+utterly: the prefix _for_ has an intensive force, as in _forswear_; but
+in the latter word the sense of _from_ is more fully preserved in the
+prefix. See note, l. 234.
+
+40. ~tender age~. Lady Alice Egerton was about fourteen years of age; the
+two brothers were younger than she.
+
+41. ~But that~, etc. Grammatically, _but_ may be regarded as a
+subordinative conjunction = 'unless (it had happened) that I was
+despatched': or, taking it in its original prepositional sense, we may
+regard it as governing the substantive clause, 'that ... guard.' ~quick
+command~: the adjective has the force of an adverb, quick commands being
+commands that are to be carried quickly. ~sovran~, supreme. This is
+Milton's spelling of the modern word _sovereign_, in which the _g_ is
+due to the mistaken notion that the last syllable of the word is cognate
+with _reign_. The word is from Lat. _superanum_ = chief: comp. l. 639.
+
+43. ~And listen why~; _sc._ 'I was despatched.' The language of lines 43,
+44 is suggested by Horace's _Odes_, iii. 1, 2: "Favete linguis; carmina
+non prius Audita ... canto." The poet implies that the plot of his mask
+is original: it is not (he says) to be found in any ancient or modern
+song or tale that was ever recited either in the 'hall' (=
+banqueting-hall) or in the 'bower' (= private chamber). Or 'hall' and
+'bower' may denote respectively the room of the lord and that of his
+lady.
+
+46. Milton in his usual significant manner (comp. _L'Allegro_ and _Il
+Penseroso_), proceeds to invent a genealogy for Comus. The mask is
+designed to celebrate the victory of Purity and Reason over Desire and
+Enchantment. Comus, who represents the latter, must therefore spring
+from parents representing the pleasure of man's lower nature and the
+misuse of man's higher powers on behalf of falsehood and impurity. These
+parents are the wine-god Bacchus and the sorceress Circe. The former,
+mated with Love, is the father of Mirth (see _L'Allegro_); but, mated
+with the cunning Circe, his offspring is a voluptuary whose gay
+exterior and flattering speech hide his dangerously seductive and
+magical powers. He bears no resemblance, therefore, to Comus as
+represented in Ben Jonson's _Pleasure reconciled to Virtue_, in which
+mask "Comus" and "The Belly" are throughout synonymous. In the
+_Agamemnon_ of Aeschylus, Comus is a "drinker of human blood"; in
+Philostratus, he is a rose-crowned wine-bibber; in Dekker he is "the
+clerk of gluttony's kitchen"; in Massinger he is "the god of pleasure";
+and in the work of Erycius Puteanus he is a graceful reveller, the
+genius of love and cheerfulness. Prof. Masson says, "Milton's _Comus_ is
+a creation of his own, for which he was as little indebted intrinsically
+to Puteanus as to Ben Jonson. For the purpose of his masque at Ludlow
+Castle he was bold enough to add a brand-new god, no less, to the
+classic Pantheon, and to import him into Britain." ~Bacchus~, the god who
+taught men the preparation of wine. He is the Greek Dionysus, who, on
+one of his voyages, hired a vessel belonging to some Tyrrhenian pirates:
+these men resolved to sell him as a slave. Thereupon, he changed the
+mast and oars of the ship into serpents and the sailors into dolphins.
+The meeting of Bacchus with Circe is Milton's own invention; in the
+_Odyssey_ it is Ulysses who lights upon her island: "And we came to the
+isle AEaean, where dwelt Circe of the braided tresses, an awful goddess of
+mortal speech, own sister to the wizard AEetes," _Odys._ x. ~from out~,
+etc. Comp. _Par. Lost_, v. 345. 'From out' has the same force as the
+more common 'out from.'
+
+47. ~misused~, abused. The prefix _mis-_ was very generally used by
+Milton; _e.g._ _mislike_, _misdeem_, _miscreated_, _misthought_ (all
+obsolete).
+
+48. ~After the Tuscan mariners transformed~, _i.e._ after the
+transformation of the Tuscan mariners (see Ovid, _Met._ iii.). They are
+called Tuscan, because Tyrrhenia in Central Italy was named Etruria or
+Tuscia by the Romans: Etruria includes modern Tuscany. This grammatical
+construction is common in Latin; a passive participle combined with a
+substantive answering to an English verbal or abstract noun connected
+with another noun by the preposition _of_, and used to denote a fact in
+the past; _e.g._ "since created man" (_P. L._ i. 573) = since the
+creation of man: "this loss recovered" (_P. L._ ii. 21) = the recovery
+of this loss.
+
+49. ~as the winds listed~; at the pleasure of the winds: comp. _John_,
+iii. 8, "the wind bloweth where it _listeth_"; _Lyc._ 123. The verb
+_list_ is, in older English, generally used impersonally, and in Chaucer
+we find 'if thee lust' or 'if thee list' = if it please thee. The word
+survives in the adjective _listless_ of which the older form was
+_lustless_: the noun _lust_ has lost its original and wider sense (which
+it still has in German), and now signifies 'longing desire.'
+
+50. ~On Circe's island fell~. Circe's island = Aeaea, off the coast of
+Latium. Circe was the daughter of Helios (the Sun) by the ocean-nymph
+Perse. On 'island,' see note, l. 21; and with this use of the verb
+_fall_ comp. the Latin _incidere in_. The sudden introduction of the
+interrogative clause in this line is an example of the figure of speech
+called anadiplosis.
+
+51. ~charmed cup~, _i.e._ liquor that has been _charmed_ or rendered
+magical. _Charms_ are incantations or magic verses (Lat. _carmina_):
+comp. lines 526 and 817. Grammatically, 'cup' is the object of 'tasted.'
+
+52. ~Whoever tasted lost~, _i.e._ who tasted (he) lost. In this
+construction _whoever_ must precede both verbs; Shakespeare frequently
+uses _who_ in this sense, and Milton occasionally: comp. _Son._ xii. 12,
+"_who_ loves that must first be wise and good." See Abbott, Sec. 251. ~lost
+his upright shape~. In _Odyssey_ x. we read: "So Circe led them
+(followers of Ulysses) in and set them upon chairs and high seats, and
+made them a mess of cheese and barley-meal and yellow honey with
+Pramnian wine, and mixed harmful drugs with the food to make them
+utterly forget their own country. Now when she had given them the cup
+and they had drunk it off, presently she smote them with a wand, and in
+the styes of the swine she penned them. So they had the head and voice,
+the bristles and the shape of swine, but their mind abode even as of
+old. Thus were they penned there weeping, and Circe flung them acorns
+and mast and fruit of the cornel tree to eat, whereon wallowing swine do
+always batten." (_Butcher and Lang's translation._)
+
+54. ~clustering locks~: comp. l. 608. Milton here pictures the Theban
+Bacchus, a type of manly beauty, having his head crowned with a wreath
+of vine and ivy: both of these plants were sacred to the god. Comp.
+_L'Alleg._ 16, "ivy-crowned Bacchus"; _Par. Lost_, iv. 303; _Sams.
+Agon._ 569.
+
+55. ~his blithe youth~, _i.e._ his fresh young figure.
+
+57. 'A son much like his father, but more like his mother.' This may
+indicate that it is upon Comus's character as a sorcerer rather than as
+a reveller that the story of the mask depends. Comp. _Masque of Hymen_:
+
+    "Much of the father's face,
+    More of the mother's grace."
+
+58. ~Comus~: see note, l. 46. The Greek word +komos+ denoted a revel or
+merry-making; afterwards it came to mean the personification of riotous
+mirth, the god of Revel. Hence also the word _comedy_. In classical
+mythology the individuality of Comus is not well defined: this enabled
+Milton more readily to endow him with entirely new characteristics.
+
+59. ~frolic~: an instance of the original use of the word as an adjective;
+comp. _L'Alleg._ 18, "frolic wind"; Tennyson's _Ulysses_, "a frolic
+welcome." It is now chiefly used as a noun or a verb, and a new
+adjective, _frolicsome_, has taken its place; from this, again, comes
+the noun _frolicsomeness_. _Frolic_ is from the Dutch, and cognate with
+German _froehlich_, so that _lic_ in 'frolic' corresponds to _ly_ in such
+words as cleanly, godly, etc. ~of~: this use of the preposition may be
+compared with the Latin genitive in such phrases as _aeger animi_ = sick
+of soul; of = 'because of' or 'in respect of.'
+
+60. ~Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields~, _i.e._ roving through Gaul and
+Spain. 'Rove' here governs an accusative: comp. _Lyc._ 173, "walked the
+waves"; _Par. Lost_, i. 521, "roamed the utmost Isles."
+
+61. ~betakes him~. The pronoun has here a reflective force: in Elizabethan
+English, and still more often in Early English, this use of the simple
+pronouns is common (see Abbott, Sec. 223). Compare l. 163. ~ominous~;
+literally = full of omens or portents: comp. 'monstrous' = full of
+monsters (_Lyc._ 158); also l. 79. 'Ominous' has now acquired the sense
+of 'ill-omened'; compare the acquired sense of 'hapless,' 'unfortunate,'
+etc.
+
+65. ~orient~, bright. The Lat. _oriens_ = rising; hence (from being
+applied to the sun) = eastern (l. 30); and hence generally 'bright' or
+'shining': comp. _Par. Lost_, i. 546, "With _orient_ colours waving."
+
+66. ~drouth of Phoebus~, _i.e._ thirst caused by the heat of the sun.
+Phoebus is Apollo, the Sun-god. Compare l. 928, where 'drouth' = want of
+rain; the more usual spelling is _drought_. ~which~: see note, l. 2.
+'Which' is here object of 'taste,' and refers to 'liquor.'
+
+67. ~fond~, foolish (its primary sense). _Fonned_ was the participle of an
+old verb _fonnen_, to be foolish. The word is now used to express great
+liking or affection: the idea of folly being almost entirely lost.
+Chaucer has _fonne_, a fool: comp. _Il Pens._ 6, "fancies _fond_";
+_Lyc._ 56, "I _fondly_ dream"; _Sams. Agon._ 1682, "So _fond_ are mortal
+men."
+
+68. ~Soon as~, etc., _i.e._ as soon as the magical draught produces its
+effect. In line 66 _as_ is temporal. ~potion~. Radically, potion = a
+drink, but it is generally used in the sense of a medicated or poisonous
+draught. _Poison_ is the same word through the French.
+
+69. ~Express resemblance of the gods~. Comp. Shakespeare: "What a piece of
+work is man! ... in action how like an angel, in apprehension, how like a
+god!" See also _Par. Lost_, iii. 44, "human face divine."
+
+71. ~ounce~. This is the _Felis uncia_, allied to the panther and the
+cheetah. Some connect it with the Persian _yuz_, panther.
+
+72. ~All other parts~, etc. In the _Odyssey_ (see note on l. 52) the
+bodies of those transformed by Circe were entirely changed; here only
+the head. As one editor observes, this suited the convenience of the
+performers who were to appear on the stage in masks (see _Stage
+direction_, l. 92-3). Grammatically, line 72 is an example of the
+absolute construction, common in Latin. The noun ('parts') is neither
+the subject nor the object of a verb, but is used along with some
+attributive adjunct--generally a participle ('remaining')--to serve the
+purpose of an adverb or adverbial clause. The noun (or pronoun) is
+usually said to be the nominative absolute; but, in the case of
+pronouns, Milton uses the nominative and the objective indifferently. In
+Old English the dative was used.
+
+73. ~perfect~, complete (Lat. _perfectus_, done thoroughly).
+
+74. ~Not once perceive~, etc. This was not the case with the followers of
+Ulysses: see note, l. 52.
+
+76. ~friends and native home forgot~. Circe's cup has here the effect
+ascribed to the lotus in _Odyssey_ ix. "Now whosoever of them did eat
+the honey-sweet fruit of the lotus had no more wish to bring tidings nor
+to come back, but there he chose to abide with the lotus-eating men,
+ever feeding on the lotus and forgetful of his homeward way." In
+Tennyson's _Lotos-Eaters_ there is no forgetfulness of friends and home:
+"Sweet it was to dream of Fatherland, Of child, and wife and slave."
+Masson also refers to Plato's ethical application of the story (_Rep._
+viii.); "Plato speaks of the moral lotophagus, or youth steeped in
+sensuality, as accounting his very viciousness a developed manhood, and
+the so-called virtues but signs of rusticity." Compare also Spenser, _F.
+Q._ ii. 12. 86, "One above the rest in speciall, That had an hog been
+late, ... did him miscall, That had from hoggish form him brought to
+natural."
+
+77. ~sensual sty~: see note on l. 52. To those who, "with low-thoughted
+care," are "unmindful of the crown that Virtue gives," the world becomes
+little better than a sensual sty. This line is adverbial to _forget_.
+
+78. ~favoured~: compare Lat. _gratus_ = favoured (adj.).
+
+79. ~adventurous~, full of risks. The current sense of 'adventurous,'
+applied only to persons, is "enterprising." See l. 61, 609. ~glade~:
+strictly, an open space in a wood, and hence applied (as here) to the
+wood itself. It is cognate with _glow_ and _glitter_, and its
+fundamental sense is 'a passage for light' (Skeat).
+
+80. ~glancing star~, a shooting star. Comp. _Par. Lost_, iv. 556:
+
+          "Swift as a shooting star
+    In autumn thwarts the night."
+
+The rhythm of the line and the prevalence of sibilants suit the sense.
+
+81. ~convoy~: comp. _Par. Lost_, vi. 752, "_convoyed_ By four cherubic
+shapes." It is another form of _convey_ (Lat. _con_ = together, _via_ =
+a way).
+
+83. ~sky-robes~: the "ambrosial weeds" of line 16. ~Iris' woof~, material
+dyed in rainbow colours. The goddess Iris was a personification of the
+rainbow: comp. l. 992 and _Par. Lost_, xi. 244, "Iris had dipped the
+woof." Etymologically, _woof_ is connected with _web_ and _weave_: it is
+short for _on-wef_ = on-web, _i.e._ the cross threads laid on the warp
+of a loom.
+
+84. ~weeds~: see note, l. 16.
+
+86. ~That to the service~, etc. The part of the Spirit was acted by Lawes,
+first in "sky-robes," then in shepherd dress. In the dedication of
+_Comus_ by Lawes to Lord Brackley (anonymous edition of 1637), he
+alludes to the favours that had been shown him by the Bridgewater
+family. In the above lines Milton compliments Lawes and enables Lawes to
+compliment the Earl (see Introduction).
+
+86. ~smooth-dittied~: sweetly-worded. 'Ditty' (Lat. _dictatum_) strictly
+denotes the words of a song as distinct from the musical accompaniment;
+it is now applied to any little piece intended to be sung: comp. _Lyc._
+32. For a similar panegyric on Lawes' musical genius compare _Son._
+xiii. The musical alliteration in lines 86-88 should be noted.
+
+87. ~knows to still~, etc.: comp. _Lyc._ 10, "he knew Himself to sing."
+
+88. ~nor of less faith~, etc.; _i.e._ he is not less faithful than he is
+skilful in music; and from the nature of his occupation he is most
+likely to be at hand should any emergency arise.
+
+92. ~viewless~, invisible: comp. _The Passion_, 50, "_viewless_ wing";
+_Par. Lost_, iii. 518. Masson calls this a peculiarly Shakespearian
+word: see _M. for M._ iii. 1. 124, "To be imprisoned in the viewless
+winds." The word is obsolete, but poets use great liberty in the
+formation of adjectives in _-less_: comp. Shelley's _Sensitive Plant_,
+'windless clouds.' See note, l. 574. ~charming-rod~: see note, l. 52: also
+l. 653. ~rout~, a disorderly crowd. The word is also used in the sense of
+'defeat,' and is cognate with _route_, _rote_, and _rut_. All come from
+Lat. _ruptus_, broken: a 'rout' is the breaking up of a crowd, or a
+crowd broken up; a 'route' is a way broken through a forest; 'rote' is a
+beaten track; and a 'rut' is a track left by a wheel. See _Lyc._ 61, "by
+the _rout_ that made the hideous roar."
+
+93. ~star ... fold~, the evening star, Hesperus, an appellation of the
+planet Venus: comp. _Lyc._ 30. As the morning star (called by
+Shakespeare the 'unfolding star'), it is called Phosphorus or Lucifer,
+the light-bringer. Hence Tennyson's allusion:
+
+    "Bright Phosphor, fresher for the night,...
+    Sweet _Hesper-Phosphor_, double name."--
+
+    _In Memoriam_, cxxi.
+
+Lines 93-144 are in rhymed couplets, and consist for the most part of
+eight syllables each. The prevailing accentuation is iambic.
+
+94. ~top of heaven~, etc., _i.e._ is far above the horizon. So in _Lyc._
+31, it is said to slope "toward heaven's _descent_," _i.e._ to sink
+towards the horizon. Comp. Virgil, _Aen._ ii. 250, "Round rolls the sky,
+and on comes Night from the ocean."
+
+95. ~gilded car~: Apollo, as the god of the Sun, rode in a golden chariot.
+Comp. Chaucer, _Test. of Creseide_, 208, "Phoebus' golden cart"; and
+"Phoebus' wain," line 190.
+
+96. ~his glowing axle doth allay~. In the _Hymn of the Nativity_ Milton
+alludes to the "burning axle-tree" of the sun: comp. _Aen._ iv. 482,
+"Atlas _Axem_ umero torquet." There is here an allusion to the opinion
+of the ancients that the setting of the sun in the Atlantic Ocean was
+accompanied with a noise, as of the sea hissing (Todd). 'Allay' would
+thus denote 'quench' or 'cool.' _His_, in this line, = _its_. _Its_
+occurs only three times in Milton's poems, _Od. Nat._ 106; _Par. Lost_,
+i. 254; _Par. Lost_, iv. 813: the word is found also in Lawes'
+dedication of _Comus_. The word does not occur in English at all until
+the end of the sixteenth century, the possessive case of the neuter
+pronoun _it_ and of the masculine _he_ being _his_. This gave rise to
+confusion when the old gender system decayed, and the form _its_
+gradually came into use, until, by the end of the seventeenth century,
+it was in general use. Milton, however, scarcely recognised it, its
+place in his involved syntax being taken by the relative pronouns and
+other connectives, or by _his_, _her_, _thereof_, etc.
+
+97. ~steep Atlantic stream~. To the ancients the Ocean was the great
+_stream_ that encompassed the earth: _Iliad_, xiv., "the deep-flowing
+Okeanos (+bathyrroos+)." With this use of 'steep' compare the phrase
+'the high seas.'
+
+98. ~slope sun~, sun sunk beneath the horizon, so that the only rays
+visible shoot up into the sky. _Slope_ = sloped; also used by Milton as
+an adverb = aslope (_Par. Lost_, iv. 591), and as a verb (_Lyc._ 31).
+
+99. ~dusky~. Milton first wrote 'northern.'
+
+100. ~Pacing toward the other goal~, etc. Comp. _Psalm_ xix. 5: "The sun
+as a bridegroom cometh out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man
+to run a race."
+
+102. The spirit of lines 102-144 may be contrasted with that of
+_L'Allegro_, 25-40. Both pieces are calls upon Mirth and Pleasure, and
+both are therefore suitably expressed in the same tripping measure and
+with many similarities of language. But the pleasures of _L'Allegro_
+begin with the sun-rise and yet are "unreproved"; those of _Comus_ and
+his crew begin with the darkness and are "unreproved" only if "these dun
+shades will ne'er report" them. The "light fantastic toe" of the one is
+not the "tipsy dance" of the other; and the laughter and liberty that
+betoken the absence of "wrinkled Care" have nothing in common with the
+"midnight shout and revelry" that can be enjoyed only when Rigour,
+Advice, strict Age, and sour Severity have "gone to bed." The "quips and
+cranks" of _L'Allegro_ have given way to the magic rites of _Comus_, and
+the wreathed smiles and dimples that adorn the face of innocent Mirth
+are ill replaced by the wine-dropping "rosy twine" of revelry.
+
+104. ~jollity~: has here its modern sense of boisterous mirth. In Milton
+occasionally the adjective 'jolly' (Fr. _joli_, pretty) has its primary
+sense of pleasing or festive.
+
+105. ~Braid your locks with rosy twine~; 'entwine your hair with wreaths
+of roses.'
+
+106. ~dropping odours~: comp. l. 862-3.
+
+108. ~Advice ... scrupulous head~. 'Advice,' now used chiefly to signify
+counsel given by another, was formerly used also of self-counsel or
+deliberation. See Chaucer, _Prologue_, 786, "granted him without more
+_advice_"; and comp. Shakespeare, _M. of V._ iv. 2. 6, "Bassanio upon
+more _advice_, Hath sent you here this ring"; also _Par. Lost_, ii. 376,
+"_Advise_, if this be worth Attempting," where 'advise' = consider. See
+also l. 755, note. _Scrupulous_ = full of scruples, conscientious.
+
+110. ~saws~, sayings, maxims. _Saw_, _say_, and _saga_ (a Norwegian
+legend) are cognate.
+
+111. ~of purer fire~, _i.e._ having a higher or diviner nature. (Or, as
+there is really no question of degree, we may render the phrase as =
+divine.) Compare the Platonic doctrine that each element had living
+creatures belonging to it, those of fire being the gods; similarly the
+Stoics held that whatever consisted of _pure fire_ was divine, _e.g._
+the stars: hence the additional significance of line 112.
+
+112. ~the starry quire~: an allusion to the music of the spheres; see
+lines 3, 1021. Pythagoras supposed that the planets emitted sounds
+proportional to their distances from the earth and formed a celestial
+concert too melodious to affect the "gross unpurged ear" of mankind:
+comp. l. 458 and _Arc._ 63-73. Shakespeare (_M. of V._ v. 1. 61) alludes
+to the music of the spheres:
+
+    "There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st
+    But in his motion like an angel sings,
+    Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins," etc.
+
+_Quire_ is a form of _choir_ (Lat. _chorus_, a band of singers); in
+Greek tragedy the chorus was supposed to represent the sentiments of the
+audience. _Quire_ (of paper) is a totally different word, probably
+derived from Lat. _quatuor_, four.
+
+113. ~nightly watchful spheres~. Milton elsewhere alludes to the stars
+keeping watch: "And all the spangled host keep watch in order bright,"
+_Hymn Nat._ 21. 'Nightly,' used as an adjective in the sense of
+'nocturnal': comp. _Il Pens._ 84, "To bless the doors from _nightly_
+harm"; _Arc._ 48, "_nightly_ ill"; and Wordsworth's line: "The _nightly_
+hunter lifting up his eyes." Its ordinary sense is "night by night."
+
+114. ~Lead in swift round~. Comp. _Arc._ 71: "And the low world in
+measured motion draw, After the heavenly tune."
+
+115. ~sounds~, straits: A.S. _sund_, a strait of the sea, so called
+because it could be _swum_ across. See Skeat, _Etym. Dict._ _s.v._
+
+116. ~to the moon~, _i.e._ as affected by the moon. For similar uses of
+'to,' comp. _Lyc._ 33, "tempered _to_ the oaten flute"; _Lyc._ 44,
+"fanning their joyous leaves _to_ thy soft lays." ~morrice~. The waters
+quiver in the moonlight as if dancing. The morrice = a morris or Moorish
+dance, brought into Spain by the Moors, and thence introduced into
+England by John of Gaunt. We read also of a "morris-pike"--a weapon used
+by the Moors in Spain.
+
+117. ~shelves~, flat ledges of rock.
+
+118. ~pert~, lively. Here used in its radical sense (being a form of
+_perk_, smart): its modern sense is 'forward' or 'impertinent.' Skeat
+points out that _perk_ and _pert_ were both used as verbs; _e.g._
+"_perked_ up in a glistering grief," _Henry VIII._ ii. 3. 21: "how it (a
+child) speaks, and looks, and _perts_ up the head," Beaumont and
+Fletcher's _Knight of the Burning Pestle_, i. 1. A similar change of _k_
+into _t_ is seen in E. _mate_ from M.E. _make_. ~dapper~, quick (Du.
+_dapper_, Ger. _tapfer_, brave, quick). It is usual in the sense of
+'neat.'
+
+119. ~dimple~. _Dimple_ is a diminutive of _dip_, and cognate with
+_dingle_ and _dapple_.
+
+120. ~daisies trim~: comp. _L'Alleg._ 75, "Meadows _trim_, with daisies
+pied"; _Il Pens._ 50, "_trim_ gardens."
+
+121. ~wakes~, night-watches (A.S. _niht-wacu_, a night wake). The
+adjective _wakeful_ (A.S. _wacol_) is the exact cognate of the Latin
+_vigil_. The word was applied to the vigil kept at the dedication of a
+church, then to the feast connected therewith, and finally to an evening
+merry-making. ~prove~, test, judge of (Lat. _probare_). This is its sense
+in older writers and in the much-misunderstood phrase--"the exception
+_proves_ the rule," which means that the exception is a test of the
+rule.
+
+124. ~Venus now wakes~, etc. Spenser, _Brit. Ida_, ii. 3, has "Night is
+Love's holyday." In this line ~wakens~ is used transitively, its object
+being 'Love.'
+
+125. ~rights~. Here used, as sometimes by Spenser, where modern usage
+requires _rites_ (Lat. _ritus_, a custom): see l. 535.
+
+126. ~daylight ... sin~. Daylight makes sin by revealing it. Contrast the
+sentiment of Comus with that of Milton in _Par. Lost_, i. 500, "When
+night Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons Of Belial."
