diff options
Diffstat (limited to '31706-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 31706-h/31706-h.htm | 6179 |
1 files changed, 6179 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/31706-h/31706-h.htm b/31706-h/31706-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a65057 --- /dev/null +++ b/31706-h/31706-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6179 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<title>Minor Poems by Milton, with Introduction and Notes by Samuel Thurber</title> +<style type="text/css"> + body { margin-left:2em; margin-right:2em; } + verse, .verse { margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; } + h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, .center { text-align:center; clear:right; } + h3, h4 { margin-top:2em; } + small, .small { font-size:70%; } + p { text-align:justify } + l, .l, verse, .verse { text-align:left; display:block; } + l, .t0 { margin-left:2em; } + l, .t0, .t, .t2, p.t3, .t4, .t5, .t6, .t7, .t8, .t9, .t10, .t11, .t12 + { text-align:left; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; } + l, .t0 { margin-left:0em; } + .t { margin-left:1em; } + .t2 { margin-left:2em; } + .t3 { margin-left:3em; } + .t4 { margin-left:4em; } + .t5 { margin-left:5em; } + .t6 { margin-left:6em; } + .t7 { margin-left:7em; } + .t8 { margin-left:8em; } + .t9 { margin-left:9em; } + .t10 { margin-left:10em; } + .t11 { margin-left:11em; } + .t12 { margin-left:12em; } + .t13 { margin-left:13em; } + .t14 { margin-left:14em; } + span.pb, div.pb, dt.pb, p.pb /* PAGE BREAKS */ + { text-align: right; float:right; margin-right:-1em; + margin-left: 1.5em; margin-top:.5em; margin-bottom:.5em; + display:inline; font-size:66%; font-style:normal; + font-weight:bold; width:2em; display:block; } + div.notes p span.pb {text-indent:0em; display:inline; text-align:right; } + sc, .sc { font-variant:small-caps; font-style: normal; } +dl.toc { clear:both; } /* CONTENTS (.TOC) */ + .toc dt.center { text-align:center; clear:both; margin-top:3em; margin-bottom:1em; } + .toc dt { text-align:right; clear:left; margin-left:2em; } + .toc dd { text-align:right; clear:both; margin-left:4em; } + .toc dd.t { text-align:right; clear:both; margin-left:5em; } + .toc dt a, .toc dd a { text-align:left; clear:right; float:left; } + .toc dt.sc { text-align:right; clear:both; } + .toc dt.scl { text-align:left; clear:both; font-variant:small-caps; } + .toc dt.sct { text-align:right; clear:both; font-variant:small-caps; margin-left:1em; } + .toc dt.jl { text-align:left; clear:both; font-variant:normal; margin-left:0em; } + .toc dt.jl0 { margin-left:0em; } + .toc dt.scc { text-align:center; clear:both; font-variant:small-caps; } + .toc dt span.lj { text-align:left; display:block; float:left; } + .centable { margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; } + .centable tr td a { font-variant:small-caps; margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em; } + em, .lnum { text-align:right; float:right; margin-left:.5em; display:inline; } + p.subhead { margin-left:1em; text-indent:-1em; } + p.stageset { margin-left:1em; text-indent:-1em; font-style:italic; } + p.stagedir { text-align:center; font-style:italic; } + div.notes { margin-top:2em; } + div.notes p { margin-left:0em; text-indent:1em; text-align:justify; } + a.rref { font-weight:bold; } + div.notes p.cont, p.cont { margin-left:0em; text-indent:0em; text-align:justify; } + .jr1 { text-align:right; margin-right:1em; clear:right; } + .tb { margin-top:2em; } +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Minor Poems by Milton, 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: Minor Poems by Milton + +Author: John Milton + +Editor: Samuel Thurber + +Release Date: March 20, 2010 [EBook #31706] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MINOR POEMS BY MILTON *** + + + + +Produced by Thierry Alberto, Stephen Hutcheson and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div class="pb">[iii]</div> +<p class="center"><b>The Academy Series of English Classics</b><br /><br /></p> +<h1><i>MILTON</i> +<br /><br />MINOR POEMS</h1> +<table class="centable"> +<tr><td><a href="#c3">L’Allegro </a></td><td><a href="#c4">Il Penseroso </a></td><td><a href="#c7">Comus</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#c5">Arcades</a> </td><td><a href="#c1">On the Nativity </a></td><td><a href="#c8">Lycidas</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#c2">On Shakespeare</a> </td><td><a href="#c6">At a Solemn Music </a></td><td><a href="#c9">Sonnets</a></td></tr> +</table> +<p class="center"><span class="small">WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES +<br />BY</span> +<br />SAMUEL THURBER</p> +<p class="center">ALLYN AND BACON +<br /><i><b>Boston and Chicago</b></i></p> +<div class="pb">[iv]</div> +<p class="center"><span class="small">COPYRIGHT, 1901, +<br />BY SAMUEL THURBER.</span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="small"><b><i>Norwood Press</i></b> +<br />J. S. Cushing & Co.—Berwick & Smith +<br />Norwood Mass. U.S.A.</span></p> +<div class="pb">[v]</div> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> +<dl class="toc"> +<dt class="jl"><a href="#preface">Preface</a></dt> +<dt class="jl"><a href="#c0">Outlines of the Life of Milton</a></dt> +<dt class="jl">TEXT:</dt> +<dt><a href="#c1">On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity</a></dt> +<dt><a href="#c2">On Shakespeare</a></dt> +<dt><a href="#c3">L’Allegro</a></dt> +<dt><a href="#c4">Il Penseroso</a></dt> +<dt><a href="#c5">Arcades</a></dt> +<dt><a href="#c6">At a Solemn Music</a></dt> +<dt><a href="#c7">Comus</a></dt> +<dt><a href="#c8">Lycidas</a></dt> +<dt><a href="#c9">Sonnets:</a></dt> +<dd><a href="#c9_01">I. To the Nightingale</a></dd> +<dd><a href="#c9_02">II. On his having arrived at the Age of Twenty-three</a> 68</dd> +<dd><a href="#c9_08">VIII. When the Assault was intended to the City</a> 69</dd> +<dd><a href="#c9_09">IX. To a Virtuous Young Lady</a> 70</dd> +<dd><a href="#c9_10">X. To the Lady Margaret Ley</a> 70</dd> +<dd><a href="#c9_13">XIII. To Mr. H. Lawes on his Airs</a> 71</dd> +<dd><a href="#c9_15">XV. On the Lord General Fairfax, at the Siege of Colchester</a> 72</dd> +<dd><a href="#c9_16">XVI. To the Lord General Cromwell, May, 1652</a> 72</dd> +<dd><a href="#c9_17">XVII. To Sir Henry Vane the Younger</a> 73</dd> +<dd><a href="#c9_18">XVIII. On the Late Massacre in Piedmont</a> 74</dd> +<dd><a href="#c9_19">XIX. On his Blindness</a> 74</dd> +<dd><a href="#c9_20">XX. To Mr. Lawrence</a> 75</dd> +<dd><a href="#c9_21">XXI. To Cyriack Skinner</a> 76</dd> +<dd><a href="#c9_22">XXII. To the Same</a> 76</dd> +<dd><a href="#c9_23">XXIII. On his Deceased Wife</a> 77</dd> +<dt class="jl0"><a href="#c10">Notes</a> 79</dt> +</dl> +<div class="pb">[vi]</div> +<h2 id="preface">PREFACE.</h2> +<p>The purpose held in view by those who place the study +of Milton in high school English courses is twofold: first, +that youth may seasonably become acquainted with a portion +of our great classic poetry; and, secondly, that they +may in this poetry encounter and learn to conquer difficulties +more serious than those they have met in the literature +they have hitherto read. It is for the teacher to see to it +that both these aims are attained. The pupil must read +with interest, and he must expect at the same time to have +to do some strenuous thinking and not to object to turning +over many books.</p> +<p>The average pupil will not at first read anything of Milton +with perfect enjoyment. He will, with his wonted +docility, commit passages to memory, and he will do his +best to speak these passages with the elocution on which +you insist. But the taste for this poetry is an acquired +one, and in the acquisition usually costs efforts quite alien +to the prevailing conceptions of reading as a pleasurable +recreation.</p> +<p>The task of pedagogy at this point becomes delicate. +First of all, the teacher must recognize the fact that his +class will not, however good their intentions, leap to a +liking for Comus or Lycidas or even for the Nativity +<span class="pb">[vii]</span> +Ode. It is of no use to assign stanzas or lines as lessons +and to expect these to be studied to a conclusion like a task +of French translation. The only way not to be disappointed +in the performance of the class is to expect nothing. It +will be well at first, except where the test is quite simple, +for the teacher to read it himself, making comment, in the +way of explanation, as he goes on. Now and then he will +stop and have a little quiz to hold attention. When classical +allusions come up requiring research, the teacher will +tell in what books the matter may be looked up, and will +show how other poets, or Milton elsewhere, have played +with the same piece of history or mythology. Thus a poem +may be dealt with for a number of days. Repetition is, to +a certain extent, excellent. The verses begin to sink into +the young minds; the measure appeals to the inborn sense +of rhythm; the poem is caught by the ear like a piece of +music; the utterance of it becomes more like singing than +speaking. In fact, the great secret of teaching poetry in +school is to get rid of the commonplace manner of speech +befitting a recitation in language or science, and to put in +practice the obvious truth that verse has its own form, +which is very different from the form of prose. But repetition +may go too far. Over-familiarity may beget indifference. +Other poems await the attention of the class.</p> +<p>The teacher who really means to interest his classes, and +begins by being interested and interesting himself, will +rarely fail to accomplish his purpose. The principal +obstacle to success here is the necessity, that frequently +exists, of conforming to the custom of examining, marking, +and ranking—a practice that thwarts genuine personal +<span class="pb">[viii]</span> +influence, formalizes all procedures, and tends to deaden +natural interest by substituting for it the artificial interest +of school standing. The Milton lesson must be a serious +one because it is given to the study of the serious work of +the gravest and most high-minded of men; and it must be +an enjoyable one because it deals with the verse of the +most musical of poets, and because one mood of joy is the +only mood in which literature can be profitably studied.</p> +<p>As to the difficulties which the learner first encounters +when he comes to Milton, these grow sometimes out of the +diction, sometimes out of the syntax, and sometimes out +of the poet’s figures and allusions. Some difficulties can +be explained at once and completely. Others cannot be +explained at all with any reasonable hope of touching the +beginner’s mind with matter that he can appropriate. +Often the young reader slips over points of possible learned +annotation without the least consciousness that here great +scholarship might make an imposing display. Perfectly +useless is it to set forth for the pupil the interesting echoes +from ancient poets which generations of delving scholars +have accumulated in their notes to Milton, pleasing as these +are to mature readers.</p> +<p>The rule should be to expound and illustrate sufficiently +to remove those perplexities which really tease the pupil’s +mind and cause him to feel dissatisfaction with himself. In +many cases our only course is to postpone exposition and +to trust that the learner will grow up to the insight which +he as yet does not possess and which we cannot possibly +give him. A learned writer, like Milton, who has read all +antiquity, and who has no purpose of writing for children, +<span class="pb">[ix]</span> +inevitably contemplates a public of men approximately +his equals in culture, and expects to find “fit audience, +though few.”</p> +<p>But many of the difficulties that confront the beginner in +Milton ask only to be explained at once by some one who +has had more experience in the older literature. Archaic +forms of words and expressions, with which the ripe student +is familiar, worry the tyro, and must be accounted for. +Often the common dictionaries will give all needed help; +but the best means of acquiring speedy familiarity with +obsolete and rare forms is a Milton concordance—such as +that of Bradshaw—in connection with the Century Dictionary, +or with the Oxford Dictionary, so far as this goes. +These means of easy research should be at hand. I find +that pupils often need a pretty sharp spur to make them use +even their abridged dictionaries. But so far as concerns +acquaintance with the vocabulary of poetic diction, nothing +will do except the dictionary habit, accompanied by an effort +of the memory to retain what has been learned.</p> +<p>Difficulties that lurk in an involved syntax the pupil may +usually be expected to solve by study. But such a peculiar +construction as that in <a href="#r9_10_9">Sonnet X 9</a> will +probably have to be explained to him.</p> +<p>In the puritan theology and its implications he cannot +take much interest, and will of course not be asked to do so. +But high school students of Milton will ordinarily, in their +historical courses, have come down to the times in which +the poet lived, will understand his relation to public events, +and will appreciate his feeling toward the English ecclesiastical +system. Puritanism, a phenomenon of the most +<span class="pb">[x]</span> +tremendous importance at a certain period of English history, +has so completely disappeared from the modern world, +that the utterances of a seventeenth-century poet, professedly +a partisan, on matters of church and state, no longer +exasperate, and can barely even interest, students of literature.</p> +<p>To read either Paradise Lost or the Divine Comedy we +must find the poet’s cosmical and his theological standpoint. +We have no right to be surprised or shocked at his +conceptions. We must take him as he is, and let him lead +us through the universe as he has planned it. So long as +we set up our modern views as a standard, and by this standard +judge the ancient men, we fail in hospitality of thought, +and come short of our duty as readers.</p> +<p>This consideration suggests yet another purpose in setting +youth to the reading of Milton. By no means an ancient +poet, he takes us, nevertheless, to a world different from our +own, and in some sense helps us out of the modern time in +which our lives have fallen, to show us how other ages conceived +of God and Heaven. The mark of an educated +man is respect for the past; the old philosophies and religions +do not startle and repel him; his ancestors were once +in those stages of belief; in some stage of this vast movement +of thought he and his fellows are at the present +moment. This largeness of view can be fruitfully impressed +on youth only by letting them read, under wise +guidance, the older poets.</p> +<div class="pb">[xi]</div> +<h2 id="c0">OUTLINES OF THE LIFE OF MILTON.</h2> +<p>John Milton was born in London on the ninth of +December, 1608. Queen Elizabeth had then been dead five +years, and the literature which we call Elizabethan was still +being written by the men who had begun their careers +under her reign. Spenser had died in 1599. The theatres +were yet in the enjoyment of full popularity, and the play-writers +were producing works that continued the traditions +and the manner of the Elizabethan drama. Shakespeare +had still eight years to live, and at least four of the great +plays to write. Bacon’s fame was already great, but the +events of eighteen years were to cloud his reputation and +establish his renown. Jonson, great as a writer of masks, +was to live till he might have seen, in Comus, how a young +and scholarly puritan humanist thought that a mask should +be conceived.</p> +<p>Born thus in the fifth year of the first of the Stuarts, +Milton lived to witness all the vicissitudes of English politics +in which that family was involved, except the very +last. He did not see the Revolution of 1688. Surviving +for fourteen years the restoration of Charles II., he died in +1674, at the age of sixty-six.</p> +<p>Milton’s social position can be inferred from the fact that +his father was what was then called a scrivener,—that is, +he kept an office in his dwelling, and was employed to draw +up contracts, wills, and other legal documents. This occupation +<span class="pb">[xii]</span> +implied knowledge at least of the forms of the law, +though not of its history or principles. It did not imply +liberal education, though it brought its practitioner, doubtless, +more or less into contact with men of really professional +standing in the science of jurisprudence. Perhaps the +elder Milton cherished a deeper conviction of the value of +classic culture than do those who simply inherit, and take +as a matter of course, the custom of devoting years to the +study of ancient languages and literatures.</p> +<p>Evidently the father thought he saw in his son that +promise of intellectual vigor and of sound moral stamina +which justified the innovation, in his family, of sending his +boy to the university. His preparation for college Milton +got under private masters and at the famous public school +of St. Paul’s, which was near his home. This preparation +consisted chiefly in exercises in Latin composition and +literature, and was both thorough and effectual. At sixteen, +when he went to college, he had already composed +Latin verse, and he read and wrote Latin with facility.</p> +<p>In 1625 Milton entered Christ’s College, Cambridge. +Here he remained as a student seven years, or till 1632, +taking in course his A.B. and A.M. degrees, and, in spite +of his studious habits and his aversion to the rough and +wayward customs of student life, winning more and more, +and at last having in full measure, the respect of his fellow-collegians. +During these years he wrote, but did not publish, +in Latin or English, no less than twenty-five pieces of +verse, among them poems of no less note than the Nativity +Ode, and the Sonnet on arriving at the age of twenty-three. +The lines on Shakespeare were also composed in this period, +and appeared in print among the poems prefixed to the +second Shakespeare folio in 1632.</p> +<p>Returning, at the close of his university course, to the +<span class="pb">[xiii]</span> +paternal residence, the poet came, not to London, but to the +village of Horton, in Buckinghamshire, where his father +had taken a house in order to live in the country. Now had +to be debated the question of a profession. Hitherto the +son had seemed silently to acquiesce in the understood hope +of the family that he would devote himself to a career in +the church. But during his university years of study +and observation his views had become fixed, his mind had +advanced to self-determination, and he could not remain +content with a future that seemed to hamper his intellectual +freedom. This difference between father and son was +settled, apparently without strife, by the elder man’s entire +yielding to the desires of the younger. The son could not, +as we can well understand if we have read even only a little +of his verse or his prose, be otherwise than strenuous, insistent, +and masterful. To his father he was of course filial +and respectful, we may imagine him even gentle; but conciliatory, +yielding, the point being a vital one, it was not in +his nature to be.</p> +<p>What the young Milton desired was to lead a life devoted +to literature, or, more specifically, to poetry. This meant +that he wished still to study a long time, to fathom all learning +in all tongues. In college he had, besides Latin, mastered +Greek, French, Italian, and Hebrew. His conception +of a poet was of a most profoundly learned man. He had +become aware of the existence of vast areas of knowledge +that he had not yet explored. Other young men turned +aside without misgiving from the ambition to know everything, +and eagerly entered into useful and lucrative professions. +But Milton scorns the thought of applying learning +to the service of material gain. This is his poetical conception +of his duty as a scholar. It will dominate the spirit +of his life work. To understand his feelings at this time +<span class="pb">[xiv]</span> +both toward his father and toward his ideals, we must read +the Latin poem <i>Ad Patrem</i>, of which Professor Masson gives +an English translation.</p> +<p>At Horton, therefore, Milton remains, still subsisting on +his father’s bounty. Having come back thither at the age +of twenty-three, he continues to live at home for nearly six +years, not yet practising any art by which to earn a livelihood. +Occasionally he goes, on scholarly errands, to London, +which is not far distant. He devotes himself simply +to study, and having the poetic temperament, he cannot +help devoting himself also to observation of nature. His +learning becomes immense; his appetite is insatiable.</p> +<p>To the Horton time belong the “minor poems” not already +produced during the student years at Cambridge. Of the circumstances +in which the several poems were written, an account +is given in the Notes in this volume. This early, or +minor, verse of Milton is elicited by passing events, and is +considered to concern only himself and a few friends. For +immediate fame he takes no thought. He feels his immaturity. +His ambition contemplates a distant future, and he +meditates plans, as yet undefined and vague, of some great +work that the world shall not willingly let die.</p> +<p>Very important in Milton’s intellectual development is his +journey to France and Italy, on which he set out in April, +1638. As an indication of his social position in England, +we must note that he carries with him letters of introduction +which secure to him notice and recognition from men of +rank or of notable literary and scientific standing. He goes +abroad as a cultivated private gentleman, known to have +achieved distinction as a student. Undoubtedly his chief +qualification for holding his own in learned Italian society +was his command of languages, especially of Latin, unless +indeed we are to put before his linguistic accomplishments +<span class="pb">[xv]</span> +the refined and gentlemanly personal bearing which was his +birthright, and which, in his years of intense application to +books, he had not forfeited. In Italy he associated with +men whose intellectual interests were the universal ones of +science, in which he was as much at home as they. Thus +he possessed a perfect outfit of the endowments and the +acquisitions which a traveller needs to make his travel fruitful +to himself and honorable to his country.</p> +<p>In Italy he made friends among men of note, and established +relations which were to have their importance in his +future life. But most memorable among his Italian experiences +was his visit to the aged Galileo, who was then a +“prisoner to the Inquisition” for teaching that the earth +moves round the sun. The modern astronomy was then +winning its way among men of thought very much as the +doctrine of evolution has been winning its way during the +last half century. Few minds surrendered instantly and +without misgiving to the new conception. Milton has still +many years to meditate the question before he comes to +the composition of Paradise Lost, when his scheme of +the physical universe will have to recognize the requirements +of poetic art and the prevalence of ancient beliefs +regarding the origin and order of the cosmos. From the +fact that the poet puts the earth in the centre of the universe, +that he adopts, in fact, the Ptolemaic system, though +he knew the Copernican, we are not entitled to infer that +he held a fixed conviction in the matter, and that, on direct +examination as to his views, he would have absolutely professed +one theory and rejected the other. The poet has all +rights of choice, and may be said to know best where to +stand to take his view of the world.</p> +<p>Milton remained abroad some sixteen months, and was +home again in August, 1639. The Horton household was +<span class="pb">[xvi]</span> +now broken up, the father going to live, first with his +younger son, Christopher, at Reading, and afterward to +spend his last years in the family of John in London, +where he died in 1647.</p> +<p>With his removal to London in 1639 a distinct period in +Milton’s life comes to an end. He has hitherto been uninterruptedly +acquiring knowledge both by studious devotion +to books and by observation of human life in foreign +lands. He has read all the great literatures in ancient and +modern languages. He has felt the poetic impulse and has +proved to himself that he has at command creative power. +His purpose still is to produce a poem. But this poem of +his aspirations is distinctly a great and majestic affair, and +not at all a continuation of such work as that which he has +hitherto given to his friends, and which he esteems as +prolusions of his youth.</p> +<p>The poetic waiting-time which Milton, now in full vigor +of manhood, prescribes for himself, he is constrained, both +by inner conviction and by external necessity, to fill with +hard and earnest work. Henceforth, for a score of years, +he ceases almost entirely to write verse, and he earns his +living. He becomes a householder in London, where, as +the father had gained his livelihood by drawing up contracts +and mortgages for his fellow-citizens, the son proceeds +to gain his by teaching their boys Latin.</p> +<p>To the work of teaching, Milton addressed himself with +intelligence and predilection. About education he had +ideas of his own which he applied in practice and advocated +in writing. His Tract on Education is a document of importance +in the history of pedagogy, and is, besides, one +of those memorable pieces of English prose which every +student of literature, whatever his professional aims, must +include in his reading. He kept his school in his own +<span class="pb">[xvii]</span> +house, where he boarded some of his pupils. We could not +imagine John Milton going into a great public school, like +St. Paul’s, to serve as under-teacher to one of the tyrannical +head-masters of the day. The only school befitting his +absolutely convinced and masterful spirit is one in which +he reigns supreme. The great subject is Latin, and so +thoroughly is Latin taught that finally other subjects are +explained through the medium of this language. He had, +himself, brought from his school and college days very +decided discontent with the methods then in vogue. This +discontent he expresses in language of peculiar energy and +even harshness. He is a true reformer.</p> +<p>In 1643 Milton, then thirty-five years old, married Mary +Powell, a girl of just half his own age, daughter of a royalist +residing near Oxford. We must imagine this young +wife as coming to preside, somewhat in the capacity of +matron, over a family of boys held severely to their tasks +of study by a master in whom the sense of humor was +almost entirely lacking, and whose discipline was of the +sternest. That she could not endure the situation was but +natural. Very soon after the wedding she went home with +the understanding that she was to make a short visit to her +parents and sisters; but she did not return for two years. +Her husband summoned her, but she would not come back. +In 1645 she at last repented of her waywardness, sought +reconciliation, and was forgiven. These two years had +wrought a change in Mary Powell Milton. She was now +ready to live with her husband, and did so till her death in +1652. She left him three daughters, the youngest of whom, +Deborah, lived till 1723, and was known to Addison and +his contemporaries, from whom she received distinguished +honors.</p> +<p>In reading Milton we find that all the vicissitudes of his +<span class="pb">[xviii]</span> +life reflect themselves in his works, so that the political and +social events in which he is personally concerned usurp his +attention, color his views, and often become his themes. +Thus he is not, like Shakespeare, a critic of the whole of +humanity, but is usually an advocate or an accuser of the +leaders in church and state and of the principles which they +profess. He is by nature a partisan. All the energy of his +mind goes into denunciation or vindication. His experience +of wedded life made him an advocate of easier divorce, and +determined in him a mood which expressed itself in writings +that naturally brought upon him obloquy even from +those who held him most in honor.</p> +<p>It would be most interesting to know something of the +daily routine of Milton’s school, to ascertain what his pupils +knew and could do when he had done with them. But we +must remember that during all the years of his teaching +the great Revolution was in progress, that all men of thought +were profoundly stirred on public questions, and that Milton +himself was a politician and an eager partisan of the cause +of Parliament. He did not consider himself a teacher finally +and for good. His school did not develop into anything +great or conspicuous, and never became an object of curiosity. +While yet engaged in such teaching as he found to do, he +had written the pamphlets on education and on divorce, and +also the famous one entitled Areopagitica, a Speech for the +Liberty of Unlicensed Printing to the Parliament of England. +This is the best worth reading of all his prose writings. +The subject of it is perfectly intelligible still, and +its English shows to perfection the qualities of the great +Miltonic style.</p> +<p>After the execution of Charles I., Jan. 30, 1649, it became +more than ever necessary for all thoughtful men to express +their convictions. For a people to put to death its king by +<span class="pb">[xix]</span> +judicial process was an unheard of event. Those who considered +that the Parliament had acted within the law and +could not have done otherwise with due regard to the welfare +of the nation had to convince doubting and timid citizens +at home, and also, so far as was possible, to placate critics +in other nations who still believed that the king could do no +wrong; for all Europe interested itself in this tremendous +act of the English Parliament.</p> +<p>Within a fortnight after the death of the king, Milton +published his pamphlet on The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates. +This work so impressed the parliamentary leaders +as a thorough and unanswerable argument in defence of their +cause that they sought out its author, and in March appointed +him to the important post of Secretary for Foreign Tongues. +Milton’s perfect command of Latin now stood him in good +stead. Here was an uncompromising puritan, fully the equal +of the foreign ecclesiastics in theology, and capable of holding +his own in Latin composition with the most famous +humanists of the time. Latin was then the language of +international intercourse. Milton’s duty was to translate +into and from Latin the despatches that passed between his +own and foreign governments. He also composed original +treatises, some in English and some in Latin, the most important +of which continued his justification of the national +act of regicide. The importance of these writings was very +great. Milton’s services to the puritan cause can to-day +hardly be appreciated. It was the constant aim of royalists +at home and abroad to represent England as having fallen +under the control of ignorant fanatics, of ambitious, barbarous, +blood-thirsty men. By his very personality, his knowledge +of affairs, his familiarity with ancient and mediæval +history, and, above all, by his fluency in Latin invective, +Milton thwarted attempts to disparage his countrymen as +<span class="pb">[xx]</span> +lawless barbarians. He helped to maintain the good name +of his country as a land of intellectual light and of respect +for ancient usage. Foreigners who attempted personal vilification +found him ready to meet them with their own +weapons. The poet of Comus now shows himself a controversialist +of unbounded energy.</p> +<p>In 1652, shortly before the death of his wife, Milton became +totally blind. Henceforward the duties of his secretaryship +had to be performed with the aid of an amanuensis. +He continued, however, to fill the office till just before the +end of the Protectorate in 1659. In November, 1656, he +married Katharine Woodcocke, who lived but till March, +1658. She left an infant which died a month after the +mother.</p> +<p>Milton’s duties as Secretary for Foreign Tongues must +have brought him, one would think, into some sort of personal +relation with Cromwell and the other great parliamentary +leaders. The poet leaves us in no doubt as to the high +esteem in which he held these men. But no gossip of the +time admits us to a glimpse of their intercourse with each +other. It falls to Milton to eulogize Cromwell; it never +came in Cromwell’s way to put on record his estimate of +Milton.</p> +<p>With the restoration of royalty in the person of Charles +II., in 1660, Milton’s public activity of course ceased, and the +second period of his life comes to an end. We saw his first +period devoted to preparation and to early essays in poetry, +with the distinct conception that poetry was yet to be the +great work of his life. In his second period he expresses +himself in verse but rarely and briefly, but produces controversial +prose, now in English, now in Latin. In this second +period he works, as teacher or as public secretary, for +payment, supporting himself and family. When the third +<span class="pb">[xxi]</span> +period begins, he loses all employment, goes into closest +retirement, a widower with three daughters growing up +from childhood, and devotes himself to the poetry that he +has always contemplated as the object of his ambition. He +has now been blind eight years.</p> +<p>In view of the conspicuous part that Milton had taken in +defending the right of Parliament to bring a king to the +scaffold, it is surprising that of the Restoration he was not +included in the number of those marked out for the punishment +of death. He was for some time undoubtedly in +danger. Fortunately he was overlooked, or, perhaps, was +purposely neglected as being henceforce harmless.</p> +<p>In February, 1663, he married his third wife Elizabeth +Minshull, who faithfully cared for him till his death in +1674.</p> +<p>During this last period of his life Milton composed and +published his <i>major</i> poems,—Paradise Lost, 1667, Paradise +Regained, and Samson Agonistes, 1671. For Paradise Lost +he received from his publisher five pounds in cash, with +promise of five pounds when thirteen hundred copies should +have been sold, and of two more payments, each of the +same sum, when two more editions of the same size should +have been disposed of.</p> +<p>The last years of his life Milton appears to have spent in +comparative comfort. His three daughters had gone out to +learn trades. It seems he had given them no education. It +may be they showed no desire or aptitude for instruction. +Far more probably, however, he took no interest in their +education. His ideal of womanhood, as may be gathered +from numerous passages in his poems, is as far as possible +removed from the modern conception of sexual equality +as to opportunity for education and for training to self-determination. +He shared in this respect the views that +<span class="pb">[xxii]</span> +prevailed during his day in all classes of society, and he +maintained these views as a parent no less than as the poet +of Paradise.</p> +<p>Besides the poems named above as produced during this +last period of his life, Milton published also in these years +several prose works, which have now little value except as +showing the bent and occupation of his mind. Among these +may be named a small Latin Grammar, written in English, +which he had composed long before, and a History of Britain +to the Norman Conquest.</p> +<p>Though the immediate sale of Paradise Lost was not +large, according to our ideas, it was yet sufficient to indicate +a very respectable interest in the reading public of the day. +We must remember that it appeared in the corrupt time of +the Restoration, when the prevailing literary fashion was +wholly adverse to seriousness and ideality. The age was +spiritually degenerate. Milton himself considered that he +lived “an age too late.” The great poem had no royal or +noble sponsors to give it vogue; yet it made its way. By +no means had all minds become frivolous. The minor +poems had been published by themselves in 1645. These +had always had their readers. The prose pamphlets of the +secretary for foreign tongues were, at least by a small class +of observant persons, known to be the work of the author +of Comus and Lycidas. There were not wanting men to +take a sympathetic interest in the fate of the poet in his +retirement, and to note the appearance of Paradise Lost as +a literary event.</p> +<p>Thus it was that Milton lived to have some slight foretaste +of the honor which two centuries have bestowed on +his memory. Visitors came to see him in his modest dwelling +in an unfashionable quarter of London. Foreigners +occasionally came to satisfy their curiosity. Dryden, the +<span class="pb">[xxiii]</span> +chief poet who wrote in the spirit of the Restoration, called +to talk with the author of Paradise Lost, and to suggest +improvements in the form of the poem, which he thought +should be in rhyme. The recognition which the poet thus +got in his lifetime is small only in comparison with the +immense fame he has won since his death.</p> +<p>Milton has now become an object of the profoundest +curiosity. His life has been investigated by Professor +Masson, with a minute scrutiny into detail such as has been +devoted to no other writer but Shakespeare. His works +are perpetually reprinted in all imaginable forms, whether +of cheapness or of sumptuous elegance. They are read as +text-books in schools by hosts of youth. Our beliefs regarding +the great themes of the sacred scriptures are so +colored by the Miltonic epics that we hardly know to-day +just what part of our conceptions we owe to the Bible and +what to the poet. Next to the Shakespearean dramas, the +poems of Milton are the largest single influence that knits +the English-speaking race into one vast brotherhood.</p> +<p>All students of Milton have to acknowledge their indebtedness to +Professor +David Masson of Edinburgh, who has +devoted years of labor to research in every department of +Miltonic lore. Masson’s great Life of Milton in Connexion +with the History of his Time is far too bulky for use except +for reference on special points. The index volume makes +the enormous Work accessible as occasion requires.</p> +<p>To his edition of the poetical works, Masson prefixes a +life, which will suffice for all the needs likely to arise in +school. Yet again, Masson is the writer of the article on +Milton in the Encyclopædia Britannica, a most complete presentment +of everything a student ordinarily needs to know.</p> +<p>In the series of Classical Writers is a little book, or +primer, on Milton, written by Stopford A. Brooke.</p> +<div class="pb">[xxiv]</div> +<p>In the English Men of Letters series, the +Milton +is the work of Mark Pattison.</p> +<p>The latest good account of Milton is the book entitled simply +John Milton, by +Walter Raleigh, professor at University College, Liverpool. This is +a remarkably vigorous and illuminating piece of criticism.</p> +<p>Perhaps the most interesting writing on a Milton subject +is the book by Mrs. Anne Manning, The Maiden and Married +Life of Mary Powell (afterward Mrs. Milton), and the +sequel thereto, Deborah’s Diary. This the student must +read with the full understanding that it is a work of fiction.</p> +<p>It is right to warn young readers against the natural +tendency to give their time to critical and expository books +and articles before they make acquaintance with originals. +Almost every essayist of note has written on Milton. +There is danger lest we accept opinions at second hand. +The only opinions on Milton to which we have any right +are those we form from our own reading of his works.</p> +<div class="pb">[1]</div> +<h2>MILTON’S MINOR POEMS.</h2> +<h3 id="c1">ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST’S NATIVITY.</h3> +<p class="center"><span class="small">[Composed 1629.]</span></p> +<h4>I.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">This is the month, and this the happy morn,</p> +<p class="t0">Wherein the Son of Heaven’s eternal King,</p> +<p class="t0">Of wedded maid and virgin mother born,</p> +<p class="t0">Our great redemption from above did bring;</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r1_5" href="#n1_5">For so the holy sages once did sing</a>,<span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t">That he <a id="r1_6" href="#n1_6">our deadly forfeit should release</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">And with his Father work us a perpetual peace.</p> +</div> +<h4>II.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">That glorious form, that light unsufferable,</p> +<p class="t0">And that far-beaming blaze of majesty,</p> +<p class="t0">Wherewith <a id="r1_10" href="#n1_10">he wont</a> at Heaven’s high council-table<span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t0">To sit the midst of Trinal Unity,</p> +<p class="t0">He laid aside, and, here with us to be,</p> +<p class="t">Forsook the courts of everlasting day,</p> +<p class="t0">And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay.</p> +</div> +<h4>III.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">Say, Heavenly Muse, shall not <a id="r1_15" href="#n1_15">thy sacred vein</a><span class="lnum"> 15</span></p> +<p class="t0">Afford a present to the Infant God?</p> +<p class="t0">Hast thou no verse, no hymn, or solemn strain,</p> +<span class="pb">[2]</span> +<p class="t0">To welcome him to this his new abode,</p> +<p class="t0">Now while the heaven, by <a id="r1_19" href="#n1_19">the Sun’s team</a> untrod,</p> +<p class="t">Hath took no print of the approaching light,<span class="lnum"> 20</span></p> +<p class="t0">And all the spangled host keep watch in squadrons bright?</p> +</div> +<h4>IV.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">See how from far upon the eastern road</p> +<p class="t0">The star-led wizards haste with odors sweet!</p> +<p class="t0">Oh! run; <a id="r1_24" href="#n1_24">prevent them with thy humble ode</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">And lay it lowly at his blessed feet;<span class="lnum"> 25</span></p> +<p class="t0">Have thou the honor first thy Lord to greet,</p> +<p class="t">And join thy voice unto the Angel Quire,</p> +<p class="t0">From out his secret altar <a id="r1_28" href="#n1_28">touched with hallowed fire</a>.</p> +</div> +<h4><span class="sc">The Hymn.</span></h4> +<h4>I.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">It was the winter wild,</p> +<p class="t2">While the heaven-born child<span class="lnum"> 30</span></p> +<p class="t">All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies;</p> +<p class="t2">Nature, in awe to him,</p> +<p class="t2">Had doffed her gaudy trim,</p> +<p class="t">With her great Master so to sympathize:</p> +<p class="t0">It was no season then for her<span class="lnum"> 35</span></p> +<p class="t0">To wanton with the Sun, her lusty paramour.</p> +</div> +<h4>II.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">Only with speeches fair</p> +<p class="t2">She woos the gentle air</p> +<p class="t">To hide her guilty front with innocent snow,</p> +<p class="t2">And on her naked shame,<span class="lnum"> 40</span></p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r1_41" href="#n1_41">Pollute</a> with sinful blame,</p> +<span class="pb">[3]</span> +<p class="t">The saintly veil of maiden white to throw;</p> +<p class="t0">Confounded, that her Maker’s eyes</p> +<p class="t0">Should look so near upon her foul deformities.</p> +</div> +<h4>III.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">But he, her fears to cease,<span class="lnum"> 45</span></p> +<p class="t2">Sent down the meek-eyed Peace:</p> +<p class="t">She, crowned with olive green, came softly sliding</p> +<p class="t2">Down through <a id="r1_48" href="#n1_48">the turning sphere</a>,</p> +<p class="t2">His ready harbinger,</p> +<p class="t"><a id="r1_50" href="#n1_50">With turtle wing</a> the amorous clouds dividing;<span class="lnum"> 50</span></p> +<p class="t0">And, waving wide her myrtle wand,</p> +<p class="t0">She strikes a universal peace through sea and land.</p> +</div> +<h4>IV.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">No war, or battle’s sound,</p> +<p class="t2">Was heard the world around;</p> +<p class="t">The idle spear and shield were high uphung;<span class="lnum"> 55</span></p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r1_56" href="#n1_56">The hooked chariot</a> stood,</p> +<p class="t2">Unstained with hostile blood;</p> +<p class="t">The trumpet spake not to the armed throng;</p> +<p class="t0">And kings sat still with awful eye,</p> +<p class="t0">As if they surely knew their <a id="r1_60" href="#n1_60">sovran</a> Lord was by.<span class="lnum"> 60</span></p> +</div> +<h4>V.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">But peaceful was the night</p> +<p class="t2">Wherein <a id="r1_62" href="#n1_62">the Prince of Light</a></p> +<p class="t">His reign of peace upon the earth began.</p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r1_64" href="#n1_64">The winds, with wonder whist</a>,</p> +<p class="t2">Smoothly the waters kissed,<span class="lnum"> 65</span></p> +<p class="t">Whispering new joys to the mild <a id="r1_66" href="#n1_66">Ocean</a>,</p> +<span class="pb">[4]</span> +<p class="t0">Who now hath quite forgot to rave,</p> +<p class="t0">While <a id="r1_68" href="#n1_68">birds of calm</a> sit brooding on the charmed wave.</p> +</div> +<h4>VI.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">The stars, with deep amaze,</p> +<p class="t2">Stand fixed in steadfast gaze,<span class="lnum"> 70</span></p> +<p class="t">Bending one way <a id="r1_71" href="#n1_71">their precious influence</a>,</p> +<p class="t2">And will not take their flight,</p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r1_73" href="#n1_73">For all the morning light</a>,</p> +<p class="t">Or <a id="r1_74" href="#n1_74">Lucifer</a> that often warned them thence;</p> +<p class="t0">But in their glimmering orbs did glow,<span class="lnum"> 75</span></p> +<p class="t0">Until their Lord himself bespake, and bid them go.</p> +</div> +<h4>VII.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">And, though the shady gloom</p> +<p class="t2">Had given day her room,</p> +<p class="t">The Sun himself withheld his wonted speed,</p> +<p class="t2">And hid his head for shame,<span class="lnum"> 80</span></p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r1_81" href="#n1_81">As</a> his inferior flame</p> +<p class="t">The new-enlightened world no more should need:</p> +<p class="t0">He saw a greater Sun appear</p> +<p class="t0">Than his bright throne or burning axletree could bear.</p> +</div> +<h4>VIII.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">The shepherds on the lawn,<span class="lnum"> 85</span></p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r1_86" href="#n1_86">Or ere the point of dawn</a>,</p> +<p class="t">Sat simply chatting in a rustic row;</p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r1_88" href="#n1_88">Full little thought they than</a></p> +<p class="t2">That <a id="r1_89" href="#n1_89">the mighty Pan</a></p> +<p class="t">Was kindly come to live with them below:<span class="lnum"> 90</span></p> +<p class="t0">Perhaps their loves, or else their sheep,</p> +<p class="t0">Was all that did their silly thoughts so busy keep.</p> +<span class="pb">[5]</span> +</div> +<h4>IX.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">When such music sweet</p> +<p class="t2">Their hearts and ears did greet</p> +<p class="t">As never was <a id="r1_95" href="#n1_95">by mortal finger strook</a>,<span class="lnum"> 95</span></p> +<p class="t2">Divinely-warbled voice</p> +<p class="t2">Answering the stringed noise,</p> +<p class="t"><a id="r1_98" href="#n1_98">As all their souls in blissful rapture took</a>:</p> +<p class="t0">The air, such pleasure loth to lose,<span class="lnum"> 99</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r1_100">With thousand echoes</a> still prolongs each heavenly close.</p> +</div> +<h4>X.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">Nature, that heard such sound</p> +<p class="t2">Beneath the hollow round</p> +<p class="t">Of <a id="r1_103" href="#n1_103">Cynthia’s seat</a> the Airy region thrilling,</p> +<p class="t2">Now was almost won</p> +<p class="t2">To think her part was done,<span class="lnum"> 105</span></p> +<p class="t">And that her reign had here its last fulfilling:</p> +<p class="t0">She knew such harmony alone</p> +<p class="t0">Could hold all Heaven and Earth in happier <a id="r1_108" href="#n1_108">union</a>.</p> +</div> +<h4>XI.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">At last surrounds their sight</p> +<p class="t2">A globe of circular light,<span class="lnum"> 110</span></p> +<p class="t">That with long beams the shamefaced Night arrayed;</p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r1_112" href="#n1_112">The helmed cherubim</a></p> +<p class="t2">And <a id="r1_113" href="#n1_113">sworded seraphim</a></p> +<p class="t">Are seen in glittering ranks with wings displayed,</p> +<p class="t0">Harping in loud and solemn quire,<span class="lnum"> 115</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r1_116" href="#n1_116">With unexpressive notes</a>, to Heaven’s new-born Heir.</p> +</div> +<div class="pb">[6]</div> +<h4>XII.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">Such music (as ’tis said)</p> +<p class="t2">Before was never made,</p> +<p class="t"><a id="r1_119" href="#n1_119">But when of old the Sons of Morning sung</a>,</p> +<p class="t2">While the Creator great<span class="lnum"> 120</span></p> +<p class="t2">His constellations set,</p> +<p class="t">And the well-balanced World on hinges hung,</p> +<p class="t0">And cast the dark foundations deep,</p> +<p class="t0">And bid <a id="r1_124" href="#n1_124">the weltering waves</a> their oozy channel keep.</p> +</div> +<h4>XIII.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2"><a id="r1_125" href="#n1_125">Ring out, ye crystal spheres</a>!<span class="lnum"> 125</span></p> +<p class="t2">Once bless our human ears,</p> +<p class="t">If ye have power to touch our senses so;</p> +<p class="t2">And let your silver chime</p> +<p class="t2">Move in melodious time;</p> +<p class="t">And let the bass of heaven’s deep organ blow;<span class="lnum"> 130</span></p> +<p class="t0">And with your ninefold harmony</p> +<p class="t0">Make up full consort to the angelic symphony.</p> +</div> +<h4>XIV.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">For, if such holy song</p> +<p class="t2">Enwrap our fancy long,</p> +<p class="t">Time will run back and fetch the Age of Gold;<span class="lnum"> 135</span></p> +<p class="t2">And <a id="r1_136" href="#n1_136">speckled Vanity</a></p> +<p class="t2">Will sicken soon and die,</p> +<p class="t">And leprous Sin will melt from earthly mould;</p> +<p class="t0">And Hell itself will pass away,</p> +<p class="t0">And leave her dolorous mansions to the peering day.<span class="lnum"> 140</span></p> +</div> +<h4>XV.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">Yea, Truth and Justice then</p> +<p class="t2">Will down return to men,</p> +<p class="t">Orbed in a rainbow; and, <a id="r1_143" href="#n1_143">like glories wearing</a>,</p> +<p class="t2">Mercy will sit between,</p> +<p class="t2">Throned in celestial sheen,<span class="lnum"> 145</span></p> +<p class="t">With radiant feet the tissued clouds down steering;</p> +<p class="t0">And Heaven, as at some festival,</p> +<p class="t0">Will open wide the gates of her high palace-hall.</p> +</div> +<div class="pb">[7]</div> +<h4>XVI.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">But wisest Fate says No,</p> +<p class="t2">This must not yet be so;<span class="lnum"> 150</span></p> +<p class="t">The Babe yet lies in smiling infancy</p> +<p class="t2">That on the bitter cross</p> +<p class="t2">Must redeem our loss,</p> +<p class="t">So both himself and us to glorify:</p> +<p class="t0">Yet first, to <a id="r1_155" href="#n1_155">those ychained in sleep</a>,<span class="lnum"> 155</span></p> +<p class="t0">The wakeful trump of doom must thunder through the deep.</p> +</div> +<h4>XVII.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2"><a id="r1_157" href="#n1_157">With such a horrid clang</a></p> +<p class="t2">As on Mount Sinai rang,</p> +<p class="t">While the red fire and smouldering clouds outbrake:</p> +<p class="t2">The aged Earth, aghast<span class="lnum"> 160</span></p> +<p class="t2">With terror of that blast,</p> +<p class="t">Shall from the surface to the centre shake,</p> +<p class="t0">When, at the world’s last session,</p> +<p class="t0">The dreadful Judge in middle air shall spread his throne.</p> +</div> +<h4>XVIII.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">And then at last our bliss<span class="lnum"> 165</span></p> +<p class="t2">Full and perfect is,</p> +<p class="t">But now begins; for from this happy day</p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r1_168" href="#n1_168">The Old Dragon</a> under ground,</p> +<p class="t2">In straiter limits bound,</p> +<p class="t">Not half so far casts his usurped sway,<span class="lnum"> 170</span></p> +<span class="pb">[8]</span> +<p class="t0">And, wroth to see his kingdom fail,</p> +<p class="t0">Swinges the scaly horror of his folded tail.</p> +</div> +<h4>XIX.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2"><a id="r1_173" href="#n1_173">The Oracles are dumb</a>;</p> +<p class="t2">No voice or hideous hum</p> +<p class="t">Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving.<span class="lnum"> 175</span></p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r1_176" href="#n1_176">Apollo</a> from his shrine</p> +<p class="t2">Can no more divine,</p> +<p class="t">With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos leaving.</p> +<p class="t0">No nightly trance, or breathed <a id="r1_179" href="#n1_179">spell</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell.<span class="lnum"> 180</span></p> +</div> +<h4>XX.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">The lonely mountains o’er,</p> +<p class="t2">And the resounding shore,</p> +<p class="t">A voice of weeping heard and loud lament;</p> +<p class="t2">From haunted spring, and dale</p> +<p class="t2">Edged with poplar pale,<span class="lnum"> 185</span></p> +<p class="t">The parting <a id="r1_186" href="#n1_186">Genius</a> is with sighing sent;</p> +<p class="t0">With flower-inwoven tresses torn</p> +<p class="t0">The Nymphs in twilight shade of tangled thickets mourn.</p> +</div> +<h4>XXI.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">In consecrated earth,</p> +<p class="t2">And on the holy hearth,<span class="lnum"> 190</span></p> +<p class="t"><a id="r1_191" href="#n1_191">The Lars and Lemures</a> moan with midnight plaint;</p> +<p class="t2">In urns, and altars round,</p> +<p class="t2">A drear and dying sound</p> +<p class="t"><a id="r1_194" href="#n1_194">Affrights the flamens</a> at their service quaint;</p> +<p class="t0">And <a id="r1_195" href="#n1_195">the chill marble seems to sweat</a>,<span class="lnum"> 195</span></p> +<p class="t0">While each peculiar power forgoes his wonted seat.</p> +<span class="pb">[9]</span> +</div> +<h4>XXII.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2"><a id="r1_197" href="#n1_197">Peor and Baälim</a></p> +<p class="t2">Forsake their temples dim,</p> +<p class="t">With <a id="r1_199" href="#n1_199">that twice-battered god of Palestine</a>;</p> +<p class="t2">And <a id="r1_200" href="#n1_200">mooned Ashtaroth</a>,<span class="lnum"> 200</span></p> +<p class="t2">Heaven’s queen and mother both,</p> +<p class="t">Now sits not girt with tapers’ holy shine:</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r1_203" href="#n1_203">The Lybic Hammon</a> shrinks his horn;</p> +<p class="t0">In vain the Tyrian maids <a id="r1_204" href="#n1_204">their wounded Thammuz</a> mourn.</p> +</div> +<h4>XXIII.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">And <a id="r1_205" href="#n1_205">sullen Moloch</a>, fled,<span class="lnum"> 205</span></p> +<p class="t2">Hath left in shadows dread</p> +<p class="t">His burning idol all of blackest hue;</p> +<p class="t2">In vain with cymbals’ ring</p> +<p class="t2">They call the grisly king,</p> +<p class="t">In dismal dance about <a id="r1_210" href="#n1_210">the furnace blue</a>;<span class="lnum"> 210</span></p> +<p class="t0">The brutish gods of Nile as fast,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r1_212" href="#n1_212">Isis, and Orus, and the dog Anubis</a>, haste.</p> +</div> +<h4>XXIV.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2"><a id="r1_213" href="#n1_213">Nor is Osiris seen</a></p> +<p class="t2">In Memphian grove or green,<span class="lnum"> 214</span></p> +<p class="t">Trampling <a id="r1_215" href="#n1_215">the unshowered grass</a> with lowings loud;<span class="lnum"> 215</span></p> +<p class="t2">Nor can he be at rest</p> +<p class="t2">Within his sacred chest;</p> +<p class="t">Nought but profoundest Hell can be his shroud;</p> +<p class="t0">In vain, with timbrelled anthems dark,</p> +<p class="t0">The sable-stoled sorcerers bear his worshipped ark.<span class="lnum"> 220</span></p> +<span class="pb">[10]</span> +</div> +<h4>XXV.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">He feels from Juda’s land</p> +<p class="t2">The dreaded Infant’s hand;</p> +<p class="t">The rays of Bethlehem blind <a id="r1_223" href="#n1_223">his dusky eyn</a>;</p> +<p class="t2">Nor all the gods beside</p> +<p class="t2">Longer dare abide,<span class="lnum"> 225</span></p> +<p class="t">Not Typhon huge ending in snaky twine:</p> +<p class="t0">Our Babe, to show his Godhead true,</p> +<p class="t0">Can in his swaddling bands control the damned crew.