+
+127. ~dun shades~: evidently suggested by Fairfax's _Tasso_, ix. 62, "The
+horrid darkness, and the shadows _dun_." 'Dun' is A.S. _dunn_, dark.
+
+129. ~Cotytto~, the goddess of Licentiousness: here called 'dark-veiled'
+because her midnight orgies were veiled in darkness. She was a Thracian
+divinity, and her worshippers were called Baptae ('sprinkled'), because
+the ceremony of initiation involved the sprinkling of warm water.
+
+131. ~called~, invoked. ~dragon-womb Of Stygian darkness~. The Styx (= 'the
+abhorred') was the chief river in the lower world. Milton here speaks of
+darkness as something positive, ejected from the womb of Night, Night
+being represented as a monster of the lower regions: comp. _Par. Lost_,
+i. 63. The pronoun 'her' shows that 'womb' is here used in its strict
+sense, but in _Par. Lost_, i. 673, "in his _womb_ was hid metallic ore,"
+it has the more general sense of "interior": comp. the use of Lat.
+_uterus_, _Aen._ ii. 258, vii. 499. ~dragon~: Shakespeare refers to the
+dragons or 'dragon car' of night, _Cym._ ii. 2. 48, "Swift, swift, you
+_dragons_ of the night"; _Tro. and Cress._ v. 8. 17, "The _dragon_ wing
+of night o'erspreads the earth"; see also _Il Pens._ 59, "Cynthia checks
+her dragon yoke."
+
+132. ~spets~, a form of _spits_ (as _spettle_ for _spittle_).
+
+133. ~one blot~, _i.e._ a universal blot: comp. _Macbeth_, ii. 2. 63.
+Milton first wrote, "And makes a blot of nature."
+
+134. ~Stay~, here used causally = check. The radical sense of the word is
+'to support,' as in the substantive _stay_ and its plural _stays_. ~ebon~,
+black as ebony. Ebony is so called because it is hard as a stone (Heb.
+_eben_, a stone); and the wood being of a dark colour, the name has
+become a synonym both for hardness and for blackness.
+
+135. ~Hecat'~, _i.e._ Hecate (as in line 535): a mysterious Thracian
+divinity, afterwards regarded as the goddess of witchcraft: for these
+reasons a fit companion for Cotytto and a fit patroness of Comus. Jonson
+calls her "the mistress of witches." She was supposed to send forth at
+night all kinds of demons and phantoms, and to wander about with the
+souls of the dead and amidst the howling of dogs.
+
+136. ~utmost end~, full completion. Compare _L'Alleg._ 109, "the corn
+That ten day-labourers could not _end_," where 'end' = 'complete.'
+
+137. ~dues~: see note, l. 12.
+
+138. ~blabbing eastern scout~, _i.e._ the tale-telling spy that comes from
+the East, viz. Morning.
+
+139. ~nice~; hard to please, fastidious: "a finely chosen epithet,
+expressing at once _curious_ and _squeamish_" (Hurd). It is used by
+Comus in contempt: comp. ii. _Henry IV._ iv. 1, "Hence, therefore, thou
+_nice_ crutch"; and see the index to the Globe _Shakespeare_. ~the Indian
+steep~. In his _Elegia Tertia_ Milton represents the sun as the
+"light-bringing king" whose home is on the shores of the Ganges (_i.e._
+in the far East): comp. "the Indian mount," _Par. Lost_, i. 781, and
+Tennyson's _In Memoriam_, xxvi., "ere yet the morn Breaks hither over
+_Indian_ seas."
+
+140. ~cabined loop-hole~: an allusion to the first glimpse of dawn, _i.e._
+the peep of day. Comp. "Out of her window close she blushing peeps,"
+said of the morning (P. Fletcher's _Eclogues_), as if the first rays of
+the sun struggled through some small aperture. 'Cabined,' literally
+'belonging to a cabin,' and therefore small.
+
+141. ~tell-tale Sun~. Compare Spenser, _Brit. Ida_, ii. 3,
+
+    "The thick-locked boughs shut out the _tell-tale_ sun,
+    For Venus hated his _all-blabbing_ light."
+
+Shakespeare refers to "the tell-tale day" (_R. of L._ 806). In
+_Odyssey_, viii., we read how Helios (the sun) kept watch and informed
+Vulcan of Venus's love for Mars. ~descry~, etc., _i.e._ make known our
+hidden rites. 'Descry' is here used in its primary sense = _describe_:
+both words are from Lat. _describere_, to write fully. In Milton and
+Shakespeare 'descry' also occurs in the sense of 'to reconnoitre.'
+
+142. ~solemnity~, ceremony, rite. The word is from Lat. _sollus_,
+complete, and _annus_, a year; 'solemn' = _solennis_ = _sollennis_.
+Hence the changes of meaning: (1) recurring at the end of a completed
+year; (2) usual; (3) religious, for sacred festivals recur at stated
+intervals; (4) that which is not to be lightly undertaken, _i.e._
+serious or important.
+
+143. ~knit hands~, etc. Comp. _Masque of Hymen_:
+
+    "Now, now begin to set
+    Your spirits in active heat;
+    And, since your hands are met,
+    Instruct your nimble feet,
+    In motions swift and meet,
+    The happy ground to beat."
+
+144. ~light fantastic round~: comp. _L'Alleg._ 34, "Come, and trip it, as
+you go, On the light fantastic toe." A round is a dance or 'measure' in
+which the dancers join hands, 'Fantastic' = full of fancy, unrestrained.
+So Shakespeare uses it of that which has merely been imagined, and has
+not yet happened. It is now used in the sense of grotesque. _Fancy_ is a
+form of _fantasy_ (Greek _phantasia_).
+
+At this point in the mask Comus and his rout dance a measure, after
+which he again speaks, but in a different strain. The change is marked
+by a return to blank verse: the previous lines are mostly in
+octosyllabic couplets.
+
+145. ~different~, _i.e._ different from the voluptuous footing of Comus
+and his crew.
+
+146. ~footing~: comp. _Lyc._ 103, "Camus, reverend sire, went _footing_
+slow."
+
+147. ~shrouds~, coverts, places of hiding. The word etymologically denotes
+'something cut off,' being allied to 'shred'; hence a garment; and
+finally (as in Milton) any covering or means of covering. Many of
+Latimer's sermons are described as having been "preached in The
+Shrouds," a covered place near St. Paul's Cathedral. The modern use of
+the word is restricted: comp. l. 316. ~brakes~, bushes. Shakespeare has
+"hawthorn-_brake_," _M. N. D._ iii. l. 3, and the word seems to be
+connected with _bracken_.
+
+148. ~Some virgin sure~, _sc._ 'it is.'
+
+150. ~charms ... wily trains~; _i.e._ spells ... cunning allurements.
+_Charm_ is the Lat. _carmen_, a song, also used in the sense of 'magic
+verses'; wily = full of _wile_ (etymologically the same as guile).
+_Train_ here denotes an artifice or snare as in 'venereal trains'
+(_Sams. Agon._ 533): "Oh, _train_ me not, sweet mermaid, with thy note"
+(_Com. of Errors_, iii. 2. 45). See Index, Globe _Shakespeare_. Some
+would take 'wily trains' as = trains of wiles.
+
+151. ~ere long~: _ere_ has here the force of a preposition; in A.S. it was
+an adverb as well = soon, but now it is used only as a conjunction or a
+preposition.
+
+153. ~Thus I hurl~, etc. "Conceive that at this moment of the performance
+the actor who personates Comus flings into the air, or makes a gesture
+as if flinging into the air, some powder, which, by a stage-device, is
+kindled so as to produce a flash of blue light. In the original draft
+among the Cambridge MSS. the phrase is _powdered spells_; but Milton, by
+a judicious change, concealing the mechanism of the stage-trick,
+substituted _dazzling_" (Masson).
+
+154. ~dazzling~. This implies both brightness and illusion. ~spells~. A
+_spell_ is properly a magical form of words (A.S. _spel_, a saying):
+here it refers to the whole enchantment employed. ~spongy air~: so called
+because it holds in suspension the magic powder.
+
+155. ~Of power to cheat ... and (to) give~, etc. These lines are
+attributive to 'spells.' The preposition 'of' is thus used to denote a
+characteristic; thus 'of power' = powerful; comp. l. 677. ~blear
+illusion~; deception, that which deceives by _blurring_ the vision.
+Shakespeare has 'bleared thine eye' = dimmed thy vision, deceived (_Tam.
+Shrew_, v. 1. 120). Comp. "This may stand for a pretty superficial
+argument, to _blear_ our eyes, and lull us asleep in security" (Sir W.
+Raleigh). _Blur_ is another form of _blear_.
+
+156. ~presentments~, appearances. This word is to be distinguished from
+_presentiment_. A presentiment is a "fore-feeling" (Lat. _praesentire_):
+while a presentment is something presented (Lat. _praesens_, being
+before). Shakespeare, _Ham._ iii. 4. 54, has 'presentment' in the sense
+of picture. ~quaint habits~, unfamiliar dress. Quaint is from Lat.
+_cognitus_, so that its primary sense is 'known' or 'remarkable.' In
+French it became _coint_, which was treated as if from Lat. _comptus_,
+neat; hence the word is frequent in the sense of neat, exact, or
+delicate. Its modern sense is 'unusual' or 'odd.'
+
+158. ~suspicious flight~: flight due to suspicion of danger.
+
+160. ~I, under fair pretence~, etc.: 'Under the mask of friendly
+intentions and with the plausible language of wheedling courtesy, I
+insinuate myself into the unsuspecting mind and ensnare it.'
+
+161. ~glozing~, flattering, wheedling. Compare _Par. Lost_, ix. 549,
+
+    "So _glozed_ the temper, and his proem tuned:
+    Into the heart of Eve his words made way."
+
+_Gloze_ is from the old word _glose_, a gloss or explanation (Gr.
+_glossa_, the tongue): hence also glossary, glossology, etc. Trench, in
+his lecture on the Morality of Words, points out how often fair names
+are given to ugly things: it is in this way that a word which merely
+denoted an explanation has come to denote a false explanation, an
+endeavour to deceive. The word has no connection with _gloss_ =
+brightness.
+
+162. ~Baited~, rendered attractive. Radically _bait_ is the causative of
+_bite_; hence a trap is said to be baited. Comp. _Sams. Ag._ 1066, "The
+_bait_ of honied words."
+
+163. ~wind me~, etc. The verbs _wind_ (_i.e._ coil) and _hug_ suggest the
+cunning of the serpent. The easy-hearted man is the person whose heart
+or mind is easily overcome: 'man' is here used generically. Burton, in
+_Anat. of Mel._, says: "The devil, being a slender incomprehensible
+spirit, can easily insinuate and _wind_ himself into human bodies."
+_Me_ is here used reflexively: see note, l. 61. This is not the ethic
+dative.
+
+165. ~virtue~, _i.e._ power or influence (Lat. _virtus_). This radical
+sense is still found in the phrase 'by virtue of' = by the power of. The
+adjective _virtuous_ is now used only of moral excellence: in line 621
+it has its older meaning.
+
+166. The reading of the text is that of the editions of 1637 and 1645.
+In the edition of 1673 the reading was:
+
+    "I shall appear some harmless villager,
+    And hearken, if I may, her business here.
+    But here she comes, I fairly step aside."
+
+But in the errata there was a direction to omit the comma after _may_,
+and to change _here_ into _hear_. In Masson's text, accordingly, he
+reads: "And hearken, if I may her business hear."
+
+167. ~keeps up~, etc., _i.e._ keeps occupied with his country affairs even
+up to a late hour. _Gear_: its original sense is 'preparation' (A.S.
+_gearu_, ready); hence 'business' or 'property.' Comp. Spenser, _F. Q._
+vi. 3. 6, "That to Sir Calidore was _easy gear_," _i.e._ an easy matter,
+fairly, softly. _Fair_ and _softly_ were two words which went together,
+signifying _gently_ (Warton).
+
+170. ~mine ear ... My best guide~. Observe the juxtaposition of _mine_ and
+_my_ in these lines. _Mine_ is frequent before a vowel, especially when
+the possessive adjective is not emphatic. In Shakespeare 'mine' is
+almost always found before "eye," "ear," etc., where no emphasis is
+intended (Abbott, Sec. 237).
+
+171. ~Methought~, _i.e._ it seemed to me. In the verb 'methinks' _me_ is
+the dative, and _thinks_ is an impersonal verb (A.S. _thincan_, to
+appear), quite distinct from the causal verb 'I think,' which is from
+A.S. _thencan_, to make to appear.
+
+173. ~jocund~, merry. Comp. _L'Allegro_, 94, "the _jocund_ rebecks sound."
+~gamesome~, lively. This word, like many other adjectives in _-some_, is
+now less common than it was in Elizabethan English: many such adjectives
+are obsolete, _e.g._ laboursome, joysome, quietsome, etc. (see Trench's
+_English, Past and Present_, v.).
+
+174. ~unlettered hinds~, ignorant rustics (A.S. _hina_, a domestic).
+
+175. ~granges~, granaries, barns (Lat. _granum_, grain). The word is now
+applied to a farm-house with its outhouses.
+
+176. ~Pan~, the god of everything connected with pastoral life: see _Arc._
+106, "Though Syrinx your Pan's mistress were."
+
+177. ~thank the gods amiss~. _Amiss_ stands for M.E. _on misse_ = in
+error. "Perhaps there is a touch of Puritan rigour in this. The gods
+should be thanked in solemn acts of devotion, and not by merry-making"
+(Keightley). See Introduction.
+
+178. ~swilled insolence~, etc., _i.e._ the drunken rudeness of those
+carousing at this late hour. _Swill_: to swill is to drink greedily,
+hence to drink like a pig. ~wassailers~; from 'wassail' [A.S. _waes hael_;
+from _wes_, be thou, and _hal_, whole (modern English _hale_)], a form
+of salutation, used in drinking one's health; and hence employed in the
+sense of 'revelling' or 'carousing.' The 'wassail-bowl' here referred to
+is the "spicy nutbrown ale" of _L'Allegro_, 100. In Scott's _Ivanhoe_,
+the Friar drinks to the Black Knight with the words, "_Waes hale_, Sir
+Sluggish Knight," the Knight replying "Drink _hale_, Holy Clerk."
+
+180. ~inform ... feet~. Comp. _Sams. Agon._ 335: "hither hath _informed_
+your younger _feet_." This use of 'inform' (= direct) is well
+illustrated in Spenser's _F. Q._ vi. 6: "Which with sage counsel, when
+they went astray, He could _enforme_, and then reduce aright."
+
+184. ~spreading favour~. Epithet transferred from cause to effect.
+
+187. ~kind hospitable woods~: an instance of the pathetic fallacy which
+attributes to inanimate objects the feelings of men: comp. ll. 194, 195.
+_As_ in this line (after _such_) has the force of a relative pronoun.
+
+188. ~grey-hooded Even~. Comp. "sandals grey," _Lyc._ 187; "civil-suited,"
+_Il Pens._ 122; both applied to morning.
+
+189. ~a sad votarist~, etc. A votarist is one who is bound by a vow (Lat.
+_votum_): the current form is _votary_, applied in a general sense to
+one _devoted_ to an object, _e.g._ a votary of science. In the present
+case, the votarist is a _palmer_, _i.e._ a pilgrim who carried a
+palm-branch in token of his having been to Palestine. Such would
+naturally wear sober-coloured or homely garments: comp. Drayton, "a
+palmer poor in homely russet clad." In _Par. Reg._ xiv. 426, Morning is
+a pilgrim clad in "amice grey." On ~weed~, see note, l. 16.
+
+190. ~hindmost wheels~: comp. l. 95: "If this fine image is optically
+realised, what we see is Evening succeeding Day as the figure of a
+venerable grey-hooded mendicant might slowly follow the wheels of some
+rich man's chariot" (Masson).
+
+192. ~labour ... thoughts~, the burden of my thoughts.
+
+193. ~engaged~, committed: this use of the word may be compared with that
+in _Hamlet_, iii. 3. 69, "Art more _engaged_" (= bound or entangled). To
+_engage_ is to bind by a _gage_ or pledge.
+
+195. ~stole~, stolen. This use of the past form for the participle is
+frequent in Elizabethan English. ~Else~, etc. The meaning is: 'The envious
+darkness must have stolen my brothers, _otherwise_ why should night hide
+the light of the stars?' The clause 'but for some felonious end' is
+therefore to some extent tautological.
+
+197. ~dark lantern~. The stars by a far-fetched metaphor are said to be
+concealed, though not extinguished, just as the light of a dark lantern
+is shut off by a slide. Comp. More; "Vice is like a _dark lanthorn_,
+which turns its bright side only to him that bears it."
+
+198. ~everlasting oil~. Comp. _F. Q._ i. 1. 57:
+
+    "By this the eternal lamps, wherewith high Jove
+    Doth light the lower world, were half yspent:"
+
+also _Macbeth_, ii. 1. 5, "There's husbandry in heaven; Their candles
+are all out." There is here an irregularity of syntax. "That Nature hung
+in heaven" is a relative clause co-ordinate _in sense_ with the next
+clause; but by a change of thought the phrase "and filled their lamps"
+is treated as a principal clause, and a new object is introduced: comp.
+l. 6.
+
+203. ~rife~, prevalent. ~perfect~, distinct; see note, l. 73.
+
+204. ~single darkness~, darkness only. _Single_ is from the same base as
+_simple_; comp. l. 369.
+
+205. ~What might this be?~ This is a direct question about a past event,
+and has the same meaning as "what should it be?" in line 482: see note
+there. ~A thousand fantasies~, etc. On this, passage Lowell says: "That
+wonderful passage in _Comus_ of the airy tongues, perhaps the most
+imaginative in suggestion he ever wrote, was conjured out of a dry
+sentence in Purchas's abstract of Marco Polo. Such examples help us to
+understand the poet." Reference may also be made to the _Anat. of Mel._:
+"Fear makes our imagination conceive what it list, ... and tyrannizeth
+over our fantasy more than all other affections, especially in the
+dark"; also to the song prefixed to the same work, "My phantasie
+presents a thousand ugly shapes," etc. On the power of imagination or
+phantasy, Shakespeare says:
+
+                      "As imagination bodies forth
+    The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
+    Turns them to _shapes_, and gives to _airy nothing_
+    A local habitation and a name."--
+
+    _M. N. D._ v. 1. 14.
+
+Compare also Ben Jonson's _Vision of Delight_:
+
+    "Break, Phant'sie, from thy cave of cloud,
+    And spread thy purple wings;
+    Now all thy figures are allow'd,
+    And various shapes of things:
+    Create of _airy forms_ a stream ...
+    And though it be a waking dream," etc.
+
+207. ~Of calling shapes~, etc. In Heywood's _Hierarchy of Angels_ there is
+a reference to travellers seeing strange shapes beckoning to them. Such
+words as 'shapes,' 'shadows,' 'airy tongues,' etc., illustrate Milton's
+power to create an indefinite, yet expressive picture. Comp. _Aen._ iv.
+460. ~beckoning shadows dire~. A characteristic arrangement of words in
+Milton: comp. lines 470, 945.
+
+208. ~syllable~, pronounce distinctly.
+
+210. ~may startle well~, may well startle.
+
+212. ~siding champion, Conscience~. To side is to take a side, and hence
+to assist: comp. _Cor._ iv. 2. 2: "The nobles who have _sided_ in his
+behalf." 'Conscience' (here a trisyllable) is used in its current sense:
+in _Son._ xxii. 10 it means consciousness. Comp. _Hen. VIII._ iii. 2.
+379: "A peace above all earthly dignities, A still and quiet
+Conscience."
+
+213. ~pure-eyed Faith~. Comp. _Lyc._ 81, "those pure eyes And perfect
+witness of all-judging Jove"; also the Scriptural words, "God is of
+purer eyes than to behold iniquity." The maiden, whose safeguard is her
+purity, calls on Faith, Hope, and Chastity, each being characterised by
+an epithet denoting purity of thought and act, viz. 'pure-eyed,'
+'white-handed,' and 'unblemished.' The placing of Chastity instead of
+Charity in the trio is significant: see i. _Cor._ xiii.
+
+214. ~hovering angel~. Hope hovers over the maiden to protect her. The
+word 'hover' is found frequently in the sense of 'shelter.' girt,
+surrounded. ~golden wings~. In _Il Pens._ 52, Contemplation "soars on
+golden wing."
+
+216. ~see ye visibly~, _i.e._ you are not mere shapes, but living
+presences. _Ye_: here the object of the verb. "This confusion between
+_ye_ and _you_ did not exist in old English; _ye_ was always used as a
+nominative, and _you_ as a dative or accusative. In the English Bible
+the distinction is very carefully observed, but in the dramatists of the
+Elizabethan period there is a very loose use of the two forms" (Morris).
+It is so in Milton, who has _ye_ as nominative, accusative, and dative;
+comp. lines 513, 967, 1020; also _Arc._ 40, 81, 101. It may be noted
+that _ye_ can be pronounced more rapidly than _you_, and is therefore
+frequent when an unaccented syllable is required.
+
+217. ~the Supreme Good~. God being the Supreme Good, if evil exists, it
+must exist for God's purposes. Evil exists for the sake of 'vengeance'
+or punishment.
+
+219. ~glistering guardian~, _i.e._ one clad in the 'pure ambrosial weeds'
+of l. 16. _Glister_, _glisten_, _glitter_, and _glint_ are cognate
+words.
+
+221. ~Was I deceived~? There is a break in the construction at the end of
+line 220. The girl's trust in Heaven is suddenly strengthened by a
+glimpse of light in the dark sky. Warton regards the repetition of the
+same words in lines 223, 224 as beautifully expressing the confidence of
+an unaccusing conscience.
+
+222. ~her~ = its. In Latin _nubes_, a cloud, is feminine.
+
+223. ~does ... turn ... and casts~. Comp. _Il Pens._ 46, 'doth diet' and
+'hears.' When two co-ordinate verbs are of the same tense and mood the
+auxiliary verb should apply to both. The above construction is due
+probably to change of thought.
+
+225. ~tufted grove~. Comp. _L'Alleg._ 78: "bosomed high in _tufted_
+trees."
+
+226. ~hallo~. Also _hallow_ (as in Milton's editions), _halloo_, _halloa_,
+and _holloa_.
+
+227. ~make to be heard~. Make = cause.
+
+228. ~new-enlivened spirits~, _i.e._ my spirits that have been newly
+enlivened: for the form of the compound adjective comp. note, l. 36.
+
+229. ~they~, _i.e._ the brothers.
+
+230. ~Echo~. In classical mythology she was a nymph whom Juno punished by
+preventing her from speaking before others or from being silent after
+others had spoken. She fell in love with Narcissus, and pined away until
+nothing remained of her but her voice. Compare the invocation to Echo in
+Ben Jonson's _Cynthia's Revels_, i. 1.
+
+The lady's song, which has been described as "an address to the very
+Genius of Sound," is here very naturally introduced. The lady wishes to
+rouse the echoes of the wood in order to attract her brothers' notice,
+and she does so by addressing Echo, who grieves for the lost youth
+Narcissus as the lady grieves for her lost brothers.
+
+231. ~thy airy shell~; the atmosphere. Comp. "the hollow round of
+Cynthia's seat," _Hymn Nat._ 103. The marginal reading in the MS. is
+_cell_. Some suppose that 'shell' is here used, like Lat. _concha_,
+because in classical times various musical instruments were made in the
+form of a shell.
+
+232. ~Meander's margent green~. Maeander, a river of Asia Minor,
+remarkable for the windings of its course; hence the verb 'to meander,'
+and hence also (in Keightley's opinion) the mention of the river as a
+haunt of Echo. It is more probable, however, that, as the lady addresses
+Echo as the "Sweet Queen of Parley" and the unhappy lover of the lost
+Narcissus, the river is here mentioned because of its associations with
+music and misfortune. The Marsyas was a tributary of the Maeander, and
+the legend was that the flute upon which Marsyas played in his rash
+contest with Apollo was carried into the Maeander and, after being
+thrown on land, dedicated to Apollo, the god of song. Comp. _Lyc._
+58-63, where the Muses and misfortune are similarly associated by a
+reference to Orpheus, whose 'gory visage' and lyre were carried "down
+the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore." Further, the Maeander is
+associated with the sorrows of the maiden Byblis, who seeks her lost
+brother Caunus (called by Ovid _Maeandrius juvenis_). [Since the above
+was written, Prof. J. W. Hales has given the following explanation of
+Milton's allusion: "The real reason is that the Meander was a famous
+haunt of swans, and the swan was a favourite bird with the Greek and
+Latin writers--one to whose sweet singing they perpetually allude"
+(_Athenaeum_, April 20, 1889).] 'Margent.' _Marge_ and _margin_ are
+forms of the same word.