</p> +</div> +<h4>XXVI.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">So, when the sun in bed,</p> +<p class="t2">Curtained with cloudy red,<span class="lnum"> 230</span></p> +<p class="t">Pillows his chin upon an orient wave,</p> +<p class="t2">The flocking shadows pale</p> +<p class="t2">Troop to the infernal jail,</p> +<p class="t">Each fettered ghost slips to his several grave,</p> +<p class="t0">And the yellow-skirted fays<span class="lnum"> 235</span></p> +<p class="t0">Fly after the night-steeds, leaving their moon-loved maze.</p> +</div> +<h4>XXVII.</h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">But see! the Virgin blest</p> +<p class="t2">Hath laid her Babe to rest.</p> +<p class="t">Time is our tedious song should here have ending:</p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r1_240" href="#n1_240">Heaven’s youngest-teemed star</a><span class="lnum"> 240</span></p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r1_241" href="#n1_241">Hath fixed her polished car</a>,</p> +<p class="t">Her sleeping Lord with handmaid lamp attending;</p> +<p class="t0">And all about the courtly stable</p> +<p class="t0">Bright-harnessed Angels sit in order serviceable.</p> +</div> +<div class="pb">[11]</div> +<h3 id="c2">ON SHAKESPEARE. 1630.</h3> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">What needs my Shakespeare for his honored bones</p> +<p class="t0">The labor of an age in piled stones?</p> +<p class="t0">Or that his hallowed reliques should be hid</p> +<p class="t0">Under a <a id="r2_4" href="#n2_4">star-ypointing</a> pyramid?</p> +<p class="t0">Dear son of memory, great heir of fame,<span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t0">What need’st thou such weak witness of thy name?</p> +<p class="t0">Thou in our wonder and astonishment</p> +<p class="t0">Hast built thyself <a id="r2_8" href="#n2_8">a livelong monument</a>.</p> +<p class="t0">For whilst, to the shame of slow-endeavoring art</p> +<p class="t0">Thy easy numbers flow, <a id="r2_10" href="#n2_10">and that each heart</a><span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t0">Hath from the leaves of <a id="r2_11" href="#n2_11">thy unvalued book</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r2_12" href="#n2_12">Those Delphic lines</a> with deep impression took,</p> +<p class="t0">Then thou, <a id="r2_13" href="#n2_13">our fancy of itself bereaving</a>,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r2_14" href="#n2_14">Dost make <i>us</i> marble with too much conceiving</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">And so <a id="r2_15" href="#n2_15">sepulchred</a> in such pomp dost lie<span class="lnum"> 15</span></p> +<p class="t0">That kings for such a tomb would wish to die.</p> +</div> +<div class="pb">[12]</div> +<h3 id="c3">L’ALLEGRO.</h3> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">Hence, loathed Melancholy,</p> +<p class="t"><a id="r3_2" href="#n3_2">Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born</a></p> +<p class="t0">In <a id="r3_3" href="#n3_3">Stygian cave</a> forlorn</p> +<p class="t">’Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy!</p> +<p class="t0">Find out <a id="r3_5" href="#n3_5">some uncouth cell</a>,<span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t">Where brooding Darkness spreads his jealous wings,</p> +<p class="t0">And the night-raven sings;</p> +<p class="t">There, under ebon shades and low-browed rocks,</p> +<p class="t0">As ragged as thy locks,</p> +<p class="t"><a id="r3_10" href="#n3_10">In dark Cimmerian desert</a> ever dwell.<span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t0">But come, thou Goddess fair and free,</p> +<p class="t0">In heaven <a id="r3_12" href="#n3_12">yclept</a> Euphrosyne,</p> +<p class="t0">And by men heart-easing Mirth;</p> +<p class="t0">Whom lovely Venus, at a birth,</p> +<p class="t0">With <a id="r3_15" href="#n3_15">two sister Graces more</a>,<span class="lnum"> 15</span></p> +<p class="t0">To ivy-crowned Bacchus bore:</p> +<p class="t0">Or whether (as some sager sing)</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_18" href="#n3_18">The frolic wind</a> that breathes the spring,</p> +<p class="t0">Zephyr, with Aurora playing,</p> +<p class="t0">As he met her once a-Maying,<span class="lnum"> 20</span></p> +<p class="t0">There, on beds of violets blue,</p> +<p class="t0">And fresh-blown roses washed in dew,</p> +<p class="t0">Filled her with thee, a daughter fair,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_24" href="#n3_24">So buxom, blithe, and debonair</a>.</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_25" href="#n3_25">Haste thee, Nymph, and bring with thee</a><span class="lnum"> 25</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_26">Jest, and youthful Jollity</a>,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_27">Quips and Cranks and wanton Wiles</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Nods and Becks and wreathed <a id="r3_28" href="#n3_28">Smiles</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Such as hang on Hebe’s cheek,</p> +<p class="t0">And love to live in dimple sleek;<span class="lnum"> 30</span></p> +<span class="pb">[13]</span> +<p class="t0">Sport that wrinkled Care derides,</p> +<p class="t0">And Laughter holding both his sides.</p> +<p class="t0">Come, and <a id="r3_33" href="#n3_33">trip it, as you go</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">On the light fantastic toe;</p> +<p class="t0">And in thy right hand lead with thee<span class="lnum"> 35</span></p> +<p class="t0">The mountain-nymph, sweet Liberty;</p> +<p class="t0">And, if I give thee honor due,</p> +<p class="t0">Mirth, admit me of thy crew,</p> +<p class="t0">To live with her, and live with thee,</p> +<p class="t0">In unreproved pleasures free;<span class="lnum"> 40</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_41" href="#n3_41">To hear the lark</a> begin his flight,</p> +<p class="t0">And, singing, startle the dull night,</p> +<p class="t0">From his watch-tower in the skies,</p> +<p class="t0">Till the dappled dawn doth rise;</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_45" href="#n3_45">Then to come, in spite of sorrow</a>,<span class="lnum"> 45</span></p> +<p class="t0">And at my window bid good-morrow,</p> +<p class="t0">Through the sweet-briar or the vine,</p> +<p class="t0">Or the twisted eglantine;</p> +<p class="t0">While the cock, with lively din,</p> +<p class="t0">Scatters the rear of darkness thin;<span class="lnum"> 50</span></p> +<p class="t0">And to the stack, or the barn-door,</p> +<p class="t0">Stoutly struts his dames before:</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_53" href="#n3_53">Oft listening how the hounds and horn</a></p> +<p class="t0">Cheerly rouse the slumbering morn,</p> +<p class="t0">From the side of some hoar hill,<span class="lnum"> 55</span></p> +<p class="t0">Through the high wood echoing shrill:</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_57" href="#n3_57">Sometime walking, not unseen</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">By hedgerow elms, on hillocks green,</p> +<p class="t0">Right <a id="r3_59" href="#n3_59">against</a> the eastern gate</p> +<p class="t0">Where the great Sun begins his state,<span class="lnum"> 60</span></p> +<p class="t0">Robed in flames and amber light,</p> +<span class="pb">[14]</span> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_62" href="#n3_62">The clouds in thousand liveries dight</a>;</p> +<p class="t0">While the ploughman, near at hand,</p> +<p class="t0">Whistles o’er the furrowed land,</p> +<p class="t0">And the milkmaid singeth blithe,<span class="lnum"> 65</span></p> +<p class="t0">And the mower whets his scythe,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_67" href="#n3_67">And every shepherd tells his tale</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_68" href="#n3_68">Under the hawthorn in the dale.</a></p> +<p class="t0">Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures,</p> +<p class="t0">Whilst <a id="r3_70" href="#n3_70">the landskip</a> round it measures:<span class="lnum"> 70</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_71" href="#n3_71">Russet lawns</a>, and fallows gray,</p> +<p class="t0">Where the nibbling flocks do stray;</p> +<p class="t0">Mountains on whose barren breast</p> +<p class="t0">The laboring clouds do often rest;</p> +<p class="t0">Meadows trim, with daisies pied;<span class="lnum"> 75</span></p> +<p class="t0">Shallow brooks, and rivers wide;</p> +<p class="t0">Towers and battlements <a id="r3_77" href="#n3_77">it</a> sees</p> +<p class="t0">Bosomed high in tufted trees,</p> +<p class="t0">Where perhaps some beauty lies,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_80" href="#n3_80">The cynosure of neighboring eyes</a>.<span class="lnum"> 80</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_81" href="#n3_81">Hard by a cottage chimney smokes</a></p> +<p class="t0">From betwixt two aged oaks,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_83" href="#n3_83">Where Corydon and Thyrsis met</a></p> +<p class="t0">Are at their savory dinner set</p> +<p class="t0">Of herbs and other country messes,<span class="lnum"> 85</span></p> +<p class="t0">Which the neat-handed Phyllis dresses;</p> +<p class="t0">And then in haste her <a id="r3_87" href="#n3_87">bower</a> she leaves,</p> +<p class="t0">With Thestylis to bind the sheaves;</p> +<p class="t0">Or, if the earlier season lead,</p> +<p class="t0">To the <a id="r3_90" href="#n3_90">tanned haycock</a> in the mead.<span class="lnum"> 90</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_91" href="#n3_91">Sometimes, with secure delight</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">The upland hamlets will invite,</p> +<p class="t0">When the merry bells ring round,</p> +<p class="t0">And the jocund rebecks sound</p> +<p class="t0">To many a youth and many a maid<span class="lnum"> 95</span></p> +<p class="t0">Dancing <a id="r3_96" href="#n3_96">in the chequered shade</a>,</p> +<span class="pb">[15]</span> +<p class="t0">And young and old come forth to play</p> +<p class="t0">On a sunshine holiday,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_99" href="#n3_99">Till the livelong daylight fail</a>:</p> +<p class="t0">Then to the spicy nut-brown ale,<span class="lnum"> 100</span></p> +<p class="t0">With stories told of many a feat,</p> +<p class="t0">How <a id="r3_102" href="#n3_102">Faery Mab</a> the junkets eat.</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_103" href="#n3_103">She</a> was pinched and pulled, she said;</p> +<p class="t0">And he, by Friar’s lantern led,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_105" href="#n3_105">Tells</a> how the drudging goblin sweat<span class="lnum"> 105</span></p> +<p class="t0">To earn his cream-bowl duly set,</p> +<p class="t0">When in one night, ere glimpse of morn,</p> +<p class="t0">His shadowy flail hath threshed the corn</p> +<p class="t0">That ten day-laborers <a id="r3_109" href="#n3_109">could not end</a>;</p> +<p class="t0">Then lies him down, <a id="r3_110" href="#n3_110">the lubber fiend</a>,<span class="lnum"> 110</span></p> +<p class="t0">And, stretched out all the chimney’s length,</p> +<p class="t0">Basks at the fire his hairy strength,</p> +<p class="t0">And crop-full out of doors he flings,</p> +<p class="t0">Ere the first cock his matin rings.</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_115" href="#n3_115">Thus done the tales</a>, to bed they creep,<span class="lnum"> 115</span></p> +<p class="t0">By whispering winds soon lulled asleep.</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_117" href="#n3_117">Towered cities please us then</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">And the busy hum of men,</p> +<p class="t0">Where throngs of knights and barons bold,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_120" href="#n3_120">In weeds of peace, high triumphs hold</a>,<span class="lnum"> 120</span></p> +<p class="t0">With store of ladies, whose bright eyes</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_122" href="#n3_122">Rain influence</a>, and judge the prize</p> +<p class="t0">Of wit or arms, while both contend</p> +<p class="t0">To win her grace <a id="r3_124" href="#n3_124">whom</a> all commend.</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_125" href="#n3_125">There let Hymen oft appear</a><span class="lnum"> 125</span></p> +<p class="t0">In saffron robe, with taper clear,</p> +<p class="t0">And pomp, and feast, and revelry,</p> +<span class="pb">[16]</span> +<p class="t0">With <a id="r3_128" href="#n3_128">mask</a> and antique pageantry;</p> +<p class="t0">Such sights as youthful poets dream,</p> +<p class="t0">On summer eves by haunted stream.<span class="lnum"> 130</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_131" href="#n3_131">Then to the well-trod stage anon</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">If <a id="r3_132" href="#n3_132">Jonson’s learned sock</a> be on,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_133" href="#n3_133">Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy’s child</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Warble his native wood-notes wild,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_135" href="#n3_135">And ever, against eating cares</a>,<span class="lnum"> 135</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_136" href="#n3_136">Lap me in soft Lydian airs</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Married to immortal verse,</p> +<p class="t0">Such as <a id="r3_138" href="#n3_138">the meeting soul</a> may pierce,</p> +<p class="t0">In notes with many a winding <a id="r3_139" href="#n3_139">bout</a></p> +<p class="t0">Of linked sweetness long drawn out<span class="lnum"> 140</span></p> +<p class="t0">With wanton heed and giddy cunning,</p> +<p class="t0">The melting voice through mazes running,</p> +<p class="t0">Untwisting all the chains that tie</p> +<p class="t0">The hidden soul of harmony;</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r3_145" href="#n3_145">That Orpheus’ self may heave his head</a><span class="lnum"> 145</span></p> +<p class="t0">From golden slumber on a bed</p> +<p class="t0">Of heaped Elysian flowers, and hear</p> +<p class="t0">Such strains as would have won the ear</p> +<p class="t0">Of <a id="r3_149" href="#n3_149">Pluto</a> to have quite set free</p> +<p class="t0">His half-regained Eurydice.<span class="lnum"> 150</span></p> +<p class="t0">These delights if thou canst give,</p> +<p class="t0">Mirth, with thee I mean to live.</p> +</div> +<div class="pb">[17]</div> +<h3 id="c4">IL PENSEROSO.</h3> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">Hence, vain deluding Joys,</p> +<p class="t">The brood of Folly without father bred!</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_3" href="#n4_3">How little you bested</a>,</p> +<p class="t">Or fill the fixed mind with all your toys!</p> +<p class="t0">Dwell in some idle brain,<span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t">And fancies <a id="r4_6" href="#n4_6">fond</a> with gaudy shapes possess,</p> +<p class="t0">As thick and numberless</p> +<p class="t">As the gay motes that people the sun-beams,</p> +<p class="t0">Or likest hovering dreams,</p> +<p class="t">The fickle pensioners of <a id="r4_10" href="#n4_10">Morpheus’</a> train.<span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t0">But, hail! thou Goddess sage and holy!</p> +<p class="t0">Hail, divinest <a id="r4_12" href="#n4_12">Melancholy</a>!</p> +<p class="t0">Whose saintly visage is too bright</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_14" href="#n4_14">To hit the sense of human sight</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">And therefore to our weaker view,<span class="lnum"> 15</span></p> +<p class="t0">O’erlaid with black, staid Wisdom’s hue;</p> +<p class="t0">Black, but such as in esteem</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_18" href="#n4_18">Prince Memnon’s</a> sister might beseem,</p> +<p class="t0">Or <a id="r4_19" href="#n4_19">that starred Ethiop queen</a> that strove</p> +<p class="t0">To set her beauty’s praise above<span class="lnum"> 20</span></p> +<p class="t0">The Sea-Nymphs, and their powers offended.</p> +<p class="t0">Yet thou art higher far descended:</p> +<p class="t0">Thee <a id="r4_23" href="#n4_23">bright-haired Vesta</a> long of yore</p> +<p class="t0">To solitary Saturn bore;</p> +<p class="t0">His daughter she; in Saturn’s reign<span class="lnum"> 25</span></p> +<p class="t0">Such mixture was not held a stain.</p> +<p class="t0">Oft in glimmering bowers and glades</p> +<p class="t0">He met her, and in secret shades</p> +<p class="t0">Of woody Ida’s inmost grove,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_30" href="#n4_30">Whilst yet there was no fear of Jove</a>.<span class="lnum"> 30</span></p> +<span class="pb">[18]</span> +<p class="t0">Come, pensive Nun, devout and pure,</p> +<p class="t0">Sober, steadfast, and demure,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_33" href="#n4_33">All in a robe of darkest grain</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Flowing with majestic train,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_35" href="#n4_35">And sable stole of cypress lawn</a><span class="lnum"> 35</span></p> +<p class="t0">Over thy decent shoulders drawn.</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_37" href="#n4_37">Come; but keep thy wonted state</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">With even step, and musing gait,</p> +<p class="t0">And looks commercing with the skies</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_40" href="#n4_40">Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes</a>:<span class="lnum"> 40</span></p> +<p class="t0">There, held in holy passion still,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_42" href="#n4_42">Forget thyself to marble</a>, till</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_43" href="#n4_43">With a sad leaden downward cast</a></p> +<p class="t0">Thou fix them on the earth as fast.</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_45" href="#n4_45">And join with thee calm Peace and Quiet</a>,<span class="lnum"> 45</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_46" href="#n4_46">Spare Fast, that oft with gods doth diet</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">And hears the Muses in a ring</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_48" href="#n4_48">Aye</a> round about Jove’s altar sing;</p> +<p class="t0">And add to these retired Leisure,</p> +<p class="t0">That in trim gardens takes his pleasure;<span class="lnum"> 50</span></p> +<p class="t0">But, first and chiefest, with thee bring</p> +<p class="t0">Him that yon soars on golden wing,</p> +<p class="t0">Guiding <a id="r4_53" href="#n4_53">the fiery-wheeled throne</a>,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_54" href="#n4_54">The Cherub Contemplation</a>;</p> +<p class="t0">And the mute Silence <a id="r4_55" href="#n4_55">hist</a> along,<span class="lnum"> 55</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_56" href="#n4_56">‘Less Philomel will deign a song</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">In her sweetest, saddest <a id="r4_57" href="#n4_57">plight</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Smoothing the rugged brow of Night,</p> +<p class="t0">While <a id="r4_59" href="#n4_59">Cynthia checks her dragon yoke</a></p> +<p class="t0">Gently o’er the accustomed oak.<span class="lnum"> 60</span></p> +<p class="t0">Sweet bird, that shunn’st the noise of folly,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_62">Most musical, most melancholy!</a></p> +<span class="pb">[19]</span> +<p class="t0">Thee, chauntress, oft the woods among</p> +<p class="t0">I woo, to hear thy even-song;</p> +<p class="t0">And, missing thee, I <a id="r4_65" href="#n4_65">walk unseen</a><span class="lnum"> 65</span></p> +<p class="t0">On the dry smooth-shaven green,</p> +<p class="t0">To behold the wandering moon,</p> +<p class="t0">Riding near her highest noon,</p> +<p class="t0">Like one that had been led astray</p> +<p class="t0">Through the heaven’s wide pathless way,<span class="lnum"> 70</span></p> +<p class="t0">And oft, as if her head she bowed,</p> +<p class="t0">Stooping through a fleecy cloud.</p> +<p class="t0">Oft, on a plat of rising ground,</p> +<p class="t0">I hear the far-off curfew sound,</p> +<p class="t0">Over some wide-watered shore,<span class="lnum"> 75</span></p> +<p class="t0">Swinging slow with sullen roar;</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_77" href="#n4_77">Or, if the air will not permit</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Some still <a id="r4_78" href="#n4_78">removed</a> place will fit,</p> +<p class="t0">Where glowing embers through the room</p> +<p class="t0">Teach light to counterfeit a gloom,<span class="lnum"> 80</span></p> +<p class="t0">Far from all resort of mirth,</p> +<p class="t0">Save the cricket on the hearth,</p> +<p class="t0">Or the bellman’s drowsy charm</p> +<p class="t0">To bless the doors from nightly harm.</p> +<p class="t0">Or let my lamp, at midnight hour,<span class="lnum"> 85</span></p> +<p class="t0">Be seen in some high lonely tower,</p> +<p class="t0">Where I may oft <a id="r4_87" href="#n4_87">outwatch the Bear</a>,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_88" href="#n4_88">With thrice great Hermes</a>, or unsphere</p> +<p class="t0">The spirit of Plato, to unfold</p> +<p class="t0">What worlds or what vast regions hold<span class="lnum"> 90</span></p> +<p class="t0">The immortal mind that hath forsook</p> +<p class="t0">Her mansion in this fleshly nook;</p> +<p class="t0">And of those <a id="r4_93" href="#n4_93">demons</a> that are found</p> +<p class="t0">In fire, air, flood, or underground,</p> +<p class="t0">Whose power hath a true consent<span class="lnum"> 95</span></p> +<p class="t0">With planet or with element.</p> +<span class="pb">[20]</span> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_97" href="#n4_97">Sometime let gorgeous Tragedy</a></p> +<p class="t0">In sceptred pall come sweeping by,</p> +<p class="t0">Presenting Thebes, or Pelops’ line,</p> +<p class="t0">Or the tale of Troy divine,<span class="lnum"> 100</span></p> +<p class="t0">Or what (though rare) of later age</p> +<p class="t0">Ennobled hath <a id="r4_102">the buskined stage</a>.</p> +<p class="t0">But, O sad Virgin! that thy power</p> +<p class="t0">Might raise <a id="r4_104" href="#n4_104">Musæus</a> from his bower;</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_105" href="#n4_105">Or bid</a> the soul of <a href="#n4_104">Orpheus</a> sing<span class="lnum"> 105</span></p> +<p class="t0">Such notes as, <a id="r4_106">warbled to the string</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Drew iron tears down Pluto’s cheek,</p> +<p class="t0">And made Hell grant what love did seek;</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_109" href="#n4_109">Or call up him that left half-told</a></p> +<p class="t0">The story of Cambuscan bold,<span class="lnum"> 110</span></p> +<p class="t0">Of Camball, and of Algarsife,</p> +<p class="t0">And who had Canace to wife,</p> +<p class="t0">That owned the virtuous ring and glass,</p> +<p class="t0">And of the wondrous horse of brass</p> +<p class="t0">On which the Tartar king did ride;<span class="lnum"> 115</span></p> +<p class="t0">And if aught else great bards beside</p> +<p class="t0">In sage and solemn tunes have sung,</p> +<p class="t0">Of turneys, and of trophies hung,</p> +<p class="t0">Of forests, and enchantments drear,</p> +<p class="t0">Where <a id="r4_120" href="#n4_120">more is meant than meets the ear</a>.<span class="lnum"> 120</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_121" href="#n4_121">Thus, Night, oft see me in thy pale career</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Till <a id="r4_122" href="#n4_122">civil-suited Morn</a> appear,</p> +<p class="t0">Not tricked and frounced, <a id="r4_123" href="#n4_123">as she was wont</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n4_123">With the Attic boy to hunt,</a></p> +<p class="t0">But <a id="r4_125" href="#n4_125">kerchieft</a> in a comely cloud,<span class="lnum"> 125</span></p> +<p class="t0">While <a id="r4_126" href="#n4_126">rocking winds</a> are piping loud</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_127" href="#n4_127">Or ushered with a shower still</a>,</p> +<span class="pb">[21]</span> +<p class="t0">When the gust hath blown his fill,</p> +<p class="t0">Ending on the rustling leaves,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_130" href="#n4_130">With minute-drops from off the eaves</a>.<span class="lnum"> 130</span></p> +<p class="t0">And, <a id="r4_131" href="#n4_131">when the sun begins</a> to fling</p> +<p class="t0">His flaring beams, me, Goddess, bring</p> +<p class="t0">To arched walks of twilight groves,</p> +<p class="t0">And shadows brown, that <a id="r4_134" href="#n4_134">Sylvan</a> loves,</p> +<p class="t0">Of pine, or <a id="r4_135" href="#n4_135">monumental oak</a>,<span class="lnum"> 135</span></p> +<p class="t0">Where the rude axe with heaved stroke</p> +<p class="t0">Was never heard the nymphs to daunt,</p> +<p class="t0">Or fright them from their hallowed haunt.</p> +<p class="t0">There, in close covert, by some brook,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_140" href="#n4_140">Where no profaner eye may look</a>,<span class="lnum"> 140</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_141" href="#n4_141">Hide me from day’s garish eye</a>,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_142" href="#n4_142">While the bee with honeyed thigh</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">That at her flowery work doth sing,</p> +<p class="t0">And the waters murmuring,</p> +<p class="t0">With such consort as they keep,<span class="lnum"> 145</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_146" href="#n4_146">Entice the dewy-feathered Sleep</a>.</p> +<p class="t0">And let some strange mysterious dream</p> +<p class="t0">Wave at <a id="r4_148" href="#n4_148">his</a> wings, in airy stream</p> +<p class="t0">Of lively portraiture displayed,</p> +<p class="t0">Softly on my eyelids laid;<span class="lnum"> 150</span></p> +<p class="t0">And, as I wake, sweet music breathe</p> +<p class="t0">Above, about, or underneath,</p> +<p class="t0">Sent by some Spirit to mortals good,</p> +<p class="t0">Or the unseen <a id="r4_154">Genius of the wood</a>.</p> +<p class="t0">But let my due feet <a id="r4_155" href="#n4_155">never fail</a><span class="lnum"> 155</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n4_155">To walk the studious cloister’s pale</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">And love the high <a id="r4_157" href="#n4_157">embowed</a> roof,</p> +<p class="t0">With antique pillars <a id="r4_158" href="#n4_158">massy-proof</a>,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_159" href="#n4_159">And storied windows richly dight</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Casting a dim religious light.<span class="lnum"> 160</span></p> +<p class="t0">There let the pealing organ blow,</p> +<p class="t0">To the full-voiced quire below,</p> +<span class="pb">[22]</span> +<p class="t0">In service high and anthems clear,</p> +<p class="t0">As may with sweetness, through mine ear,</p> +<p class="t0">Dissolve me into ecstasies,<span class="lnum"> 165</span></p> +<p class="t0">And bring all Heaven before mine eyes.</p> +<p class="t0">And may at last my weary age</p> +<p class="t0">Find out the peaceful hermitage,</p> +<p class="t0">The hairy gown and mossy cell,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r4_170" href="#n4_170">Where I may sit and rightly spell</a><span class="lnum"> 170</span></p> +<p class="t0">Of every star that heaven doth shew,</p> +<p class="t0">And every herb that sips the dew,</p> +<p class="t0">Till old experience do attain</p> +<p class="t0">To something like prophetic strain.</p> +<p class="t0">These pleasures, Melancholy, give;<span class="lnum"> 175</span></p> +<p class="t0">And I with thee will choose to live.</p> +</div> +<div class="pb">[23]</div> +<h3 id="c5">ARCADES.</h3> +<p class="subhead"><i>Part of an Entertainment presented to the Countess Dowager +of Derby at Harefield by some Noble Persons of her Family; +who appear on the Scene in pastoral habit, moving toward +the seat of state, with this song:—</i></p> +<h4>I. <i>Song.</i></h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">Look, Nymphs and Shepherds, look!</p> +<p class="t0">What sudden blaze of majesty</p> +<p class="t0">Is that which we from hence descry,</p> +<p class="t0">Too divine to be mistook?</p> +<p class="t">This, this is she<span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t0">To whom our vows and wishes bend:</p> +<p class="t0">Here our solemn search hath end.</p> +<p class="t0">Fame, that her high worth to raise</p> +<p class="t0">Seemed erst so lavish and profuse,</p> +<p class="t0">We may justly now accuse<span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t0">Of detraction from her praise:</p> +<p class="t">Less than half we find expressed;</p> +<p class="t">Envy bid conceal the rest.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">Mark what radiant state she spreads,</p> +<p class="t0">In circle round her shining throne<span class="lnum"> 15</span></p> +<p class="t0">Shooting her beams like silver threads:</p> +<p class="t0">This, this is she alone,</p> +<p class="t">Sitting like a goddess bright</p> +<p class="t">In the centre of her light.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">Might she the wise <a id="r5_20" href="#n5_20">Latona</a> be,<span class="lnum"> 20</span></p> +<p class="t0">Or <a id="r5_21" href="#n5_21">the towered Cybele</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Mother of a hundred gods?</p> +<span class="pb">[24]</span> +<p class="t0">Juno dares not give her odds:</p> +<p class="t">Who had thought this clime had held</p> +<p class="t">A deity so unparalleled?<span class="lnum"> 25</span></p> +</div> +<p class="stagedir">As they come forward, <span class="sc">the Genius of the Wood</span> appears, +and, turning toward them, speaks.</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Gen.</i> Stay, gentle Swains, for, though in this disguise,</p> +<p class="t0">I see bright honor sparkle through your eyes;</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r5_28" href="#n5_28">Of famous Arcady ye are</a>, and sprung</p> +<p class="t0">Of that renowned flood, so often sung,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r5_30" href="#n5_30">Divine Alpheus</a>, who, by secret sluice,<span class="lnum"> 30</span></p> +<p class="t0">Stole under seas to meet his Arethuse;</p> +<p class="t0">And ye, the breathing roses of the wood,</p> +<p class="t0">Fair silver-buskined Nymphs, as great and good.</p> +<p class="t0">I know this quest of yours and free intent</p> +<p class="t0">Was all in honor and devotion meant<span class="lnum"> 35</span></p> +<p class="t0">To the great mistress of yon princely shrine,</p> +<p class="t0">Whom with low reverence I adore as mine,</p> +<p class="t0">And with all helpful service will comply</p> +<p class="t0">To further this night’s glad solemnity,</p> +<p class="t0">And lead ye where ye may more near behold<span class="lnum"> 40</span></p> +<p class="t0">What shallow-searching Fame hath left untold;</p> +<p class="t0">Which I full oft, amidst those shades alone,</p> +<p class="t0">Have sat to wonder at, and gaze upon.</p> +<p class="t0">For know, by lot from Jove, I am the Power</p> +<p class="t0">Of this fair wood, and live in oaken bower,<span class="lnum"> 45</span></p> +<p class="t0">To nurse the saplings tall, and <a id="r5_46" href="#n5_46">curl the grove</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r5_47" href="#n5_47">With ringlets quaint and wanton windings wove</a>;</p> +<p class="t0">And all my plants I save from nightly ill</p> +<p class="t0">Of <a id="r5_49" href="#n5_49">noisome</a> winds and blasting vapors chill;</p> +<p class="t0">And from the boughs brush off the evil dew,<span class="lnum"> 50</span></p> +<p class="t0">And heal the harms of <a id="r5_51" href="#n5_51">thwarting thunder blue</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Or what <a id="r5_52" href="#n5_52">the cross dire-looking planet</a> smites,</p> +<span class="pb">[25]</span> +<p class="t0">Or hurtful worm with cankered venom bites.</p> +<p class="t0">When <a id="r5_54" href="#n5_54">evening gray</a> doth rise, I fetch my round</p> +<p class="t0">Over the mount, and all this hallowed ground;<span class="lnum"> 55</span></p> +<p class="t0">And early, ere the odorous breath of morn</p> +<p class="t0">Awakes the slumbering leaves, or tasselled horn</p> +<p class="t0">Shakes the high thicket, haste I all about,</p> +<p class="t0">Number my ranks, and visit every sprout</p> +<p class="t0">With puissant words and <a id="r5_60" href="#n5_60">murmurs</a> made to bless.<span class="lnum"> 60</span></p> +<p class="t0">But else, in deep of night, when drowsiness</p> +<p class="t0">Hath locked up mortal sense, then listen I</p> +<p class="t0">To <a id="r5_63" href="#n5_63">the celestial Sirens’ harmony</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">That sit upon <a id="r5_64" href="#n5_64">the nine infolded spheres</a>,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r5_65" href="#n5_65">And sing to those that hold the vital shears</a>,<span class="lnum"> 65</span></p> +<p class="t0">And turn the adamantine spindle round</p> +<p class="t0">On which the fate of gods and men is wound.</p> +<p class="t0">Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie,</p> +<p class="t0">To lull <a id="r5_69" href="#n5_69">the daughters of Necessity</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">And keep unsteady Nature to her law,<span class="lnum"> 70</span></p> +<p class="t0">And the low world in measured motion draw</p> +<p class="t0">After the heavenly tune, <a id="r5_72" href="#n5_72">which none can hear</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n5_72">Of human mould with gross unpurged ear</a>.</p> +<p class="t0">And yet such music worthiest were to blaze</p> +<p class="t0">The peerless height of her immortal praise<span class="lnum"> 75</span></p> +<p class="t0">Whose lustre leads us, and for her most fit,</p> +<p class="t0">If my inferior hand or voice could hit</p> +<p class="t0">Inimitable sounds. Yet, as we go,</p> +<p class="t0">Whate’er the skill of lesser gods can show</p> +<p class="t0">I will assay, her worth to celebrate,<span class="lnum"> 80</span></p> +<p class="t0">And so attend ye toward her glittering state;</p> +<p class="t0">Where ye may all, that are of noble stem,</p> +<p class="t0">Approach, and kiss her sacred vesture’s hem.</p> +</div> +<div class="pb">[26]</div> +<h4>II. <i>Song.</i></h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">O’er the smooth enamelled green,</p> +<p class="t0">Where no print of step hath been,<span class="lnum"> 85</span></p> +<p class="t">Follow me, as I sing</p> +<p class="t">And <a id="r5_87" href="#n5_87">touch the warbled string</a>:</p> +<p class="t0">Under the shady roof</p> +<p class="t0">Of branching elm star-proof</p> +<p class="t3">Follow me.<span class="lnum"> 90</span></p> +<p class="t0">I will bring you where she sits,</p> +<p class="t0">Clad in splendor as befits</p> +<p class="t3">Her deity.</p> +<p class="t0">Such a rural Queen</p> +<p class="t0">All Arcadia hath not seen.<span class="lnum"> 95</span></p> +</div> +<h4>III. <i>Song.</i></h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">Nymphs and Shepherds, dance no more</p> +<p class="t">By sandy <a id="r5_97" href="#n5_97">Ladon’s</a> lilied banks;</p> +<p class="t0">On old <a id="r5_98" href="#n5_98">Lycæus, or Cyllene</a> hoar,</p> +<p class="t">Trip no more in twilight ranks;</p> +<p class="t0">Though <a id="r5_100" href="#n5_100">Erymanth</a> your loss deplore,<span class="lnum"> 100</span></p> +<p class="t">A better soil shall give ye thanks.</p> +<p class="t0">From the stony <a id="r5_102" href="#n5_102">Mænalus</a></p> +<p class="t0">Bring your flocks, and live with us;</p> +<p class="t0">Here ye shall have greater grace,</p> +<p class="t0">To serve the Lady of this place.<span class="lnum"> 105</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r5_106" href="#n5_106">Though Syrinx your Pan’s mistress were</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Yet Syrinx well might wait on her.</p> +<p class="t">Such a rural Queen</p> +<p class="t">All Arcadia hath not seen.</p> +</div> +<div class="pb">[27]</div> +<h3 id="c6">AT A SOLEMN MUSIC.</h3> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">Blest pair of Sirens, pledges of Heaven’s joy,</p> +<p class="t0">Sphere-born harmonious sisters, Voice and Verse,</p> +<p class="t0">Wed your divine sounds, and mixed power employ,</p> +<p class="t0">Dead things with inbreathed sense able to pierce;</p> +<p class="t0">And to our high-raised phantasy present<span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t0">That undisturbed song of pure concent,</p> +<p class="t0">Aye sung before <a id="r6_7" href="#n6_7">the sapphire-colored throne</a></p> +<p class="t0">To Him that sits thereon,</p> +<p class="t0">With saintly shout and solemn jubilee;</p> +<p class="t0">Where the bright Seraphim in burning row<span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t0">Their loud uplifted angel-trumpets blow,</p> +<p class="t0">And the Cherubic host in thousand quires</p> +<p class="t0">Touch their immortal harps of golden wires,</p> +<p class="t0">With those just Spirits that wear victorious palms,</p> +<p class="t0">Hymns devout and holy psalms<span class="lnum"> 15</span></p> +<p class="t0">Singing everlastingly:</p> +<p class="t0">That we on Earth, with undiscording voice,</p> +<p class="t0">May rightly answer that melodious noise;</p> +<p class="t0">As once we did, till disproportioned sin</p> +<p class="t0">Jarred against nature’s chime, and with harsh din<span class="lnum"> 20</span></p> +<p class="t0">Broke the fair music that all creatures made</p> +<p class="t0">To their great Lord, whose love their motion swayed</p> +<p class="t0">In perfect diapason, whilst they stood</p> +<p class="t0">In first obedience, and their state of good.</p> +<p class="t0">O, may we soon again renew that song,<span class="lnum"> 25</span></p> +<p class="t0">And keep in tune with Heaven, till God ere long</p> +<p class="t0">To his celestial <a id="r6_27" href="#n6_27">consort</a> us unite,</p> +<p class="t0">To live with Him, and sing in endless morn of light!</p> +</div> +<div class="pb">[28]</div> +<h3 id="c7">COMUS.</h3> +<p class="center"><span class="small">A MASQUE PRESENTED AT LUDLOW CASTLE, 1634.</span></p> +<h4>THE PERSONS.</h4> +<dl> +<dt>The <span class="sc">Attendant Spirit</span>, afterwards in the habit of <span class="sc">Thyrsis</span>.</dt> +<dt><span class="sc">Comus</span>, with his Crew.</dt> +<dt><span class="sc">The Lady</span>.</dt> +<dt><span class="sc">First Brother</span>.</dt> +<dt><span class="sc">Second Brother</span>.</dt> +<dt><span class="sc">Sabrina</span>, the Nymph.</dt> +</dl> +<p class="stagedir">The first Scene discovers a wild wood.</p> +<p class="stagedir">The <span class="sc">Attendant Spirit</span> descends or enters.</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Spirit.</i> <a id="r7_1" href="#n7_1">Before the starry threshold of Jove’s court</a></p> +<p class="t0">My mansion is, where those immortal shapes</p> +<p class="t0">Of bright aerial spirits live <a id="r7_3" href="#n7_3">insphered</a></p> +<p class="t0">In regions mild of calm and serene air,</p> +<p class="t0">Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot<span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t0">Which men call Earth, and, with low-thoughted care,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_7" href="#n7_7">Confined and pestered in this pinfold here</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being,</p> +<p class="t0">Unmindful of the crown that Virtue gives,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_10" href="#n7_10">After this mortal change</a>, to her true servants<span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_11" href="#n7_11">Amongst the enthroned gods</a> on sainted <a id="r7_11a" href="#n7_11a">seats.</a></p> +<p class="t0">Yet some there be that by due steps aspire</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_13" href="#n7_13">To lay their just hands on that golden key</a></p> +<p class="t0">That opes the palace of eternity.</p> +<p class="t0">To such my errand is; and, but for such,<span class="lnum"> 15</span></p> +<p class="t0">I would not soil <a id="r7_16" href="#n7_16">these pure ambrosial weeds</a></p> +<p class="t0">With the rank vapors of this sin-worn mould.</p> +<span class="pb">[29]</span> +<p class="t">But to my task. Neptune, besides the sway</p> +<p class="t0">Of every salt flood and each ebbing stream</p> +<p class="t0">Took in, <a id="r7_20" href="#n7_20">by lot ’twixt high and nether Jove</a>.<span class="lnum"> 20</span></p> +<p class="t0">Imperial rule of all the sea-girt isles</p> +<p class="t0">That, like to rich and various gems, inlay</p> +<p class="t0">The unadorned bosom of the deep;</p> +<p class="t0">Which he, to grace his tributary gods,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_25" href="#n7_25">By course commits to several government</a>,<span class="lnum"> 25</span></p> +<p class="t0">And gives them leave to wear their sapphire crowns</p> +<p class="t0">And wield their little tridents. <a id="r7_27" href="#n7_27">But this Isle</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">The greatest and the best of all the main,</p> +<p class="t0">He <a id="r7_29" href="#n7_29">quarters</a> to his blue-haired deities;</p> +<p class="t0">And all this tract that fronts the falling sun<span class="lnum"> 30</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_31" href="#n7_31">A noble Peer</a> of mickle trust and power</p> +<p class="t0">Has in his charge, with tempered awe to guide</p> +<p class="t0">An <a id="r7_33" href="#n7_33">old and haughty nation</a>, proud in arms:</p> +<p class="t0">Where <a id="r7_34" href="#n7_34">his fair offspring</a>, nursed in princely lore,</p> +<p class="t0">Are coming to attend their father’s state,<span class="lnum"> 35</span></p> +<p class="t0">And new-intrusted sceptre. But their way</p> +<p class="t0">Lies through <a id="r7_37" href="#n7_37">the perplexed paths of this drear wood</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">The nodding horror of those shady brows</p> +<p class="t0">Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger;</p> +<p class="t0">And here their tender age might suffer peril,<span class="lnum"> 40</span></p> +<p class="t0">But that, by quick command from <a id="r7_41" href="#n7_41">sovran</a> Jove,</p> +<p class="t0">I was despatched for their defence and guard!</p> +<p class="t0">And listen why; for I will tell you now</p> +<p class="t0">What never yet was heard in tale or song,</p> +<p class="t0">From old or modern bard, <a id="r7_45" href="#n7_45">in hall or bower</a>.<span class="lnum"> 45</span></p> +<p class="t"><a id="r7_46" href="#n7_46">Bacchus</a>, that first from out the purple grape</p> +<p class="t0">Crushed the sweet poison of misused wine,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_48" href="#n7_48">After the Tuscan mariners transformed</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Coasting the Tyrrhene shore, as the winds listed,</p> +<p class="t0">On Circe’s island <a id="r7_50" href="#n7_50">fell</a>. (Who knows not <a id="r7_50a" href="#n7_50a">Circe</a>,<span class="lnum"> 50</span></p> +<p class="t0">The daughter of the Sun, whose charmed cup</p> +<span class="pb">[30]</span> +<p class="t0">Whoever tasted lost his upright shape,</p> +<p class="t0">And downward fell into a grovelling swine?)</p> +<p class="t0">This Nymph, that gazed upon his clustering locks,</p> +<p class="t0">With ivy berries wreathed, and his blithe youth,<span class="lnum"> 55</span></p> +<p class="t0">Had by him, ere he parted thence, a son</p> +<p class="t0">Much like his father, but his mother more,</p> +<p class="t0">Whom therefore she brought up, and <a id="r7_58" href="#n7_58">Comus</a> named:</p> +<p class="t0">Who, ripe and <a id="r7_59" href="#n7_59">frolic</a> of his full-grown age,</p> +<p class="t0">Roving <a id="r7_60" href="#n7_60">the Celtic and Iberian fields</a>,<span class="lnum"> 60</span></p> +<p class="t0">At last betakes him to this <a id="r7_61" href="#n7_61">ominous</a> wood,</p> +<p class="t0">And, in thick shelter of black shades imbowered,</p> +<p class="t0">Excels his mother at her mighty art;</p> +<p class="t0">Offering to every weary traveller</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_65" href="#n7_65">His orient liquor</a> in a crystal glass,<span class="lnum"> 65</span></p> +<p class="t0">To quench the drouth of Phœbus; which as they taste</p> +<p class="t0">(For most do taste through fond intemperate thirst),</p> +<p class="t0">Soon as the potion works, their human count’nance,</p> +<p class="t0">The express resemblance of the gods, is changed</p> +<p class="t0">Into some brutish form of wolf or bear,<span class="lnum"> 70</span></p> +<p class="t0">Or ounce or tiger, hog, or bearded goat,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_72" href="#n7_72">All other parts remaining as they were</a>.</p> +<p class="t0">And they, so perfect in their misery,</p> +<p class="t0">Not once perceive their foul disfigurement,</p> +<p class="t0">But boast themselves more comely than before,<span class="lnum"> 75</span></p> +<p class="t0">And all their friends and native home forget,</p> +<p class="t0">To roll with pleasure in a sensual sty.</p> +<p class="t0">Therefore, when any favored of high Jove</p> +<p class="t0">Chances to pass through this adventurous glade,</p> +<p class="t0">Swift as the sparkle of a glancing star<span class="lnum"> 80</span></p> +<p class="t0">I shoot from heaven, to give him safe convoy,</p> +<p class="t0">As now I do. But first I must put off</p> +<p class="t0">These my sky-robes, spun out of Iris’ woof,</p> +<p class="t0">And take the <a id="r7_84">weeds</a> and likeness of a swain</p> +<p class="t0">That to the service of this house belongs,<span class="lnum"> 85</span></p> +<span class="pb">[31]</span> +<p class="t0">Who, with his soft pipe and smooth-dittied song,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_87" href="#n7_87">Well knows to still the wild winds</a> when they roar,</p> +<p class="t0">And hush the waving woods; <a id="r7_88" href="#n7_88">nor of less faith</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">And in this office of his mountain watch</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_90" href="#n7_90">Likeliest</a>, and nearest to the present aid<span class="lnum"> 90</span></p> +<p class="t0">Of this occasion. But I hear the tread</p> +<p class="t0">Of hateful steps; I must be viewless now.</p> +</div> +<p class="stageset"><span class="sc">Comus</span> 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.</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Comus.</i> <a id="r7_93" href="#n7_93">The star that bids the shepherd fold</a></p> +<p class="t0">Now the top of heaven doth hold;</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_95">And</a> the gilded car of day<span class="lnum"> 95</span></p> +<p class="t0">His glowing axle <a id="r7_96" href="#n7_96">doth allay</a></p> +<p class="t0">In the <a id="r7_97" href="#n7_97">steep</a> Atlantic stream:</p> +<p class="t0">And the slope sun his upward beam</p> +<p class="t0">Shoots against the dusky <a id="r7_99" href="#n7_99">pole</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Pacing toward the other goal<span class="lnum"> 100</span></p> +<p class="t0">Of his chamber in the east.</p> +<p class="t0">Meanwhile, welcome joy and feast,</p> +<p class="t0">Midnight shout and revelry,</p> +<p class="t0">Tipsy dance and jollity.</p> +<p class="t0">Braid your locks <a id="r7_105" href="#n7_105">with rosy twine</a>,<span class="lnum"> 105</span></p> +<p class="t0">Dropping odors, dropping wine.</p> +<p class="t0">Rigor now is gone to bed;</p> +<p class="t0">And <a id="r7_108" href="#n7_108">Advice</a> with scrupulous head,</p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n7_108">Strict Age, and sour Severity</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">With <a id="r7_110" href="#n7_110">their grave saws</a>, in slumber lie.<span class="lnum"> 110</span></p> +<p class="t0">We, that are of purer fire,</p> +<span class="pb">[32]</span> +<p class="t0">Imitate the starry quire,</p> +<p class="t0">Who, in their nightly watchful spheres,</p> +<p class="t0">Lead in swift round the months and years.</p> +<p class="t0">The sounds and seas, with all their finny drove,<span class="lnum"> 115</span></p> +<p class="t0">Now to the moon <a id="r7_116" href="#n7_116">in wavering morrice</a> move;</p> +<p class="t0">And on the tawny sands and shelves</p> +<p class="t0">Trip the pert fairies and <a id="r7_118" href="#n7_118">the dapper elves</a>.</p> +<p class="t0">By dimpled brook and fountain-brim,</p> +<p class="t0">The wood-nymphs, decked with daisies trim,<span class="lnum"> 120</span></p> +<p class="t0">Their merry wakes and pastimes keep:</p> +<p class="t0">What hath night to do with sleep?</p> +<p class="t0">Night hath better sweets to prove;</p> +<p class="t0">Venus now wakes, and wakens <a id="r7_124" href="#n7_124">Love</a>.</p> +<p class="t0">Come, let us our rites begin;<span class="lnum"> 125</span></p> +<p class="t0">’Tis only daylight that makes sin,</p> +<p class="t0">Which these dun shades will ne’er report.</p> +<p class="t0">Hail, goddess of nocturnal sport,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_129" href="#n7_129">Dark-veiled Cotytto</a>, to whom the secret flame</p> +<p class="t0">Of midnight torches burns! mysterious dame,<span class="lnum"> 130</span></p> +<p class="t0">That ne’er art called but when the dragon womb</p> +<p class="t0">Of Stygian darkness spets her thickest gloom,</p> +<p class="t0">And <a id="r7_133" href="#n7_133">makes one blot of all the air</a>!</p> +<p class="t0">Stay thy cloudy ebon chair,</p> +<p class="t0">Wherein <a id="r7_135" href="#n7_135">thou ridest with Hecat’</a>, and befriend<span class="lnum"> 135</span></p> +<p class="t0">Us thy vowed priests, till utmost end</p> +<p class="t0">Of all thy dues be done, and none left out</p> +<p class="t0">Ere the blabbing eastern scout,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_139" href="#n7_139">The nice Morn</a> on the Indian steep,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_140" href="#n7_140">From her cabined loop-hole peep</a>,<span class="lnum"> 140</span></p> +<p class="t0">And to the tell-tale Sun <a id="r7_141" href="#n7_141">descry</a></p> +<p class="t0">Our concealed solemnity.</p> +<p class="t0">Come, knit hands, and beat the ground</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_144" href="#n7_144">In a light fantastic round</a>.</p> +</div> +<div class="pb">[33]</div> +<h4><i>The Measure.</i></h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_145">Break off,</a> break off! I feel the different pace<span class="lnum"> 145</span></p> +<p class="t0">Of some chaste footing near about this ground.</p> +<p class="t0">Run to your <a id="r7_147" href="#n7_147">shrouds</a> within these brakes and trees;</p> +<p class="t0">Our number may affright. Some virgin sure</p> +<p class="t0">(For so I can distinguish by mine art)</p> +<p class="t0">Benighted in these woods! Now to my charms,<span class="lnum"> 150</span></p> +<p class="t0">And to <a id="r7_151" href="#n7_151">my wily trains</a>: I shall ere long</p> +<p class="t0">Be well stocked with as fair a herd as grazed</p> +<p class="t0">About my mother Circe. Thus I hurl</p> +<p class="t0">My dazzling spells into the <a id="r7_154" href="#n7_154">spongy air</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Of power to cheat the eye with <a id="r7_155" href="#n7_155">blear</a> illusion,<span class="lnum"> 155</span></p> +<p class="t0">And give it false presentments, lest the place</p> +<p class="t0">And my quaint habits breed astonishment,</p> +<p class="t0">And put the damsel to suspicious flight;</p> +<p class="t0">Which must not be, for that’s against my course.</p> +<p class="t0">I, under fair pretence of friendly ends,<span class="lnum"> 160</span></p> +<p class="t0">And well-placed words of glozing courtesy,</p> +<p class="t0">Baited with reasons not unplausible,</p> +<p class="t0">Wind me into the easy-hearted man,</p> +<p class="t0">And hug him into snares. When once her eye</p> +<p class="t0">Hath met the virtue of this magic dust<span class="lnum"> 165</span></p> +<p class="t0">I shall appear some harmless villager,</p> +<p class="t0">Whom thrift keeps up about his country gear.</p> +<p class="t0">But here she comes; I fairly step aside,</p> +<p class="t0">And hearken, if I may her business hear.</p> +</div> +<p class="stagedir">The <span class="sc">Lady</span> enters.</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Lady.</i> This way the noise was, if mine ear be true,<span class="lnum"> 170</span></p> +<p class="t0">My best guide now. Methought it was the sound</p> +<p class="t0">Of riot and ill-managed merriment,</p> +<p class="t0">Such as the jocund flute or gamesome pipe</p> +<p class="t0">Stirs up among <a id="r7_174" href="#n7_174">the loose unlettered hinds</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">When, for their <a id="r7_175">teeming</a> flocks and granges full,<span class="lnum"> 175</span></p> +<span class="pb">[34]</span> +<p class="t0">In wanton dance they praise the bounteous Pan,</p> +<p class="t0">And thank the gods <a id="r7_177" href="#n7_177">amiss</a>. I should be loth</p> +<p class="t0">To meet the rudeness and <a id="r7_178" href="#n7_178">swilled</a> insolence</p> +<p class="t0">Of such late <a id="r7_179" href="#n7_179">wassailers</a>; yet, oh! where else</p> +<p class="t0">Shall I inform my unacquainted feet<span class="lnum"> 180</span></p> +<p class="t0">In the blind mazes of this tangled wood?</p> +<p class="t0">My brothers, when they saw me wearied out</p> +<p class="t0">With this long way, resolving here to lodge</p> +<p class="t0">Under the spreading favor of these pines,</p> +<p class="t0">Stepped, as they said, to the next thicket-side<span class="lnum"> 185</span></p> +<p class="t0">To bring me berries, or such cooling fruit</p> +<p class="t0">As the kind hospitable woods provide.</p> +<p class="t0">They left me then when <a id="r7_188" href="#n7_188">the gray-hooded Even</a>,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_189" href="#n7_189">Like a sad votarist in palmer’s weed</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Rose from the hindmost wheels of Phœbus’ wain.<span class="lnum"> 190</span></p> +<p class="t0">But where they are, and why they came not back,</p> +<p class="t0">Is now the labor of my thoughts. ’Tis likeliest</p> +<p class="t0">They had engaged their wandering steps too far;</p> +<p class="t0">And envious darkness, ere they could return,</p> +<p class="t0">Had stole them from me. Else, O thievish Night,<span class="lnum"> 195</span></p> +<p class="t0">Why shouldst thou, but for some felonious end,</p> +<p class="t0">In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars</p> +<p class="t0">That Nature hung in heaven, and filled their lamps</p> +<p class="t0">With everlasting oil, to give due light</p> +<p class="t0">To the misled and lonely traveller?<span class="lnum"> 200</span></p> +<p class="t0">This is the place, as well as I may guess,</p> +<p class="t0">Whence even now the <a id="r7_203" href="#n7_203">tumult of loud mirth</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n7_203">Was rife</a>, and perfect in my listening ear;</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_204" href="#n7_204">Yet nought but single darkness do I find</a>.</p> +<p class="t0">What might this be? A thousand fantasies<span class="lnum"> 205</span></p> +<p class="t0">Begin to throng into my memory,</p> +<p class="t0">Of calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire,</p> +<span class="pb">[35]</span> +<p class="t0">And airy tongues that syllable men’s names</p> +<p class="t0">On sands and shores and desert wildernesses.</p> +<p class="t0">These thoughts <a id="r7_210" href="#n7_210">may startle well, but not astound</a><span class="lnum"> 210</span></p> +<p class="t0">The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended</p> +<p class="t0">By <a id="r7_212" href="#n7_212">a strong siding champion</a>, Conscience.</p> +<p class="t0">O, welcome, pure-eyed Faith, white-handed Hope,</p> +<p class="t0">Thou hovering angel girt with golden wings,</p> +<p class="t0">And thou unblemished form of Chastity!<span class="lnum"> 215</span></p> +<p class="t0">I see thee visibly, and now believe</p> +<p class="t0">That He, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill</p> +<p class="t0">Are but as slavish officers of vengeance,</p> +<p class="t0">Would send a glistering guardian, if need were,</p> +<p class="t0">To keep my life and honor unassailed....<span class="lnum"> 220</span></p> +<p class="t0">Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud</p> +<p class="t0">Turn forth <a id="r7_222" href="#n7_222">her silver lining</a> on the night?</p> +<p class="t0">I did not err: there does a sable cloud</p> +<p class="t0">Turn forth her silver lining on the night,</p> +<p class="t0">And casts a gleam over this tufted grove.