+
+233. ~the violet-embroidered vale~. The notion that flowers _broider_ or
+ornament the ground is common in poetry: comp. _Par. Lost_, iv. 700:
+"Under foot the violet, Crocus, and hyacinth, with rich inlay
+_Broidered_ the ground." In _Lyc._ 148, the flowers themselves wear
+'embroidery.' The nightingale is made to haunt a violet-embroidered vale
+because these flowers are associated with love (see Jonson's _Masque of
+Hymen_) and with innocence (see _Hamlet_, iv. 5. 158: "I would give you
+some violets, but they withered all when my father died"). Prof. Hales,
+however, thinks that some particular vale is here alluded to, and
+argues, with much acumen, that the poet referred to the woodlands close
+by Athens to the north-west, through which the Cephissus flowed, and
+where stood the birthplace of Sophocles, who sings of his native Colonus
+as frequented by nightingales. The same critic regards the epithet
+'violet-embroidered' as a translation of the Greek +iostephanos+ (=
+crowned with violets), frequently applied by Aristophanes to Athens, of
+which Colonus was a suburb. Macaulay also refers to Athens as "the
+violet-crowned city." It is, at least, very probable that Milton might
+here associate the nightingale with Colonus, as he does in _Par. Reg._
+iv. 245: see the following note.
+
+234. ~love-lorn nightingale~, the nightingale whose loved ones are lost:
+comp. Virgil, _Georg._ iv. 511: "As the nightingale wailing in the
+poplar shade plains for her lost young, ... while she weeps the night
+through, and sitting on a bough, reproduces her piteous melody, and
+fills the country round with the plaints of her sorrow." _Lorn_ and
+_lost_ are cognate words, the former being common in the compound
+_forlorn_: see note, l. 39. Milton makes frequent allusion to the
+nightingale: in _Il Penseroso_ it is 'Philomel'; in _Par. Reg._ iv. 245,
+it is 'the Attic bird'; and in _Par. Lost_ viii. 518, it is 'the amorous
+bird of night.' He calls it the Attic bird in allusion to the story of
+Philomela, the daughter of Pandion, King of Athens. Near the Academy was
+Colonus, which Sophocles has celebrated as the haunt of nightingales
+(Browne). Philomela was changed, at her own prayer, into a nightingale
+that she might escape the vengeance of her brother-in-law Tereus. The
+epithet 'love-lorn,' however, seems to point to the legend of A{=e}don
+(Greek +aedon+, a nightingale), who, having killed her own son by
+mistake, was changed into a nightingale, whose mournful song was
+represented by the Greek poets as the lament of the mother for her
+child.
+
+235. ~her sad song mourneth~, _i.e._ sings her plaintive melody. 'Sad
+song' forms a kind of cognate accusative.
+
+237. ~likest thy Narcissus~. Narcissus, who failed to return the love of
+Echo, was punished by being made to fall in love with his own image
+reflected in a fountain: this he could never approach, and he
+accordingly pined away and was changed into the flower which bears his
+name. See the dialogue between Mercury and Echo in _Cynthia's Revels_,
+i. 1. Grammatically, _likest_ is an adjective qualified adverbially by
+"(to) thy Narcissus": comp. _Il Pens._ 9, "likest hovering dreams."
+
+238. ~have hid~. This is not a grammatical inaccuracy (as Warton thinks),
+but the subjunctive mood.
+
+240. ~Tell me but where~, _i.e._ 'Only tell me where.'
+
+241. ~Sweet Queen of Parley~, etc. 'Parley is conversation (Fr. _parler_,
+to speak): _parlour_, _parole_, _palaver_, _parliament_, _parlance_.
+etc., are cognate. ~Daughter of the Sphere~, _i.e._ of the sphere which is
+her "airy shell" (l. 231): comp. "Sphere-born harmonious sisters, Voice
+and Verse" (_At a Solemn Music_, 2).
+
+243. ~give resounding grace~, etc., _i.e._ add the charm of echo to the
+music of the spheres.
+
+The metrical structure of this song should be noted: the lines vary in
+length from two to six feet. The rhymes are few, and the effect is more
+striking owing to the consonance of _shell_, _well_ with _vale_,
+_nightingale_; also of _pair_, _where_ with _are_ and _sphere_; and of
+_have_ with _cave_. Masson regards this song as a striking illustration
+of Milton's free use of imperfect rhymes, even in his most musical
+passages.
+
+244. ~mortal mixture ... divine enchanting ravishment~. The words _mortal_
+and _divine_ are in antithesis: comp. _Il Pens._ 91, 92, "The immortal
+mind that hath forsook Her mansion in this fleshly nook." The lines
+embody a compliment to the Lady Alice: read in this connection lines 555
+and 564. 'Ravishment,' rapture (a cognate word) or ecstasy: comp. _Il
+Pens._ 40, "Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes"; also l. 794.
+
+246. ~Sure~, used adverbially: comp. line 493, and 'certain,' l. 266.
+
+247. ~vocal~, used proleptically.
+
+248. ~his~ = its: see note, l. 96. The pronoun refers to 'something holy.'
+
+251. ~smoothing the raven down~. As the nightingale's song smooths the
+rugged brow of Night (_Il Pens._ 58), so here the song of the lady
+smooths the raven plumage of darkness. In classical mythology Night is a
+winged goddess.
+
+252. ~it~, _i.e._ darkness.
+
+253. ~Circe ... Sirens three~. In the _Odyssey_ the Sirens are two in
+number and have no connection with Circe. They lived on a rocky island
+off the coast of Sicily and near the rock of Scylla (l. 257), and lured
+sailors to destruction by the charm of their song. Circe was also a
+sweet singer and had the power of enchanting men; hence the combined
+allusion: see also Horace's _Epist._ i. 2, 23, _Sirenum voces, et Circes
+pocula nosti_. Besides, the Sirens were daughters of the river-god
+Achelous, and Circe had Naiads or fountain-nymphs among her maids.
+
+254. ~flowery-kirtled Naiades~: fresh-water nymphs dressed in flowers, or
+having their skirts decorated with flowers. A _kirtle_ is a gown; Skeat
+suggests that it is a diminutive of _skirt_.
+
+255. ~baleful~, injurious (A.S. _balu_, evil).
+
+256. ~sung~. "The verbs _swim_, _begin_, _run_, _drink_, _shrink_, _sink_,
+_ring_, _sing_, _spring_, have for their proper past tenses _swam_,
+_began_, _ran_, etc., preserving the original _a_; but in older writers
+(sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) and in colloquial English we find
+forms with _u_, which have come from the passive participles." (Morris).
+~take the prisoned soul~, _i.e._ would take the soul prisoner; 'prisoned'
+being used proleptically.
+
+257. ~lap it in Elysium~. _Lap_ is a form of wrap: comp. _L'Alleg._ 136,
+"_Lap_ me in soft Lydian airs." Elysium: the abode of the spirits of the
+blessed; comp. _L'Alleg._ 147, "heaped Elysian flowers." ~Scylla ...
+Charybdis~. The former, a rival of Circe in the affections of the sea-god
+Glaucus, was changed into a monster, surrounded by barking dogs. She
+threw herself into the sea and became a rock, the noise of the
+surrounding waves ("multis circum latrantibus undis," _Aen._ vii. 588)
+resembling the barking of dogs. The latter was a daughter of Poseidon,
+and was hurled by Zeus into the sea, where she became a whirlpool.
+
+260. ~slumber~: comp. _Pericles_, v. 1. 335, "thick slumber Hangs upon
+mine eyes."
+
+261. ~madness~, ecstasy. The same idea is expressed in _Il Pens._ 164: "As
+may with sweetness, through mine ear, Dissolve me into _ecstasies_, And
+bring all heaven before mine eyes." In Shakespeare 'ecstasy' occurs in
+the sense of madness; see _Hamlet_, iii. 1. 167, "That unmatched form
+and feature of blown youth, Blasted with _ecstasy_"; _Temp._ iii. 3.
+108, "hinder them from what this _ecstasy_ May now provoke them to":
+comp. also "the pleasure of that madness," _Wint. Tale_, v. 3. 73. See
+also l. 625.
+
+262. ~home-felt~, deeply felt. Compare "The _home_ thrust of a friendly
+sword is sure" (Dryden); "This is a consideration that comes _home_ to
+our interest" (Addison): see also Index to Globe _Shakespeare_.
+
+263. ~waking bliss~, as opposed to the ecstatic slumber induced by the
+song of Circe.
+
+265. ~Hail, foreign wonder!~ Warton notes that _Comus_ is universally
+allowed to have taken some of its tints from the _Tempest_, and quotes,
+"O you wonder! If you be maid, or no?" i. 2. 426.
+
+266. ~certain~: see note, l. 246.
+
+267. ~Unless the goddess~, etc. = unless _thou be_ the goddess that in
+rural shrine _dwells_ here. Here, as often in Latin, we have 'unless'
+(Lat. _nisi_, etc.) used with a single word instead of a clause: and,
+also as in Latin, the verb in the relative clause has the person of the
+antecedent.
+
+268. ~Pan or Sylvan~: see l. 176: also _Il Pens._ 134, "shadows brown that
+Sylvan loves," and _Arc._ 106, "Though Syrinx your Pan's mistress were."
+Sylvanus, the god of fields and forests, as denoted by his name which is
+corrupted from Silvan (Lat. _silva_, a wood).
+
+269. ~Forbidding~, etc. These lines recall the language of _Arcades_, in
+which also a lady is complimented as "a _deity_," "a _rural_ Queen," and
+"mistress of yon princely shrine" in the land of Pan. There is a
+reference also to her protecting the woods through her servant, the
+Genius: _Arc._ 36-53, 91-95.
+
+271. ~ill is lost~. A Latin idiom (as Keightley points out) = _male
+perditur_: Prof. Masson, however, would regard it as equivalent to
+"there is little loss in losing."
+
+273. ~extreme shift~; last resource. Comp. l. 617.
+
+274. ~my severed company~: a condensed expression = the companions
+separated from me. Comp. l. 315: this figure of speech is called
+Synecdoche.
+
+277. ~What chance~, etc. In lines 277-290 we have a reproduction of that
+form of dialogue employed in Greek tragedy in which question and answer
+occupy alternate lines: it is called _stichomythia_, and is admirable
+when there is a gradual rise in excitement towards the end (as in the
+_Supplices_ of Euripides). In _Samson Agonistes_, which is modelled on
+the Greek pattern, Milton did not employ it.
+
+278. An alliterative line.
+
+279. ~near ushering~, closely attending. To usher is to introduce (Lat.
+_ostium_, a door).
+
+284. ~twain~: thus frequently used as a predicate. It is also used after
+its substantive as in _Lyc._ 110, "of metals _twain_," and as a
+substantive.
+
+285. ~forestalling~, anticipating. 'Forestall,' originally a marketing
+term, is to buy up goods before they have been displayed at a _stall_ in
+the market in order to sell them again at a higher price: hence 'to
+anticipate.' ~prevented~. 'Prevent,' now used in the sense of 'hinder,'
+seems in this line to have something of its older meaning, viz., to
+anticipate (in which case 'forestalling' would be proleptic). Comp. l.
+362; _Par. Lost_, vi. 129, "half-way he met His daring foe, at this
+_prevention_ more Incensed."
+
+286. ~to hit~. This is the gerundial infinitive after an adjective: comp.
+"good to eat," "deadly to hear," etc.
+
+287. ~Imports their loss~, etc.: 'Apart from the present emergency, is the
+loss of them important?'
+
+289. ~manly prime~, etc.: 'Were they in the prime of manhood, or were they
+merely youths?' With Milton the 'prime of manhood' is where 'youth'
+ends: comp. _Par. Lost_, xi. 245, "_prime_ in manhood where youth
+ended"; iii. 636, "a stripling Cherub he appears, Not of the prime, yet
+such as in his face Youth smiled celestial." Spenser has 'prime' =
+Spring.
+
+290. ~Hebe~, the goddess of youth. "The down of manhood" had not appeared
+on the lips of the brothers.
+
+291. ~what time~: common in poetry for 'when' (Lat. _quo tempore_).
+Compare Horace, _Od._ iii. 6: "what time the sun shifted the shadows of
+the mountains, and took the yokes from the wearied oxen." ~laboured~:
+wearied with labour.
+
+292. ~loose traces~. Because no longer taut from the draught of the
+plough.
+
+293. ~swinked~, overcome with toil, fatigued (A.S. _swincan_, to toil).
+Skeat points out that this was once an extremely common word; the sense
+of toil is due to that of constant movement from the _swinging_ of the
+labourer's arms. In Chaucer 'swinker' = ploughman.
+
+294. ~mantling~, spreading. To mantle is strictly to cloak or cover: comp.
+_Temp._ v. 1. 67, "fumes that _mantle_ Their clearer reason."
+
+297. ~port~, bearing, mien.
+
+298. ~faery~. This spelling is nearer to that of the M.E. _faerie_ than
+the current form.
+
+299. ~the element~; the air. Since the time of the Greek philosopher
+Empedocles, fire, earth, air, and water have been popularly called the
+four elements; when used alone, however, 'the element' commonly means
+'the air.' Comp. _Hen. V._ iv. 1. 107, "The _element_ shows him as it
+doth to me"; _Par. Lost_, ii. 490, "the louring _element_ Scowls o'er
+the darkened landscape snow or shower," etc.
+
+301. ~plighted~, interwoven or _plaited_. The verb 'plight' (or more
+properly _plite_) is a variant of _plait_: see _Il Pens._ 57, "her
+sweetest saddest _plight_." The word has no connection with 'plight,' l.
+372. ~awe-strook~. Milton uses three forms of the participle, viz.
+'strook,' 'struck,' and 'strucken.'
+
+302. ~worshiped~. The final consonant is now doubled in such verbs before
+_-ed_.
+
+303. ~were~ = would be: subjunctive. ~like the path to Heaven~; _i.e._ it
+would be a pleasure to help, etc. There is (probably) no allusion to the
+Scripture parable of the narrow and difficult way to Heaven (_Matt._
+vii.) as in _Son._ ix., "labours up the hill of heavenly Truth."
+
+304. ~help you find~: comp. l. 623. The simple infinitive is here used
+without _to_ where _to_ would now be inserted. This omission of the
+preposition now occurs with so few verbs that 'to' is often called the
+sign of the infinitive, but in Early English the only sign of the
+infinitive was the termination _en_ (_e.g._ he can _speken_). The
+infinitive, being used as a noun, had a dative form called the gerund,
+which was preceded by the preposition _to_, and when this became
+confused with the simple infinitive the use of _to_ became general.
+Comp. _Son._ xx. 4, "_Help_ waste a sullen day."
+
+305. ~readiest way~. Here 'readiest' logically belongs to the predicate.
+
+311. ~each ... every~: see note, l. 19. ~alley~, a walk or avenue.
+
+312. ~Dingle ... bushy dell ... bosky bourn~. 'Dingle' = dimble (see Ben
+Jonson's _Sad Shepherd_) = dimple = a little dip or depression; hence a
+narrow valley. 'Dell' = dale, literally a cleft; hence a valley, not so
+deep as a dingle. 'Bosky bourn,' a stream whose banks are bushy or
+thickly grown with bushes. 'Bourn,' a boundary, is a distinct word
+etymologically, but the phrase "from side to side," as used by Comus,
+might well imply that the valley as well as the stream is here referred
+to. 'Bosky,' bushy. The noun 'boscage' = jungle or _bush_ (M.E. _busch_,
+_bush_, _bush_). 'See Tennyson's _Dream of F. W._ 243, "the sombre
+_boscage_ of the wood."
+
+315. ~stray attendance~ = strayed attendants; abstract for concrete, as in
+line 274. Comp. _Par. Lost_, x. 80, "_Attendance_ none shall need, nor
+train"; xii. 132, "Of herds, and flocks, and numerous _servitude_" (=
+servants).
+
+316. ~shroud~, etc. Milton first wrote "within these shroudie limits": see
+note, l. 147.
+
+317. ~low-roosted lark~, _i.e._ the lark that has roosted on the ground.
+This is certainly Milton's meaning, as he refers to the bird as rising
+from its "thatched pallet" = its nest, which is built on the ground.
+'Roost' has, however, no radical connection with _rest_, but denotes a
+perch for fowls, and Keightley's remark that Milton is guilty of
+supposing the lark to sleep, like a hen, upon a perch or roost, may
+therefore be noticed. But the poets' meaning is obvious. Prof. Masson
+takes 'thatched' as referring to the texture of the nest or to the
+corn-stalks or rushes over it.
+
+318. ~rouse~. Here used intransitively = awake.
+
+322. ~honest-offered~: see notes, ll. 36, 228.
+
+323. ~sooner~, more readily.
+
+324. ~tapestry halls~. Halls hung with tapestry, tapestry being "a kind of
+carpet work, with wrought figures, especially used for decorating
+walls." The word is said to be from the Persian.
+
+325. ~first was named~. The meaning is: '_Courtesy_ which is derived from
+_court_, and which is still nominally most common in high life, is
+nevertheless most readily found amongst those of humble station.' This
+sentiment is becoming in the mouth of Lady Alice when addressed to a
+humble shepherd. 'Courtesy' (or, as Milton elsewhere writes,
+_courtship_) has, like _civility_, lost much of its deeper significance.
+Comp. Spenser, _F. Q._ vi. 1. 1:
+
+    "Of Court it seems men Courtesy do call,
+    For that it there most useth to abound."
+
+327. ~less warranted~, _i.e._ when I have less _guarantee_ of safety.
+_Guarantee_ and _warrant_, like _guard_ and _ward_, _guile_ and _wile_,
+are radically the same.
+
+329. ~Eye me~, _i.e._ look on me. To _eye_ a person now usually implies
+watching narrowly or suspiciously. ~square~, accommodate, adjust. The adj.
+'proportioned' is here used proleptically, denoting the result of the
+action indicated by the verb 'square.' Comp. _M. for M._ v. 1: "Thou 'rt
+said to have a stubborn soul, ... And _squar'st_ thy life accordingly."
+~Exeunt~, _i.e._ they go out, they leave the stage.
+
+331. ~Unmuffle~, uncover yourselves. To _muffle_ is to cover up, _e.g._
+'to _muffle_ the throat,' 'a _muffled_ sound,' etc. _Muffle_ (subst.) is
+a diminutive of _muff_.
+
+332. ~wont'st~, _i.e._ art wont. _Wont'st_ is here apparently the 2nd
+person singular, present tense, of a verb _to wont_ = to be accustomed;
+hence also the participle _wonted_ (_Il Pens._ 37, "keep thy _wonted_
+state"). But the M.E. verb was _wonen_, to dwell or be accustomed, and
+its participle _woned_ or _wont_. The fact that _wont_ was a participle
+being forgotten, it was treated as a distinct verb, and a new participle
+formed, viz., _wonted_ (= won-ed-ed); from this again comes the noun
+_wontedness_. Milton, however, uses _wont_ as a present only twice in
+his poetry: as in modern English he uses it as a noun (= custom) or as a
+participial adj. with the verb _to be_ (_Il Pens._ 123, "As she was
+wont"). ~benison~, blessing: radically the same as 'benediction' (Lat.
+_benedictio_).
+
+333. ~Stoop thy pale visage~, etc. Comp. l. 1023 and _Il Pens._ 72,
+"_Stooping_ through a fleecy cloud." 'Visage,' a word now mostly used
+with a touch of contempt, in Milton simply denotes 'face': see _Il
+Pens._ 13, "saintly _visage_"; _Lyc._ 62, "His gory _visage_ down the
+stream was sent." ~amber~: comp. _L'Alleg._ 61, "Robed in flames and
+_amber_ light," and Tennyson:
+
+    "What time the _amber_ morn
+    Forth gushes from beneath a low-hung cloud."
+
+334. ~disinherit~, drive out, dispossess. Comp. _Two Gent._ iii. 2. 87,
+"This or else nothing, will _inherit_ (_i.e._ obtain possession of)
+her."
+
+336. ~Influence ... dammed up~. The verb here shows that influence is
+employed in its strict sense, = a flowing in (Lat. _in_ and _fluo_): it
+was thus used in astrology to denote "an _influent_ course of the
+planets, their virtue being infused into, or their course working on,
+inferior creatures"; comp. _L'Alleg._ 112, "whose bright eyes Rain
+_influence_"; _Par. Lost_, iv. 669, "with kindly heat Of various
+_influence_." Astrology has left many traces upon the English language,
+_e.g._ influence, disastrous, ill-starred, ascendant, etc. See also l.
+360.
+
+337. ~taper~; here a vocative, the verb being "visit (thou)."
+
+338. ~though a rush candle~, _i.e._ 'though it be only a rush-candle'; a
+rush light, obtained from the pith of a rush dipped in oil.
+
+340. ~long levelled rule~; straight horizontal beam of light: comp. _Par.
+Lost_, iv. 543, "the setting sun ... _Levelled_ his evening rays." The
+instrument with which straight lines are drawn is called a _rule_ or
+ruler.
+
+341. ~star of Arcady Or Tyrian Cynosure~; here put by synecdoche for
+'lode-star.' More particularly, the star of Arcady signifies any of the
+stars in the constellation of the Great Bear, by which Greek sailors
+steered; and 'Tyrian Cynosure' signifies the stars comprising that part
+of the constellation of the Lesser Bear which, from its shape, was
+called _Cynosura_, the dog's tail (Greek +kynos oura+), and by which
+Phoenician or Tyrian sailors steered. See _L'Alleg._ 80, "The _cynosure_
+of neighbouring eyes," where the word is used as a common noun = point
+of attraction. Both constellations are connected in Greek mythology with
+the Arcadian nymph Callisto, who was turned by Zeus into the Great Bear
+while her son Arcas became the Lesser Bear. Milton follows the Roman
+poets in associating these stars with Arcadia on this account.
+
+343. ~barred~, debarred or barred _from_.
+
+344. ~wattled cotes~: enclosures made of hurdles, _i.e._ frames of
+plaited twigs. _Cote_, _cot_, and _coat_ are varieties of the same word
+= a covering or enclosure.
+
+345. ~oaten stops~: see _Lyc._ 33, "the _oaten_ flute"; 88, "But now my
+_oat_ proceeds"; 188, "the tender stops of various _quills_." The
+shepherd's pipe, being at first a row of oaten stalks, "the oaten pipe,"
+"oat," etc., came to denote any instrument of this kind and even to
+signify "pastoral poetry." The 'stops' are the holes over which the
+player's fingers are placed, also called vent-holes or "ventages"
+(_Ham._ iii. 2. 372). See also note on 'azurn,' l. 893.
+
+346. ~whistle ... lodge~, _i.e._ the sound of the shepherd calling his dog
+by whistling. Or it may be used in the same sense as in _L'Alleg._ 63,
+"the ploughman _whistles_ o'er the furrowed land."
+
+347. ~Count ... dames~: comp. _L'Alleg._ 52, "the cock ... Stoutly struts
+his _dames_ before"; 114, "Ere the first cock his matin rings."
+Grammatically, 'count' (infinitive) forms with 'cock' the complex object
+of 'might hear.'
+
+349. ~innumerous~, innumerable (Lat. _innumerus_). Comp. _Par. Lost_, vii.
+455, "_Innumerous_ living creatures"; ix. 1089.
+
+350. ~hapless~, unfortunate. Many words, such as happy, lucky, fortunate,
+etc., which strictly refer to a person's hap or chance, whether good or
+bad, have become restricted to good hap: in order to give them an
+unfavourable meaning a negative prefix or suffix is necessary.
+
+With reference to the word _fortune_, Max Mueller says: "We speak of good
+and evil fortune, so did the French, and so did the Romans. By itself
+_fortuna_ was taken either in a good or a bad sense, though it generally
+meant good fortune. Whenever there could be any doubt, the Romans
+defined _fortuna_ by such adjectives as _bona_, _secunda_, _prospera_,
+for good; _mala_ or _adversa_ for bad fortune ... _Fortuna_ came to mean
+something like chance."
+
+351. ~her~, herself. On the reflexive use of _her_, see note, l. 163.
+
+352. ~burs~; burrs, prickly seed-vessels of certain plants, _e.g._ the
+burr-thistle, the burdock (= the burr-dock), etc.
+
+355. ~leans~. As Milton frequently omits the nominative, we may supply
+_she_: otherwise _leans_ would be intransitive and its nominative
+'head': see note, l. 715. ~fraught~, freighted, filled. _Freight_ is
+itself a later form of _fraught_: in _Sams. Agon._, 1075, _fraught_ is a
+noun (Ger. _fracht_, a load). See line 732.
+
+356. ~What~, etc. The ellipses may be supplied thus: "What (shall be done)
+if (she be) in wild amazement?"
+
+358. ~savage hunger~. 'Hunger' is put by synecdoche for hungry animals.
+
+359. ~over-exquisite~, _i.e._ too curious, over-inquisitive. _Exquisite_
+is here used in the sense of _inquisitive_; in modern English
+'exquisite' has a passive sense only, while 'inquisitive' has an active
+sense (Lat. _quaero_, to seek): see note, l. 714.
+
+"The dialogue between the two brothers is an amicable contest between
+fact and philosophy. The younger draws his arguments from common
+apprehension, and the obvious appearance of things; the elder proceeds
+on a profounder knowledge, and argues from abstracted principles. Here
+the difference of their ages is properly made subservient to a contrast
+of character" (Warton).
+
+360. ~To cast the fashion~, _i.e._ to prejudge the form. 'To cast' was
+common in the sense of to calculate or compute; see Shakespeare, ii.
+_Henry IV._ i. 1. 166, "You _cast_ the event of war." Some think,
+however, that the word has here its still more restricted sense as used
+in astrology, _e.g._ "to _cast_ a nativity"; others see in it a
+reference to the founder's art; and others to medical diagnosis.
+
+361. ~Grant they be so~: a concessive clause = granted that the evils turn
+out to be what you imagined. The alternative is given in l. 364.