<span class="lnum"> 225</span></p> +<p class="t0">I cannot hallo to my brothers, but</p> +<p class="t0">Such noise as I can make to be heard farthest</p> +<p class="t0">I’ll venture; for my new-enlivened spirits</p> +<p class="t0">Prompt me, and they perhaps are not far off.</p> +</div> +<h4><i>Song.</i></h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">Sweet Echo, sweetest nymph, that liv’st unseen<span class="lnum"> 230</span></p> +<p class="t3"><a id="r7_231" href="#n7_231">Within thy airy shell</a></p> +<p class="t2">By slow <a id="r7_232" href="#n7_232">Meander’s</a> margent green,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_233" href="#n7_233">And in the violet-embroidered vale</a></p> +<p class="t2">Where the love-lorn nightingale</p> +<p class="t0">Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well:<span class="lnum"> 235</span></p> +<p class="t0">Canst thou not tell me of a gentle pair</p> +<p class="t2">That likest thy <a id="r7_237" href="#n7_237">Narcissus</a> are?</p> +<span class="pb">[36]</span> +<p class="t3">O, if thou have</p> +<p class="t2">Hid them in some flowery cave,</p> +<p class="t3">Tell me but where,<span class="lnum"> 240</span></p> +<p class="t">Sweet Queen of Parley, <a id="r7_241" href="#n7_241">Daughter of the Sphere</a>!</p> +<p class="t">So may’st thou be translated to the skies,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_243" href="#n7_243">And give resounding grace to all Heaven’s harmonies</a>!</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Comus.</i> Can any mortal mixture of earth’s mould</p> +<p class="t0">Breathe such divine enchanting ravishment?<span class="lnum"> 245</span></p> +<p class="t0">Sure something holy lodges in that breast,</p> +<p class="t0">And with these raptures moves the vocal air</p> +<p class="t0">To testify his hidden residence.</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_249" href="#n7_249">How sweetly did they float upon the wings</a></p> +<p class="t0">Of silence, through the empty-vaulted night,<span class="lnum"> 250</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_251" href="#n7_251">At every fall</a> smoothing the raven down</p> +<p class="t0">Of darkness till it smiled! I have oft heard</p> +<p class="t0">My mother Circe with <a id="r7_253" href="#n7_253">the Sirens</a> three,</p> +<p class="t0">Amidst the flowery-kirtled <a id="r7_254" href="#n7_254">Naiades</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Culling their potent herbs and baleful drugs,<span class="lnum"> 255</span></p> +<p class="t0">Who, as they sung, would take the prisoned soul,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_257" href="#n7_257">And lap it in Elysium</a>: <a id="r7_257a" href="#n7_257a">Scylla</a> wept,</p> +<p class="t0">And chid her barking waves into attention,</p> +<p class="t0">And fell <a href="#n7_257a">Charybdis</a> murmured soft applause.</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_260" href="#n7_260">Yet they</a> in pleasing slumber lulled the sense,<span class="lnum"> 260</span></p> +<p class="t0">And in sweet madness robbed it of itself;</p> +<p class="t0">But such a sacred and home-felt delight,</p> +<p class="t0">Such sober certainty of waking bliss,</p> +<p class="t0">I never heard till now. I’ll speak to her,</p> +<p class="t0">And she shall be my queen.—Hail, foreign wonder!<span class="lnum"> 265</span></p> +<p class="t0">Whom certain these rough shades did never breed,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_267" href="#n7_267">Unless the goddess</a> that in rural shrine</p> +<p class="t0">Dwell’st here with Pan or Sylvan, by blest song</p> +<p class="t0">Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog</p> +<p class="t0">To touch the prosperous growth of this tall wood.<span class="lnum"> 270</span></p> +</div> +<div class="pb">[37]</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Lady.</i> Nay, gentle shepherd, ill is lost that praise</p> +<p class="t0">That is addressed to unattending ears.</p> +<p class="t0">Not any boast of skill, but <a id="r7_273" href="#n7_273">extreme shift</a></p> +<p class="t0">How to regain my severed company,</p> +<p class="t0">Compelled me to awake the courteous Echo<span class="lnum"> 275</span></p> +<p class="t0">To give me answer from her mossy couch.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Comus.</i> <a id="r7_277" href="#n7_277">What chance, good Lady, hath bereft you thus?</a></p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Lady.</i> Dim darkness and this leavy labyrinth.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Comus.</i> Could that divide you from near-ushering guides?</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Lady.</i> They left me weary on a grassy turf.<span class="lnum"> 280</span></p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Comus.</i> By falsehood, or discourtesy, or why?</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Lady.</i> To seek i’ the valley some cool friendly spring.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Comus.</i> And left your fair side all unguarded, Lady?</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Lady.</i> They were but twain, and purposed quick return.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Comus.</i> Perhaps forestalling night prevented them.<span class="lnum">285</span></p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Lady.</i> How easy my misfortune is to hit!</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Comus.</i> Imports their loss, beside the present need?</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Lady.</i> No less than if I should my brothers lose.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Comus.</i> <a id="r7_289" href="#n7_289">Were they of manly prime, or youthful bloom?</a></p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Lady.</i> As smooth as Hebe’s their unrazored lips.<span class="lnum"> 290</span></p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Comus.</i> Two such I saw, what time <a id="r7_292" href="#n7_292">the labored ox</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n7_292">In his loose traces</a> from the furrow came,</p> +<p class="t0">And the swinked hedger at his supper sat.</p> +<p class="t0">I saw them under <a id="r7_294" href="#n7_294">a green mantling vine</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">That crawls along the side of yon small hill,<span class="lnum"> 295</span></p> +<p class="t0">Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots;</p> +<p class="t0">Their port was more than human, as they stood.</p> +<p class="t0">I took it for a faery vision</p> +<p class="t0">Of some <a id="r7_299" href="#n7_299">gay creatures of the element</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">That in the colors of the rainbow live,<span class="lnum"> 300</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_301" href="#n7_301">And play i’ the plighted clouds</a>. I was awe-strook,</p> +<p class="t0">And, as I passed, I worshiped. If those you seek,</p> +<span class="pb">[38]</span> +<p class="t0">It were a journey like the path to Heaven</p> +<p class="t0">To help you find them.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Lady.</i> <span class="t6">Gentle villager,</span></p> +<p class="t0">What readiest way would bring me to that place?<span class="lnum"> 305</span></p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Comus.</i> Due west it rises from this shrubby point.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Lady.</i> To find out that, good shepherd, I suppose,</p> +<p class="t0">In such a scant allowance of star-light,</p> +<p class="t0">Would overtask the best land-pilot’s art,</p> +<p class="t0">Without the sure guess of well-practised feet.<span class="lnum"> 310</span></p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Comus.</i> I know each lane, and every alley green,</p> +<p class="t0">Dingle, or bushy dell, of this wild wood,</p> +<p class="t0">And every bosky bourn from side to side,</p> +<p class="t0">My daily walks and ancient neighborhood;</p> +<p class="t0">And, if your stray attendance be yet lodged,<span class="lnum"> 315</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_316" href="#n7_316">Or shroud within these limits</a>, I shall know</p> +<p class="t0">Ere morrow wake, or the low-roosted lark</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_318" href="#n7_318">From her thatched pallet rouse</a>. If otherwise,</p> +<p class="t0">I can conduct you, Lady, to a low</p> +<p class="t0">But loyal cottage, where you may be safe<span class="lnum"> 320</span></p> +<p class="t0">Till further quest.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Lady.</i> <span class="t4">Shepherd, I take thy word,</span></p> +<p class="t0">And trust thy honest-offered courtesy,</p> +<p class="t0">Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds,</p> +<p class="t0">With smoky rafters, than in tapestry halls</p> +<p class="t0">And courts of princes, <a id="r7_325" href="#n7_325">where it first was named</a>,<span class="lnum"> 325</span></p> +<p class="t0">And yet is most pretended. In a place</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_327" href="#n7_327">Less warranted than this, or less secure</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">I cannot be, that I should fear to change it.</p> +<p class="t0">Eye me, blest Providence, and <a id="r7_329" href="#n7_329">square my trial</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n7_329">To my proportioned strength</a>! Shepherd, lead on....<span class="lnum"> 330</span></p> +</div> +<div class="pb">[39]</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="stagedir">The <span class="sc">Two Brothers.</span></p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Eld. Bro.</i> Unmuffle, ye faint stars; and thou, fair moon,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_332" href="#n7_332">That wont’st to love</a> the traveller’s benison,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_333" href="#n7_333">Stoop thy pale visage</a> through an amber cloud,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_334" href="#n7_334">And disinherit Chaos, that reigns here</a></p> +<p class="t0">In double night of darkness and of shades;<span class="lnum"> 335</span></p> +<p class="t0">Or, if your influence be quite dammed up</p> +<p class="t0">With black usurping mists, some gentle taper,</p> +<p class="t0">Though <a id="r7_338" href="#n7_338">a rush-candle</a> from the wicker hole</p> +<p class="t0">Of some clay habitation, visit us</p> +<p class="t0">With thy long levelled rule of streaming light,<span class="lnum"> 340</span></p> +<p class="t0">And thou shalt be our <a id="r7_341" href="#n7_341">star of Arcady</a>,</p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n7_341">Or Tyrian Cynosure</a>.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Sec. Bro.</i> <span class="t4">Or, if our eyes</span></p> +<p class="t0">Be barred that happiness, might we but hear</p> +<p class="t0">The folded flocks, penned in their wattled cotes,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_345" href="#n7_345">Or sound of pastoral reed with oaten stops</a>,<span class="lnum"> 345</span></p> +<p class="t0">Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock</p> +<p class="t0">Count the night-watches to his feathery dames,</p> +<p class="t0">’Twould be some solace yet, some little cheering,</p> +<p class="t0">In this close dungeon of <a id="r7_349" href="#n7_349">innumerous boughs</a>.</p> +<p class="t0">But, Oh, that hapless virgin, our lost sister!<span class="lnum"> 350</span></p> +<p class="t0">Where may she wander now, whither betake her</p> +<p class="t0">From the chill dew, amongst rude burs and thistles?</p> +<p class="t0">Perhaps some cold bank is her bolster now,</p> +<p class="t0">Or ’gainst the rugged bark of some broad elm</p> +<p class="t0">Leans her unpillowed head, fraught with sad fears.<span class="lnum"> 355</span></p> +<p class="t0">What if in wild amazement and affright,</p> +<p class="t0">Or, while we speak, within the direful grasp</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_358" href="#n7_358">Of savage hunger, or of savage heat!</a></p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Eld. Bro.</i> Peace, brother: be not over-exquisite</p> +<p class="t0">To cast the fashion of uncertain evils;<span class="lnum"> 360</span></p> +<span class="pb">[40]</span> +<p class="t0">For, <a id="r7_361" href="#n7_361">grant they be so</a>, while they rest unknown,</p> +<p class="t0">What need a man forestall his date of grief,</p> +<p class="t0">And run to meet what he would most avoid?</p> +<p class="t0">Or, if they be but false alarms of fear,</p> +<p class="t0">How bitter is such <a id="r7_365" href="#n7_365">self-delusion</a>!<span class="lnum"> 365</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_366" href="#n7_366">I do not think my sister so to seek</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Or so unprincipled in virtue’s book,</p> +<p class="t0">And the sweet peace that goodness bosoms ever,</p> +<p class="t0">As that the single want of light and noise</p> +<p class="t0">(Not being in danger, as I trust she is not)<span class="lnum"> 370</span></p> +<p class="t0">Could stir the constant mood of her calm thoughts,</p> +<p class="t0">And put them into misbecoming plight.</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_373" href="#n7_373">Virtue could see to do what Virtue would</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n7_373">By her own radiant light, though sun and moon</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n7_373">Were in the flat sea sunk.</a> And Wisdom’s self<span class="lnum"> 375</span></p> +<p class="t0">Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude,</p> +<p class="t0">Where, with her best nurse, <a id="r7_377" href="#n7_377">Contemplation</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings,</p> +<p class="t0">That, in the various bustle of resort,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_380" href="#n7_380">Were all to-ruffled</a>, and sometimes impaired.<span class="lnum"> 380</span></p> +<p class="t0">He that has light within his own clear breast</p> +<p class="t0">May sit i’ the centre, and enjoy bright day:</p> +<p class="t0">But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts</p> +<p class="t0">Benighted walks under the mid-day sun;</p> +<p class="t0">Himself is his own dungeon.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Sec. Bro.</i> <span class="t7">’Tis most true</span><span class="lnum"> 385</span></p> +<p class="t0">That musing Meditation most <a id="r7_386" href="#n7_386">affects</a></p> +<p class="t0">The pensive secrecy of desert cell,</p> +<p class="t0">Far from the cheerful haunt of men and herds,</p> +<p class="t0">And sits as safe as in a senate-house;</p> +<p class="t0">For who would rob a hermit of his <a id="r7_390" href="#n7_390">weeds</a>,<span class="lnum"> 390</span></p> +<p class="t0">His few books, or his beads, or maple dish,</p> +<p class="t0">Or do his gray hairs any violence?</p> +<span class="pb">[41]</span> +<p class="t0">But Beauty, like <a id="r7_393" href="#n7_393">the fair Hesperian tree</a></p> +<p class="t0">Laden with blooming gold, <a id="r7_394" href="#n7_394">had need the guard</a></p> +<p class="t0">Of <a id="r7_395" href="#n7_395">dragon-watch</a> with unenchanted eye<span class="lnum"> 395</span></p> +<p class="t0">To save her blossoms, and defend her fruit,</p> +<p class="t0">From the rash hand of bold Incontinence.</p> +<p class="t0">You may as well spread out the unsunned heaps</p> +<p class="t0">Of miser’s treasure by an outlaw’s den,</p> +<p class="t0">And tell me it is safe, as bid me hope<span class="lnum"> 400</span></p> +<p class="t0">Danger <a id="r7_401" href="#n7_401">will wink on Opportunity</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">And let a single helpless maiden pass</p> +<p class="t0">Uninjured in this wild surrounding waste.</p> +<p class="t0">Of night or loneliness <a id="r7_404" href="#n7_404">it recks me not</a>;</p> +<p class="t0">I fear the dread events that dog them both,<span class="lnum"> 405</span></p> +<p class="t0">Lest some ill-greeting touch attempt the person</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_407" href="#n7_407">Of our unowned sister.</a></p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Eld. Bro.</i> <span class="t5"><a href="#n7_407">I do not, brother</a>,</span></p> +<p class="t0">Infer as if I thought my sister’s state</p> +<p class="t0">Secure without all doubt or controversy;</p> +<p class="t0">Yet, where an equal poise of hope and fear<span class="lnum"> 410</span></p> +<p class="t0">Does arbitrate the event, my nature is</p> +<p class="t0">That I incline to hope rather than fear,</p> +<p class="t0">And gladly banish <a id="r7_413" href="#n7_413">squint suspicion</a>.</p> +<p class="t0">My sister is not so defenceless left</p> +<p class="t0">As you imagine; she has a hidden strength,<span class="lnum"> 415</span></p> +<p class="t0">Which you remember not.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Sec. Bro.</i> <span class="t6">What hidden strength,</span></p> +<p class="t0">Unless the strength of Heaven, if you mean that?</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Eld. Bro.</i> I mean that too, but yet a hidden strength,</p> +<p class="t0">Which, if Heaven gave it, may be termed her own.</p> +<p class="t0">’Tis chastity, my brother, chastity:<span class="lnum"> 420</span></p> +<p class="t0">She that has that is clad in complete steel,</p> +<p class="t0">And, like a <a id="r7_422" href="#n7_422">quivered</a> nymph with arrows keen,</p> +<span class="pb">[42]</span> +<p class="t0">May trace huge forests, and <a id="r7_423" href="#n7_423">unharbored</a> heaths,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_424" href="#n7_424">Infamous hills</a>, and sandy perilous wilds;</p> +<p class="t0">Where, through the sacred rays of chastity,<span class="lnum"> 425</span></p> +<p class="t0">No savage fierce, bandite, or mountaineer,</p> +<p class="t0">Will dare to soil her virgin purity.</p> +<p class="t0">Yea, there where very desolation dwells,</p> +<p class="t0">By <a id="r7_429" href="#n7_429">grots</a> and caverns shagged with horrid shades,</p> +<p class="t0">She may pass on with <a id="r7_430" href="#n7_430">unblenched</a> majesty,<span class="lnum"> 430</span></p> +<p class="t0">Be it not done in pride, or in presumption.</p> +<p class="t0">Some say no evil thing that walks by night,</p> +<p class="t0">In fog or fire, by lake or moorish fen,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_434" href="#n7_434">Blue meagre hag</a>, or stubborn unlaid ghost,</p> +<p class="t0">That breaks his magic chains at curfew time,<span class="lnum"> 435</span></p> +<p class="t0">No goblin or <a id="r7_436" href="#n7_436">swart faery of the mine</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Hath hurtful power o’er true virginity.</p> +<p class="t0">Do ye believe me yet, or shall I call</p> +<p class="t0">Antiquity from the old schools of Greece</p> +<p class="t0">To testify the arms of chastity?<span class="lnum"> 440</span></p> +<p class="t0">Hence had <a id="r7_441" href="#n7_441">the huntress Dian</a> her dread bow,</p> +<p class="t0">Fair silver-shafted queen forever chaste,</p> +<p class="t0">Wherewith she tamed the brinded lioness</p> +<p class="t0">And spotted mountain-pard, but set at nought</p> +<p class="t0">The frivolous bolt of Cupid; gods and men<span class="lnum"> 445</span></p> +<p class="t0">Feared her stern frown, and she was queen o’ the woods.</p> +<p class="t0">What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shield</p> +<p class="t0">That <a id="r7_448" href="#n7_448">wise Minerva</a> wore, unconquered virgin,</p> +<p class="t0">Wherewith she freezed her foes to congealed stone,</p> +<p class="t0">But rigid looks of chaste austerity,<span class="lnum"> 450</span></p> +<p class="t0">And noble grace that dashed brute violence</p> +<p class="t0">With sudden adoration and blank awe?</p> +<p class="t0">So dear to Heaven is saintly chastity</p> +<p class="t0">That, when a soul is found sincerely so,</p> +<p class="t0">A thousand liveried angels lackey her,<span class="lnum"> 455</span></p> +<p class="t0">Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt,</p> +<span class="pb">[43]</span> +<p class="t0">And in clear dream and solemn vision</p> +<p class="t0">Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear;</p> +<p class="t0">Till oft converse with heavenly habitants</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_460" href="#n7_460">Begin</a> to cast a beam on the outward shape,<span class="lnum"> 460</span></p> +<p class="t0">The unpolluted temple of the mind,</p> +<p class="t0">And <a href="#n7_460">turns</a> it by degrees to the soul’s essence,</p> +<p class="t0">Till all be made immortal. But, when lust,</p> +<p class="t0">By unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk,</p> +<p class="t0">But most by lewd and lavish act of sin,<span class="lnum"> 465</span></p> +<p class="t0">Lets in defilement to the inward parts,</p> +<p class="t0">The soul grows clotted by contagion,</p> +<p class="t0">Imbodies, and imbrutes, till she quite lose</p> +<p class="t0">The divine property of her first being.</p> +<p class="t0">Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp<span class="lnum"> 470</span></p> +<p class="t0">Oft seen in charnel-vaults and sepulchres,</p> +<p class="t0">Lingering and sitting by a new-made grave,</p> +<p class="t0">As loth to leave the body that it loved,</p> +<p class="t0">And linked itself by carnal sensualty</p> +<p class="t0">To a degenerate and degraded state.<span class="lnum"> 475</span></p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Sec. Bro.</i> How charming is divine Philosophy!</p> +<p class="t0">Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose,</p> +<p class="t0">But musical as is Apollo’s lute,</p> +<p class="t0">And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets,</p> +<p class="t0">Where no crude surfeit reigns.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Eld. Bro.</i> <span class="t8">List! list! I hear</span><span class="lnum"> 480</span></p> +<p class="t0">Some far-off hallo break the silent air.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Sec. Bro.</i> Methought so too; what should it be?</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Eld. Bro.</i> <span class="t14">For certain,</span></p> +<p class="t0">Either some one, like us, night-foundered here,</p> +<p class="t0">Or else some neighbor woodman, or, at worst,</p> +<p class="t0">Some roving robber calling to his fellows.<span class="lnum"> 485</span></p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Sec. Bro.</i> Heaven help my sister! Again, again, and near!</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_487" href="#n7_487">Best draw, and stand upon our guard</a>.</p> +</div> +<div class="pb">[44]</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Eld. Bro.</i> <span class="t11">I’ll hallo.</span></p> +<p class="t0">If he be friendly, he comes well: if not,</p> +<p class="t0">Defence is a good cause, and Heaven be for us!</p> +</div> +<p class="stagedir">The <span class="sc">Attendant Spirit</span>, habited like a shepherd.</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">That hallo I should know. What are you? speak.<span class="lnum"> 490</span></p> +<p class="t0">Come not too near; you fall on iron stakes else.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Spir.</i> What voice is that? my young lord? speak again.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Sec. Bro.</i> O brother, ’tis my father’s Shepherd, sure.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Eld. Bro.</i> <a id="r7_494" href="#n7_494">Thyrsis</a>! whose artful strains have oft delayed</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_495" href="#n7_495">The huddling brook to hear his madrigal</a>,<span class="lnum"> 495</span></p> +<p class="t0">And sweetened every musk-rose of the dale.</p> +<p class="t0">How camest thou here, good swain? Hath any ram</p> +<p class="t0">Slipped from the fold, or young kid lost his dam,</p> +<p class="t0">Or straggling wether the pent flock forsook?</p> +<p class="t0">How could’st thou find this dark sequestered nook?<span class="lnum"> 500</span></p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Spir.</i> O my loved master’s heir, and his next joy,</p> +<p class="t0">I came not here on such a trivial toy</p> +<p class="t0">As a strayed ewe, or to pursue the stealth</p> +<p class="t0">Of pilfering wolf; not all the fleecy wealth</p> +<p class="t0">That doth enrich these downs is worth a thought<span class="lnum"> 505</span></p> +<p class="t0">To this my errand, and the care it brought.</p> +<p class="t0">But, oh! my virgin Lady, where is she?</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_508" href="#n7_508">How chance she is not</a> in your company?</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Eld. Bro.</i> To tell thee sadly, Shepherd, without blame</p> +<p class="t0">Or our neglect, we lost her as we came.<span class="lnum"> 510</span></p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Spir.</i> Ay me unhappy! then my fears are true.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Eld. Bro.</i> What fears, good Thyrsis? Prithee briefly shew.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Spir.</i> I’ll tell ye. ’Tis not vain or fabulous</p> +<p class="t0">(Though so esteemed by shallow ignorance)</p> +<p class="t0">What the sage poets, taught by the heavenly Muse,<span class="lnum"> 515</span></p> +<p class="t0">Storied of old in high immortal verse</p> +<p class="t0">Of dire <a id="r7_517" href="#n7_517">Chimeras</a> and enchanted isles,</p> +<span class="pb">[45]</span> +<p class="t0">And rifted rocks whose entrance leads to Hell;</p> +<p class="t0">For such there be, but unbelief is blind.</p> +<p class="t">Within the navel of this hideous wood,<span class="lnum"> 520</span></p> +<p class="t0">Immured in cypress shades, a sorcerer dwells,</p> +<p class="t0">Of Bacchus and of Circe born, great Comus,</p> +<p class="t0">Deep skilled in all his mother’s witcheries,</p> +<p class="t0">And here to every thirsty wanderer</p> +<p class="t0">By sly enticement gives his baneful cup,<span class="lnum"> 525</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_526" href="#n7_526">With many murmurs mixed</a>, whose pleasing poison</p> +<p class="t0">The visage quite transforms of him that drinks,</p> +<p class="t0">And the inglorious likeness of a beast</p> +<p class="t0">Fixes instead, unmoulding reason’s <a id="r7_529" href="#n7_529">mintage</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_530" href="#n7_530">Charactered in the face</a>. This have I learnt<span class="lnum"> 530</span></p> +<p class="t0">Tending my flocks hard by i’ the hilly <a id="r7_531" href="#n7_531">crofts</a></p> +<p class="t0">That brow this bottom glade; whence night by night</p> +<p class="t0">He and his monstrous rout are heard to howl</p> +<p class="t0">Like stabled wolves, or tigers at their prey,</p> +<p class="t0">Doing abhorred rites to Hecate<span class="lnum"> 535</span></p> +<p class="t0">In their obscurèd haunts of inmost bowers.</p> +<p class="t0">Yet have they many baits and guileful spells</p> +<p class="t0">To inveigle and invite the unwary sense</p> +<p class="t0">Of them that pass unweeting by the way.</p> +<p class="t0">This evening late, <a id="r7_540" href="#n7_540">by then the chewing flocks</a><span class="lnum"> 540</span></p> +<p class="t0">Had ta’en their supper on the savory herb</p> +<p class="t0">Of knot-grass dew-besprent, and were in fold,</p> +<p class="t0">I sat me down to watch upon a bank</p> +<p class="t0">With ivy canopied, and interwove</p> +<p class="t0">With flaunting honeysuckle, and began,<span class="lnum"> 545</span></p> +<p class="t0">Wrapt in a <a id="r7_546">pleasing fit of melancholy</a>,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_547" href="#n7_547">To meditate my rural minstrelsy,</a></p> +<p class="t0">Till fancy had her fill. But ere a close</p> +<p class="t0">The wonted roar was up amidst the woods,</p> +<p class="t0">And filled the air with barbarous dissonance;<span class="lnum"> 550</span></p> +<span class="pb">[46]</span> +<p class="t0">At which I ceased, and listened them a while,</p> +<p class="t0">Till an <a id="r7_552" href="#n7_552">unusual stop of sudden silence</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_553" href="#n7_553">Gave respite to the drowsy-flighted steeds</a></p> +<p class="t0">That draw the litter of close-curtained Sleep.