+
+362. ~What need~, etc., _i.e._ why should a man anticipate his hour of
+sorrow. 'What' = for what (Lat. _quid_): comp. l. 752; also _On
+Shakespeare_, 6, "_What need'st_ thou such weak witness of thy name?" On
+the verb _need_ Abbott, Sec. 297, says: "It is often found with 'what,'
+where it is sometimes hard to say whether 'what' is an adverb and 'need'
+a verb, or 'what' an adjective and 'need' a noun. 'What need the bridge
+much broader than the flood?' _M. Ado_, i. 1. 318; either '_why need_
+the bridge (be) broader?' or '_what need_ is there (that) the bridge
+(be) broader?'"
+
+363. Compare Hamlet's famous soliloquy, "rather bear those ills we
+have," etc.; and Pope's _Essay on Man_, "Heaven from all creatures hides
+the book of fate," etc.
+
+366. ~to seek~, at a loss. Compare _Par. Lost_, viii. 197: "Unpractised,
+unprepared, and still _to seek_." Bacon, in _Adv. of Learning_, has:
+"Men bred in learning are perhaps _to seek_ in points of convenience."
+
+367. ~unprincipled in virtue's book~, _i.e._ ignorant of the elements of
+virtue. A principle (Lat. _principium_, beginning) is a fundamental
+truth; hence the current sense of 'unprincipled,' implying that the man
+who has no fixed rules of life is the one who will readily fall into
+evil. Comp. _Sams. Agon._ 760, "wisest and best men ... with goodness
+_principled_."
+
+368. ~bosoms~, holds within itself. The nom. is 'goodness.' 'Peace' is
+governed by 'in,' l. 367.
+
+369. ~As that~, etc. This is an adverbial clause of consequence to
+'unprincipled'; in modern English such a clause would be introduced by
+'that,' and in Elizabethan English either by 'as' or 'that.' Here we
+have both connectives together. ~single~: see note, l. 204. noise, sound.
+
+370. ~Not being in danger~, _i.e._ she not being in danger: absolute
+construction. This parenthetical line is equivalent to a conditional
+clause--'if she be not in danger, the mere want of light and noise need
+not disquiet her.'
+
+371. ~constant~, steadfast.
+
+372. ~misbecoming~: see note on 'misused,' l. 47. ~plight~, condition.
+Skeat derives this word from A.S. _pliht_, danger; others connect it
+with _pledge_. It is distinct from _plight_, l. 301.
+
+373. ~Virtue could see~, etc. The best commentary on this line is in lines
+381-5: comp. Spenser: "Virtue gives herself light through darkness for
+to wade," _F. Q._ i. 1. 12.
+
+375. ~flat sea~: comp. _Lyc._ 98, "level brine": Lat. _aequor_, a flat
+surface, used of the sea.
+
+376. ~seeks to~, applies herself to. This use of seek is common in the
+English Bible: see _Deut._ xii. 5, "_unto_ his habitation shall ye
+_seek_"; _Isaiah_, viii. 19, xi. 10, xix. 3; i. _Kings_, x. 24.
+
+377. ~her best nurse, Contemplation~. The wise man loves contemplation and
+solitude: comp. _Il Penseroso_, 51, where "the Cherub Contemplation" is
+the "first and chiefest" of Melancholy's companions. In Sidney's
+_Arcadia_, "Solitariness" is "the nurse of these contemplations."
+
+378. ~plumes~. Some would read _prunes_, both words being used of a bird's
+smoothing or trimming its feathers--or (more strictly) picking out
+damaged feathers. See Skeat's _Dictionary_, and compare Pope's line,
+"Where Contemplation _prunes_ her ruffled wings."
+
+379. ~various~, varied: comp. l. 22. The 'bustle of resort' is in
+_L'Allegro_ the 'busy hum of men.'
+
+380. ~all to-ruffled~. Milton wrote "all to ruffled," which may be
+interpreted in various ways: (1) all to-ruffled, (2) all too ruffled,
+(3) all-to ruffled. The first of these is given in the text as it is
+etymologically correct: _to_ is an intensive prefix as in 'to-break' =
+to break in pieces; 'to-tear' = to tear asunder, etc.; while _all_ (=
+quite) is simply an adverb modifying _to-ruffled_. But about 1500 A.D.
+this idiom was misunderstood, and the prefix _to_ was detached from the
+verb and either read along with _all_ (thus all-to = altogether), or
+confused with _too_ (thus all-to = too too, decidedly too). It is
+doubtful in which sense Milton used the phrase; like Shakespeare, he may
+have disregarded its origin. See Morris, Sec. 324; Abbott, Sec.Sec. 28, 436.
+
+381. ~He that has light~, etc. Comp. _Par. Lost_, i. 254: 'The mind is
+its own place,' etc.
+
+382. ~centre~, _i.e._ centre of the earth: comp. _Par. Lost_ i. 686, "Men
+also ... Ransacked the _centre_"; and _Hymn Nat._ 162, "The aged Earth
+... Shall from the surface to the _centre_ shake." Sometimes the word
+'centre' was used of the Earth itself, the _fixed_ centre of the whole
+universe according to the Ptolemaic system. The idea here conveyed,
+however, is not that of immovability (as in _Par. Reg._ iv. 534, "as a
+_centre_ firm") but of utter darkness.
+
+385. ~his own dungeon~: comp. _Sams. Agon._ 156, "Thou art become (O worst
+imprisonment!) The _dungeon_ of thyself."
+
+386. ~most affects~: has the greatest liking for. It now generally denotes
+rather a feigned than a real liking: comp. _pretend_. Lines 386-392 may
+be compared with _Il Pens._ 167-174.
+
+393. ~Hesperian tree~. An allusion to the tree on which grew the golden
+apples of Juno, which were guarded by the Hesperides and the sleepless
+dragon Ladon. Hence the reference to the 'dragon watch': comp.
+Tennyson's _Dream of Fair Women_, 255, "Those dragon eyes of anger'd
+Eleanor Do hunt me, day and night." See also ll. 981-983.
+
+395. ~unenchanted~, superior to all the powers of enchantment, not to be
+enchanted. Similarly Milton has 'unreproved' for 'not reprovable,'
+'unvalued' for 'invaluable,' etc.; and Shakespeare has 'unavoided' for
+'inevitable,' 'imagined' for 'imaginable,' etc. Abbott (Sec. 375) says: The
+passive participle is often used to signify, not that which _was_ and
+_is_, but that which _was_ and therefore _can be hereafter_; in other
+words _-ed_ is used for _-able_.
+
+396. Compare Chaucer, _Doctor's Tale_, 44, "She flowered in virginity,
+With all humility and abstinence."
+
+398. ~unsunned~, hidden. Comp. _Cym._ ii. 5. 13, "As chaste as _unsunned_
+snow"; _F. Q._ ii. 7, "Mammon ... _Sunning_ his treasure hoar."
+
+400. ~as bid me hope~, etc. The construction is, 'as (you may) bid me (to)
+hope (that) Danger will wink on Opportunity and (that Danger will) let a
+single helpless maiden pass uninjured.'
+
+401. ~Danger will wink on~, etc., _i.e._ danger will shut its eyes to an
+opportunity. To _wink on_ or _wink at_ is to connive, to refuse to see
+something: comp. _Macbeth_, i. 4. 52, "The eye _wink_ at the hand";
+_Acts_, xvii. 30. Warton notes a similar argument by Rosalind in _As You
+Like It_, i. 3. 113: "Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold."
+
+403. ~surrounding~. Milton is said to be the first author of any note who
+uses this word in its current sense of 'encompassing,' which it has
+acquired through a supposed connection with _round_. Shakespeare does
+not use it. Its original sense is 'to overflow' (Lat. _superundare_).
+
+404. ~it recks me not~, _i.e._ I do not heed: an impersonal use of the old
+verb _reck_ (A.S. _recan_, to care). Comp. _Lyc._ 122, "What _recks_ it
+them."
+
+405. ~dog them both~, _i.e._ follow closely upon night and loneliness.
+Comp. _All's Well_, iii. 4. 15, "death and danger _dogs_ the heels of
+worth."
+
+407. ~unowned~, _i.e._ 'thinking her to be unowned,' or 'as if unowned.'
+Milton thus, as in Latin, frequently condenses a clause into a
+participle.
+
+408. ~infer~, reason, argue. This use of the word is obsolete. See
+Shakespeare, iii. _Hen. VI._ ii. 2. 44, "_Inferring_ arguments of mighty
+force"; _K. John_, iii. 1. 213, "Need must needs _infer_ this
+principle": also _Par. Lost_, viii. 91, "great or bright _infers_ not
+excellence."
+
+409. ~without all doubt~, _i.e._ beyond all doubt: a Latinism = _sine omni
+dubitatione_.
+
+411. ~arbitrate the event~, judge of the result. The meaning is 'Where the
+result depends equally upon circumstances to be hoped and to be dreaded
+I incline to hope.'
+
+413. ~squint suspicion~. Compare Quarles: "Heart-gnawing Hatred, and
+squint-eyed Suspicion." To look askance or sideways frequently indicates
+suspicion.
+
+419. ~if Heaven gave it~, _i.e._ even _although_ Heaven gave it.
+
+420. ~'Tis chastity~. "The passage which begins here and ends at line 475
+is a concentrated expression of the moral of the whole Masque, and an
+exposition also of a cardinal idea of Milton's philosophy" (Masson).
+
+421. ~clad in complete steel~, _i.e._ completely armed; comp. _Hamlet_, i.
+4. 52, where the phrase occurs. The accent is on the first syllable.
+
+422. ~quivered nymph~. The chaste Diana of the Romans was armed with bow
+and quiver; and Shakespeare makes virginity "Diana's livery." So in
+Spenser, Belphoebe, the personification of Chastity, has "at her back a
+bow and quiver gay." 'Quivered' is the Latin _pharetrata_.
+
+423. ~trace~, traverse, track. ~unharboured~, affording no shelter.
+Radically, a harbour is a lodging or shelter.
+
+424. ~Infamous~, having a bad name, ill-famed: a Latinism. The word now
+implies disgrace or guilt. It is here accented on the penult.
+
+425. ~sacred rays~: comp. l. 782.
+
+426. ~bandite or mountaineer~. 'Bandite' (in Shakespeare _bandetto_, and
+now _bandit_) is borrowed from the Italian _bandito_, outlawed or
+_banned_. 'Mountaineer,' here used in a bad sense. In modern English it
+has reverted to its original sense--a dweller in mountains. The dwellers
+in mountains are often fierce and readily become freebooters: hence the
+changes of meaning. See _Temp._ iii. 3. 44, "Who would believe that
+there were _mountaineers_ Dew-lapp'd like bulls"; also _Cym._ iv. 2.
+120, "Who called me traitor, _mountaineer_."
+
+428. ~very desolation~. Very (as an adj.) = true or real and may be traced
+to Lat. _verus_ = true: comp. l. 646.
+
+429. ~shagged ... shades~. 'Shagged' is rugged or shaggy, and 'horrid' is
+probably used in the Latin sense of 'rough': see note, l. 38.
+
+430. ~unblenched~, undaunted, unflinching. This word, sometimes confounded
+with 'unblanched,' is from _blench_, a causal of _blink_.
+
+431. ~Be it not~: a conditional clause = on condition that it be not.
+
+432. ~Some say~, etc. Compare _Hamlet_, i. 1. 158:
+
+    "Some say that, ever against that season comes
+    Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
+    The bird of dawning singeth all night long:
+    And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad."
+
+433. ~In fog or fire~, etc. Comp. _Il Pens._ 93, "those demons that are
+found In fire, air, flood, or underground": an allusion to the different
+orders and powers of demons as accepted in the Middle Ages. Burton, in
+his _Anat. of Mel._, quotes from a writer who thus enumerates the kinds
+of sublunary spirits--"fiery, aerial, terrestrial, watery, and
+subterranean, besides fairies, satyrs, nymphs, etc."
+
+434. ~meagre hag~, lean witch. _Hag_ is from A.S. _haegtesse_, a
+prophetess or witch. Comp. _Par. Lost_, ii. 662; _M. W. of W._ iv. 2.
+188, "Come down, you witch, you _hag_." ~unlaid ghost~, unpacified or
+wandering spirit. It was a superstition that ghosts left the world of
+spirits and wandered on the earth from the hour of curfew (see _Temp._
+v. 1. 40; _King Lear_, iii. 4. 120, "This is the foul fiend
+Flibbertigibbet; he begins at curfew," etc.) until "the first cock his
+matin rings" (_L'Alleg._ 14). 'Curfew' (Fr. _couvre-feu_ = fire-cover),
+the bell that was rung at eight or nine o'clock in the evening as a
+signal that all fires and lights were to be extinguished.
+
+436. ~swart faery of the mine~. In Burton's _Anat. of Mel._ we read,
+"Subterranean devils are as common as the rest, and do as much harm.
+Olaus Magnus makes six kinds of them, some bigger, some less. These are
+commonly seen about mines of metals," etc. Warton quotes from an old
+writer: "Pioneers or diggers for metal do affirm that in many mines
+there appear strange shapes and spirits who are apparelled like unto the
+labourers in the pit." 'Swart' (also _swarty_, _swarth_, and _swarthy_)
+here means black: in Scandinavian mythology these subterranean spirits
+were called the _Svartalfar_, or black elves. Comp. _Lyc._ 138, "the
+_swart_ star," where 'swart' = swart making.
+
+438. ~Do ye believe~. _Ye_ is properly a second person plural, but (like
+_you_) is frequently used as a singular: for examples, see Abbott, Sec.
+236.
+
+439. ~old schools of Greece~. The brother now turns for his arguments from
+the mediaeval mythology of Northern Europe to the ancient legends of
+Greece.
+
+440. ~to testify~, to bear witness to: comp. l. 248, 421.
+
+441. ~Dian~. Diana was the huntress among the immortals: she was
+insensible to the bolts of Cupid, _i.e._ to the power of love. She was
+the protectress of the flocks and game from beasts of prey, and at the
+same time was believed to send plagues and sudden deaths among men and
+animals. Comp. the song to Cynthia (Diana) in _Cynthia's Revels_, v. 1,
+"Queen and huntress, chaste and fair," etc.
+
+442. ~silver-shafted queen~. The epithet is applicable to Diana both as
+huntress and goddess of the moon: as the former she bore arrows which
+were frequently called _shafts_, and as the latter she bore shafts or
+rays of light. _Shaft_ is etymologically 'a _shaven_ rod.' In Chaucer,
+_C. T._ 1364, 'shaft' = arrow.
+
+443. ~brinded lioness~. 'Brinded' = brindled or streaked. Comp. "_brinded_
+cat," _Macb._ iv. 1. 1: _brind_ is etymologically connected with
+_brand_.
+
+444. ~mountain-pard~, _i.e._ panther or other spotted wild beast. _Pard_,
+originally a Persian word, is common in the compounds leo-_pard_ and
+camelo-_pard_.
+
+445. ~frivolous ... Cupid~. See the speech of Oberon, _M. N. D._ ii. 1.
+65. The epithet 'frivolous' applies to Cupid in his lower character as
+the wanton god of sensual love, not in his character as the fair Eros
+who unites all the discordant elements of the universe: see note, l.
+1004.
+
+447. ~snaky-headed Gorgon shield~. Medusa was one of the three Gorgons,
+frightful beings, whose heads were covered with hissing serpents, and
+who had wings, brazen claws, and huge teeth. Whoever looked at Medusa
+was turned into stone, but Perseus, by the aid of enchantment, slew her.
+Minerva (Athene) placed the monster's head in the centre of her shield,
+which confounded Cupid: see _Par. Lost_, ii. 610.
+
+449. ~freezed~, froze. The adjective 'congealed' is used proleptically,
+the meaning being 'froze into a stone so that it was congealed.'
+
+450. ~But~, except: a preposition.
+
+451. ~dashed~, confounded: this meaning of the word is obsolete.
+
+452. ~blank awe~: the awe of one amazed. Comp. the phrase, 'blank
+astonishment,' and see _Par. Lost_, ix. 890.
+
+454. ~so~, _i.e._ chaste.
+
+455. ~liveried angels lackey her~, _i.e._ ministering angels attend her.
+So, in _L'Alleg._ 62, "the clouds in thousand _liveries_ dight"; a
+servant's livery being the distinctive dress _delivered_ to him by his
+master. 'Lackey,' to wait upon, from 'lackey' (or lacquey), a footboy,
+who runs by the side of his master. The word is here used in a good
+sense, without implying servility (as in _Ant. and Cleop._ i. 4. 46,
+"_lackeying_ the varying tide"). 'Her': the soul. Milton is fond of the
+feminine personification: see line 396.
+
+457. ~vision~: a trisyllable.
+
+458. ~no gross ear~. See notes, l. 112 and 997.
+
+459. ~oft converse~, frequent communion. _Oft_ is here used adjectively:
+this use is common in the English Bible, _e.g._ i. _Tim._ v. 23, "thine
+_often_ infirmities."
+
+460. ~Begin to cast ... turns~. 'Begin' is subjunctive; 'turns' is
+indicative: the latter may be used to convey greater certainty and
+vividness.
+
+461. ~temple of the mind~, _i.e._ the body. This metaphor is common: see
+Shakespeare, _Temp._ i. 2. 57, "There's nothing ill can dwell in such a
+_temple_"; and the Bible, _John_, ii. 21, "He spake of the _temple_ of
+his body."
+
+462. ~the soul's essence~. As if, by a life of purity, the body gradually
+became spiritualised, and therefore partook of the soul's immortality.
+
+465. ~most~, above all.
+
+467. ~soul grows clotted~. This doctrine is expounded in Plato's _Phaedo_,
+in a conversation between Socrates and Cebes:
+
+     _Socrates_ (speaking of the pure soul). That soul, I say, herself
+     invisible, departs to the invisible world--to the divine and
+     immortal and rational: thither arriving, she is secure of bliss,
+     and is released from the error and folly of men, their fears and
+     wild passions and all other human ills, and for ever dwells, as
+     they say of the initiated, in company with the gods. Is not this
+     true, Cebes?
+
+     _Cebes._ Yes; beyond a doubt.
+
+     _Soc._ But the soul which has been polluted, and is impure at the
+     time of her departure, and is the companion and servant of the body
+     always, and is in love with and fascinated by the body and by the
+     desires and pleasures of the body, until she is led to believe that
+     the truth only exists in a bodily form, which a man may touch and
+     see and taste, and use for the purposes of his lusts--the soul, I
+     mean, accustomed to hate and fear and avoid the intellectual
+     principle, which to the bodily eye is dark and invisible and can be
+     attained only by philosophy;--do you suppose that such a soul will
+     depart pure and unalloyed?
+
+     _Ceb._ That is impossible.
+
+     _Soc._ She is held fast by the corporeal, which the continual
+     association and constant care of the body have wrought into her
+     nature.
+
+     _Ceb._ Very true.
+
+     _Soc._ And this corporeal element, my friend, is heavy and weighty
+     and earthy, and is that element by which such a soul is depressed
+     and dragged down again into the visible world, because she is
+     afraid of the invisible and of the world below--prowling about
+     tombs and sepulchres, in the neighbourhood of which, as they tell
+     us, are seen certain ghostly apparitions of souls which have not
+     departed pure, but are cloyed with sight and therefore visible.
+
+     _Ceb._ That is very likely, Socrates.
+
+     _Soc._ Yes, that is very likely, Cebes; and these must be the
+     souls, not of the good, but of the evil, who are compelled to
+     wander about such places in payment of the penalty of their former
+     evil way of life; and they continue to wander until through the
+     craving after the corporeal which never leaves them, they are
+     imprisoned finally in another body. And they may be supposed to
+     find their prisons in the same natures which they have had in their
+     former lives.
+
+Further on in the same dialogue, Socrates says:
+
+     Each pleasure and pain is a sort of nail which nails and rivets the
+     soul to the body, until she becomes like the body, and believes
+     that to be true which the body affirms to be true; and from
+     agreeing with the body, and having the same delights, she is
+     obliged to have the same habits and haunts, and is not likely ever
+     to be pure at her departure, but is always infected by the
+     body.--_Extracted from Jowett's Translation of the Dialogues._
+
+468. ~imbodies and imbrutes~, _i.e._ becomes materialised and brutish.
+_Imbody_, ordinarily used as a transitive verb, is here intransitive.
+_Imbrute_ (said to have been coined by Milton) is also intransitive; in
+_Par. Lost_, ix. 166, it is transitive. The use of the word may have
+been suggested by the _Phaedo_, where the souls of the wicked are said
+to "find their prisons in the same natures which they have had in their
+former lives," those of gluttons and drunkards passing into asses and
+animals of that sort.
+
+469. ~divine property~. In his prose works Milton calls the soul 'that
+divine particle of God's breathing': comp. Horace, _Sat._ ii. 2. 79,
+"affigit humo _divinae particulam aurae_"; and Plato's _Phaedo_, "The
+soul resembles the divine, and the body the mortal."
+
+470. ~gloomy shadows damp~: see note, l. 207.
+
+471. ~charnel-vaults~, burial vaults. 'Charnel' (O.F. _charnel_, Lat.
+_carnalis_; _caro_, flesh): comp. 'carnal,' l. 474.
+
+473. ~As loth~, etc. The construction is: 'As (being) loth to leave the
+body that it loved, and (as having) linked itself to a degenerate and
+degraded state.' ~it~: by syntax this pronoun refers to 'shadows,' or (in
+thought) '_such_ shadow.' It seems best, however, to connect it with
+'soul,' line 467.
+
+474. ~sensualty~. The modern form of the word is _sensuality_.
+
+475. ~degenerate and degraded~: the former because 'imbodied,' the latter
+because 'imbruted.'
+
+476. ~divine Philosophy~, _i.e._ such philosophy as is to be found in "the
+divine volume of Plato" (as Milton has called it).
+
+477. ~crabbed~, sour or bitter: comp. crab-apple. _Crab_ (a shell-fish)
+and _crab_ (a kind of apple) are radically connected, both conveying the
+idea of scratching or pinching (Skeat).
+
+478. ~Apollo's lute~: Apollo being the god of song and music. Comp. _Par.
+Reg._ i. 478-480; _L. L. L._ iv. 3. 342, "as sweet and musical As bright
+_Apollo's lute_, strung with his hair."
+
+479. ~nectared sweets~. Nectar (Gk. +nektar+, the drink of the gods) is
+repeatedly used by Milton to express the greatest sweetness: see l. 838;
+_Par. Lost_, iv. 333, "Nectarine fruits"; v. 306, 426.
+
+482. ~Methought~: see note, l. 171. ~what should it be?~ This is a direct
+question about a past event, and means 'What was it likely to be?' "It
+seems to increase the emphasis of the interrogation, since a doubt about
+the past (time having been given for investigation) implies more
+perplexity than a doubt about the future" (Abbott, Sec. 325). ~For certain~,
+_i.e._ for certain truth, certainly.
+
+483. ~night-foundered~; benighted, lost in the darkness. Radically, 'to
+founder' is to go to the bottom (Fr. _fondrer_; Lat. _fundus_, the
+bottom), hence applied to ships; it is also applied to horses sinking in
+a slough. The compound is Miltonic (see _Par. Lost_, i. 204), and is
+sometimes stigmatised as meaningless; on the contrary, it is very
+expressive, implying that the brothers are swallowed up in night and
+have lost their way. 'Founder' is here used in the secondary sense of
+'to be lost' or 'to be in distress.'
+
+484. ~neighbour~. An adjective, as in line 576, and frequently in
+Shakespeare. Neighbour = nigh-boor, _i.e._ a peasant dwelling near.
+
+487. ~Best draw~: we had best draw our swords.
+
+489. ~Defence is a good cause~, etc., _i.e._ 'in defending ourselves we
+are engaged in a good cause, and may Heaven be on our side.'
+
+490. ~That hallo~. We are to understand that the Attendant Spirit has
+halloed just before entering; this is shown by the stage-direction given
+in the edition of _Comus_ printed by Lawes in 1637: _He hallos; the
+Guardian Daemon hallos again, and enters in the habit of a shepherd._
+
+491. ~you fall~, etc., _i.e._ otherwise you will fall on our swords.
+
+493. ~sure~: see note, l. 246.
+
+494. ~Thyrsis~, Like Lycidas, this name is common in pastoral poetry. In
+Milton's _Epitaphium Damonis_ it stands for Milton himself; in _Comus_
+it belongs to Lawes, who now receives additional praise for his musical
+genius. In lines 86-88 the compliment is enforced by alliterative
+verses, and here by the aid of rhyme (495-512). Masson thinks that the
+poet, having spoken of the madrigals of Thyrsis, may have introduced
+this rhymed passage in order to prolong the feeling of Pastoralism by
+calling up the cadence of known English pastoral poems.
+
+495. ~sweetened ... dale~; poetical exaggeration or hyperbole, implying
+that fragrant flowers became even more fragrant from Thyrsis' music.
+
+496. ~huddling~. This conveys the two ideas of hastening and crowding:
+comp. Horace, _Ars Poetica_, 19, "Et _properantis_ aquae per amoenos
+ambitus agros." ~madrigal~: a pastoral or shepherd's song (Ital. _mandra_,
+a flock): such compositions, then in favour, had been made by Lawes and
+by Milton's father.