</p> +<p class="t0">At last a soft and solemn-breathing sound<span class="lnum"> 555</span></p> +<p class="t0">Rose like a steam of rich distilled perfumes,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_557" href="#n7_557">And stole upon the air, that even Silence</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n7_557">Was took ere she was ware, and wished she might</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n7_557">Deny her nature, and be never more</a>,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_560" href="#n7_560">Still</a> to be so displaced. I was all ear,<span class="lnum"> 560</span></p> +<p class="t0">And took in strains that might create a soul</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_562" href="#n7_562">Under the ribs of Death</a>. But, oh! ere long</p> +<p class="t0">Too well I did perceive it was the voice</p> +<p class="t0">Of my most honored Lady, your dear sister.</p> +<p class="t0">Amazed I stood, harrowed with grief and fear;<span class="lnum"> 565</span></p> +<p class="t0">And ‘O poor hapless nightingale,’ thought I,</p> +<p class="t0">‘How sweet thou sing’st, how near the deadly snare!’</p> +<p class="t0">Then down the lawns I ran with headlong haste,</p> +<p class="t0">Through paths and turnings often trod by day,</p> +<p class="t0">Till, guided by mine ear, I found the place<span class="lnum"> 570</span></p> +<p class="t0">Where that damned wizard, hid in sly disguise</p> +<p class="t0">(For so by certain signs I knew), had met</p> +<p class="t0">Already, ere my best speed could prevent,</p> +<p class="t0">The aidless innocent lady, his wished prey;</p> +<p class="t0">Who gently asked if he had seen <a id="r7_575" href="#n7_575">such two</a>,<span class="lnum"> 575</span></p> +<p class="t0">Supposing him some neighbor villager.</p> +<p class="t0">Longer I durst not stay, but soon I guessed</p> +<p class="t0">Ye were the two she meant; with that I sprung</p> +<p class="t0">Into swift flight, till I had found you here;</p> +<p class="t0">But further know I not.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Sec. Bro.</i> <span class="t5">O night and shades,</span><span class="lnum"> 580</span></p> +<p class="t0">How are ye joined with hell in triple knot</p> +<p class="t0">Against the unarmed weakness of one virgin,</p> +<span class="pb">[47]</span> +<p class="t0">Alone and helpless! Is this the confidence</p> +<p class="t0">You gave me, brother?</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Eld. Bro.</i> <span class="t5">Yes, and keep it still;</span></p> +<p class="t0">Lean on it safely; not a period<span class="lnum"> 585</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_586" href="#n7_586">Shall be unsaid for me</a>. Against the threats</p> +<p class="t0">Of malice or of sorcery, or that power</p> +<p class="t0">Which erring men call Chance, this I hold firm:</p> +<p class="t0">Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt,</p> +<p class="t0">Surprised by unjust force, but not enthralled;<span class="lnum"> 590</span></p> +<p class="t0">Yea, even that which Mischief meant most harm</p> +<p class="t0">Shall in the happy trial prove most glory.</p> +<p class="t0">But evil on itself shall back recoil,</p> +<p class="t0">And mix no more with goodness, when at last,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_595" href="#n7_595">Gathered like scum, and settled to itself</a>,<span class="lnum"> 595</span></p> +<p class="t0">It shall be in eternal restless change</p> +<p class="t0">Self-fed and self-consumed. If this fail,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_598" href="#n7_598">The pillared firmament</a> is rottenness,</p> +<p class="t0">And earth’s base built on stubble. But come, let’s on!</p> +<p class="t0">Against the opposing will and arm of Heaven<span class="lnum"> 600</span></p> +<p class="t0">May never this just sword be lifted up;</p> +<p class="t0">But for that damned magician, let him be girt</p> +<p class="t0">With all the griesly legions that troop</p> +<p class="t0">Under the sooty flag of <a id="r7_604" href="#n7_604">Acheron</a>,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_605" href="#n7_605">Harpies and Hydras</a>, or all the monstrous forms<span class="lnum"> 605</span></p> +<p class="t0">’Twixt Africa and Ind, I’ll find him out,</p> +<p class="t0">And force him to return <a id="r7_607" href="#n7_607">his purchase</a> back,</p> +<p class="t0">Or drag him by the curls to a foul death,</p> +<p class="t0">Cursed as his life.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Spir.</i> <span class="t5">Alas! good venturous youth,</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_610" href="#n7_610">I love thy courage yet</a>, and bold emprise;<span class="lnum"> 610</span></p> +<p class="t0">But here thy sword <a id="r7_611" href="#n7_611">can do thee little stead</a>.</p> +<p class="t0">Far other arms and other weapons must</p> +<p class="t0">Be those that quell the might of hellish charms.</p> +<span class="pb">[48]</span> +<p class="t0">He with his bare wand can unthread thy joints,</p> +<p class="t0">And crumble all thy sinews.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Eld. Bro.</i> <span class="t7">Why, prithee, Shepherd,</span><span class="lnum"> 615</span></p> +<p class="t0">How durst thou then thyself approach so near</p> +<p class="t0">As to make this relation?</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Spir.</i> <span class="t7">Care and <a id="r7_617" href="#n7_617">utmost shifts</a></span></p> +<p class="t0">How to secure the Lady from surprisal</p> +<p class="t0">Brought to my mind a certain shepherd lad,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_620" href="#n7_620">Of small regard to see to</a>, yet well skilled<span class="lnum"> 620</span></p> +<p class="t0">In every <a id="r7_621" href="#n7_621">virtuous plant</a> and healing herb</p> +<p class="t0">That spreads her verdant leaf to the morning ray.</p> +<p class="t0">He loved me well, and oft would beg me sing;</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_624" href="#n7_624">Which when I did</a>, he on the tender grass</p> +<p class="t0">Would sit, and hearken even to ecstasy,<span class="lnum"> 625</span></p> +<p class="t0">And in requital ope his leathern <a id="r7_626" href="#n7_626">scrip</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">And show me <a id="r7_627" href="#n7_627">simples of a thousand names</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Telling their strange and vigorous faculties.</p> +<p class="t0">Amongst the rest a small unsightly root,</p> +<p class="t0">But of divine effect, he culled me out.<span class="lnum"> 630</span></p> +<p class="t0">The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it,</p> +<p class="t0">But in another country, as he said,</p> +<p class="t0">Bore a bright golden flower, but not in this soil:</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_634" href="#n7_634">Unknown, and like esteemed</a>, and the dull swain</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_635" href="#n7_635">Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon</a>;<span class="lnum"> 635</span></p> +<p class="t0">And yet more med’cinal is it than <a id="r7_636" href="#n7_636">that Moly</a></p> +<p class="t0">That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave.</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_638" href="#n7_638">He called it Hæmony</a>, and gave it me,</p> +<p class="t0">And bade me keep it as of sovran use</p> +<p class="t0">’Gainst all enchantments, <a id="r7_640" href="#n7_640">mildew blast, or damp</a>,<span class="lnum"> 640</span></p> +<p class="t0">Or <a id="r7_641" href="#n7_641">ghastly Furies’ apparition</a>.</p> +<p class="t0">I pursed it up, but little reckoning made,</p> +<p class="t0">Till now that this extremity compelled.</p> +<p class="t0">But now I find it true; for by this means</p> +<p class="t0">I knew the foul enchanter, though disguised,<span class="lnum"> 645</span></p> +<span class="pb">[49]</span> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_646" href="#n7_646">Entered the very lime-twigs of his spells</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">And yet came off. If you have this about you</p> +<p class="t0">(As I will give you when we go) you may</p> +<p class="t0">Boldly assault the necromancer’s hall;</p> +<p class="t0">Where if he be, with dauntless hardihood<span class="lnum"> 650</span></p> +<p class="t0">And brandished blade rush on him: break his glass,</p> +<p class="t0">And shed the luscious liquor on the ground;</p> +<p class="t0">But seize his wand. Though he and his curst crew</p> +<p class="t0">Fierce sign of battle make, and menace high,</p> +<p class="t0">Or, like the sons of Vulcan, vomit smoke,<span class="lnum"> 655</span></p> +<p class="t0">Yet will they soon retire, if he but shrink.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Eld. Bro.</i> Thyrsis, lead on <a id="r7_657" href="#n7_657">apace</a>; I’ll follow thee;</p> +<p class="t0">And some good angel bear a shield before us!</p> +</div> +<p class="stageset">The Scene changes to a stately palace, set out with all manner of deliciousness: +soft music, tables spread with all dainties. <span class="sc">Comus</span> appears +with his rabble, and the <span class="sc">Lady</span> set in an enchanted chair: to +whom he offers his glass; which she puts by, and <a id="r7_658" href="#n7_658">goes about</a> to rise.</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Comus.</i> Nay, Lady, sit. If I but wave this wand,</p> +<p class="t0">Your nerves are all chained up in alabaster,<span class="lnum"> 660</span></p> +<p class="t0">And you a statue, or <a id="r7_661" href="#n7_661">as Daphne was,</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n7_661">Root-bound, that fled Apollo</a>.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Lady.</i> <span class="t9">Fool, do not boast.</span></p> +<p class="t0">Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind</p> +<p class="t0">With all thy charms, although this corporal rind</p> +<p class="t0">Thou hast immanacled while Heaven sees good.<span class="lnum"> 665</span></p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Comus.</i> Why are you vexed, Lady? why do you frown?</p> +<p class="t0">Here dwell no frowns, nor anger; from these gates</p> +<p class="t0">Sorrow flies far. See, here be all the pleasures</p> +<p class="t0">That fancy can beget on youthful thoughts,</p> +<p class="t0">When the fresh blood grows lively, and returns<span class="lnum"> 670</span></p> +<p class="t0">Brisk as the April buds in primrose season.</p> +<span class="pb">[50]</span> +<p class="t0">And first behold <a id="r7_672" href="#n7_672">this cordial julep</a> here,</p> +<p class="t0">That flames and dances in his crystal bounds,</p> +<p class="t0">With spirits of balm and fragrant syrups mixed.</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_675" href="#n7_675">Not that Nepenthes which the wife of Thone</a><span class="lnum"> 675</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n7_675">In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena</a></p> +<p class="t0">Is of such power to stir up joy as this,</p> +<p class="t0">To life so friendly, or so cool to thirst.</p> +<p class="t0">Why should you be so cruel to yourself,</p> +<p class="t0">And to those dainty limbs, which Nature lent<span class="lnum"> 680</span></p> +<p class="t0">For gentle usage and soft delicacy?</p> +<p class="t0">But you invert the covenants of her trust,</p> +<p class="t0">And harshly deal, like an ill borrower,</p> +<p class="t0">With that which you received on other terms,</p> +<p class="t0">Scorning <a id="r7_685" href="#n7_685">the unexempt condition</a><span class="lnum"> 685</span></p> +<p class="t0">By which all mortal frailty must subsist,</p> +<p class="t0">Refreshment after toil, ease after pain,</p> +<p class="t0">That have been tired all day without repast,</p> +<p class="t0">And timely rest have wanted. But, fair virgin,</p> +<p class="t0">This will restore all soon.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Lady.</i> <span class="t7">’Twill not, false traitor!</span><span class="lnum"> 690</span></p> +<p class="t0">’Twill not restore the truth and honesty</p> +<p class="t0">That thou hast banished from thy tongue with lies.</p> +<p class="t0">Was this the cottage and the safe abode</p> +<p class="t0">Thou told’st me of? What grim aspects are these,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_695" href="#n7_695">These oughly-headed monsters</a>? Mercy guard me!<span class="lnum"> 695</span></p> +<p class="t0">Hence with thy brewed enchantments, foul deceiver!</p> +<p class="t0">Hast thou betrayed my credulous innocence</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_698" href="#n7_698">With vizored falsehood</a> and base forgery?</p> +<p class="t0">And wouldst thou seek again to trap me here</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_700" href="#n7_700">With liquorish baits</a>, fit to ensnare a brute?<span class="lnum"> 700</span></p> +<p class="t0">Were it a draught for Juno when she banquets,</p> +<p class="t0">I would not taste thy treasonous offer. None</p> +<span class="pb">[51]</span> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_703" href="#n7_703">But such as are good men can give good things</a>;</p> +<p class="t0">And that which is not good is not delicious</p> +<p class="t0">To a well-governed and wise appetite.<span class="lnum"> 705</span></p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Comus.</i> O foolishness of men! that lend their ears</p> +<p class="t0">To <a id="r7_707" href="#n7_707">those budge doctors of the stoic fur</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">And <a id="r7_708" href="#n7_708">fetch their precepts from the Cynic tub</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Praising the lean and sallow Abstinence!</p> +<p class="t0">Wherefore did Nature pour her bounties forth<span class="lnum"> 710</span></p> +<p class="t0">With such a full and unwithdrawing hand,</p> +<p class="t0">Covering the earth with odors, fruits, and flocks,</p> +<p class="t0">Thronging the seas with spawn innumerable,</p> +<p class="t0">But all to please and sate the curious taste?</p> +<p class="t0">And set to work millions of spinning worms,<span class="lnum"> 715</span></p> +<p class="t0">That in their green shops weave the smooth-haired silk,</p> +<p class="t0">To deck her sons; and, that no corner might</p> +<p class="t0">Be vacant of her plenty, in her own loins</p> +<p class="t0">She <a id="r7_719" href="#n7_719">hutched</a> the all-worshipped ore and precious gems,</p> +<p class="t0">To store her children with. If all the world<span class="lnum"> 720</span></p> +<p class="t0">Should, in a fit of temperance, feed on <a id="r7_721" href="#n7_721">pulse</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but <a id="r7_722" href="#n7_722">frieze</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">The All-giver would be unthanked, would be unpraised,</p> +<p class="t0">Not half his riches known, <a id="r7_724" href="#n7_724">and yet</a> despised;</p> +<p class="t0">And we should serve him as a grudging master,<span class="lnum"> 725</span></p> +<p class="t0">As a penurious niggard of his wealth,</p> +<p class="t0">And live like Nature’s bastards, not her sons,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_728" href="#n7_728">Who</a> would be quite surcharged with her own weight,</p> +<p class="t0">And strangled with her waste fertility:</p> +<p class="t0">The earth cumbered, and the winged air darked with plumes,<span class="lnum"> 730</span></p> +<p class="t0">The herds would over-multitude their lords;</p> +<p class="t0">The sea o’erfraught would swell, and the unsought diamonds</p> +<p class="t0">Would so emblaze the forehead of the deep,</p> +<p class="t0">And so bestud with stars, that <a id="r7_734" href="#n7_734">they below</a></p> +<p class="t0">Would grow inured to light, and come at last<span class="lnum"> 735</span></p> +<span class="pb">[52]</span> +<p class="t0">To gaze upon the sun with shameless brows.</p> +<p class="t0">List, Lady; be not <a id="r7_737" href="#n7_737">coy</a>, and be not <a href="#n7_737">cozened</a></p> +<p class="t0">With that same vaunted name, Virginity.</p> +<p class="t0">Beauty is Nature’s coin; must not be hoarded,</p> +<p class="t0">But must be current; and the good thereof<span class="lnum"> 740</span></p> +<p class="t0">Consists in mutual and partaken bliss,</p> +<p class="t0">Unsavory in the enjoyment of itself.</p> +<p class="t0">If you let slip time, like a neglected rose</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_744" href="#n7_744">It</a> withers on the stalk with languished head.</p> +<p class="t0">Beauty is Nature’s brag, and must be shown<span class="lnum"> 745</span></p> +<p class="t0">In courts, at feasts, and high solemnities,</p> +<p class="t0">Where most may wonder at the workmanship.</p> +<p class="t0">It is for <a id="r7_748" href="#n7_748">homely</a> features to keep home;</p> +<p class="t0">They had their name thence: coarse complexions</p> +<p class="t0">And cheeks of sorry <a id="r7_750" href="#n7_750">grain</a> will serve to ply<span class="lnum"> 750</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_751" href="#n7_751">The sampler, and to tease the huswife’s wool</a>.</p> +<p class="t0">What need a vermeil-tinctured lip for that,</p> +<p class="t0">Love-darting eyes, or <a id="r7_753" href="#n7_753">tresses like the morn</a>?</p> +<p class="t0">There was another meaning in these gifts;</p> +<p class="t0">Think what, and be advised; you are but young yet.<span class="lnum"> 755</span></p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Lady.</i> I had not thought to have unlocked my lips</p> +<p class="t0">In this unhallowed air, but that this juggler</p> +<p class="t0">Would think to charm my judgment, as mine eyes,</p> +<p class="t0">Obtruding false rules pranked in reason’s garb.</p> +<p class="t0">I hate <a id="r7_760" href="#n7_760">when vice can bolt her arguments</a><span class="lnum"> 760</span></p> +<p class="t0">And virtue has no tongue to check her pride.</p> +<p class="t0">Impostor! do not charge most innocent Nature,</p> +<p class="t0">As if she would her children should be riotous</p> +<p class="t0">With her abundance. She, good cateress,</p> +<p class="t0">Means her provision only to the good,<span class="lnum"> 765</span></p> +<p class="t0">That live according to her sober laws,</p> +<p class="t0">And holy dictate of spare Temperance.</p> +<span class="pb">[53]</span> +<p class="t0">If every just man that now pines with want</p> +<p class="t0">Had but a moderate and beseeming share</p> +<p class="t0">Of that which lewdly-pampered Luxury<span class="lnum"> 770</span></p> +<p class="t0">Now heaps upon some few with vast excess,</p> +<p class="t0">Nature’s full blessings would be well-dispensed</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_773" href="#n7_773">In unsuperfluous even proportion</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">And she no whit encumbered with her store;</p> +<p class="t0">And then the Giver would be better thanked,<span class="lnum"> 775</span></p> +<p class="t0">His praise due paid: for swinish gluttony</p> +<p class="t0">Ne’er looks to Heaven amidst his gorgeous feast,</p> +<p class="t0">But with besotted base ingratitude</p> +<p class="t0">Crams, and blasphemes his Feeder. Shall I go on?</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_780" href="#n7_780">Or have I said enow?</a> To him that dares<span class="lnum"> 780</span></p> +<p class="t0">Arm his profane tongue with contemptuous words</p> +<p class="t0">Against the sun-clad power of chastity</p> +<p class="t0">Fain would I something say;—yet to what end?</p> +<p class="t0">Thou hast nor ear, nor soul, to apprehend</p> +<p class="t0">The sublime notion and high mystery<span class="lnum"> 785</span></p> +<p class="t0">That must be uttered to unfold the sage</p> +<p class="t0">And serious doctrine of Virginity;</p> +<p class="t0">And <a id="r7_788" href="#n7_788">thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know</a></p> +<p class="t0">More happiness than this thy present lot.</p> +<p class="t0">Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric,<span class="lnum"> 790</span></p> +<p class="t0">That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence;</p> +<p class="t0">Thou art not fit to hear thyself convinced.</p> +<p class="t0">Yet, should I try, <a id="r7_793" href="#n7_793">the uncontrolled worth</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n7_793">Of this pure cause</a> would kindle my rapt spirits</p> +<p class="t0">To such a flame of sacred vehemence<span class="lnum"> 795</span></p> +<p class="t0">That dumb things would be moved to sympathize,</p> +<p class="t0">And the brute Earth would lend her nerves, and shake,</p> +<p class="t0">Till all thy magic structures, reared so high,</p> +<p class="t0">Were shattered into heaps o’er thy false head.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Comus.</i> She fables not. I feel that I do fear<span class="lnum"> 800</span></p> +<span class="pb">[54]</span> +<p class="t0">Her words set off by some superior power;</p> +<p class="t0">And, though not mortal, yet a cold shuddering dew</p> +<p class="t0">Dips me all o’er, as when the wrath of Jove</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_804" href="#n7_804">Speaks thunder and the chains of Erebus</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n7_804">To some of Saturn’s crew</a>. I must dissemble,<span class="lnum"> 805</span></p> +<p class="t0">And try her yet more strongly,—Come, no more!</p> +<p class="t0">This is mere moral babble, and direct</p> +<p class="t0">Against <a id="r7_808" href="#n7_808">the canon laws</a> of our foundation.</p> +<p class="t0">I must not suffer this; yet ’tis but the lees</p> +<p class="t0">And settlings of a melancholy blood.<span class="lnum"> 810</span></p> +<p class="t0">But this will cure all straight; one sip of this</p> +<p class="t0">Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight</p> +<p class="t0">Beyond the bliss of dreams. Be wise, and taste....</p> +</div> +<p class="stageset">The <span class="sc">Brothers</span> 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 <span class="sc">Attendant Spirit</span> comes in.</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Spir.</i> What! have you let the false enchanter scape?</p> +<p class="t0">O ye mistook; ye should have snatched his wand,<span class="lnum"> 815</span></p> +<p class="t0">And bound him fast. Without his rod reversed,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_817" href="#n7_817">And backward mutters of dissevering power</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">We cannot free the Lady that sits here</p> +<p class="t0">In stony fetters fixed and motionless.</p> +<p class="t0">Yet stay: be not disturbed; now I bethink me,<span class="lnum"> 820</span></p> +<p class="t0">Some other means I have which may be used,</p> +<p class="t0">Which once of <a id="r7_822" href="#n7_822">Melibœus</a> old I learnt,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_823" href="#n7_823">The soothest shepherd</a> that e’er piped on plains.</p> +<p class="t">There is a gentle Nymph not far from hence,</p> +<p class="t0">That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn stream:<span class="lnum"> 825</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_826" href="#n7_826">Sabrina is her name</a>: a virgin pure;</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_827" href="#n7_827">Whilom</a> she was the daughter of Locrine,</p> +<p class="t0">That had the sceptre from his father Brute.</p> +<p class="t0">She, guiltless damsel, flying the mad pursuit</p> +<p class="t0">Of her enraged stepdame, Guendolen,<span class="lnum"> 830</span></p> +<span class="pb">[55]</span> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_831" href="#n7_831">Commended her fair innocence to the flood</a></p> +<p class="t0">That stayed her flight with his cross-flowing course.</p> +<p class="t0">The water-nymphs, that in the bottom played,</p> +<p class="t0">Held up their pearled wrists, and took her in,</p> +<p class="t0">Bearing her straight to <a id="r7_835" href="#n7_835">aged Nereus’</a> hall;<span class="lnum"> 835</span></p> +<p class="t0">Who, piteous of her woes, reared her lank head,</p> +<p class="t0">And gave her to his daughters to imbathe</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_838" href="#n7_838">In nectared lavers strewed with asphodel</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">And through the porch and inlet of each sense</p> +<p class="t0">Dropt in <a id="r7_840" href="#n7_840">ambrosial</a> oils, till she revived,<span class="lnum"> 840</span></p> +<p class="t0">And underwent a quick immortal change,</p> +<p class="t0">Made Goddess of the river. Still she retains</p> +<p class="t0">Her maiden gentleness, and oft at eve</p> +<p class="t0">Visits the herds along the twilight meadows,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_845" href="#n7_845">Helping all urchin blasts</a>, and ill-luck signs<span class="lnum"> 845</span></p> +<p class="t0">That the shrewd meddling elf delights to make,</p> +<p class="t0">Which she with precious vialed liquors heals:</p> +<p class="t0">For which the shepherds, at their festivals,</p> +<p class="t0">Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays,</p> +<p class="t0">And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream<span class="lnum"> 850</span></p> +<p class="t0">Of pansies, pinks, and gaudy <a id="r7_851" href="#n7_851">daffodils</a>.</p> +<p class="t0">And, as the old swain said, she can unlock</p> +<p class="t0">The clasping charm, and thaw <a id="r7_853">the numbing spell</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">If she be right invoked in warbled song;</p> +<p class="t0">For maidenhood she loves, and will be swift<span class="lnum"> 855</span></p> +<p class="t0">To aid a virgin, such as was herself,</p> +<p class="t0">In hard-besetting need. This will I try,</p> +<p class="t0">And add the power of some <a id="r7_858" href="#n7_858">adjuring</a> verse.</p> +</div> +<h4><i>Song.</i></h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t">Sabrina fair,</p> +<p class="t2">Listen where thou art sitting<span class="lnum"> 860</span></p> +<p class="t">Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,</p> +<span class="pb">[56]</span> +<p class="t2">In twisted braids of lilies knitting</p> +<p class="t">The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair;</p> +<p class="t2">Listen for dear honor’s sake,</p> +<p class="t2">Goddess of the silver lake,<span class="lnum"> 865</span></p> +<p class="t4">Listen and save!</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">Listen, and appear to us,</p> +<p class="t0">In name of great <a id="r7_868" href="#n7_868">Oceanus</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">By the <a id="r7_869" href="#n7_869">earth-shaking Neptune’s mace</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">And <a id="r7_870" href="#n7_870">Tethys’ grave majestic pace</a>;<span class="lnum"> 870</span></p> +<p class="t0">By <a id="r7_871" href="#n7_871">hoary Nereus’</a> wrinkled look,</p> +<p class="t0">And <a id="r7_872" href="#n7_872">the Carpathian wizard’s hook</a>;</p> +<p class="t0">By <a id="r7_873" href="#n7_873">scaly Triton’s winding shell</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">And old <a id="r7_874" href="#n7_874">soothsaying Glaucus’</a> spell;</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_875" href="#n7_875">By Leucothea’s lovely hands,</a><span class="lnum"> 875</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n7_875">And her son that rules the strands</a>;</p> +<p class="t0">By <a id="r7_877" href="#n7_877">Thetis’ tinsel-slippered feet</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">And <a id="r7_878" href="#n7_878">the songs of Sirens</a> sweet;</p> +<p class="t0">By <a id="r7_879" href="#n7_879">dead Parthenope’s dear tomb</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">And <a id="r7_880" href="#n7_880">fair Ligea’s golden comb</a>,<span class="lnum"> 880</span></p> +<p class="t0">Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks</p> +<p class="t0">Sleeking her soft alluring locks;</p> +<p class="t0">By all the nymphs that nightly dance</p> +<p class="t0">Upon thy streams with wily glance;</p> +<p class="t0">Rise, rise, and heave thy rosy head<span class="lnum"> 885</span></p> +<p class="t0">From thy coral-paven bed,</p> +<p class="t0">And <a id="r7_887" href="#n7_887">bridle in</a> thy headlong wave,</p> +<p class="t0">Till thou our summons answered have.</p> +<p class="t12">Listen and save!</p> +</div> +<p class="stagedir"><span class="sc">Sabrina</span> rises, attended by Water-nymphs, and sings.