+
+497. ~swain~: a word of common use in pastoral poetry. It denotes strictly
+a peasant or, more correctly, a young man: comp. the compounds
+boat-_swain_, cox-_swain_. See _Arc._ 26, "Stay, gentle _swains_," etc.
+
+499. ~pent~, penned, participle of _pen_, to shut up (A.S. _pennan_, which
+is connected with _pin_, seen in _pin_-fold, l. 7). ~forsook~: a form of
+the past tense used for the participle.
+
+501. ~and his next joy~, _i.e._ 'and (thou), his next joy'--words
+addressed to the second brother.
+
+502. ~trivial toy~, ordinary trifle. The phrase seems redundant, but
+'trivial' may here be used in the strict sense of common or well-known.
+Compare _Il Pens._ 4, "fill the fixed mind with all your _toys_"; and
+Burton's _Anat. of Mel._, "complain of _toys_, and fear without a
+cause."
+
+503. ~stealth of~, things stolen by.
+
+506. ~To this my errand~, etc., _i.e._ in comparison with this errand of
+mine and the anxiety it involved. 'To' = in comparison with; an idiom
+common in Elizabethan English, _e.g._ "There is no woe _to_ this
+correction," _Two Gent._ ii. 4. 138. See Abbott, Sec. 187.
+
+508. ~How chance~. _Chance_ is here a verb followed by a substantive
+clause: 'how does it chance that,' etc. This idiom is common in
+Shakespeare (Abbott, Sec. 37), where it sometimes has the force of an
+adverb (= perchance): compare _Par. Lost_, ii. 492: "If chance the
+radiant sun, with farewell sweet," etc.
+
+509. ~sadly~, seriously. Radically, sad = sated or full (A.S. _saed_);
+hence the two meanings, 'serious' and 'sorrowful,' the former being
+common in Spenser, Bacon, and Shakespeare. Comp. 'some _sad_ person of
+known judgment' (Bacon); _Romeo and Jul._ i. 1. 205, "Tell me in
+_sadness_, who is that you love"; _Par. Lost_, vi. 541, "settled in his
+face I see _Sad_ resolution." See also Swinburne's _Miscellanies_
+(1886), page 170.
+
+510. ~our neglect~, _i.e._ neglect on our part.
+
+511. ~Ay me~! Comp. _Lyc._ 56, "Ay me! I fondly dream"; 154. This
+exclamatory phrase = ah me! Its form is due to the French _aymi_ = alas,
+for me! and has no connection with _ay_ or _aye_ = yes. In this line
+_true_ rhymes with _shew_: comp. _youth_ and _shew'th_, _Sonnet on his
+having arrived at the age of twenty-three_.
+
+512. ~Prithee~. A familiar fusion of _I pray thee_, sometimes written
+'pr'ythee.' Lines 495-512 form nine rhymed couplets.
+
+513. ~ye~: a dative. See note on l. 216.
+
+514. ~shallow~. Comp. _Son._ i. 6, "_shallow_ cuckoo's bill," xii_a_. 12;
+_Arc._ 41, "_shallow_-searching Fame."
+
+515. ~sage poets~. Homer and Virgil are meant; both of these mention the
+chimera. Milton (_Par. Lost_, iii. 19) afterwards speaks of himself as
+"taught by the heavenly Muse." Comp. _L'Alleg._ 17; _Il Pens._ 117,
+"great bards besides In sage and solemn tunes have sung."
+
+516. ~storied~, related: 'To story' is here used actively: the past
+participle is frequent in the sense of 'bearing a story or picture'; _Il
+Pens._ 159, "storied windows"; Gray's _Elegy_, 41, "storied urn";
+Tennyson's "storied walls." _Story_ is an abbreviation of _history_.
+
+517. ~Chimeras~, monsters. Comp. the sublime passage in _Par. Lost_, ii.
+618-628. The Chimera was a fire-breathing monster, with the head of a
+lion, the tail of a dragon, and the body of a goat. It was slain by
+Bellerophon. As a common name 'chimera' is used by Milton to denote a
+terrible monster, and is now current (in an age which rejects such
+fabulous creatures) in the sense of a wild fancy; hence the adj.
+_chimerical_ = wild or fanciful. ~enchanted isles~, _e.g._ those of Circe
+and Calypso, mentioned in the _Odyssey_.
+
+518. ~rifted rocks~: rifted = riven. Orpheus, in search of Eurydice,
+entered the lower world through the rocky jaws of Taenarus, a cape in
+the south of Greece (see Virgil _Georg._ iv. 467, _Taenarias fauces_);
+here also Hercules emerged from Hell with the captive Cerberus.
+
+519. ~such there be~. See note on l. 12 for this indicative use of _be_.
+
+520. ~navel~, centre, inmost recess. Shakespeare (_Cor._ iii. l. 123)
+speaks of the 'navel of the state'; and in Greek Calypso's island was
+'the navel of the sea,' while Apollo's temple at Delphi was 'the navel
+of the earth.'
+
+521. ~Immured~, enclosed. Here used generally: radically it = shut up
+within walls (Lat. _murus_, a wall).
+
+523. ~witcheries~, enchantments.
+
+526. ~murmurs~. The incantations or spells of evil powers were sung or
+murmured over the doomed object; sometimes they were muttered (as here)
+over the enchanted food or drink prepared for the victim. Comp. l. 817
+and _Arc._ 60, "With puissant words and _murmurs_ made to bless."
+
+529. ~unmoulding reason's mintage charactered~, _i.e._ defacing those
+signs of a rational soul that are stamped on the human face. The figure
+is taken from the process of melting down coins in order to restamp
+them. 'Charactered': here used in its primary sense (Gk. +charakter+, an
+engraven or stamped mark), as in the phrase 'printed characters.' The
+word is here accented on the second syllable; in modern English on the
+first.
+
+531. ~crofts that brow~ = crofts that overhang. Croft = a small field,
+generally adjoining a house. Brow = overhang: comp. _L'Alleg._ 8,
+"low-browed rocks."
+
+532. ~bottom glade~: the glade below. The word _bottom_, however, is
+frequent in Shakespeare in the sense of 'valley'; hence 'bottom glade'
+might be interpreted 'glade in the valley.'
+
+533. ~monstrous rout~; see note on the stage-direction after l. 92. Comp.
+'the bottom of the monstrous world,' _Lyc._ 158. In _Aen._ vii. 15, we
+read that when Aeneas sailed past Circe's island he heard "the growling
+noise of lions in wrath, ... and shapes of huge wolves fiercely howling."
+
+534. ~stabled wolves~, wolves in their dens. _Stable_ (= a standing-place)
+is used by Milton in the general sense of abode, _e.g._ in _Par. Lost_,
+xi. 752, "sea-monsters whelped and _stabled_." Comp. "Stable for
+camels," _Ezek._ xxv. 5, and the Latin _stabulum_, _Aen._ vi. 179,
+_stabula alta ferarum_.
+
+535. ~Hecate~: see l. 135.
+
+536. ~bowers~: see note, l. 45.
+
+539. ~unweeting~; unwitting, unknowing. This spelling is found in
+Spenser's _Faerie Queene_, both in the compounds and in the simple verb
+_weet_, a corruption of _wit_ (A.S. _witan_, to know). Compare _Par.
+Reg._ i. 126, "_unweeting_, he fulfilled The purposed counsel." _Sams.
+Agon._ 1680; Chaucer, _Doctor's Tale_, "Virginius came _to weet_ the
+judge's will."
+
+540. ~by then~, _i.e._ by the time when. The demonstrative adverb thus
+implies a relative adverb: comp. the Greek, where the demonstrative is
+generally omitted, though in Homer occasionally the demonstrative alone
+is used. Another rendering is to make line 540 parenthetical.
+
+542. ~knot-grass~. A grass with knotted or jointed stem: some, however,
+suppose marjoram to be intended here. ~dew-besprent~, _i.e._ besprinkled
+with dew: comp. _Lyc._ 29. _Be_ is an intensive prefix; _sprent_ is
+connected with M.E. _sprengen_, to scatter, of which _sprinkle_ is the
+frequentative form.
+
+543. ~sat me down~: see note, l. 61.
+
+544. ~canopied, and interwove~. Comp. _M. N. D._ ii. 2. 49, 'I know a
+bank,' etc. In sense 'canopied' refers to 'bank,' and 'interwove' to
+'ivy.' There are two forms of the past participle of _weave_, viz.
+_wove_ and _woven_: see _Arc._ 47.
+
+545. ~flaunting~, showy, garish. In _Lyc._ 146, the poet first wrote
+'garish columbine,' then 'well-attired woodbine.'
+
+547. ~meditate ... minstrelsy~, _i.e._ to sing a pastoral song: comp.
+_Lyc._ 32. 66. _To meditate the muse_ is a Virgilian phrase: see _Ecl._
+i. and vi. The Lat. _meditor_ has the meaning of 'to apply one's self
+to,' and does not mean merely to ponder.
+
+548. ~had~, should have: comp. l. 394. ~ere a close~, _i.e._ before he had
+finished his song (Masson). _Close_ occurs in the technical sense of
+'the final cadence of a piece of music.'
+
+549. ~wonted~: see note, l. 332.
+
+550. ~barbarous~: comp. _Son._ xii. 3, "a _barbarous_ noise environs me Of
+owls and cuckoos, etc."
+
+551. ~listened them~. The omission of _to_ after verbs of hearing is
+frequent in Shakespeare and others: comp. "To listen our purpose"; "List
+a brief tale"; "hearken the end"; etc. (see Abbott, Sec. 199). 'Them': this
+refers to the _sounds_ implied in 'dissonance.'
+
+552. ~unusual stop~. This refers to what happened at l. 145, and the "soft
+and solemn-breathing sound" to l. 230.
+
+553. ~drowsy frighted~, _i.e._ drowsy and frighted. The noise of Comus's
+rout is here supposed to have kept the horses of night awake and in a
+state of drowsy agitation until the sudden calm put an end to their
+uneasiness. In Milton's corrected MS. we read 'drowsy flighted,' where
+the two words are not co-ordinate epithets but must be regarded as
+expressing one idea = flying drowsily; to express this some insert a
+hyphen. Comp. 'dewy-feathered,' _Il Pens._ 146, and others of Milton's
+remarkable compound adjectives. The reading in the text is that of the
+printed editions of 1637, '45, and '73.
+
+554. ~Sleep~ (or Night) is represented as drawn by horses in a chariot
+with its curtains closely drawn. Comp. _Macbeth_, ii. l. 51, "curtained
+sleep."
+
+555. 'The lady's song rose into the air so sweetly and imperceptibly
+that silence was taken unawares and so charmed that she would gladly
+have renounced her nature and existence for ever if her place could
+always be filled by such music.' Comp. _Par. Lost_, iv. 604, "She all
+night long her amorous descant sung; _Silence was pleased_"; also
+Jonson's _Vision of Delight_:
+
+    "Yet let it like an odour rise
+    To all the senses here,
+    And fall like sleep upon their eyes,
+    Or music in their ear."
+
+558. ~took~, taken. Comp. l. 256 for a similar use of _take_, and compare
+'forsook,' line 499, for the form of the word.
+
+560. ~Still~, always. This use of _still_ is frequent in Elizabethan
+writers (Abbott, Sec. 69). ~I was all ear~. Warton notes this expressive
+idiom (still current) in Drummond's 'Sonnet to the Nightingale,' and in
+_Tempest_, iv. l. 59, "all eyes." _All_ is an attribute of _I_.
+
+561. ~create a soul~, etc., _i.e._ breathe life even into the dead: comp.
+_L'Alleg._ 144. Warton supposes that Milton may have seen a picture in
+an old edition of Quarles' _Emblems_, in which "a soul in the figure of
+an infant is represented within the ribs of a skeleton, as in its
+prison." _Rom._ vii. 24, "Who shall deliver me out of the body of this
+death?"
+
+565. ~harrowed~, distracted, torn as by a _harrow_. This is probably the
+meaning, but there is a verb 'harrow' corrupted from 'harry,' to subdue;
+hence some read "harried with grief and fear."
+
+567. ~How sweet ... how near~. This sentence contains two exclamations:
+this is a Greek construction. In English the idiom is "How sweet ...
+_and_ how near," etc. We may, however, render the line thus: "How
+sweet..., how near the deadly snare _is_!"
+
+568. ~lawns~. 'Lawn' is always used by Milton to denote an open stretch of
+grassy ground, whereas in modern usage it is applied generally to a
+smooth piece of grass-grown land in front of a house. The origin of the
+word is disputed, but it seems radically to denote 'a clear space'; it
+is said to be cognate with _llan_ used as a prefix in the names of
+certain Welsh towns, _e.g._ Llandaff, Llangollen. In Chaucer it takes
+the form launde.
+
+569. ~often trod by day~, which I have often trod by day, and therefore
+know well.
+
+570. ~mine ear~: see note, l. 171.
+
+571. ~wizard~. Here used in contempt, like many other words with the
+suffix _-ard_, or _-art_, as braggart, sluggard, etc. Milton
+occasionally, however, uses the word merely in the sense of magician or
+magical, without implying contempt: see _Lyc._ 55, "Deva spreads her
+_wizard_ stream."
+
+572. ~certain signs~: see l. 644.
+
+574. ~aidless~: an obsolete word. See Trench's _English Past and Present_
+for a list of about 150 words in _-less_, all now obsolete: comp. l. 92,
+note. ~wished~: wished for. Comp. l. 950 for a similar transitive use of
+the verb.
+
+575. ~such two~: two persons of such and such description.
+
+577. ~durst not stay~. _Durst_ is the old past tense of _dare_, and is
+used as an auxiliary: the form _dared_ is much more modern, and may be
+used as an independent verb.
+
+578. ~sprung~: see note, l. 256.
+
+579. ~till I had found~. The language is extremely condensed here, the
+meaning being, 'I began my flight, and continued to run till I _had
+found_ you'; the pluperfect tense is used because the speaker is looking
+back upon his meeting with the brothers after completing a long
+narration of the circumstances that led up to it. If, however, 'had
+found' be regarded as a subjunctive, the meaning is, 'I began my flight,
+and determined to continue it until I had found (_i.e._ should have
+found) you.' Comp. Abbott Sec. 361.
+
+581. ~triple knot~, a three-fold alliance of Night, Shades, and Hell.
+
+584. "This confidence of the elder brother in favour of the final
+efficacy of virtue, holds forth a very high strain of philosophy,
+delivered in as high strains of eloquence and poetry" (Warton). And Todd
+adds: "Religion here gave energy to the poet's strains."
+
+585. ~safely~, confidently. ~period~, sentence.
+
+586. ~for me~, _i.e._ for my part, so far as I am concerned: see note, l.
+602.
+
+588. ~Which erring men call Chance~. 'Erring' belongs to the predicate;
+"which men erroneously call Chance." Comp. Pope, _Essay on Man_:
+
+    "All nature is but art, unknown to thee;
+    All chance, direction, which thou canst not see."
+
+588. ~this I hold firm~. 'This' is explained by the next line: "this
+belief, namely, that Virtue may be assailed, etc., I hold firmly."
+
+590. ~enthralled~, enslaved. Comp. l. 1022.
+
+591. ~which ... harm~, which the Evil Power intended to be most harmful.
+
+595-7. ~Gathered like scum~, etc. According to one editor, this image is
+"taken from the conjectures of astronomers concerning the dark spots
+which from time to time appear on the surface of the sun's body and
+after a while disappear again; which they suppose to be the scum of that
+fiery matter which first breeds it, and then breaks through and consumes
+it."
+
+598. ~pillared firmament~. The firmament (Lat. _firmus_, firm or solid) is
+here regarded as the roof of the earth and supported on pillars. The
+ancients believed the stars to be fixed in the solid firmament: comp.
+_Par. Reg._ iv. 55; also _Wint. Tale_, ii. l. 100, "If I mistake In
+those foundations which I build upon, The centre is not big enough to
+bear A schoolboy's top."
+
+602. ~for~, as regards. ~let ... girt~, though he be surrounded.
+
+603. ~grisly legions~. 'Grisly,' radically the same as _grue-some_ =
+horrible, causing terror. In _Par. Lost_, iv. 821, Satan is called "the
+grisly king." 'Legions' is here a trisyllable.
+
+604. ~sooty flag of Acheron~. Acheron, at first the name of a river of the
+lower world, came to be used as a name for the whole of the lower world
+generally. Todd quotes from P. Fletcher's _Locusts_ (1627): "All hell
+run out and sooty flags display."
+
+605. ~Harpies and Hydras~. The Harpies (lit. 'spoilers') were unclean
+monsters, being birds with the heads of maidens, with long claws and
+gaunt faces. _Hydras_, here used as a general name for monstrous
+water-serpents (Gk. _hyd{=o}r_, water); the name was first given to the
+nine-headed monster slain by Hercules. See _Son._ xv. 7, "new rebellions
+raise Their _Hydra_ heads"; the epithet 'hydra-headed' being applied to
+a rebellion, an epidemic, or other evil that seems to gain strength from
+every endeavour to repress it.
+
+607. ~return his purchase back~, _i.e._ 'give up his spoil,' or (as in the
+MS.) 'release his new-got prey.' To purchase (Fr. _pour-chasser_)
+originally meant to pursue eagerly, hence to acquire by fair means or
+foul: it thus came to mean 'to steal' (as frequently in Spenser, Jonson,
+and Shakespeare), and 'to buy' (its current sense). See Trench, _Study
+of Words_; _Hen. V._ iii. 2. 45, "They will steal anything, and call it
+_purchase_"; i. _Hen. IV._ ii. l. 101, "thou shalt have share in our
+_purchase_."
+
+609. ~venturous~, ready to venture. See note, l. 79.
+
+610. ~yet~, nevertheless. The meaning is: '_Though_ thy courage is
+useless, _yet_ I love it.' ~emprise~: an obsolete form (common in Spenser)
+of _enterprise_. It is literally that which is undertaken; hence
+'readiness to undertake'; hence 'daring.'
+
+611. ~can do thee little stead~, _i.e._ can help thee little. _Stead_,
+both as noun and verb, is obsolete except in certain phrases, _e.g._ 'to
+stand in good stead,' and in composition, _e.g._ _stead_fast,
+home_stead_, in_stead_, Hamp_stead_, etc. Its strict sense is place or
+position: comp. _Il Pens._ 3, "How little you _bested_."
+
+612. ~Far other arms~, _i.e._ very different arms. 'Other' has here its
+radical sense of 'different,' and can therefore be modified by an
+adverb.
+
+615. ~unthread~, loosen. Comp. _Temp._ iv. l. 259, "Go charge my goblins
+that they grind their joints With dry convulsions, shorten up their
+sinews With aged cramps."
+
+617. ~As to make this relation~, _i.e._ as to be able to tell this.
+
+619. ~a certain shepherd lad~. This is supposed to refer to Charles
+Diodati, Milton's dearest friend, to whom he addressed his 1st and 6th
+elegies, and after whose death he wrote the touching poem _Epitaphium
+Damonis_, in which he alludes to his friend's medical and botanical
+skill:
+
+    "There thou shalt cull me simples, and shalt teach
+    Thy friend the name and healing powers of each."
+
+    (_Cowper's translation._)
+
+620. ~Of small regard to see to~: in colloquial English, 'not much to
+look at.' This is an old idiom: comp. Greek +kalos idein+: see English
+Bible, "goodly to look to," i. _Sam._ xvi. 12; _Ezek._ xxiii. 15; _Jer._
+xlvii. 3.
+
+621. ~virtuous~, of healing power: see note, l. 165. Comp. _Il Pens._ 113,
+"the virtuous ring and glass."
+
+623. ~beg me sing~: see note, l. 304.
+
+625. ~ecstasy~: see note, l. 261. The Greek _ekstasis_ = standing out of
+one's self.
+
+626. ~scrip~, wallet.
+
+627. ~simples~, medicinal herbs. 'Simple' (Lat. _simplicem_, 'one-fold,'
+'not compound') was used of a single ingredient in a medicine; hence its
+popular use in the sense of 'herb' or 'drug.'
+
+630. ~me~, _i.e._ for me: the ethic dative.
+
+633. ~bore~. The nom. of this verb is, in sense, some such word as the
+plant or the root.
+
+634. ~unknown and like esteemed~: known and esteemed to a like extent,
+_i.e._ in both cases not at all. _Like_ here corresponds to the prefix
+_un_ in _unknown_. On the description of the plant, see Introduction,
+reference to Ascham's _Scholemaster_.
+
+635. ~clouted shoon~, patched shoes. The expression is found in
+Shakespeare, ii. _Hen. VI._ iv. 2. 195, "Spare none but such as go in
+_clouted shoon_"; _Cym._ iv. 2. 214, "put My _clouted brogues_ from off
+my feet, whose rudeness Answer'd my steps too loud": see examples in
+Mayhew and Skeat's _M. E. Dictionary_. There are instances, however, of
+_clout_ in the sense of a plate of iron fastened on the sole of a shoe.
+In either sense of the word 'clouted shoon' would be heavy and coarse.
+_Shoon_ is an old plural (O.E. _scon_); comp. _hosen_, _eyen_ (= eyes),
+_dohtren_ (= daughters), _foen_ (= foes), etc.
+
+636. ~more med'cinal~, of greater virtue. The line may be scanned thus:
+And yet | more med | 'cinal is | it than | that Mo | ly. ~Moly~. When
+Ulysses was approaching the abode of Circe he was met by Hermes, who
+said: "Come then, I will redeem thee from thy distress, and bring
+deliverance. Lo, take this herb of virtue, and go to the dwelling of
+Circe, that it may keep from thy head the evil day. And I will tell thee
+all the magic sleight of Circe. She will mix thee a potion and cast
+drugs into the mess; but not even so shall she be able to enchant thee;
+so helpful is this charmed herb that I shall give thee ... Therewith the
+slayer of Argos gave me the plant that he had plucked from the ground,
+and he showed me the growth thereof. It was black at the root, but the
+flower was like to milk. _Moly_ the gods call it, but it is hard for
+mortal men to dig; howbeit with the gods all things are possible"
+(_Odyssey_, x. 280, etc., _Butcher and Lang's translation_). In his
+first Elegy Milton alludes to M{=o}ly as the counter-charm to the spells
+of Circe: see also Tennyson's _Lotos-Eaters_, "beds of amaranth and
+_moly_."
+
+638. ~He called it Haemony~. _He_ is the shepherd lad of line 619.
+_Haemony_: Milton invents the plant, both name and thing. But the
+adjective _Haemonian_ is used, in Latin poetry as = _Thessalian_,
+Haemonia being the old name of Thessaly. And as Thessaly was regarded as
+a land of magic, 'Haemonian' acquired the sense of 'magical' (see Ovid,
+_Met._ vii 264, "_Haemonia_ radices valle resectas," etc.), and Milton's
+Haemony is simply "the magical plant." Coleridge supposes that by the
+prickles and gold flower of the plant Milton signified the sorrows and
+triumph of the Christian life.
+
+639. ~sovran use~: see note, l. 41. The use of this adjective with charms,
+medicines, or remedies of any kind was so very common that the word came
+to imply 'all-healing,' 'supremely efficacious'; see _Cor._ ii. 1. 125,
+"The most _sovereign_ prescription in Galen."
+
+640. ~mildew blast~: comp. _Arc._ 48-53, _Ham._ iii. 4. 64, "Here is your
+husband; Like a _mildew'd_ ear _Blasting_ his wholesome brother." A
+mildew blast is one giving rise to that kind of blight called mildew
+(A.S. meledeaw, honey-dew), it being supposed that the prevalence of dry
+east winds was favourable to its formation.
+
+642. ~pursed it up~, etc., _i.e._ put it in my wallet, though I did not
+attach much importance to it. ~little reckoning~: comp. _Lyc._ 116, where
+the very same phrase occurs.
+
+643. ~Till now that~. Here _that_ = when, the clause introduced by it
+being explanatory of _now_ (see Abbott, Sec. 284).
+
+646-7. ~Entered ... came off~. 'I entered into the very midst of his
+treacherous enchantments, and yet escaped.' _Lime-twigs_ = snares; in
+allusion to the practice of catching birds by means of twigs smeared
+with a viscous substance (called on that account 'birdlime').
+Shakespeare makes repeated allusion to this practice: see _Macbeth_, iv.
+2. 34; _Two Gent._ ii. 2. 68; ii. _Hen. VI._ i. 3. 91; etc.
+
+649. ~necromancer's hall~. Warton supposes that Milton here thought of a
+magician's castle which has an enchanted hall invaded by Christian
+knights, as we read of in the romances of chivalry. _Necromancer_, lit.
+one who by magical power can commune with the dead (Gk. +nekros+, a
+corpse); hence a sorcerer. From confusion of the first syllable with
+that of the Lat. _niger_, black, the art of necromancy came to be called
+"the black art."
+
+650. ~Where if he be~, Lat. _ubi si sit_: in English the relative adverb
+in such cases is best rendered by a conjunction + a demonstrative
+adverb; thus, '_and_ if he be _there_.'
+
+651. ~brandished blade~. Comp. Hermes' advice to Ulysses: "When it shall
+be that Circe smites thee with her long wand, even then draw thy sharp
+sword from thy thigh, and spring on her, as one eager to slay her,"
+_Odyssey_, x. ~break his glass~. An imitation of Spenser, who makes Sir
+Guyon break the golden cup of the enchantress Excess, _F. Q._ i. 12,
+stanza 56.
+
+652. ~luscious~, delicious. The word is a corruption of _lustious_ from
+O.E. _lust_ = pleasure: see note, l. 49.
+
+653. ~But seize his wand~. The force of this injunction is shown by lines
+815-819.
+
+654. ~menace high~, violent threat. _High_ is thus used in a number of
+figurative senses, _e.g._ a high wind, a high hand, high passions (_Par.
+Lost_, ix. 123), high descent, high design, etc.
+
+655. ~Sons of Vulcan~. In the _Aeneid_ (Bk. viii. 252) we are told that
+Cacus, son of Vulcan (the Roman God of Fire), "vomited from his throat
+huge volumes of smoke" when pursued by Hercules, "_Faucibus ingentem
+fumum_," etc.
+
+657. ~apace~; quickly, at a great pace. This word has changed its
+meaning: in Chaucer it means 'at a foot pace,' _i.e._ slowly. The first
+syllable is the indefinite article '_a_' = one (Skeat).
+
+658. ~bear~: the subjunctive used optatively (Abbott, Sec. 365). (_Stage
+Direction_) ~puts by~: puts on one side, refuses. ~goes about to rise~,
+_i.e._ endeavours to rise. This idiomatic use of _go about_ still
+lingers in the phrase 'to _go about_ one's business'; comp. 'to _set
+about_' anything.
+
+659. ~but~, merely: comp. l. 656. After the conditional clause we have
+here a verb in the present tense ('are chained'), a construction which
+well expresses the certainty and immediate action of the sorcerer's
+spell (see Abbott, Sec. 371).
+
+660. ~your nerves ... alabaster~. Comp. _Tempest_, i. 2. 471-484. Milton
+has the word alabaster three times, twice incorrectly spelled
+_alablaster_ (in this passage and _Par. Lost_, iv. 544) and once
+correctly, as now entered in the text (_Par. Reg._ iv. 548). Alabaster
+is a kind of marble: comp. _On Shak._ 14, "make us _marble_ with too
+much conceiving."
+
+661. ~or, as Daphne was~, etc. The construction is: 'if I merely wave
+this wand, you (become) a marble statue, or (you become) root-bound, as
+Daphne was, that fled Apollo.' Milton inserts the adverbial clause in
+the predicate, which is not unusual; he then adds an attributive clause,
+which is not usual in English, though common in Greek and Latin. Daphne,
+an Arcadian goddess, was pursued by Apollo, and having prayed for aid,
+she was changed into a laurel tree (Gk. +daphne+): comp, the story of
+Syrinx and Pan, referred to in _Arc._ 106.
+
+662. ~fled~. Comp. the transitive use of the verb in l. 829, 939, _Son._
+xviii. 14, "_fly_ the Babylonian woe"; _Sams. Agon._ 1541, "_fly_ The
+sight of this so horrid spectacle."
+
+663. ~freedom of my mind~, etc. Comp. Cowper's noble passage, "He is the
+freeman whom the truth makes free," etc. (_Task_, v. 733).
+
+665. ~corporal rind~: the body, called in _Il Pens._ 92, "this fleshly
+nook."
+
+668. ~here be all~. See note, l. 12.
+
+669. ~fancy can beget~: comp. _Il Pens._ 6.
+
+672. ~cordial julep~, heart-reviving drink. _Cordial_, lit. hearty (Lat.
+_cordi_, stem of _cor_, the heart): _julep_, Persian _gul{=a}b_,
+rose-water.
+
+673. ~his~ = its: see note, l. 96.
+
+674. ~syrups~: Arab, _shar{=a}b_, a drink, wine.
+
+675. ~that Nepenthes~, etc. The allusion is explained by the following
+lines of the _Odyssey_: "Then Helen, daughter of Zeus, turned to new
+thoughts. Presently she cast a drug into the wine whereof they drank, a
+drug to lull all pain and anger, and bring forgetfulness of every
+sorrow. Whoso should drink a draught thereof, when it is mingled in the
+bowl, on that day he would let no tear fall down his cheeks, not though
+his father and his mother died ... Medicines of such virtue and so
+helpful had the daughter of Zeus, which Polydamna, the wife of Thon, had
+given her, a woman of Egypt, where earth the grain-giver yields herbs in
+greatest plenty, many that are healing in the cup, and many baneful"
+(_Butcher and Lang's translation_, iv. 219-230). 'Nepenthes,' a Greek
+adj. = sorrow-dispelling (+ne+, privative; +penthos+, grief). It is here
+used by Milton as the name of an opiate and it is now occasionally used
+as a general name for drugs that relieve pain.
+
+677. ~Is of such power~, etc.: see note, l. 155. The construction is,
+'That Nepenthes is not of such power to stir up joy as this (julep is,
+nor is it) so friendly to life (nor) so cool to thirst.'
+
+679. ~Why ... to yourself~. Comp. Shakespeare, _Son._ i. 8, "Thyself thy
+foe, to thy sweet self too cruel."
+
+680. 'Nature gave you your beautiful person to be held in trust on
+certain conditions, of which the most obligatory is that the body should
+have refreshment after toil, ease after pain. Yet this very condition
+you disregard, and deal harshly with yourself by refusing my proferred
+glass at a time when you are in need of food and rest.' Comp.
+Shakespeare, _Son._ iv. "Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend Upon
+thyself thy beauty's legacy," etc.
+
+685. ~unexempt condition~, _i.e._ a condition binding on all and at all
+times, a law of human nature.
+
+687. ~mortal frailty~, _i.e._ weak mortals: abstract for concrete.
+
+688. ~That~. The antecedent of this relative is _you_, l. 682. See note,
+l. 2.
+
+689. ~timely~, seasonable. So 'timeless' = unseasonable (Scott's
+_Marmion_, iii. 223, "gambol rude and _timeless_ joke"): comp. _Son._
+ii. 8, "_timely_-happy spirits"; and l. 970.
+
+693. ~Was this ... abode~? The verb is singular, because 'cottage' and
+'safe abode' convey one idea: see Comus's words, l. 320. Notice also
+that the past tense is used as referring to the past act of telling.
+
+694. ~aspects~: accent on final syllable.
+
+695. ~oughly-headed~: so spelt in Milton's MS. = ugly-headed. _Ugly_ is
+radically connected with _awe_.
+
+698. ~with visored falsehood and base forgery~. A vizor (also spelt
+_visor_, _visard_, _vizard_) is a mask, "a false face." The allusion is
+to Comus's disguise: see l. 166. _With_ in this line, as in lines 672
+and 700, denotes _by means of_.
+
+700. ~liquorish baits~: see note on _baited_, l. 162. 'Liquorish,' by
+catachresis for _lickerish_ = tempting to the appetite, causing one to
+_lick_ one's lips. The student should carefully distinguish the three
+words _lickerish_ (as above), _liquorish_ (which is really meaningless)
+and _liquorice_ (= licorice = Lat. _glycyrrhiza_), a plant with a sweet
+root.
+
+702. ~treasonous~; an obsolete word. The current form 'treasonable' has
+usually a more restricted sense: Milton and Shakespeare use _treasonous_
+in the more general sense of _traitorous_ (a cognate word). In this line
+'offer' = the thing offered.
+
+703. ~good men ... good things~. This noble sentiment Milton has
+borrowed from Euripides, _Medea_, 618, +Kakou gar andros dor' onesin ouk
+echei+ "the gifts of the bad man are without profit." (Newton).
+
+704. ~that which is not good~, etc. This is Platonic: the soul has a
+rational principle and an irrational or appetitive, and when the former
+controls the latter, the desires are for what is good only (_Rep._ iv.
+439).
+
+707. ~budge doctors of the Stoic fur~. Budge is lambskin with the wool
+dressed outwards, worn on the edge of the hoods of bachelors of arts,
+etc. Therefore, if both _budge_ and _fur_ be taken literally the line is
+tautological. But 'budge' has the secondary sense of 'solemn,' like a
+doctor in his robes; and 'fur' may be used figuratively in the sense of
+_sect_, just as "the cloth" is used to denote the clergy. The whole
+phrase would thus be equivalent to 'solemn doctors of the Stoic sect.'
+It is possible that Milton makes equivocal reference to the two senses
+of 'budge.'
+
+708. ~the Cynic tub~ = the tub of Diogenes the Cynic, here put in contempt
+for the Cynic school of Greek philosophy, which was the forerunner of
+the Stoic system. Diogenes, one of the early Cynics, lived in a tub, and
+was fond of calling himself +ho kyon+ (the dog).
+
+709. ~the~: here used generically.
+
+711. ~unwithdrawing~. In this participle the termination _-ing_ seems
+almost equivalent to that of the past participle: comp. "_all-obeying_
+breath" (= obeyed by all), _A. and C._ iii. 13, 77. Nature's gifts are
+not only full but continuous.
+
+714. ~all to please ... curious taste~. _All_ = entirely, here modifies
+the infinitives please and sate. _Curious_ = fastidious: its original
+sense is 'careful' or 'anxious.' Compare the two senses of _exquisite_,
+note l. 359.
+
+715. ~set~, _i.e._ she set. The pronominal subject is omitted.
+
+717. ~To deck~: infinitive of purpose.
+
+718. ~in her own loins~, _i.e._ in the bowels of the earth.
+
+719. ~hutched~ = stored up, enclosed. _Hutch_ is an old word for chest or
+coffer, chiefly used now in the compound 'rabbit-hutch.'
+
+720. ~To store her children with~, _i.e._ _wherewith_ to store her
+children. Or we may read, 'in order to store her children with (them).'
+'Store' = provide.
+
+721. ~pet of temperance~, _i.e._ a sudden and transitory fit of
+temperance. ~pulse~. So Daniel and his three companions refused the
+dainties of the King of Babylon and fed on pulse and water; _Dan._ i.
+
+722. ~frieze~, coarse woollen cloth.
+
+723. ~All-giver~. Comp. Gk. +pandora+, an epithet applied to the earth
+as the giver of all.
+
+725. 'And we should serve him as (if he were) a grudging master and a
+penurious niggard of his wealth, and (we should) live like Nature's
+bastards': see _Hebrews_ xii. 8, "If ye are without chastening, whereof
+all have been made partakers, then are ye _bastards, and not sons_."
+
+728. ~Who~. The pronoun here relates not to the word immediately preceding
+it, but to the substantive implied in the possessive pronoun _her_,
+_i.e._ the sons of her who. His, her, etc., in such constructions have
+their full force as genitives: comp. _L'Alleg._ 124, "her grace whom" =
+the grace of her whom. ~surcharged~: overloaded, 'overfraught' (l. 732).
+~waste fertility~, wasted or unused abundance. This participial use of
+'waste' seems to be due to the similarity in sound to such participles
+as 'elevate' (= elevated), 'instruct' (= instructed), etc., which occur
+in Milton (comp. _English Past and Present_, vi.).
+
+729. ~strangled~, suffocated.
+
+730. ~winged air darked with plumes~, _i.e._ the air being darkened by the
+flight of innumerable birds. Spenser also has _dark_ as a verb. Both
+clauses in this line are absolute.
+
+731. ~over-multitude~, outnumber. This line and the preceding one
+illustrate the freedom with which, in earlier English, one part of
+speech was used for another.
+
+732. ~o'erfraught~: see note, l. 355.
+
+733. ~emblaze~, make to blaze, make splendid. There is perhaps a reference
+to the sense of _emblazon_, which is from M.E. _blazen_, to blaze
+abroad, to proclaim.
+
+734. ~bestud with stars~. In Milton's MS. it is 'bestud the centre with
+their star-light,' _centre_ being the 'centre of the earth.'
+
+735. ~inured~, accustomed, by custom rendered less sensitive. _Inure_ is
+from the old phrase 'in ure' = in operation (Fr. _oeuvre_, work).
+
+737. ~coy~: shy or reserved. ~cozened~: cheated, beguiled. The origin of
+this word is interesting: a cozener is one who, for selfish ends, claims
+kindred or _cousinship_ with another, and hence a flatterer or cheat.
+
+739-755. ~Beauty is Nature's coin~, etc. "The idea that runs through these
+seventeen lines is a favourite one with the old poets; and Warton and
+Todd cite parallel passages from Shakespeare, Daniel, Fletcher, and
+Drayton. Thus, from Shakespeare (_M. N. D._ i. 1. 76-8):
+
+    "Earthlier happy is the rose distilled
+    Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn,
+    Grows, lives, and dies, in single blessedness."
+
+See also Shakespeare's first six sonnets, which are pervaded by the idea
+in all its subtleties" (Masson).
+
+743. ~let slip time~, _i.e._ allow time _to_ slip: see note, l. 304. Comp.
+_Par. Lost_, i. 178. "Let us not _slip_ the occasion."
+
+744. ~It~ = beauty. ~languished~, languid or languishing: comp. _Par.
+Lost_, vi. 496, "their languished hope revived"; _Epitaph on M. of W._
+33. The suffix _-ed_ is frequent in Elizabethan English where we now
+have _-ing_ (Abbott, Sec. 374).
+
+747. ~most~, as many as possible.
+
+748. ~homely ... home~. There is here a play upon words as in _Two Gent._
+i. 1. 2: "_Home-keeping_ youth have ever _homely_ wits." _Homely_ is
+derived from _home_.
+
+749. Women with coarse complexions and dull cheeks are good enough for
+household occupations.
+
+750. ~of sorry grain~, not brilliant, of poor colour. 'Grain' is from Lat.
+_granum_, a seed, applied to small objects, and hence to the coccus or
+cochineal insect which yields a variety of red dyes. Hence _grain_ came
+to denote certain colours, _e.g._ Tyrian purple, violet, etc., and is so
+used by Milton: see _Il Pens._ 33, "a robe of darkest _grain_"; _Par.
+Lost_, v. 285, "sky-tinctured _grain_"; xi. 242, "A military vest of
+purple ... Livelier than ... the _grain_ Of Sarra," etc. And as these
+were fast or durable colours we have such phrases as 'to dye in grain,'
+'a rogue in grain,' 'an ingrained habit.' (See further in Marsh's _Lect.
+on Eng. Lang._ p. 55).
+
+751. ~sampler~, a sample or pattern piece of needlework. It is a doublet
+of _exemplar_. ~tease the huswife's wool~. To _tease_ is to comb or card:
+comp. the Lat. _vexare_. 'Huswife' = house-wife, further corrupted into
+_hussy_. _Hussif_ (a case for needles, etc.) is a different word.
+
+752. ~What need a vermeil-tinctured lip~? See note, l. 362, on 'what
+need.' _Vermeil_: a French spelling of _vermilion_. The name is from
+Lat. _vermis_, a worm (the cochineal insect, from which the colour used
+to be got); and as _vermis_ is cognate with Sansk. _krimi_, a worm, it
+follows that _vermilion_, _crimson_, and _carmine_ are cognate.
+
+753. ~tresses~. Homer (_Odyssey_, v. 390) speaks of "the fair-tressed
+Dawn," +euplokamos Eos+.
+
+755. ~advised~. Contrast with 'Advice,' l. 108.
+
+756. Lines 756-761 are not addressed to Comus.
+
+757. ~but that~: were it not that.
+
+758. ~as mine eyes~: as he has already charmed mine eyes; see note, l.
+170.
+
+759. ~rules pranked in reason's garb~, _i.e._ specious arguments.
+_Pranked_ = decked in a showy manner: Milton (Prose works, i. 147, ed.
+1698) speaks of the Episcopal church service _pranking_ herself in the
+weeds of the Popish mass. Comp. _Wint. Tale_, iv. 4. 10, "Most
+goddess-like _prank'd_ up"; _Par. Lost_, ii. 226, "Belial, with words
+clothed in _reason's garb_."
+
+760-1. I hate when Vice brings forward refined arguments, and Virtue
+allows them to pass unchallenged. ~bolt~ = to sift or separate, as the
+_boulting-mill_ separates the meal from the bran; in this sense the word
+(also spelt _boult_) is used by Chaucer, Spenser (_F. Q._ ii. 4. 24),
+Shakespeare (_Cor._ iii. 1. 322, _Wint. Tale_, iv. 4. 375, "the fanned
+snow that's _bolted_ By the northern blasts twice o'er," etc.). The
+spelling _bolt_ has confused the word with 'bolt,' to shoot or start
+out. See Index to Globe _Shakespeare_.
+
+763. ~she would her children~, etc., _i.e._ she wished (that) her children
+should be wantonly luxurious: comp. l. 172; _Par. Lost_, i. 497-503.
+
+764. ~cateress~, stewardess, provider: lit. 'a buyer.' _Cateress_ is
+feminine: the masculine is _caterer_, where the final _-er_ of the agent
+is unnecessarily repeated.
+
+765. ~Means ... to the good~: intends ... for the good.
+
+767. ~dictate~. The accent in Milton's time was on the first syllable,
+both in noun and verb. ~spare Temperance~. For Milton's praises of
+Temperance comp. _Il Pens._ 46, "Spare Fast that oft with gods doth
+diet"; also the 6th Elegy, 56-66; _Son._ xx., etc. "There is much in the
+Lady which resembles the youthful Milton himself--he, the Lady of his
+college--and we may well believe that the great debate concerning
+temperance was not altogether dramatic (where, indeed, is Milton truly
+dramatic?), but was in part a record of passages in the poet's own
+spiritual history." Dowden's _Transcripts and Studies_.
+
+768. If Nature's blessings were equally distributed instead of being
+heaped upon a luxurious few, then (as Shakespeare says, _King Lear_, iv.
+1. 73) "distribution should undo excess, And each man have enough."
+
+769. ~beseeming~, suitable. The original sense of _seem_ is 'to be
+fitting,' as in the words _beseem_ and _seemly_.
+
+770. ~lewdly-pampered~; one of Milton's most expressive compounds =
+wickedly gluttonous. _Lewd_ has passed through several changes of
+meaning: (1) the lay-people as distinct from the clergy; (2) ignorant or
+unlearned; and finally (2) base or licentious.
+
+774. ~she no whit encumbered~, _i.e._ Nature would not be in the least
+surcharged (as Comus represented in l. 728). _No whit_, used adverbially
+= not in the least, lit. 'not a particle.' Etymologically _aught_ = a
+whit, _naught_ = no whit.
+
+776. ~His praise due paid~, _i.e._ would be duly paid. On _due_, see note,
+l. 12. ~gluttony~: abstract for concrete.
+
+779. ~Crams~, _i.e._ crams himself. There are many verbs in English that
+may be thus used reflexively without having the pronoun expressed,
+_e.g._ _feed_, _prepare_, _change_, _pour_, _press_, etc.
+
+780. ~enow~. 'Enow' conveys the notion of a number, as in early English:
+it is also spelt _anow_, and in Chaucer _ynowe_, and is the plural of
+_enough_. It still occurs as a provincialism in England. On lines
+780-799 Masson says: "A recurrence, by the sister, with much more mystic
+fervour, to that Platonic and Miltonic doctrine which had already been
+propounded by the Elder Brother (see lines 420-475)."
+
+782. ~sun-clad power of chastity~. With 'sun-clad' compare 'the sacred
+rays of chastity,' l. 425. Similarly in the _Faerie Queene_, iii. 6,
+Spenser says of Belphoebe, who represents Chastity, "And Phoebus with
+fair beams did her adorn."
+
+783. ~yet to what end?~ A rhetorical question, = it would be to no
+purpose.
+
+784. ~nor ... nor~. These correlatives are often used in poetry for
+_neither ... nor_ (Shakespeare often omitting the former altogether),
+and are equally correct. _Nor_ is only a contraction of _neither_, and
+the first may as well be contracted as the second.
+
+785. ~sublime notion and high mystery~. In the _Apology for Smectymnuus_
+Milton tells of his study of the "divine volume of Plato," wherein he
+learned of the "abstracted sublimities" of Chastity and Love: also of
+his study of the Holy Scripture "unfolding these chaste and high
+mysteries, with timeless care infused, that the body is for the Lord,
+and the Lord for the body."
+
+790. ~dear wit~. 'Dear' is here used in contempt: its original sense is
+'precious' (A.S. _deore_), but in Elizabethan English it has a variety
+of meanings, _e.g._ intense, serious, grievous, great, etc. Comp. "sad
+occasion _dear_," _Lyc._ 6; "_dear_ groans," _L. L. L._ v. 2. 874. Craik
+suggests "that the notion properly involved in it of love, having first
+become generalised into that of a strong affection of any kind, had
+thence passed on to that of such an emotion the very reverse of love,"
+as in my _dearest_ foe. ~gay rhetoric~: here so named in contempt, as
+being the instrument of sophistry.
+
+791. ~fence~, argumentation, _Fence_ is an abbreviation of _defence_:
+comp. "tongue-fence" (Milton), "fencer in wits' school" (Fuller), _Much
+Ado_, v. 1. 75.
+
+794. ~rapt spirits~. 'Rapt' = enraptured, as if the mind or soul had been
+_carried out of itself_ (Lat. _raptus_, seized): comp. _Il Pens._ 40,
+"Thy _rapt_ soul sitting in thine eyes." Milton also uses the word of
+the actual snatching away of a person: "What accident hath _rapt_ him
+from us," _Par. Lost_, ii. 40.
+
+797. ~the brute Earth~, etc., _i.e._ the senseless Earth would become
+sensible and assist me. 'Brute' = Lat. _brutus_, dull, insensible: comp.
+Horace, _Odes_, i. 34. 9, "_bruta tellus_."
+
+800. ~She fables not~: she speaks truly. This line is alliterative.
+
+801. ~set off~: comp. _Lyc._ 80, "_set off_ to the world."
+
+802. ~though not mortal~: _sc._ 'I am.' ~shuddering dew~. The epithet
+is, by hypallage, transferred from the person to the dew or cold sweat
+which 'dips' or moistens his body.
+
+804. ~Speaks thunder and the chains of Erebus~, etc.; in allusion to the
+_Titanomachia_ or contest between Zeus and the Titans. Zeus, having been
+provided with thunder and lightning by the Cyclops, cast the Titans into
+Tartarus or Erebus, a region as far below Hell as Heaven is above the
+Earth. The leader of the Titans was Cronos (Saturn). There is a zeugma
+in _speaks_ as applied to 'thunder' and 'chains,' unless it be taken as
+in both cases equivalent to _denounces_.
+
+806. ~Come, no more!~ Comus now addresses the lady.
+
+808. ~canon laws of our foundation~, _i.e._ the established rules of our
+society. "A humorous application of the language of universities and
+other foundations" (Keightley).
+
+809. ~'tis but the lees~, etc. _Lees_ and _settlings_ are synonymous =
+dregs. The allusion is to the old physiological system of the four
+primary humours of the body, viz. blood, phlegm, choler, and melancholy
+(see Burton's _Anat. of Mel._ i. 1, Sec. ii. 2): "Melancholy, cold and dry,
+thick, black, and sour, begotten of the more feculent part of
+nourishment, and purged from the spleen"; Gk. +melancholia+, black bile.
+See _Sams. Agon._ 600, "_humours black_ That mingle with thy fancy";
+and Nash's _Terrors of the Night_ (1594): "(Melancholy) sinketh down to
+the bottom like the lees of the wine, corrupteth the blood, and is the
+cause of lunacy."
+
+811. ~straight~, immediately. The adverb _straight_ is now chiefly used of
+direction; to indicate time _straightway_ (= in a straight way) is more
+usual: comp. _L'Alleg._ 69: "Straight mine eye hath caught new
+pleasures."
+
+814. ~scape~, a mutilated form of 'escape,' occurs both as a noun and a
+verb in Shakespeare and Milton: see _Par. Lost_, x. 5, "what can _scape_
+the eye of God?"; _Par. Reg._ ii. 189, "then lay'st thy _scapes_ on
+names adored."
+
+816. ~without his rod reversed~. This use of the participle is a Latinism:
+see note, l. 48. At the same time it is to be noted that a phrase of
+this kind introduced by 'without' is in Latin frequently rendered by the
+ablative absolute: such construction is here inadmissible because
+'without' also governs 'mutters.'
+
+817. ~backward mutters~. The notion of a counter-charm produced by
+reversing the magical wand and by repeating the charm backwards occurs
+in Ovid (_Met._ xiv. 300), who describes Circe as thus restoring the
+followers of Ulysses to their human forms. Milton skilfully makes the
+neglect of the counter-charm the occasion for introducing the legend of
+Sabrina, which was likely to interest an audience assembled in the
+neighbourhood of the River Severn. On 'mutters,' see note, l. 526.
+
+820. ~bethink me~. The pronoun after this verb is reflexive. "The
+deliverance of their sister would be impossible but for supernatural
+interposition, the aid afforded by the Attendant Spirit from Jove's
+court. In other words, Divine Providence is asserted. Not without higher
+than human aid is the Lady rescued, and through the weakness of the
+mortal instruments of divine grace but half the intended work is
+accomplished." Dowden's _Transcripts and Studies_.
+
+821. In this line and the next the attributive clauses are separated
+from the antecedent: see note, l. 2.
+
+822. ~Meliboeus~. The name of a shepherd in Virgil's _Eclogue_ i.
+Possibly the poet Spenser is here meant, as the tale of Sabrina is given
+in the _Faerie Queene_, ii. 10, 14. The tale is also told by Geoffrey of
+Monmouth and by Sackville, Drayton and Warner. As Milton refers to a
+'shepherd,' _i.e._ a poet, and to 'the soothest shepherd,' _i.e._ the
+truest poet, and as he follows Spenser's version of the story in this
+poem, we need not hesitate to identify Meliboeus with Spenser.