</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t">By the rushy-fringed bank,<span class="lnum"> 890</span></p> +<p class="t">Where grow the willow and the osier dank,</p> +<span class="pb">[57]</span> +<p class="t"><a id="r7_892" href="#n7_892">My sliding chariot stays</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Thick set with agate, and <a id="r7_893" href="#n7_893">the azurn sheen</a></p> +<p class="t0">Of turkis blue, and emerald green,</p> +<p class="t">That in the channel strays:<span class="lnum"> 895</span></p> +<p class="t0">Whilst from off the waters fleet</p> +<p class="t0">Thus I set my printless feet</p> +<p class="t0">O’er the cowslip’s velvet head,</p> +<p class="t">That bends not as I tread.</p> +<p class="t0">Gentle swain, at thy request<span class="lnum"> 900</span></p> +<p class="t2">I am here!</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Spir.</i> Goddess dear,</p> +<p class="t0">We implore thy powerful hand</p> +<p class="t0">To undo the charmed band</p> +<p class="t0">Of true virgin here distressed<span class="lnum"> 905</span></p> +<p class="t0">Through the force and through the wile</p> +<p class="t0">Of unblessed enchanter vile.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Sabr.</i> <a id="r7_908" href="#n7_908">Shepherd, ’tis my office best</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n7_908">To help ensnared chastity.</a></p> +<p class="t0">Brightest Lady, look on me.<span class="lnum"> 910</span></p> +<p class="t0">Thus I sprinkle on thy breast</p> +<p class="t0">Drops that from my fountain pure</p> +<p class="t0">I have kept <a id="r7_913" href="#n7_913">of precious cure</a>;</p> +<p class="t0">Thrice upon thy finger’s tip,</p> +<p class="t0">Thrice upon thy rubied lip:<span class="lnum"> 915</span></p> +<p class="t0">Next this marble venomed seat,</p> +<p class="t0">Smeared with gums of glutinous heat,</p> +<p class="t0">I touch with chaste palms moist and cold.</p> +<p class="t0">Now the spell hath lost his hold,</p> +<p class="t0">And I must haste ere morning hour<span class="lnum"> 920</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_921" href="#n7_921">To wait in Amphitrite’s bower</a>.</p> +</div> +<p class="stagedir"><span class="sc">Sabrina</span> descends, and the <span class="sc">Lady</span> rises out of her seat.</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Spir.</i> Virgin, daughter of Locrine,</p> +<span class="pb">[58]</span> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_923" href="#n7_923">Sprung of old Anchises’ line</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">May <a id="r7_924" href="#n7_924">thy brimmed waves</a> for this</p> +<p class="t0">Their full tribute never miss<span class="lnum"> 925</span></p> +<p class="t0">From a thousand petty rills,</p> +<p class="t0">That tumble down the snowy hills:</p> +<p class="t0">Summer drouth or singed air</p> +<p class="t0">Never scorch thy tresses fair,</p> +<p class="t0">Nor wet October’s <a id="r7_930" href="#n7_930">torrent flood</a><span class="lnum"> 930</span></p> +<p class="t0">Thy molten crystal fill with mud;</p> +<p class="t0">May thy billows roll ashore</p> +<p class="t0">The <a id="r7_933" href="#n7_933">beryl</a> and the golden ore;</p> +<p class="t0">May thy lofty head be crowned</p> +<p class="t0">With many a tower and terrace round,<span class="lnum"> 935</span></p> +<p class="t0">And here and there thy banks upon</p> +<p class="t0">With <a id="r7_937" href="#n7_937">groves of myrrh and cinnamon.</a></p> +<p class="t">Come, Lady; while Heaven lends us grace,</p> +<p class="t0">Let us fly this cursed place,</p> +<p class="t0">Lest the sorcerer us entice<span class="lnum"> 940</span></p> +<p class="t0">With some other new device.</p> +<p class="t0">Not a waste or needless sound</p> +<p class="t0">Till we come to holier ground.</p> +<p class="t0">I shall be your faithful guide</p> +<p class="t0">Through this gloomy covert wide;<span class="lnum"> 945</span></p> +<p class="t0">And not many furlongs thence</p> +<p class="t0">Is your Father’s residence,</p> +<p class="t0">Where this night are met in state</p> +<p class="t0">Many a friend to gratulate</p> +<p class="t0">His wished presence, and beside<span class="lnum"> 950</span></p> +<p class="t0">All the swains that there abide</p> +<p class="t0">With jigs and rural dance resort.</p> +<p class="t0">We shall catch them at their sport,</p> +<p class="t0">And our sudden coming there</p> +<p class="t0">Will double all their mirth and cheer.<span class="lnum"> 955</span></p> +<span class="pb">[59]</span> +<p class="t0">Come, let us haste; the stars grow high,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_957" href="#n7_957">But Night sits monarch yet in the mid sky</a>.</p> +</div> +<p class="stageset">The Scene changes, presenting Ludlow Town, and the President’s +Castle: then come the Country Dancers; after them the <span class="sc">Attendant +Spirit</span>, with the <span class="sc">Two Brothers</span> and the <span class="sc">Lady</span>.</p> +<h4><i>Song.</i></h4> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Spir.</i> Back, shepherds, back! Enough your play</p> +<p class="t0">Till next sun-shine holiday.</p> +<p class="t0">Here be, without <a id="r7_960" href="#n7_960">duck or nod</a>,<span class="lnum"> 960</span></p> +<p class="t0">Other trippings to be trod</p> +<p class="t0">Of lighter toes, and such court guise</p> +<p class="t0">As Mercury did first devise</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_964" href="#n7_964">With the mincing Dryades</a></p> +<p class="t0">On the lawns and on the leas.<span class="lnum"> 965</span></p> +</div> +<p class="stagedir">This second Song presents them to their Father and Mother.</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t">Noble Lord and Lady bright,</p> +<p class="t0">I have brought ye new delight.</p> +<p class="t0">Here behold so goodly grown</p> +<p class="t0">Three fair branches of your own.</p> +<p class="t0">Heaven hath timely tried their youth,<span class="lnum"> 970</span></p> +<p class="t0">Their faith, their patience, and their truth,</p> +<p class="t0">And sent them here through hard assays</p> +<p class="t0">With a crown of deathless praise,</p> +<p class="t0">To triumph in victorious dance</p> +<p class="t0">O’er sensual folly and intemperance.<span class="lnum"> 975</span></p> +</div> +<p class="stagedir">The dances ended, the <span class="sc">Spirit</span> epiloguizes.</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t"><i>Spir.</i> To the ocean now I fly,</p> +<p class="t0">And those happy climes that lie</p> +<span class="pb">[60]</span> +<p class="t0">Where day never shuts his eye,</p> +<p class="t0">Up in the broad fields of the sky.</p> +<p class="t0">There <a id="r7_980" href="#n7_980">I suck the liquid air</a>,<span class="lnum"> 980</span></p> +<p class="t0">All amidst <a id="r7_981" href="#n7_981">the gardens fair</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n7_981">Of Hesperus, and his daughters three</a></p> +<p class="t0">That sing about <a id="r7_983">the golden tree</a>.</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_984" href="#n7_984">Along the crisped shades and bowers</a></p> +<p class="t0">Revels the <a id="r7_985" href="#n7_985">spruce</a> and jocund Spring;<span class="lnum"> 985</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_986" href="#n7_986">The Graces and the rosy-bosomed Hours</a></p> +<p class="t0">Thither all their bounties bring.</p> +<p class="t0">There eternal Summer dwells,</p> +<p class="t0">And west winds with musky wing</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_990" href="#n7_990">About the cedarn alleys</a> fling<span class="lnum"> 990</span></p> +<p class="t0">Nard and cassia’s balmy smells.</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_992" href="#n7_992">Iris</a> there with humid bow</p> +<p class="t0">Waters the odorous banks, that <a id="r7_993" href="#n7_993">blow</a></p> +<p class="t0">Flowers of more mingled hue</p> +<p class="t0">Than her purfled scarf can shew,<span class="lnum"> 995</span></p> +<p class="t0">And drenches with Elysian dew</p> +<p class="t0">(List, mortals, if your ears be true)</p> +<p class="t0">Beds of hyacinth and roses,</p> +<p class="t0">Where young <a id="r7_999" href="#n7_999">Adonis</a> oft reposes,</p> +<p class="t0">Waxing well of his deep wound,<span class="lnum"> 1000</span></p> +<p class="t0">In slumbers soft, and on the ground</p> +<p class="t0">Sadly sits <a id="r7_1002" href="#n7_1002">the Assyrian queen</a>.</p> +<p class="t0">But far above, in spangled sheen,</p> +<p class="t0">Celestial Cupid, her famed son, advanced</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_1005" href="#n7_1005">Holds his dear Psyche</a>, sweet entranced<span class="lnum"> 1005</span></p> +<p class="t0">After her wandering labors long,</p> +<p class="t0">Till free consent the gods among</p> +<p class="t0">Make her his eternal bride,</p> +<p class="t0">And from her fair unspotted side</p> +<p class="t0">Two blissful twins are to be born,<span class="lnum"> 1010</span></p> +<p class="t0">Youth and Joy; so Jove hath sworn.</p> +<span class="pb">[61]</span> +<p class="t">But now my task is smoothly done:</p> +<p class="t0">I can fly, or I can run</p> +<p class="t0">Quickly to the green earth’s end,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r7_1015" href="#n7_1015">Where the bowed welkin slow doth bend</a>,<span class="lnum"> 1015</span></p> +<p class="t0">And from thence can soar as soon</p> +<p class="t0">To the corners of the moon.</p> +<p class="t0">Mortals, that would follow me,</p> +<p class="t0">Love Virtue; she alone is free.</p> +<p class="t0">She can teach ye how to climb<span class="lnum"> 1020</span></p> +<p class="t0">Higher than <a id="r7_1021" href="#n7_1021">the sphery chime</a>;</p> +<p class="t0">Or, if Virtue feeble were,</p> +<p class="t0">Heaven itself would stoop to her.</p> +</div> +<div class="pb">[62]</div> +<h3 id="c8">LYCIDAS.</h3> +<p class="subhead">In this Monody the Author bewails a learned Friend, unfortunately +drowned in his passage from Chester on the Irish Seas, 1637; and, +by occasion, foretells the ruin of our corrupted Clergy, then in their +height.</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_1" href="#n8_1">Yet once more</a>, O ye laurels, and once more,</p> +<p class="t0">Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere,</p> +<p class="t0">I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude,</p> +<p class="t0">And with forced fingers rude</p> +<p class="t0">Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year.<span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_6" href="#n8_6">Bitter constraint</a> and sad occasion dear</p> +<p class="t0">Compels me to disturb your season due;</p> +<p class="t0">For <a id="r8_8" href="#n8_8">Lycidas</a> is dead, dead ere his prime,</p> +<p class="t0">Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer.</p> +<p class="t0">Who would not sing for Lycidas? <a id="r8_11" href="#n8_11">he knew</a><span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n8_11">Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.</a></p> +<p class="t0">He must not float upon his watery bier</p> +<p class="t0">Unwept, <a id="r8_13" href="#n8_13">and welter to the parching wind</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Without the meed of some melodious tear.</p> +<p class="t">Begin, then, <a id="r8_15" href="#n8_15">Sisters of the sacred well</a><span class="lnum"> 15</span></p> +<p class="t0">That from beneath the seat of Jove doth spring;</p> +<p class="t0">Begin, and somewhat loudly sweep the string.</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_18">Hence</a> with denial vain and coy excuse:</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_19" href="#n8_19">So may some gentle Muse</a></p> +<p class="t0">With lucky words favor <i>my</i> destined urn,<span class="lnum"> 20</span></p> +<p class="t0">And as he passes turn,</p> +<p class="t0">And bid fair peace be to my sable shroud!</p> +<p class="t"><a id="r8_23" href="#n8_23">For we were nursed upon the self-same hill</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Fed the same flock, by fountain, shade, and rill;</p> +<p class="t0">Together both, ere the high <a id="r8_25">lawns</a> appeared<span class="lnum"> 25</span></p> +<p class="t0">Under the opening eyelids of the Morn,</p> +<p class="t0">We drove a-field, and both together heard</p> +<span class="pb">[63]</span> +<p class="t0">What time the gray-fly winds her sultry horn,</p> +<p class="t0">Battening our flocks with the fresh dews of night,</p> +<p class="t0">Oft till the star that rose at evening bright<span class="lnum"> 30</span></p> +<p class="t0">Toward heaven’s descent had sloped his westering wheel.</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_32" href="#n8_32">Meanwhile the rural ditties were not mute</a>;</p> +<p class="t0">Tempered to the oaten flute</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_34" href="#n8_34">Rough Satyrs danced, and Fauns with cloven heel</a></p> +<p class="t0">From the glad sound would not be absent long;<span class="lnum"> 35</span></p> +<p class="t0">And old Damœtas loved to hear our song.</p> +<p class="t"><a id="r8_37" href="#n8_37">But, oh! the heavy change, now thou art gone</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Now thou art gone and never must return!</p> +<p class="t0">Thee, Shepherd, thee the woods and desert caves,</p> +<p class="t0">With wild thyme and the gadding vine o’ergrown,<span class="lnum"> 40</span></p> +<p class="t0">And all their echoes, mourn.</p> +<p class="t0">The willows, and the hazel copses green,</p> +<p class="t0">Shall now no more be seen</p> +<p class="t0">Fanning their joyous leaves to thy soft lays.</p> +<p class="t0">As killing as the canker to the rose,<span class="lnum"> 45</span></p> +<p class="t0">Or taint-worm to the weanling herds that graze,</p> +<p class="t0">Or frost to flowers, that their gay wardrobe wear,</p> +<p class="t0">When first the white-thorn blows;</p> +<p class="t0">Such Lycidas, thy loss to shepherd’s ear.</p> +<p class="t">Where were ye, <a id="r8_50" href="#n8_50">Nymphs</a>, when the remorseless deep<span class="lnum"> 50</span></p> +<p class="t0">Closed o’er the head of your loved Lycidas?</p> +<p class="t0">For neither were ye playing <a id="r8_52" href="#n8_52">on the steep</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n8_52">Where your old bards, the famous Druids, lie</a>,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_54" href="#n8_54">Nor on the shaggy top of Mona high,</a></p> +<p class="t0">Nor yet <a id="r8_55" href="#n8_55">where Deva spreads her wizard stream</a>.<span class="lnum"> 55</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_56" href="#n8_56">Ay me! I fondly dream</a></p> +<p class="t0">“Had ye been there,” ... for what could that have done?</p> +<p class="t0">What could the Muse herself that Orpheus bore,</p> +<p class="t0">The Muse herself, for her enchanting son,</p> +<p class="t0">Whom universal nature did lament,<span class="lnum"> 60</span></p> +<span class="pb">[64]</span> +<p class="t0">When, by the rout that made the hideous roar,</p> +<p class="t0">His gory visage down the stream was sent,</p> +<p class="t0">Down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore?</p> +<p class="t">Alas! <a id="r8_64" href="#n8_64">what boots it</a> with <a id="r8_64a" href="#n8_64a">uncessant care</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n8_64a">To tend the homely, slighted, shepherd’s trade,</a><span class="lnum"> 65</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_66" href="#n8_64a">And strictly meditate</a> the thankless Muse?</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_67" href="#n8_67">Were it not better done</a>, as others use,</p> +<p class="t0">To sport with <a href="#n8_67">Amaryllis</a> in the shade,</p> +<p class="t0">Or with the tangles of <a href="#n8_67">Neæra’s</a> hair?</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_70" href="#n8_70">Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise</a><span class="lnum"> 70</span></p> +<p class="t0">(That last infirmity of noble mind)</p> +<p class="t0">To scorn delights and live laborious days;</p> +<p class="t0">But the fair guerdon when we hope to find,</p> +<p class="t0">And think to burst out into sudden blaze,</p> +<p class="t0">Comes the <a id="r8_75" href="#n8_75">blind Fury with the abhorred shears</a>,<span class="lnum"> 75</span></p> +<p class="t0">And slits the thin-spun life. <a id="r8_76" href="#n8_76">“But not the praise,”</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n8_76">Phœbus replied, and touched my trembling ears:</a></p> +<p class="t0">“Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil,</p> +<p class="t0">Nor <a id="r8_79" href="#n8_79">in the glistering foil</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n8_79">Set off</a> to the world, nor in broad rumor lies,<span class="lnum"> 80</span></p> +<p class="t0">But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes</p> +<p class="t0">And perfect witness of all-judging Jove;</p> +<p class="t0">As he pronounces lastly on each deed,</p> +<p class="t0">Of so much fame in heaven expect thy meed.”</p> +<p class="t"><a id="r8_85" href="#n8_85">O fountain Arethuse, and thou honored flood,</a><span class="lnum"> 85</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n8_85">Smooth-sliding Mincius</a>, crowned with vocal reeds,</p> +<p class="t0">That strain I heard was of a higher mood.</p> +<p class="t0">But <a id="r8_88" href="#n8_88">now my oat proceeds</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">And listens to <a id="r8_89" href="#n8_89">the Herald of the Sea,</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n8_89">That came in Neptune’s plea.</a><span class="lnum"> 90</span></p> +<p class="t0">He asked the waves, and asked the felon winds,</p> +<p class="t0">What hard mishap hath doomed this gentle swain?</p> +<span class="pb">[65]</span> +<p class="t0">And questioned every gust of rugged wings</p> +<p class="t0">That blows from off each beaked promontory.</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_95" href="#n8_95">They knew not of his story</a>;<span class="lnum"> 95</span></p> +<p class="t0">And <a id="r8_96" href="#n8_96">sage Hippotades</a> their answer brings,</p> +<p class="t0">That not a blast was from his dungeon strayed:</p> +<p class="t0">The air was calm, and on the level brine</p> +<p class="t0">Sleek <a id="r8_99" href="#n8_99">Panope</a> with all her sisters played.</p> +<p class="t0">It was that fatal and perfidious bark,<span class="lnum"> 100</span></p> +<p class="t0">Built in the eclipse, and rigged with curses dark,</p> +<p class="t0">That sunk so low that sacred head of thine.</p> +<p class="t">Next, <a id="r8_103" href="#n8_103">Camus</a>, reverend sire, went footing slow,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_104" href="#n8_104">His mantle hairy, and his bonnet sedge</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Inwrought with <a id="r8_105" href="#n8_105">figures dim</a>, and on the edge<span class="lnum"> 105</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_106" href="#n8_106">Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe.</a></p> +<p class="t0">“Ah! who hath reft,” quoth he, “my dearest <a id="r8_107" href="#n8_107">pledge</a>?”</p> +<p class="t0">Last came, and last did go,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_109" href="#n8_109">The Pilot</a> of the Galilean Lake;</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_110" href="#n8_110">Two massy keys he bore of metals twain</a><span class="lnum"> 110</span></p> +<p class="t0">(The golden opes, the iron shuts amain).</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_112" href="#n8_112">He shook his mitred locks</a>, and stern bespake:—</p> +<p class="t">“<a id="r8_113" href="#n8_113">How well could I have spared for thee</a>, young swain,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_114" href="#n8_114">Enow</a> of such as, for their bellies’ sake,</p> +<p class="t0">Creep, and intrude, and <a id="r8_115" href="#n8_115">climb into the fold</a>!<span class="lnum"> 115</span></p> +<p class="t0">Of other care they little reckoning make</p> +<p class="t0">Than how to scramble at the shearers’ feast,</p> +<p class="t0">And shove away the worthy bidden guest.</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_119" href="#n8_119">Blind mouths</a>! that scarce themselves know how to hold</p> +<p class="t0">A sheep-hook, or have learnt aught else the least<span class="lnum"> 120</span></p> +<p class="t0">That to the faithful herdman’s art belongs!</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_122" href="#n8_122">What recks it them?</a> What need they? They are sped;</p> +<p class="t0">And, when they list, <a id="r8_123" href="#n8_123">their lean and flashy songs</a></p> +<p class="t0">Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw;</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_125" href="#n8_125">The hungry sheep</a> look up, and are not fed,<span class="lnum"> 125</span></p> +<p class="t0">But swoln with wind and the rank mist they draw,</p> +<span class="pb">[66]</span> +<p class="t0">Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread;</p> +<p class="t0">Besides what <a id="r8_128" href="#n8_128">the grim wolf with privy paw</a></p> +<p class="t0">Daily devours apace, and nothing said.</p> +<p class="t0">But <a id="r8_130" href="#n8_130">that two-handed engine at the door</a><span class="lnum"> 130</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n8_130">Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more.”</a></p> +<p class="t"><a id="r8_132" href="#n8_132">Return, Alpheus</a>; the dread voice is past</p> +<p class="t0">That shrunk thy streams; return, Sicilian Muse,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_134" href="#n8_134">And call the vales</a>, and bid them hither cast</p> +<p class="t0">Their bells and flowerets of a thousand hues.<span class="lnum"> 135</span></p> +<p class="t0">Ye valleys low, <a id="r8_136" href="#n8_136">where the mild whispers use</a></p> +<p class="t0">Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks,</p> +<p class="t0">On whose fresh lap <a id="r8_138" href="#n8_138">the swart star</a> sparely looks,</p> +<p class="t0">Throw hither all your quaint <a id="r8_139" href="#n8_139">enamelled eyes</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">That on the green turf suck the honeyed showers,<span class="lnum"> 140</span></p> +<p class="t0">And purple all the ground with vernal flowers.</p> +<p class="t0">Bring the <a id="r8_142" href="#n8_142">rathe</a> primrose that forsaken dies,</p> +<p class="t0">The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine,</p> +<p class="t0">The white pink, and the pansy freaked with jet,</p> +<p class="t0">The glowing violet,<span class="lnum"> 145</span></p> +<p class="t0">The musk-rose, and the well-attired woodbine,</p> +<p class="t0">With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head,</p> +<p class="t0">And every flower that sad embroidery wears;</p> +<p class="t0">Bid <a id="r8_149" href="#n8_149">amaranthus</a> all his beauty shed,</p> +<p class="t0">And <a id="r8_150" href="#n8_150">daffadillies</a> fill their cups with tears,<span class="lnum"> 150</span></p> +<p class="t0">To strew the laureate hearse where Lycid lies.</p> +<p class="t0">For so, to interpose a little ease,</p> +<p class="t0">Let our frail thoughts <a id="r8_153" href="#n8_153">dally with false surmise</a>.</p> +<p class="t0">Ay me! whilst thee the shores and sounding seas</p> +<p class="t0">Wash far away, where’er thy bones are hurled;<span class="lnum"> 155</span></p> +<p class="t0">Whether beyond <a id="r8_156" href="#n8_156">the stormy Hebrides</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Where thou perhaps under the whelming tide</p> +<p class="t0">Visit’st the bottom of the monstrous world;</p> +<p class="t0">Or whether thou, to our moist vows denied,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_160" href="#n8_160">Sleep’st by the fable of Bellerus old</a>,<span class="lnum"> 160</span></p> +<span class="pb">[67]</span> +<p class="t0">Where <a id="r8_161" href="#n8_161">the great Vision of the guarded mount</a></p> +<p class="t0">Looks toward Namancos and Bayona’s hold.</p> +<p class="t0">Look homeward, Angel, now, and melt with ruth:</p> +<p class="t0">And, O ye dolphins, waft the hapless youth.</p> +<p class="t">Weep no more, woeful shepherds, weep no more,<span class="lnum"> 165</span></p> +<p class="t0">For Lycidas, your sorrow, is not dead,</p> +<p class="t0">Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor.</p> +<p class="t0">So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed,</p> +<p class="t0">And yet anon repairs his drooping head,</p> +<p class="t0">And tricks his beams, and <a id="r8_170" href="#n8_170">with new-spangled ore</a><span class="lnum"> 170</span></p> +<p class="t0">Flames in the forehead of the morning sky:</p> +<p class="t0">So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high,</p> +<p class="t0">Through the dear might of <a id="r8_173" href="#n8_173">Him that walked the waves</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Where, other groves and other streams along,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_175" href="#n8_175">With nectar pure his oozy locks he laves</a>,<span class="lnum"> 175</span></p> +<p class="t0">And hears <a id="r8_176" href="#n8_176">the unexpressive nuptial song</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">In the blest kingdoms meek of joy and love.</p> +<p class="t0">There entertain him all the Saints above,</p> +<p class="t0">In solemn troops, and sweet societies,</p> +<p class="t0">That sing, and singing in their glory move,<span class="lnum"> 180</span></p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_181" href="#n8_181">And wipe the tears forever from his eyes</a>.</p> +<p class="t0">Now, Lycidas, the shepherds weep no more;</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r8_183" href="#n8_183">Henceforth thou art the Genius of the shore</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">In thy large recompense, and shalt be good</p> +<p class="t0">To all that wander in that perilous flood.<span class="lnum"> 185</span></p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t">Thus sang the <a id="r8_186" href="#n8_186">uncouth</a> swain to the oaks and rills,</p> +<p class="t0">While <a id="r8_187" href="#n8_187">the still morn went out with sandals gray</a>:</p> +<p class="t0">He touched the tender stops of <a id="r8_188" href="#n8_188">various quills</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">With eager thought warbling his <a id="r8_189" href="#n8_189">Doric</a> lay:</p> +<p class="t0">And now the sun <a id="r8_190" href="#n8_190">had stretched out all the hills</a>,<span class="lnum"> 190</span></p> +<p class="t0">And now was dropt into the western bay.</p> +<p class="t0">At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blue;</p> +<p class="t0">To-morrow to fresh woods, and pastures new.</p> +</div> +<div class="pb">[68]</div> +<h3 id="c9">SONNETS.</h3> +<h4 id="c9_01">I.</h4> +<h5>TO THE NIGHTINGALE.</h5> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">O Nightingale that on yon bloomy spray</p> +<p class="t2">Warblest at eve, when all the woods are still,</p> +<p class="t2">Thou with fresh hope the lover’s heart dost fill,</p> +<p class="t2">While <a id="r9_1_4" href="#n9_1_4">the jolly Hours</a> lead on propitious May.</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r9_1_5" href="#n9_1_5">Thy liquid notes that close the eye of day,</a><span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t2"><a href="#n9_1_5">First heard before the shallow cuckoo’s bill,</a></p> +<p class="t2">Portend success in love. O, if Jove’s will</p> +<p class="t2">Have linked that amorous power to thy soft lay,</p> +<p class="t0">Now timely sing, ere <a id="r9_1_9" href="#n9_1_9">the rude bird of hate</a></p> +<p class="t2">Foretell my hopeless doom, in some grove nigh;<span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t2">As thou from year to year hast sung too late</p> +<p class="t0">For my relief, yet hadst no reason why.</p> +<p class="t2">Whether the Muse or Love called thee his mate,</p> +<p class="t2">Both them I serve, and of their train am I.</p> +</div> +<h4 id="c9_02">II.</h4> +<h5>ON HIS HAVING ARRIVED AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-THREE.</h5> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,</p> +<p class="t2">Stolen on his wing my three-and-twentieth year!</p> +<p class="t2">My hasting days fly on with full career,</p> +<p class="t2">But my late spring no bud or blossom shew’th.</p> +<p class="t0">Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth<span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t2">That I to manhood am arrived so near;</p> +<p class="t2">And inward ripeness doth much less appear,</p> +<span class="pb">[69]</span> +<p class="t2">That some more <a id="r9_2_8" href="#n9_2_8">timely-happy</a> spirits endu’th.