+
+823. ~soothest~, truest. The A.S. _soth_ meant _true_; hence also 'a true
+thing' = truth. It survives in _soothe_ (lit. to affirm to be true),
+_soothsay_ (see l. 874), and _forsooth_ (= for a truth).
+
+824. ~from hence~. _Hence_ represents an A.S. word _heonan_, _-an_ being
+a suffix = from: so that in the phrase 'from hence' the force of the
+preposition is twice introduced. Yet the idiom is common: it arises from
+forgetfulness of the origin of the word. Comp. _Arc._ 3: "which _we from
+hence_ descry."
+
+825. ~with moist curb sways~: comp. l. 18. Sabrina was a _numen fluminis_
+or river-deity.
+
+826. ~Sabrina~: The following is Milton's version of the legend:--"After
+this, Brutus, in a chosen place, builds Troja Nova, changed in time to
+Trinovantum, now London; and began to enact laws (Heli being then High
+Priest in Judea); and, having governed the whole isle twenty-four years,
+died, and was buried in his new Troy. His three sons--Locrine, Albanact,
+and Camber--divide the land by consent. Locrine had the middle part,
+Loegria; Camber possessed Cambria or Wales; Albanact, Albania, now
+Scotland. But he, in the end, by Humber, King of the Huns, who, with a
+fleet, invaded that land, was slain in fight, and his people driven back
+into Loegria. Locrine and his brother go out against Humber; who now
+marching onward was by them defeated, and in a river drowned, which to
+this day retains his name. Among the spoils of his camp and navy were
+found certain young maids, and Estrilidis, above the rest, passing fair,
+the daughter of a king in Germany, from whence Humber, as he went wasting
+the sea-coast, had led her captive; whom Locrine, though before
+contracted to the daughter of Corineus, resolves to marry. But being
+forced and threatened by Corineus, whose authority and power he feared,
+Gwendolen the daughter he yields to marry, but in secret loves the other;
+and, ofttimes retiring as to some sacrifice, through vaults and passages
+made underground, and seven years thus enjoying her, had by her a
+daughter equally fair, whose name was Sabra. But when once his fear was
+off by the death of Corineus, not content with secret enjoyment,
+divorcing Gwendolen, he makes Estrilidis his Queen. Gwendolen, all in
+rage, departs into Cornwall; where Pladan, the son she had by Locrine,
+was hitherto brought up by Corineus, his grandfather; and gathering an
+army of her father's friends and subjects, gives battle to her husband by
+the river Sture, wherein Locrine, shot with an arrow, ends his life. But
+not so ends the fury of Gwendolen, for Estrilidis and her daughter Sabra
+she throws into a river, and, to have a monument of revenge, proclaims
+that the stream be thenceforth called after the damsel's name, which by
+length of time is changed now to _Sabrina_ or Severn."--_History of
+Britain_ (1670).
+
+827. ~Whilom~, of old. An obsolete word, lit. 'at time'; A.S. _hwilum_,
+instr. or dat. plur. of _hwil_, time.
+
+830. ~step-dame~. For the actual relationship, see note, l. 826. The
+prefix _step_ (A.S. _steop-_) means 'orphaned,' and applies properly to
+a child whose parent has re-married: it was afterwards used in the words
+'step-father,' etc. _Dame_ (Fr. _dame_, a lady) retains the sense of
+mother in the form _dam_.
+
+832. ~his~ = its: see note, l. 96.
+
+834. ~pearled wrists~, wrists adorned with pearls. An appropriate epithet,
+as pearls were said to exist in the waters of the Severn.
+
+835. ~aged Nereus' hall~, the abode of old Nereus, _i.e._ the bottom of
+the sea. Nereus, the father of the Nereids, or sea nymphs, is described
+as the wise and unerring old man of the sea; in Virgil, _grandaevus
+Nereus_. See also, l. 871, and compare Jonson's _Neptune's Triumph_,
+last song: "Old Nereus, with his fifty girls, From aged Indus laden home
+with pearls."
+
+836. ~piteous of~, _i.e._ full of pity for; comp. Lat. _miseret te
+aliorum_ (genitive). Milton occasionally uses the word in this passive
+sense; its active sense is 'causing pity,' _i.e._ pitiful. Comp. Abbott,
+Sec. 3. ~reared her lank head~, _i.e._ raised up her drooping head: comp.
+_Par. Lost_, viii.: "In adoration at his feet I fell Submiss: he
+_reared_ me." 'Lank,' lit. slender; hence weak. The adjective _lanky_ is
+in common use = tall and thin.
+
+837. ~imbathe~, to bathe in: the force of the preposition being
+reduplicated, as in Lat. _incidere in_.
+
+838. ~nectared lavers~, etc., baths sweetened with nectar and scented
+with asphodel flowers. On 'nectar,' see note, l. 479. ~asphodel~; the
+same, both name and thing, as 'daffodil' (see _Lyc._ 150, where it takes
+the form 'daffadillies'): Gk. +asphodelos+, M.E. _affodille_. The
+initial _d_ in daffodil has not been satisfactorily explained: see l.
+851.
+
+839. ~the porch~. So Quintilian calls the ear the vestibule of the mind:
+comp. _Haml._ i. 5. 63: "the porches of mine ear"; also the phrase, "the
+five gateways of knowledge."
+
+840. ~ambrosial oils~, oils of heavenly fragrance: see note, l. 16, and
+compare Virgil's use of _ambrosia_ in _Georg._ iv. 415, _liquidum
+ambrosiae diffundit odorem_.
+
+841. ~quick immortal change~: comp. l. 10.
+
+842. ~Made Goddess~, etc. This participial construction is frequent in
+Milton as in Latin: it is equivalent to an explanatory clause.
+
+844. ~twilight meadows~: comp. "twilight groves," _Il Pens._ 133;
+"twilight ranks," _Arc._ 99; _Hymn Nat._ 188.
+
+845. ~Helping all urchin blasts~, remedying or preventing the blighting
+influence of evil spirits. 'Urchin blasts' is probably here used
+generally for what in _Arcades_, 49-53, are called "noisome winds and
+blasting vapours chill," 'urchin' being common in the sense of 'goblin'
+(_M. W. of W._ iv. 4. 49). Strictly the word denotes the hedgehog, which
+for various reasons was popularly regarded with great dread, and hence
+mischievous spirits were supposed to assume its form: comp. Shakespeare,
+_Temp_, i. 2. 326, ii. 2. 5, "Fright me with _urchin_-shows"; _Titus
+And._ ii. 3. 101; _Macbeth_, iv. 1. 2, "Thrice and once the _hedge-pig_
+whined," etc. Compare the protecting duties of the Genius in _Arcades_.
+~Helping~: comp. the phrases, "I cannot _help_ it," _i.e._ prevent it; "it
+cannot be _helped_," _i.e._ remedied, etc.
+
+846. ~shrewd~. Here used in its radical sense = _shrew-ed_, malicious,
+like a shrew. Comp. _M. N. D._ ii. 1, "That _shrewd_ and knavish sprite
+called Robin Goodfellow." Chaucer has the verb _shrew_ = to curse; the
+current verb is _beshrew_.
+
+847. ~vialed~, contained in _phials_.
+
+850. ~garland wreaths~. A garland is a wreath, but we may take the phrase
+to mean 'wreathed garlands': comp. "twisted braids," l. 862.
+
+852. ~old swain~, _i.e._ Meliboeus (l. 862). "But neither Geoffrey of
+Monmouth nor Spenser has the development of the legend" (Masson).
+
+853. ~clasping charm~: see l. 613, 660.
+
+854. ~warbled song~: comp. _Arc._ 87, "touch the _warbled_ string"; _Son._
+xx. 12, "_Warble_ immortal notes."
+
+857. ~This will I try~, _i.e._ to invoke her rightly in song.
+
+858. ~adjuring~, charging by something sacred and venerable. The
+adjuration is contained in lines 867-889, which, in Milton's MS., are
+directed "to be said," not sung, and in the Bridgewater MS. "to sing or
+not." From the latter MS. it would appear that these lines were sung as
+a kind of trio by Lawes and the two brothers.
+
+863. ~amber-dropping~: see note, l. 333; and comp. l. 106, where the idea
+is similar, warranting us in taking 'amber-dropping' as a compound
+epithet = dropping amber, and not (as some read) 'amber' and 'dropping.'
+_Amber_ conveys the ideas of luminous clearness and fragrance: see
+_Sams. Agon._ 720, "_amber_ scent of odorous perfume."
+
+865. ~silver lake~, the Severn. Virgil has the Lat. _lacus_ in the sense
+of 'a river.'
+
+868. ~great Oceanus~, Gk. +Okeanon te megan+. The early Greeks regarded
+the earth as a flat disc, surrounded by a perpetually flowing river
+called Oceanus: the god of this river was also called Oceanus, and
+afterwards the name was applied to the Atlantic. Hesiod, Drayton, and
+Jonson have all applied the epithet 'great' to the god Oceanus; in fact,
+throughout these lines Milton uses what may be called the "permanent
+epithets" of the various divinities.
+
+869. ~earth-shaking Neptune's mace~, _i.e._ the trident of Poseidon
+(Neptune). Homer calls him +ennosigaios+ = earth-shaking: comp. _Iliad_,
+xii. 27, "And the Shaker of the Earth with his trident in his hands,"
+etc. In _Par. Lost_, x. 294, Milton provides Death with a "mace
+petrifick."
+
+870. ~Tethys' ... pace~. Tethys, wife of Oceanus, their children being
+the Oceanides and river-gods. In Hesiod she is 'the venerable' (+potnia
+Tethys+), and in Ovid 'the hoary.'
+
+871. ~hoary Nereus~: see note, l. 835.
+
+872. ~Carpathian wizard's hook~. See Virgil's _Georg._ iv. 387, "In the
+sea-god's Carpathian gulf there lives a seer, Proteus, of the sea's own
+hue ... all things are known to him, those which are, those which have
+been, and those which drag their length through the advancing future."
+_Wizard_ = diviner, without the depreciatory sense of line 571; see note
+there. _Hook_: Proteus had a shepherd's hook, because he tended "the
+monstrous herds of loathly sea-calves": _Odyssey_, iv. 385-463.
+
+873. ~scaly Triton's ... shell~. In _Lycidas_, 89, he is "the Herald of
+the Sea." He bore a 'wreathed horn' or shell which he blew at the
+command of Neptune in order to still the restless waves of the sea. He
+was 'scaly,' the lower part of his body being like that of a fish.
+
+874. ~soothsaying Glaucus~. He was a Boeotian fisherman who had been
+changed into a marine deity, and was regarded by fishermen and sailors
+as a soothsayer or oracle: see note, l. 823.
+
+875. ~Leucothea~: lit. "the white goddess" (Gk. +leuke+, +thea+), the
+name by which Ino, the daughter of Cadmus, was worshipped after she had
+thrown herself into the sea to avoid her enraged husband Athamas.
+
+876. ~her son~, _i.e._ Melisertes, drowned and deified along with his
+mother: as a sea-deity he was called Palaemon, identified by the Romans
+with their god of harbours, Portumnus.
+
+877. ~tinsel-slippered~. The 'permanent epithet' of Thetis, a daughter
+of Nereus and mother of Achilles, is "silver-footed" (Gk. +argyropeza+).
+Comp. _Neptune's Triumph_ (Jonson):
+
+    "And all the silver-footed nymphs were drest
+    To wait upon him, to the Ocean's feast."
+
+'Tinsel-slippered' is a paraphrase of this, for 'tinsel' is a cloth
+worked with silver (or gold): the notion of cheap finery is not radical.
+Etymologically, _tinsel_ is that which glitters or _scintillates_. On
+the beauty of this epithet, and of Milton's compound epithets generally,
+see Trench, _English Past and Present_, p. 296.
+
+878-80. ~Sirens ... Parthenope's ... Ligea's~. The three Sirens (see
+note, l. 253) were Parthenope, Lig{=e}a, and Lucosia. The tomb of the
+first was at Naples (see Milton's _Ad Leonaram_, iii., "Credula quid
+liquidam Sirena, Neapoli, jactas, Claraque Parthenopes fana
+Acheloeiados," etc.). Ligea, described by Virgil (_Georg._ iv. 336) as a
+sea-nymph, is here represented as seated, like a mermaid, in the act of
+smoothing her hair with a golden comb.
+
+881. ~Wherewith~ = with which. The true adjective clause is "sleeking ...
+locks" = with which she sleeks, etc.; and the true participial clause is
+"she sits ... rocks" = seated on ... rocks.
+
+882. ~Sleeking~, making sleek or glossy. The original sense of 'sleek' is
+greasy: comp. _Lyc._ 99, "On the level brine _Sleek_ Panope with all her
+sisters played."
+
+885. ~heave~, raise. Comp. the similar use of the word in _L'Alleg._ 145,
+"Orpheus' self may heave his head."
+
+887. ~bridle in~, _i.e._ restrain.
+
+888. ~have~: subjunctive after _till_, as frequently in Milton.
+
+890. ~rushy-fringed~, fringed with rushes. The more usual form would be
+rush-fringed: we may regard Milton's form as a participle formed from
+the compound noun "rushy-fringe": comp. 'blue-haired,' l. 29;
+"false-played," Shakespeare, _A. and C._ iv. 14.
+
+891. ~grows~. A singular with two nominatives connected by _and_: the verb
+is to be taken with each. But the compound subject is really equivalent
+to "the willow with its osiers dank," osiers being water-willows or
+their branches. ~dank~, damp: comp. _Par. Lost_, vii. 441, "oft they quit
+the _dank_" (= the water).
+
+893. ~Thick set~, etc., _i.e._ thickly inlaid with agate and beautified
+with the azure sheen of turquoise, etc. There is a zeugma in _set_.
+~azurn sheen~. Sheen = brightness: it occurs again in l. 1003; see note
+there. 'Azurn': modern English has a tendency to use the noun itself as
+an adjective in cases where older English used an adjective with the
+suffix _-en_ = made of. Most of the adjectives in _-en_ that still
+survive do not now denote "made of," but simply "like," _e.g._ golden
+hair, etc. _Azurn_ and _cedarn_ (l. 990), _hornen_, _treen_, _corden_,
+_glassen_, _reeden_, etc., are practically obsolete; see Trench,
+_English Past and Present_. Comp. 'oaten' (_Lyc._ 33), 'oaken' (_Arc._
+45). As the words 'azurn' and 'cedarn' are peculiar to Milton some hold
+that he adopted them from the Italian _azzurino_ and _cedrino_.
+
+894. ~turkis~; also spelt turkoise, turquois, and turquoise: lit. 'the
+Turkish stone,' a Persian gem so called because it came through Turkey
+(Pers. _turk_, a Turk).
+
+895. ~That ... strays~. Milton does not imply that these stones were
+found in the Severn, nor does he in lines 932-937 imply that cinnamon
+grows on its banks.
+
+897. ~printless feet~. Comp. _Temp._ v. i. 34: "Ye that on the sands with
+_printless foot_ Do chase the ebbing Neptune"; also _Arc._ 85: "Where no
+print of step hath been."
+
+902. It will be noticed that the Spirit takes up the rhymes of Sabrina's
+song ('here,' 'dear'; 'request,' 'distressed'), and again Sabrina
+continues the rhymes of the Spirit's song ('distressed,' 'best').
+
+913. ~of precious cure~, of curative power. See note on this use of 'of,'
+l. 155.
+
+914. References to the efficacy of sprinkling are frequent, _e.g._ in
+the English Bible, in Spenser, in Virgil (_Aen._ vi. 229), in Ovid
+(_Met._ iv. 479), in _Par. Lost_, xi. 416.
+
+916. ~Next~: an adverb modifying 'touch.'
+
+917. ~glutinous~, sticky, viscous. The epithet is transferred from the
+effect to the cause.
+
+921. ~Amphitrite~: the wife of Neptune (Poseidon) and goddess of the Sea.
+
+923. ~Anchises line~: see note, l. 827. Locrine was the son of Brutus, who
+was the son of Silvius, who was the grandson of the great Aeneas, who
+was the son of old Anchises.
+
+924. ~may ... miss~. This verb is optative: so are '(may) scorch,' '(may)
+fill,' 'may roll,' and 'may be crowned.'
+
+925. ~brimmed~. The passive participle is so often used where we now use
+the active that 'brimmed' may mean 'brimming' = full to the brim. On the
+other hand, 'brim' is frequent in the sense of _bank_ (comp. l. 119), so
+that some regard 'brimmed' as = enclosed within banks.
+
+928. ~singed~, scorched. We should rather say 'scorching.' On the good
+wishes expressed in lines 924-937 Masson's comment is: "The whole of
+this poetic blessing on the Severn and its neighbourhood, involving the
+wish of what we should call 'solid commercial prosperity,' would go to
+the heart of the assemblage at Ludlow."
+
+933. ~beryl~: in the Bible (_Rev._ xxi. 20) this precious stone forms one
+of the foundations of the New Jerusalem. The word is of Eastern origin:
+comp. Arab, _billaur_, crystal. ~golden ore~. As a matter of fact gold has
+been found in the Welsh mountains.
+
+934. ~May thy lofty head~, etc. The grammatical construction is: 'May
+thy lofty head be crowned round with many a tower and terrace, and here
+and there (may thy lofty head be crowned) with groves of myrrh and
+cinnamon (growing) upon thy banks.' This makes 'banks' objective, and
+'upon' a preposition: the only objection to this reading is that the
+notion of crowning the head upon the banks is peculiar. The difficulty
+vanishes when we recollect that Milton frequently connects two clauses
+with one subject rather loosely: the subject of the second clause is
+'thou,' implied in 'thy lofty head.' An exact parallel to this is found
+in _L'Alleg._ 121, 122: 'whose bright eyes rain influence and _judge_
+the prize'; also in _Il Pens._ 155-7; 'let my due feet never fail to
+_walk ... and love_, etc.': also in _Lyc._ 88, 89. The explanation
+adopted by Prof. Masson is that Milton had in view two Greek
+verbs--+peristephanoo+, 'to put a crown round,' and +epistephanoo+, "to
+put a crown upon": thus, "May thy lofty head be _crowned round_ with
+many a tower and terrace, and thy banks here and there be _crowned upon_
+with groves of myrrh and cinnamon." This makes 'banks' nominative, and
+'upon' an adverb.
+
+In the Bridgewater MS. the stage direction here is, _Song ends_.
+
+942. ~Not a waste~, etc., _i.e._ 'Let there not be a superfluous or
+unnecessary sound until we come.' 'waste' is an attributive: see note,
+l. 728.
+
+945. ~gloomy covert wide~: see note, l. 207.
+
+946. ~not many furlongs~. These words are deliberately inserted to keep up
+the illusion. It is probable that, in the actual representation of the
+mask, the scene representing the enchanted palace was removed when
+Comus's rout was driven off the stage, and a woodland scene redisplayed.
+This would give additional significance to these lines and to the change
+of scene after l. 957. 'Furlong' = furrow-long: it thus came to mean the
+length of a field, and is now a measure of length.
+
+949. ~many a friend~. 'Many a' is a peculiar idiom, which has been
+explained in different ways. One view is that 'many' is a corruption of
+the French _mesnie_, a train or company, and 'a' a corruption of the
+preposition 'of,' the singular noun being then substituted for the
+plural through confusion of the preposition with the article. A more
+correct view seems to be that 'many' is the A.S. _manig_, which was in
+old English used with a singular noun and without the article, _e.g._
+_manig mann_ = many men. In the thirteenth century the indefinite
+article began to be inserted; thus _mony enne thing_ = many a thing,
+just as we say 'what _a_ thing,' 'such _a_ thing.' This would seem to
+show that 'a' is not a corruption of 'of,' and that there is no
+connection with the French word _mesnie_. Milton, in this passage, uses
+'many a friend' with a plural verb. ~gratulate~. The simple verb is now
+replaced by the compound _congratulate_ (Lat. _gratulari_, to wish joy
+to a person).
+
+950. ~wished~, _i.e._ wished for; see note, l. 574. ~and beside~, _i.e._
+'and where, besides,' etc.
+
+952. ~jigs~, lively dances.
+
+958. ~Back, shepherds, back!~ On the rising of the curtain, the stage is
+occupied by peasants engaged in a merry dance. Soon after the attendant
+Spirit enters with the above words. ~Enough your play~, _i.e._ we have had
+enough of your dancing, which must now give way to 'other trippings.'
+
+959. ~sunshine holiday~. Comp. _L'Alleg._ 98, where the same expression is
+used. There is a close resemblance between the language of this song and
+lines 91-99 of _L'Allegro_. Milton's own spelling of 'holiday' is
+'holyday,' which shows the origin of the word. The accent in such
+compounds (comp. blue-bell, blackbird, etc.) falls on the adjective: it
+is only in this way that the ear can tell whether the compound forms
+(_e.g._ holiday) or the separate words (_e.g._ holy day) are being used.
+
+960. ~Here be~: see note, l. 12. ~without duck or nod~: words used to
+describe the ungraceful dancing and awkward courtesy of the country
+people.
+
+961. ~trippings ... lighter toes ... court guise~: words used to describe
+the graceful movements of the Lady and her brothers: comp. _L'Alleg._
+33: "trip it, as you go, On the light fantastic toe." _Trod_ (or
+trodden), past participle of _tread_: 'to tread a measure' is a common
+expression, meaning 'to dance.' 'Court guise,' _i.e._ courtly mien;
+_guise_ is a doublet of _wise_ = way, _e.g._ 'in this wise,'
+'like_wise_,' 'other_wise_.' In such pairs of words as _guise_ and
+_wise_, _guard_ and _ward_, _guile_ and _wile_, the forms in _gu_ have
+come into English through the French.
+
+963. ~Mercury~ (the Greek Hermes) was the herald of the gods, and as
+such was represented as having winged ankles (Gk. +ptenopedilos+): his
+name is here used as a synonym both for agility and refinement.
+
+964. ~mincing Dryades~. The Dryades are wood-nymphs (Gk. +drys+, a
+tree), here represented as mincing, _i.e._ tripping with short steps,
+unlike the clumsy striding of the country people. Comp. _Merch. of V._
+iii. 4. 67: "turn two _mincing_ steps Into a manly stride." Applied to a
+person's gait (or speech), the word now implies affectation.
+
+965. ~lawns ... leas~. On 'lawn,' see note, l. 568: a 'lea' is a meadow.
+
+966. This song is sung by Lawes while presenting the three young persons
+to the Earl and Countess of Bridgewater.
+
+967. ~ye~: see note, l. 216.
+
+968. ~so goodly grown~, _i.e._ grown so goodly. _Goodly_ = handsome (A.S.
+_godlic_ = goodlike).
+
+970. ~timely~. Here an adverb: in l. 689 it is an adjective. Comp. the two
+phrases in _Macbeth_: "To gain the _timely_ inn," iii. 3. 7; and "To
+call _timely_ on him," ii. 3. 51.
+
+972. ~assays~, trials, temptations. _Assay_ is used by Milton in the
+sense of 'attempt' as well as of 'trial': see _Arc._ 80, "I will
+_assay_, her worth to celebrate." The former meaning is now confined to
+the form _essay_ (radically the same word); and the use of _assay_ has
+been still further restricted from its being used chiefly of the testing
+of metals. Comp. _Par. Lost_, iv. 932, "hard _assays_ and ill
+successes"; _Par. Reg._ i. 264, iv. 478.
+
+974, 5. ~To triumph~. The whole purpose of the poem is succinctly
+expressed in these lines. _Stage Direction_: ~Spirit epiloguizes~, _i.e._
+sings the epilogue or concluding stanzas. In one of Lawes' manuscripts
+of the mask, the epilogue consists of twelve lines only, those numbered
+1012-1023. From the same copy we find that line 976 had been altered by
+Lawes in such a manner as to convert the first part of the epilogue into
+a prologue which, in his character as Attendant Spirit, he sang whilst
+descending upon the stage:--
+
+    _From the heavens_ now I fly,
+    And those happy climes that lie
+    Where day never shuts his eye,
+    Up in the broad _field_ of the sky.
+    There I suck the liquid air
+    All amidst the gardens fair
+    Of Hesperus, and his daughters three
+    That sing about the golden tree.
+    There eternal summer dwells,
+    And west winds, with musky wing,
+    About the cedarn alleys fling
+    Nard and cassia's balmy smells.
+    Iris there with humid bow
+    Waters the odorous banks, that blow
+    Flowers of more mingled hue
+    Than her purfled scarf can show,
+    _Yellow, watchet, green, and blue_,
+    And drenches oft with _Manna_ dew
+    Beds of hyacinth and roses,
+    Where _many a cherub soft_ reposes.
+
+Doubtless this was the arrangement in the actual performance of the
+mask.
+
+976. ~To the ocean~, etc. The resemblance of this song, in rhythm and
+rhyme, to the song of Ariel in the _Tempest_, v. 1. 88-94, has been
+frequently pointed out: "Where the bee sucks, there suck I," etc.
+Compare also the song of Johphiel in _The Fortunate Isles_ (Ben Jonson):
+"Like a lightning from the sky," etc. The epilogue as sung by Lawes (ll.
+1012-1023) may also be compared with the epilogue of the _Tempest_: "Now
+my charms are all o'erthrown," etc.
+
+977. ~happy climes~. Comp. _Odyssey_, iv. 566: "The deathless gods will
+convey thee to the Elysian plain and the world's end ... where life is
+easiest for men. No snow is there, nor yet great storm, nor any rain;
+but always ocean sendeth forth the breeze of the shrill west to blow
+cool on men": see also l. 14. 'Clime,' radically the same as _climate_,
+is still used in its literal sense = a region of the earth; while
+'climate' has the secondary meaning of 'atmospheric conditions.' Comp.
+_Son._ viii. 8: "Whatever _clime_ the sun's bright circle warms."
+
+978. ~day ... eye~. Comp. _Son._ i. 5: "the _eye_ of day"; and _Lyc._ 26:
+"the opening _eyelids_ of the Morn."
+
+979. ~broad fields of the sky~. Comp. Virgil's "_Aeris in campis latis_,"
+_Aen._ vi. 888.
+
+980. ~suck the liquid air~, inhale the pure air. 'Liquid' (lit. flowing)
+is used figuratively and generally in the sense of pure and sweet: comp.
+_Son._ i. 5, "thy liquid notes."
+
+981. ~All amidst~. For this adverbial use of _all_ (here modifying the
+following prepositional phrase), compare _Il Pens._ 33, "_all_ in a robe
+of darkest grain."
+
+982. ~Hesperus~: see note, l. 393. Hesperus, the brother of Atlas, had
+three daughters--Aegle, Cynthia, and Hesperia. They were famed for their
+sweet song. In Milton's MS. _Hesperus_ is written over _Atlas_: Spenser
+makes them daughters of Atlas, as does Jonson in _Pleasure reconciled to
+Virtue_.
+
+984. ~crisped shades~. 'Crisped,' like 'curled' (comp. "curl the grove,"
+_Arc._ 46) is a common expression in the poetry of the time, and has the
+same meaning. The original form is the adjective 'crisp' (Lat. _crispus_
+= curled), from which comes the verb _to crisp_ and the participle
+_crisped_. Compare "the _crisped_ brooks ... ran nectar," _Par. Lost_,
+iv. 237, where the word is best rendered 'rippled'; also Tennyson's
+_Claribel_, 19, "the babbling runnel _crispeth_." In the present case
+the reference is to the foliage of the trees.
+
+985. ~spruce~, gay. This word, now applied to persons with a touch of
+levity, was formerly used both of things and persons in the sense of gay
+or neat. Compare the present and earlier uses of the word _jolly_, on
+which Pattison says:--"This is an instance of the disadvantage under
+which poetry in a living language labours. No knowledge of the meaning
+which a word bore in 1631 can wholly banish the later and vulgar
+associations which may have gathered round it since. Apart from direct
+parody and burlesque, the tendency of living speech is gradually to
+degrade the noble; so that as time goes on the range of poetical
+expression grows from generation to generation more and more
+restricted." The origin of the word _spruce_ is disputed: Skeat holds
+that it is a corruption of Pruce (old Fr. _Pruce_, mod. Fr. _Prusse_) =
+Prussia; we read in the 14th century of persons dressed after the
+fashion of Prussia or Spruce, and Prussia was called Sprussia by some
+English writers up to the beginning of the 17th century. See also
+Trench, _Select Glossary_.
+
+986. ~The Graces~. The three Graces of classical mythology were
+Euphrosyne (the light-hearted one), Aglaia (the bright one), and Thalia
+(the blooming one). See _L'Alleg._ 12: "Euphrosyne ... Whom lovely
+Venus, at a birth, With two sister Graces more, To ivy-crowned Bacchus
+bore." They were sometimes represented as daughters of Zeus, and as the
+goddesses who purified and enhanced all the innocent pleasures of life.
+~rosy-bosomed Hours~. The Hours (Horae) of classical mythology were the
+goddesses of the Seasons, whose course was described as the dance of the
+Horae. The Hora of Spring accompanied Persephone every year on her ascent
+from the lower world, and the expression "The chamber of the Horae opens"
+is equivalent to "The Spring is coming." 'Rosy-bosomed'; the Gk.
++rhodokolpos+: compare the epithets 'rosy-fingered' (applied by Homer to
+the dawn), 'rosy-armed,' etc.
+
+989. ~musky ... fling~. Compare _Par. Lost_, viii. 515: "Fresh gales and
+gentle airs Whispered it to the woods, and from their wings Flung rose,
+flung odours from the spicy shrub." In this passage the verb _fling_ is
+similarly used. 'Musky' = fragrant: comp. 'musk-rose,' l. 496.
+
+990. ~cedarn alleys~, _i.e._ alleys of cedar trees. For 'alley,' comp. l.
+311. For the form of 'cedarn,' see note on 'azurn,' l. 893. Tennyson
+uses the word 'cedarn' in _Recoll. of Arab. Nights_, 115.
+
+991. ~Nard and cassia~; two aromatic plants. Cassia is a name sometimes
+applied to the wild cinnamon: nard is also called _spike-nard_; see
+allusion in the Bible, _Mark_, xiv. 3; _Exod._ xxx. 24, etc.
+
+992. ~Iris ... humid bow~: see note, l. 83. The allusion is, of course, to
+the rainbow.
+
+993. ~blow~, here used actively = cause to blossom: comp. Jonson, _Mask at
+Highgate_, "For thee, Favonius, here shall _blow_ New flowers."
+
+995. ~purfled~ = having an embroidered edge (O.F. _pourfiler_): the verb
+_to purfle_ survives in the contracted form _to purl_, and is cognate
+with profile = a front line or edge. ~shew~: here rhymes with _dew_; comp.
+l. 511, 512. This points to the fact that in Milton's time the present
+pronunciation of _shew_, though familiar, was not the only one
+recognised.
+
+996. ~drenches with Elysian dew~, _i.e._ soaks with heavenly dew. The
+Homeric Elysium is described in _Odyssey_, iv.: see note, l. 977; it
+was afterwards identified with the abode of the blessed, l. 257.
+_Drench_ is the causative of _drink_: here the nominative of the verb is
+'Iris' and the object 'beds.'
+
+997. ~if your ears be true~, _i.e._ if your ears be pure: the poet is
+about to speak of that which cannot be understood by those with "gross
+unpurged ear" (_Arc._ 73, and _Com._ l. 458). He alludes to that pure
+Love which "leads up to Heaven," _Par. Lost_, viii. 612.
+
+998. ~hyacinth~. This is the "sanguine flower inscribed with woe" of
+_Lycidas_, 106: it sprang from the blood of Hyacinthus, a youth beloved
+by Apollo.
+
+999. ~Adonis~, the beloved of Venus, died of a wound which he received
+from a boar during the chase. The grief of Venus was so great that the
+gods of the lower world allowed him to spend six months of every year on
+earth. The story is of Asiatic origin, and is supposed to be symbolic of
+the revival of nature in spring and its death in winter. Comp. _Par.
+Lost_, ix. 439, "those gardens feigned Or of revived Adonis," etc.
+
+1000. ~waxing well of~, _i.e._ recovering from. The A.S. _weaxan_ = to
+grow or increase: Shakespeare has 'man of wax' = adult, _Rom. and Jul._
+i. 3. 76; see also Index to Globe _Shakespeare_.
+
+1002. ~Assyrian queen~, _i.e._ Venus, whose worship came from the East,
+probably from Assyria. She was originally identical with Astarte, called
+by the Hebrews Ashteroth: see _Par. Lost_, i. 438-452, where Adonis
+appears as Thammuz.
+
+1003, 4. ~far above ... advanced~. These words are to be read together:
+'advanced' is an attribute to 'Cupid,' and is modified by 'far above.'
+
+1003. ~spangled sheen~, glittering brightness. 'Spangled': _spangle_ is a
+diminutive of _spang_ = a metal clasp, and hence 'a shining ornament.'
+In poetry it is common to speak of the stars as 'spangles' and of the
+heavens as 'spangled': comp. Addison's well-known lines:
+
+    "The spacious firmament on high,
+    With all the blue ethereal sky,
+    And _spangled_ heavens, a shining frame,
+    Their great Original proclaim."
+
+Comp. also _Lyc._ 170, "with _new-spangled_ ore." 'Sheen' is here used
+as a noun, as in line 893; also in _Hymn Nat._ 145, "throned in
+celestial _sheen_": _Epitaph on M. of W._ 73, "clad in radiant _sheen_."
+The word occurs in Spenser as an adjective also: comp. "her dainty corse
+so fair and _sheen_," _F. Q._ ii. 1. 10. In the line "By fountain clear
+or spangled starlight _sheen_" (_M. N. D._ ii. l. 29) it is doubtful
+whether the word is a noun or an adjective. Milton uses the adjective
+_sheeny_ (_Death of Fair Infant_, 48).
+
+1004. ~Celestial Cupid~. The ordinary view of Cupid is given in the
+note to line 445; here he is the lover of Psyche (the human soul) to
+whom he is united after she has been purified by a life of trial and
+misfortune. The myth of Cupid and Psyche is as follows: Cupid was in
+love with Psyche, but warned her that she must not seek to know who he
+was. Yielding to curiosity, however, she drew near to him with a lamp
+while he was asleep. A drop of the hot oil falling on him, he awoke, and
+fled from her. She now wandered from place to place, persecuted by
+Venus; but after great sorrow, during which she was secretly supported
+by Cupid, she became immortal and was united to him for ever. In this
+story Psyche represents the human soul (Gk. +psyche+), which is
+disciplined and purified by earthly misfortune and so fitted for the
+enjoyment of true happiness in heaven. Further, in Milton's Allegory it
+is only the soul so purified that is capable of knowing true love: in
+his _Apology for Smectymnuus_ he calls it that Love "whose charming cup
+is only virtue," and whose "first and chiefest office ... begins and
+ends in the soul, producing those happy twins of her divine generation,
+Knowledge and Virtue." To this high and mystical love Milton again
+alludes in _Epitaphium Damonis_:
+
+    "In other part, the expansive vault above,
+    And there too, even there the god of love;
+    With quiver armed he mounts, his torch displays
+    A vivid light, his gem-tipt arrows blaze,
+    Around his bright and fiery eyes he rolls,
+    Nor aims at vulgar minds or little souls,
+    Nor deigns one look below, but aiming high
+    Sends every arrow to the lofty sky;
+    Hence forms divine, and minds immortal, learn
+    The power of Cupid, and enamoured burn."
+
+    _Cowper's translation._
+
+1007. ~among~: preposition governing 'gods.'
+
+1008. ~make~: subjunctive after 'till.' Its nominative is 'consent.'
+
+1010. ~blissful~, blest. _Bliss_ is cognate with _bless_ and _blithe_.
+Comp. "the _blest_ kingdoms meek of joy and love," _Lyc._ 177. ~are to be
+born~. There seems to be here a confusion of constructions between the
+subjunctive co-ordinate with _make_ and the indicative dependent in
+meaning on "Jove hath sworn" in the following line.
+
+1011. ~Youth and Joy~. Everlasting youth and joy are found only after the
+trials of earth are past. So Spenser makes Pleasure the daughter of
+Cupid and Psyche, but she is "the daughter late," _i.e._ she is possible
+only to the purified soul. See also note on l. 1004.
+
+1012. ~my task~, _i.e._ the task alluded to in line 18. This line is an
+adverbial clause = Now that (or _because_) my task is smoothly done.
+
+1013. The Spirit's task being finished he is free to soar where he
+pleases. There seems to be implied the injunction that mankind can by
+virtue alone attain to the same spiritual freedom.
+
+1014. ~green earth's end~. The world as known to the ancients did not
+extend much beyond the Straits of Gibraltar. The Cape Verd Islands,
+which lie outside these straits, may be here referred to: comp. _Par.
+Lost_, viii. 630:
+
+    "But I can now no more; the parting sun
+    Beyond the earth's green Cape and Verdant Isles
+    Hesperean sets, my signal to depart."
+
+1015. ~bowed welkin~: the meaning of the line is, "Where the arched sky
+curves slowly towards the horizon." _Welkin_ is, radically, "the region
+of clouds," A.S. _wolcnu_, clouds.
+
+1017. ~corners of the moon~, _i.e._ its horns. The crescent moon is said
+to be 'horned' (Lat. _cornu_, a horn). Comp. the lines in _Macbeth_,
+iii. 5. 23, 24: "Upon the corners of the moon There hangs a vaporous
+drop profound."
+
+1020. ~She can teach ye how to climb~, etc. Compare Jonson's song to
+Virtue:
+
+        "Though a stranger here on earth
+    In heaven she hath her right of birth.
+        There, there is Virtue's seat:
+        Strive to keep her your own;
+        'Tis only she can make you great,
+    Though place here make you known."
+
+1021. ~sphery chime~, _i.e._ the music of the spheres. "To climb higher
+than the sphery chime" means to ascend beyond the spheres into the
+empyrean or true heaven--the abode of God and the purest Spirits. Milton
+therefore implies that by virtue alone can we come into God's presence.
+See note on "the starry quire," line 112. 'Chime' is strictly 'harmony,'
+as in "silver _chime_," _Hymn Nat._ 128: the word is cognate with
+_cymbal_.
+
+1022, 3. ~if Virtue feeble were~, etc. A triumphant expression of that
+confidence in the invincibleness of virtue, when aided by Divine
+Providence, and therefore a fitting conclusion of the whole masque.
+Milton's whole life reveals his unshaken belief in the truth expressed
+in the last two lines of his _Comus_.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX TO THE NOTES.
+
+
+A.
+
+Acheron, 604.
+
+Adonis, 999.
+
+Adventurous, 79.
+
+Advice, 108;
+  advised, 755.
+
+Affects, 386.
+
+Alabaster, 660.
+
+All, 714, 981.
+
+All ear, 560.
+
+Alley, 311, 990.
+
+All-giver, 723.
+
+All to-ruffled, 380.
+
+Amber-dropping, 863.
+
+Ambrosial, 16.
+
+Amiss, 177.
+
+Apace, 657.
+
+Arbitrate, 411.
+
+Asphodel, 838.
+
+Assays, 972.
+
+Assyrian Queen, 1002.
+
+Ay me, 511.
+
+Azurn, 893.
+
+
+B.
+
+Backward, 817.
+
+Baited, 162.
+
+Bandite, 426.
+
+Be, 12, 519.
+
+Benison, 332.
+
+Beryl, 933.
+
+Beseeming, 769.
+
+Blank, 452.
+
+Blissful, 1010.
+
+Blue-haired, 29.
+
+Blow, 993.
+
+Bolt, 760.
+
+Bosky, 313.
+
+Bourn, 313.
+
+Brakes, 147.
+
+Brimmed, 925.
+
+Brinded, 443.
+
+Brute, 797.
+
+Budge, 707.
+
+Burs, 352.
+
+
+C.
+
+Cassia, 991.
+
+Cast, 360.
+
+Cateress, 764.
+
+Cedarn, 990.
+
+Centre, 382.
+
+Certain, 266.
+
+Chance, 508.
+
+Charactered, 530.
+
+Charmed, 51.
+
+Charnel, carnal, 471.
+
+Charybdis, 257.
+
+Chime, 1021.
+
+Chimeras, 517.
+
+Circe, 50.
+
+Clime, 977.
+
+Close, 548.
+
+Clouted, 635.
+
+Company, 274.
+
+Comus, 46, 58.
+
+Convoy, 81.
+
+Cordial, 672.
+
+Corners, 1017.
+
+Cotes, 344.
+
+Cotytto, 129.
+
+Courtesy, 325.
+
+Cozened, 737.
+
+Crabbed, 477.
+
+Crisped, 984.
+
+Crofts, 531.
+
+Crowned, 934.
+
+Curfew, 435.
+
+Curious, 714.
+
+Cynic, 708.
+
+Cynosure, 342.
+
+
+D.
+
+Dapper, 118.
+
+Darked, 730.
+
+Dear, 790.
+
+Dell, 312.
+
+Descry, 141.
+
+Dew-besprent, 542.
+
+Dimple, 119.
+
+Dingle, 312.
+
+Disinherit, 334.
+
+Ditty, 86.
+
+Drench, 996.
+
+Drouth, 66.
+
+Drowsy frighted, 553.
+
+Due, 12.
+
+Dun, 127.
+
+Durst, 577.
+
+
+E.
+
+Each ... every, 19, 311.
+
+Earth-shaking, 869.
+
+Ebon, 134.
+
+Ecstasy, 261, 625.
+
+Element, 299.
+
+Elysium, 257.
+
+Emblaze, 732.
+
+Emprise, 610.
+
+Engaged, 193.
+
+Enow, 780.
+
+Erebus, 804.
+
+Every ... each, 19, 311.
+
+Eye, 329.
+
+
+F.
+
+Faery, 298.
+
+Fairly, 168.
+
+Fantastic, 144, 205.
+
+Fence, 791.
+
+Firmament, 598.
+
+Fond, 67.
+
+For, 586, 602.
+
+Forestalling, 285.
+
+Forlorn, 39.
+
+Fraught, 355, 732.
+
+Freezed, 449.
+
+Frighted, 553.
+
+Frolic, 59.
+
+
+G.
+
+Gear, 167.
+
+Glistering, 219.
+
+Glozing, 161.
+
+Goodly, 968.
+
+Graces, 986.
+
+Grain, 750.
+
+Granges, 175.
+
+Gratulate, 949.
+
+Grisly, 603.
+
+Guise, 961.
+
+
+H.
+
+Haemony, 638.
+
+Hag, 434.
+
+Hallo, 226.
+
+Hapless, 350.
+
+Harpies, 605.
+
+Harrowed, 565.
+
+Heave, 885.
+
+Hecate, 135.
+
+Help, 304, 845.
+
+Hence, 824.
+
+Her, 351, 455.
+
+Hesperian, 393.
+
+High, 654.
+
+Hinds, 174.
+
+Holiday, 959.
+
+Home-felt, 262.
+
+Homely, 748.
+
+Horror, 38.
+
+Hours, 986.
+
+How chance, 508.
+
+Huswife, 751.
+
+Hutched, 719.
+
+Hyacinth, 998.
+
+Hydras. 605.
+
+
+I.
+
+Imbathe, 837.
+
+Imbodies, 468.
+
+Imbrutes, 468.
+
+Immured, 521.
+
+Infamous, 424.
+
+Infer, 408.
+
+Influence, 336.
+
+Inlay, 22.
+
+Innumerous, 349.
+
+Insphered, 3.
+
+Interwove, 544.
+
+Inured, 735.
+
+Iris, 83.
+
+Isle, 21.
+
+
+J.
+
+Jocund, 172.
+
+Jollity, 104.
+
+Julep, 672.
+
+
+K.
+
+Knot-grass, 542.
+
+
+L.
+
+Lackey, 455.
+
+Lake, 865.
+
+Languished, 744.
+
+Lank, 836.
+
+Lap, 257.
+
+Lawn, 568.
+
+Lees, 809.
+
+Leucothea, 875.
+
+Lewdly-pampered, 770.
+
+Like, 22, 634.
+
+Lime-twigs, 646.
+
+Liquid, 980.
+
+Liquorish, 700.
+
+Listed, 49.
+
+Listened, 551.
+
+Liveried, 455.
+
+Lore, 34.
+
+Love-lorn, 234.
+
+Luscious, 652.
+
+
+M.
+
+Madness, 261.
+
+Madrigal, 495.
+
+Mansion, 2.
+
+Mantling, 294.
+
+Many a, 949.
+
+Margent, 232.
+
+Me, 163, 630.
+
+Meander, 232.
+
+Meditate, 547.
+
+Melancholy, 810.
+
+Methought, 171.
+
+Meliboeus, 822.
+
+Mickle, 31.
+
+Mildew, 640.
+
+Mincing, 964.
+
+Mintage, 529.
+
+Misused, 47.
+
+Moly, 636.
+
+Monstrous, 533.
+
+Mountaineer, 426.
+
+Morrice, 116.
+
+Mortal, 10.
+
+Murmurs, 526.
+
+Mutters, 817.
+
+My, mine, 170.
+
+
+N.
+
+Naiades, 254.
+
+Nard, 991.
+
+Navel, 520.
+
+Necromancer, 649.
+
+Nectar, 479.
+
+Neighbour, 484.
+
+Nepenthes, 675.
+
+Nereus, 835.
+
+Nether, 20.
+
+New-intrusted, 36.
+
+Nice, 139.
+
+Night-foundered, 483.
+
+Nightingale, 234.
+
+Nightly, 113.
+
+Nor ... nor, 784.
+
+
+O.
+
+Oaten, 345, 893.
+
+Oceanus, 97, 868.
+
+Of, 59, 155, 836, 1000.
+
+Ominous, 61.
+
+Orient, 65.
+
+Other, 612.
+
+Oughly-headed, 695.
+
+Ounce, 71.
+
+Over-exquisite, 359.
+
+Over-multitude, 731.
+
+
+P.
+
+Palmer, 189.
+
+Pan, 176.
+
+Pard, 444.
+
+Parley, 241.
+
+Pent, 499.
+
+Perfect, 73, 203.
+
+Perplexed, 37.
+
+Pert, 118.
+
+Pestered, 7.
+
+Pinfold, 7.
+
+Plight, 372.
+
+Plighted, 301
+
+Plumes, 378.
+
+Potion, 68.
+
+Pranked, 759.
+
+Presentments, 156.
+
+Prime, 289.
+
+Prithee, 615.
+
+Prove, 123.
+
+Purchase, 607.
+
+Purfled, 995.
+
+Psyche, 1004.
+
+
+Q.
+
+Quaint, 157.
+
+Quarters, 29.
+
+Quire, 112.
+
+Quivered, 422.
+
+
+R.
+
+Rapt, 794.
+
+Ravishment, 244.
+
+Reared, 836.
+
+Recks, 404.
+
+Regard, 620.
+
+Rifted, 518.
+
+Rite, 125.
+
+Roost, 317.
+
+Rosy-bosomed, 986.
+
+Rout, 92-93.
+
+Rule, 340.
+
+Rushy-fringed, 890.
+
+
+S.
+
+Sabrina, 826.
+
+Sadly, 509.
+
+Sampler, 751.
+
+Saws, 110.
+
+Scape, 814.
+
+Scylla, 257.
+
+Serene, 4.
+
+Several, 25.
+
+Shagged, 429.
+
+Shapes, 2.
+
+Sheen, 893, 1003.
+
+Shell, 231, 837.
+
+Shew, 995.
+
+Shoon, 635.
+
+Should, 482.
+
+Shrewd, 846.
+
+Shrouds, 147.
+
+Shuddering, 802.
+
+Siding, 212.
+
+Simples, 627.
+
+Single, 204.
+
+Sirens, 253, 878.
+
+Sleeking, 882.
+
+Slope, 98.
+
+Solemnity, 142.
+
+Soothest, 823.
+
+Sooth-saying, 874.
+
+Sounds, 115.
+
+Sovran, 41, 639.
+
+Spangled, 1003.
+
+Spell, 154.
+
+Spets, 132.
+
+Sphery, 1021.
+
+Spruce, 985.
+
+Square, 329.
+
+Squint, 413.
+
+Stabled, 534.
+
+Star of Arcady, 341.
+
+State, 35.
+
+Stead, 611.
+
+Step-dame, 830.
+
+Still, 560.
+
+Stoic, 707.
+
+Stops, 345.
+
+Storied, 516.
+
+Straight, 811.
+
+Strook, 301.
+
+Stygian, 132.
+
+Sun-clad, 782.
+
+Sung, 256.
+
+Sure, 148.
+
+Surrounding, 403.
+
+Swain, 497.
+
+Swart, 436.
+
+Swinked, 293.
+
+Sylvan, 268.
+
+Syrups, 674.
+
+
+T.
+
+Tapestry, 324.
+
+Temple, 461.
+
+Thyrsis, 494.
+
+Timely, 689, 970.
+
+Tinsel-slippered, 877.
+
+To-ruffled, 380.
+
+To seek, 366.
+
+Toy, 502.
+
+Trains, 151.
+
+Treasonous, 702.
+
+Trippings, 961.
+
+Turkis, 894.
+
+Tuscan, 48.
+
+Twain, 284.
+
+Tyrrhene, 49.
+
+
+U.
+
+Unblenched, 430.
+
+Unenchanted, 395.
+
+Unmuffle, 331.
+
+Unprincipled, 367.
+
+Unweeting, 539.
+
+Unwithdrawing, 711.
+
+Urchin, 845.
+
+
+V.
+
+Various, 379.
+
+Venturous, 609.
+
+Vermeil-tinctured, 752.
+
+Very, 427.
+
+Vialed, 847.
+
+Viewless, 92.
+
+Violet-embroidered, 233.
+
+Virtue, 165, 621.
+
+Visage, 333.
+
+Vizored, 698.
+
+Votarist, 189.
+
+
+W.
+
+Wakes, 121.
+
+Warranted, 327.
+
+Wassailers, 179.
+
+Waste, 728, 942.
+
+Weeds, 16.
+
+Welkin, 1015.
+
+What need, 362.
+
+Whilom, 827.
+
+Whit, 774.
+
+Who, 728.
+
+Wily, 151.
+
+Wink, 401.
+
+Wished, 574, 950.
+
+Wizard, 571, 872.
+
+Wont, 332, 549.
+
+Woof, 83.
+
+
+Y.
+
+Ye, 216.
+
+
+
+
+GLASGOW: PRINTED BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Milton's Comus, by John Milton
+
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