</p> +<p class="t0">Yet, be it less or more, or soon or slow,</p> +<p class="t2">It shall be still in strictest measure <a id="r9_2_10" href="#n9_2_10">even</a><span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t2">To that same lot, however mean or high,</p> +<p class="t0">Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven.</p> +<p class="t2">All is, if I have grace to use it so,</p> +<p class="t2">As ever in my great Task-Master’s eye.</p> +</div> +<h4 id="c9_08">VIII.</h4> +<h5>WHEN THE ASSAULT WAS INTENDED TO THE CITY.</h5> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">Captain or <a id="r9_8_1" href="#n9_8_1">Colonel</a>, or Knight in Arms,</p> +<p class="t2">Whose chance on these defenceless doors may seize,</p> +<p class="t2">If deed of honor did thee ever please,</p> +<p class="t2">Guard them, and him within protect from harms.</p> +<p class="t0">He can requite thee; for he knows the charms<span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t2">That call fame on such gentle acts as these,</p> +<p class="t2">And he can spread thy name o’er lands and seas,</p> +<p class="t2">Whatever clime the sun’s bright circle warms.</p> +<p class="t0">Lift not thy spear against the Muses’ bower:</p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r9_8_10" href="#n9_8_10">The great Emathian conqueror</a> bid spare<span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r9_8_11" href="#n9_8_11">The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower</a></p> +<p class="t0"><a href="#n9_8_11">Went to the ground</a>; and <a id="r9_8_12" href="#n9_8_12">the repeated air</a></p> +<p class="t2"><a href="#n9_8_12">Of sad Electra’s poet</a> had the power</p> +<p class="t2">To save the Athenian walls from ruin bare.</p> +</div> +<div class="pb">[70]</div> +<h4 id="c9_09">IX.</h4> +<h5>TO A VIRTUOUS YOUNG LADY.</h5> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">Lady, that in the prime of earliest youth</p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r9_9_2" href="#n9_9_2">Wisely hast shunned the broad way</a> and the green,</p> +<p class="t2">And with those few art eminently seen</p> +<p class="t2">That labor up the hill of heavenly Truth,</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r9_9_5" href="#n9_9_5">The better part with Mary and with Ruth</a><span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t2">Chosen thou hast; and they that overween,</p> +<p class="t2">And at thy growing virtues fret their spleen,</p> +<p class="t2">No anger find in thee, but pity and <a id="r9_9_8" href="#n9_9_8">ruth</a>.</p> +<p class="t0">Thy care is fixed, and <a id="r9_9_9" href="#n9_9_9">zealously attends</a></p> +<p class="t2"><a href="#n9_9_9">To fill thy odorous lamp with deeds of light</a>,<span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t2">And hope that reaps not shame. Therefore be sure</p> +<p class="t0">Thou, when the Bridegroom with his feastful friends</p> +<p class="t2">Passes to bliss at the mid-hour of night,</p> +<p class="t2">Hast gained thy entrance, Virgin wise, and pure.</p> +</div> +<h4 id="c9_10">X.</h4> +<h5>TO THE LADY MARGARET LEY.</h5> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">Daughter to that good Earl, once President</p> +<p class="t2">Of England’s Council and her Treasury,</p> +<p class="t2">Who lived in both unstained with gold or fee,</p> +<p class="t2">And left them both, more in himself content,</p> +<p class="t0">Till the sad breaking of that Parliament<span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t2">Broke him, as <a id="r9_10_6" href="#n9_10_6">that dishonest victory</a></p> +<p class="t2"><a href="#n9_10_6">At Chæronea</a>, fatal to liberty,</p> +<span class="pb">[71]</span> +<p class="t2">Killed with report <a href="#n9_10_6">that old man eloquent</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Though <a id="r9_10_9" href="#n9_10_9">later born than to have</a> known the days</p> +<p class="t2">Wherein your father flourished, yet by you,<span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t2">Madam, methinks I see him living yet:</p> +<p class="t0">So well your words his noble virtues praise</p> +<p class="t2">That all both judge you to relate them true</p> +<p class="t2">And to possess them, honored Margaret.</p> +</div> +<h4 id="c9_13">XIII.</h4> +<h5>TO MR. H. LAWES ON HIS AIRS.</h5> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">Harry, whose tuneful and well-measured song</p> +<p class="t2">First taught our English music how to span</p> +<p class="t2">Words with just note and accent, <a id="r9_13_3" href="#n9_13_3">not to scan</a></p> +<p class="t2"><a href="#n9_13_3">With Midas’ ears</a>, <a id="r9_13_4" href="#n9_13_4">committing short and long</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Thy <a id="r9_13_5" href="#n9_13_5">worth and skill exempts thee</a> from the throng,<span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t2">With praise enough for Envy to look wan;</p> +<p class="t2">To after age thou shalt be writ the man</p> +<p class="t2">That with smooth air <a id="r9_13_8" href="#n9_13_8">couldst humor best our tongue</a>.</p> +<p class="t0">Thou honor’st Verse, and Verse must send her wing</p> +<p class="t2">To honor thee, the priest of P<a id="r9_13_10" href="#n9_13_10">hœbus’ quire</a>,<span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t2">That tunest their happiest lines in hymn or story.</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r9_13_12" href="#n9_13_12">Dante shall give Fame leave to set thee higher</a></p> +<p class="t2"><a href="#n9_13_12">Than his Casella</a>, whom he wooed to sing,</p> +<p class="t2">Met in the milder shades of Purgatory.</p> +</div> +<div class="pb">[72]</div> +<h4 id="c9_15">XV.</h4> +<h5>ON THE LORD GENERAL FAIRFAX, AT THE SIEGE OF COLCHESTER.</h5> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">Fairfax, whose name in arms through Europe rings,</p> +<p class="t2">Filling each mouth with envy or with praise,</p> +<p class="t2">And all her jealous monarchs with amaze,</p> +<p class="t2">And rumors loud that daunt remotest kings,</p> +<p class="t0">Thy firm unshaken virtue ever brings<span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t2">Victory home, though new rebellions raise</p> +<p class="t2">Their Hydra heads, and <a id="r9_15_7" href="#n9_15_7">the false North displays</a></p> +<p class="t2"><a href="#n9_15_7">Her broken league</a> to <a id="r9_15_8" href="#n9_15_8">imp their serpent wings</a>.</p> +<p class="t0">O yet a nobler task awaits thy hand</p> +<p class="t2">(For what can war but endless war still breed?)<span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t2">Till truth and right from violence be freed,</p> +<p class="t0">And public faith cleared from the shameful brand</p> +<p class="t2">Of public fraud. In vain doth <a id="r9_15_13" href="#n9_15_13">Valor</a> bleed,</p> +<p class="t2">While <a href="#n9_15_13">Avarice and Rapine</a> share the land.</p> +</div> +<h4 id="c9_16">XVI.</h4> +<h5>TO THE LORD GENERAL CROMWELL, MAY, 1652,</h5> +<h5>ON THE PROPOSALS OF CERTAIN MINISTERS AT THE COMMITTEE FOR +PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL.</h5> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloud</p> +<p class="t2">Not of war only, but detractions rude,</p> +<p class="t2">Guided by faith and matchless fortitude,</p> +<p class="t2">To peace and truth thy glorious way hast ploughed,</p> +<p class="t0">And on the neck of crowned Fortune proud<span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t2">Hast reared God’s trophies, and his work pursued,</p> +<p class="t2">While <a id="r9_16_7" href="#n9_16_7">Darwen stream</a>, with blood of Scots imbrued,</p> +<span class="pb">[73]</span> +<p class="t2">And <a href="#n9_16_7">Dunbar</a> field, resounds thy praises loud,</p> +<p class="t0">And Worcester’s laureate wreath: yet much remains</p> +<p class="t2">To conquer still; Peace hath her victories<span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t2">No less renowned than War: new foes arise,</p> +<p class="t0">Threatening <a id="r9_16_12" href="#n9_16_12">to bind our souls with secular chains</a>.</p> +<p class="t2">Help us to save free conscience from the paw</p> +<p class="t2">Of <a id="r9_16_14" href="#n9_16_14">hireling wolves</a>, whose Gospel is their maw.</p> +</div> +<h4 id="c9_17">XVII.</h4> +<h5>TO SIR HENRY VANE THE YOUNGER.</h5> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0"><a id="r9_17_1" href="#n9_17_1">Vane, young in years</a>, but in sage counsel old,</p> +<p class="t2">Than whom a better senator ne’er held</p> +<p class="t2">The helm of Rome, when <a id="r9_17_3" href="#n9_17_3">gowns, not arms</a>, repelled</p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r9_17_4" href="#n9_17_4">The fierce Epirot and the African bold</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Whether to settle peace, or to unfold<span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t2">The drift of hollow states <a id="r9_17_6" href="#n9_17_6">hard to be spelled</a>;</p> +<p class="t2">Then to advise how war may best, upheld,</p> +<p class="t2">Move by her two main nerves, iron and gold,</p> +<p class="t0">In all her equipage; besides, to know</p> +<p class="t2">Both spiritual power and civil, what each means,<span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t2">What severs each, thou hast learned, which few have done.</p> +<p class="t0">The bounds of either sword to thee we owe:</p> +<p class="t2">Therefore on thy firm hand Religion leans</p> +<p class="t2">In peace, and reckons thee her eldest son.</p> +</div> +<div class="pb">[74]</div> +<h4 id="c9_18">XVIII.</h4> +<h5>ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN PIEDMONT.</h5> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones</p> +<p class="t2">Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold;</p> +<p class="t2">Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old,</p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r9_18_4" href="#n9_18_4">When all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones</a>,</p> +<p class="t0">Forget not: in thy book record <a id="r9_18_5" href="#n9_18_5">their groans</a><span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t2"><a href="#n9_18_5">Who were thy sheep</a>, and in their ancient fold</p> +<p class="t2">Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that rolled</p> +<p class="t2">Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans</p> +<p class="t0">The vales redoubled to the hills, and they</p> +<p class="t2">To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow<span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t2">O’er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway</p> +<p class="t0"><a id="r9_18_12" href="#n9_18_12">The triple Tyrant</a>; that from these may grow</p> +<p class="t2">A hundredfold, who, having learnt thy way,</p> +<p class="t2">Early may fly <a id="r9_18_14" href="#n9_18_14">the Babylonian woe</a>.</p> +</div> +<h4 id="c9_19">XIX.</h4> +<h5>ON HIS BLINDNESS.</h5> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">When I consider how my light is spent</p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r9_19_2" href="#n9_19_2">Ere half my days</a> in this dark world and wide,</p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r9_19_3" href="#n9_19_3">And that one talent which is death to hide</a></p> +<p class="t2">Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent</p> +<p class="t0">To serve therewith my Maker, and present<span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t2">My true account, lest He returning chide,</p> +<p class="t2">“Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?”</p> +<span class="pb">[75]</span> +<p class="t2"><a id="r9_19_8" href="#n9_19_8">I fondly ask</a>. But Patience, to prevent</p> +<p class="t0">That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need</p> +<p class="t2">Either man’s work or his own gifts. Who best<span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t2">Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state</p> +<p class="t0">Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed,</p> +<p class="t2">And post o’er land and ocean without rest;</p> +<p class="t2">They also serve who only stand and wait.”</p> +</div> +<h4 id="c9_20">XX.</h4> +<h5>TO MR. LAWRENCE.</h5> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">Lawrence, of virtuous father virtuous son,</p> +<p class="t2">Now that the fields are dank, and ways are mire,</p> +<p class="t2">Where shall we sometimes meet, and by the fire</p> +<p class="t2">Help waste a sullen day, what may be won</p> +<p class="t0">From the hard season gaining? Time will run<span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t2">On smoother, till <a id="r9_20_6" href="#n9_20_6">Favonius</a> reinspire</p> +<p class="t2">The frozen earth, and clothe in fresh attire</p> +<p class="t2">The lily and rose, that neither sowed nor spun.</p> +<p class="t0">What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice,</p> +<p class="t2">Of <a id="r9_20_10" href="#n9_20_10">Attic</a> taste, with wine, whence we may rise<span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t2">To hear the lute well touched, or artful voice</p> +<p class="t0">Warble immortal notes and Tuscan air?</p> +<p class="t2">He who of those delights can judge, <a id="r9_20_13" href="#n9_20_13">and spare</a></p> +<p class="t2"><a href="#n9_20_13">To interpose them oft</a>, is not unwise.</p> +</div> +<div class="pb">[76]</div> +<h4 id="c9_21">XXI.</h4> +<h5>TO CYRIACK SKINNER.</h5> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0"><a id="r9_21_1" href="#n9_21_1">Cyriack, whose grandsire</a> on the royal bench</p> +<p class="t2">Of British <a id="r9_21_2" href="#n9_21_2">Themis</a>, with no mean applause,</p> +<p class="t2">Pronounced, and in his volumes taught, our laws,</p> +<p class="t2">Which others at their bar so often wrench,</p> +<p class="t0">To-day deep thoughts resolve with me to drench<span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t2">In mirth that after no repenting draws;</p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r9_21_7" href="#n9_21_7">Let Euclid rest, and Archimedes pause</a>,</p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r9_21_8" href="#n9_21_8">And what the Swede intend, and what the French</a>.</p> +<p class="t0">To measure life learn thou betimes, and know</p> +<p class="t2">Toward solid good what leads the nearest way;<span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t2">For other things mild Heaven a time ordains,</p> +<p class="t0">And disapproves that care, though wise in show,</p> +<p class="t2">That with superfluous burden loads the day,</p> +<p class="t2">And, when God sends a cheerful hour, refrains.</p> +</div> +<h4 id="c9_22">XXII.</h4> +<h5>TO THE SAME.</h5> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">Cyriack, <a id="r9_22_1" href="#n9_22_1">this three years’ day</a> these eyes, though clear,</p> +<p class="t2">To outward view, of blemish or of spot,</p> +<p class="t2">Bereft of light, their seeing have forgot;</p> +<p class="t2">Nor to their idle orbs doth sight appear</p> +<p class="t0">Of sun, or moon, or star, throughout the year,<span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t2">Or man, or woman. Yet I argue not</p> +<p class="t2">Against Heaven’s hand or will, nor bate a jot</p> +<span class="pb">[77]</span> +<p class="t2">Of heart or hope, but still bear up and steer</p> +<p class="t0">Right onward. What supports me, dost thou ask?</p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r9_22_10" href="#n9_22_10">The conscience, friend, to have lost them overplied</a><span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t2">In Liberty’s defence, my noble task,</p> +<p class="t0">Of which all Europe rings from side to side.</p> +<p class="t2">This thought might lead me through the world’s vain mask</p> +<p class="t2">Content, though blind, had I no better guide.</p> +</div> +<h4 id="c9_23">XXIII.</h4> +<h5>ON HIS DECEASED WIFE</h5> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">Methought I saw my late espoused saint</p> +<p class="t2">Brought to me <a id="r9_23_2" href="#n9_23_2">like Alcestis</a> from the grave,</p> +<p class="t2">Whom Jove’s great son to her glad husband gave,</p> +<p class="t2">Rescued from Death by force, though pale and faint.</p> +<p class="t0">Mine, as whom washed from spot of child-bed taint<span class="lnum"> 5</span></p> +<p class="t2"><a id="r9_23_6" href="#n9_23_6">Purification in the Old Law</a> did save,</p> +<p class="t2">And such as yet once more I trust to have</p> +<p class="t2">Full sight of her in Heaven without restraint,</p> +<p class="t0">Came vested all in white, pure as her mind.</p> +<p class="t2">Her face was veiled; yet to my fancied sight<span class="lnum"> 10</span></p> +<p class="t2">Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shined</p> +<p class="t0">So clear as in no face with more delight.</p> +<p class="t2">But, oh! as to embrace me she inclined,</p> +<p class="t2">I waked, she fled, and day brought back my night.</p> +</div> +<div class="pb">[79]</div> +<h2 id="c10">NOTES.</h2> +<h3>ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST’S NATIVITY.</h3> +<p>From his sixteenth year Milton had been wont to write freely in +Latin verse, on miscellaneous poetic themes, sometimes expressing +his thoughts on events of the day, and sometimes addressing letters +to his friends on purely personal matters. From these Latin +poems, which therefore in some sense belong to English literature, +we obtain valuable insight into his course of life and his way of +thinking. What Milton wrote in foreign languages is indispensable +for the information it gives us about himself—its content is +important; but as poetry implies a fusing of content and form into +an artistic unity, if one of these elements is foreign, the result is +nondescript and cannot be ranged under the head of English literature +in the strict sense of the term.</p> +<p>It is in one of Milton’s own Latin pieces that we find our best +commentary on the Hymn on the Nativity. The sixth Latin Elegy +is an epistle to his intimate college friend, “Charles Diodăti making +a stay in the country,” the last twelve lines of which may be +freely translated as follows:—</p> +<p class="bq">But if you shall wish to know what I am doing,—if indeed you think +it worth your while to know whether I am doing anything at all,—we are +singing the peace-bringing king born of heavenly seed, and the happy ages +promised in the sacred books, and the crying of the infant God lying in +a manger under a poor roof, who dwells with his father in the realms +above; and the starry sky, and the squadrons singing on high, and the +gods suddenly driven away to their own fanes. Those gifts we have +indeed given to the birthday of Christ; that first light brought them to +me at dawn. Thee also they await sung to our native pipes; thou shalt be +to me in lieu of a judge for me to read them to.</p> +<div class="pb">[80]</div> +<p>This means, of course, that the poet is composing a Christmas +Hymn in his native language. We must note his age at this time,—twenty-one +years: he is a student at Cambridge. The poem +remains the great Christmas hymn in our literature. “The Ode +on the Nativity,” says Professor Saintsbury, “is a test of the +reader’s power to appreciate poetry.”</p> +<p>In four stanzas the poet speaks in his own person: he too must, +with the wise men from the east, bring such gifts as he has, to offer +to the Infant God. His offering is the <i>humble ode</i> which follows. +We must take note of the change in the metric form which marks +the transition from the introduction to the ode. In the stanzas of +the former the lines all have five accents, except the last, which has +six; while in the latter, four lines have three accents each, one has +four, two have five, and one has six. Notice also the occasional +hypermetric lines, such as line 47.</p> +<p>In connection with Milton’s Hymn, read Alfred Domett’s <i>It was +the calm and silent night</i>.</p> +<div id="n0" class="notes"> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_5" href="#r1_5">5. For so the holy sages once did sing.</a> See Par. Lost XII 324.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_6" href="#r1_6">6. our deadly forfeit should release.</a> Compare Par. Lost III 221, +and see the idea of <i>releasing a forfeit</i> otherwise expressed in the Merchant +of Venice IV 1 <span class="small">24</span>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_10" href="#r1_10">10. he wont.</a> This is +the past tense of the verb <i>wont</i>, meaning to <i>be accustomed</i>. +See the present, Par. Lost I 764, and the participle, +I 332.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_15" href="#r1_15">15. thy sacred vein.</a> +See <i>vein</i> in the same sense, Par. Lost +VI 628.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_19" href="#r1_19">19. the Sun’s team.</a> +Compare <a href="#r7_95">Comus 95</a>, and read the story of +Phaëthon in Ovid’s Metamorphoses II 106.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_24" href="#r1_24">24. prevent them with thy +humble ode.</a> See <i>prevent</i> in this sense, +in Shakespeare’s Julius Cæsar V 1 <span class="small">105</span>, and +in Psalm <span class="small">XXI</span> 3.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_28" href="#r1_28">28. touched with hallowed +fire.</a> See Acts <span class="small">II</span> 3. On the meaning +of <b>secret</b>, compare Par. Lost X 32.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_41" href="#r1_41">41. Pollute</a> is the +participle, exactly equivalent to <i>polluted</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_48" href="#r1_48">48. the turning sphere.</a> +For poetical purposes Milton everywhere +adopts the popular astronomy of his day, which was based on the +ancient, i.e. the Ptolemaic, or geocentric system of the universe. +Copernicus had already taught the modern, heliocentric theory of the +<span class="pb">[81]</span> +solar system, and his innovations were not unknown to Milton, who, +however, consistently adheres to the old conceptions. In Milton, therefore, +we find the earth the centre of the visible universe, while the +sun, the planets, and the fixed stars revolve about it in their several +<i>spheres</i>. These spheres are nine in number, arranged concentrically, +like the coats of an onion, about the earth, and, if of solid matter, are +to be conceived as being of perfectly transparent crystal. Beginning +with the innermost, they present themselves in the following order: +the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Fixed +Stars, the Primum Mobile. In Par. Lost III 481, the ninth sphere +appears as “that crystalline sphere whose balance weighs the trepidation +talked,” and the Primum Mobile, or the first moved, becomes the +tenth and outermost of the series. The last two spheres contain no +stars.</p> +<p class="cont">We see, then, what we must understand by the oft-recurring <i>spheres</i> +in Milton’s poetry. In the line, <i>Down through the turning sphere</i>, +however, the singular <i>sphere</i> is obviously used to mean the whole aggregate +of spheres composing the starry universe.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_50" href="#r1_50">50. With turtle wing.</a> +With the wing of a turtle-dove.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_56" href="#r1_56">56. The hooked chariot.</a> +War chariots sometimes had scythes, or +hooks, attached to their axles. See 2 Maccabees <span class="small">XIII</span> 2.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_60" href="#r1_60">60. sovran.</a> Milton +always uses this form in preference to <i>sovereign</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_62" href="#r1_62">62. the Prince of Light.</a> +Note the corresponding epithet applied +to Satan, Par. Lost X 383.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_64" href="#r1_64">64. The winds, with wonder +whist.</a> The word <i>whist</i>, originally +an interjection, becomes an adjective, as here and in The Tempest I +2 <span class="small">378</span>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_66" href="#r1_66">66.</a> Make three syllables +of <b>Oceän</b>, and make it rhyme with <i>began</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_68" href="#r1_68">68. birds of calm.</a> +The birds referred to are doubtless halcyons. +Dr. Murray defines halcyon thus: “A bird of which the ancients +fabled that it bred about the time of the winter solstice in a nest floating +on the sea, and that it charmed the wind and waves so that the sea +was specially calm during the period; usually identified with a species +of kingfisher, hence a poetic name of this bird.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_71" href="#r1_71">71. their precious +influence.</a> The word <i>influence</i> is originally a term of +astrology,—“a flowing in, or influent course, of the planets; +their virtue infused into, or their course working on, inferior +creatures” (Skeat, <i>Etym. Dict.</i>).</p> +<div class="pb">[82]</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_73" href="#r1_73">73. For all the morning +light.</a> As in Burns’s “We dare be poor +for a’ that,” <i>for</i> meaning in spite of.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_74" href="#r1_74">74. Lucifer.</a> See +Par. Lost VII 131-133.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_81" href="#r1_81">81. As</a>, +for <i>as if</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_86" href="#r1_86">86. Or ere the point of dawn.</a> +The two words <i>or ere</i> mean simply <i>before</i>, as in +Hamlet I 2 <span class="small">147</span>, “A little month, or ere those shoes were +old.” <i>The point of dawn</i> imitates the French <i>le point du jour</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_88" href="#r1_88">88. Full little thought they than.</a> +<i>Than</i> is an ancient form of +<i>then</i>, not wholly obsolete in Milton’s day.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_89" href="#r1_89">89. the mighty Pan.</a> +The poet takes the point of view of the shepherds +and uses the name of their special deity.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_95" href="#r1_95">95. by mortal finger strook.</a> +Milton uses the three participle forms, +<i>strook, struck</i>, and <i>strucken</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_98" href="#r1_98">98. As all their souls in blissful rapture took.</a> +The verb <i>take</i> has here the same meaning as in +Hamlet I 1 <span class="small">163</span>, “no fairy takes nor witch +hath power to charm.” Thus also we say, a vaccination takes.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_103" href="#r1_103">103. Cynthia’s seat.</a> +See <a href="#r4_59">Penseroso 59</a>, and Romeo and Juliet +III 5 <span class="small">20</span>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_108" href="#r1_108">108.</a> +Make the line rhyme properly, giving to <b>union</b> three syllables.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_112" href="#r1_112">112. The helmed cherubim.</a> +See Genesis <span class="small">III</span> 24.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_113" href="#r1_113">113. The sworded seraphim.</a> +See Isaiah <span class="small">VI</span> 2-6.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_116" href="#r1_116">116. With unexpressive notes</a>, +meaning beyond the power of +human expression. So in <a href="#r8_176">Lycidas 176</a>; +Par. Lost V 595; and in As You Like It, +“the fair, the chaste, and inexpressive she.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_119" href="#r1_119">119. But when of old the Sons of Morning sung.</a> +See Job <span class="small">XXXVIII</span> 7.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_124" href="#r1_124">124. the weltering waves.</a> +Compare <a href="#r8_13">Lycidas 13</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_125" href="#r1_125">125. Ring out, ye crystal spheres.</a> +See <a href="#n1_48">note, line 48</a>. The elder +poetry is full of the notion that the spheres in their revolutions made +music, which human ears are too gross to hear. See Merchant of +Venice V 1 <span class="small">50-65</span>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_136" href="#r1_136">136. speckled Vanity.</a> The leopard that confronts Dante in Canto +I of <i>Hell</i> is beautiful with its dappled skin, but symbolizes vain glory.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_143" href="#r1_143">143. like glories wearing.</a> The adjective <i>like</i> means nothing without +a complement, though the complement sometimes has to be supplied, +as in this instance. Fully expressed the passage would be,—<i>wearing +glories like those of Truth and Justice</i>. The <i>like</i> in such a +case as this must be spoken with a fuller tone than when its construction +is completely expressed.</p> +<div class="pb">[83]</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_155" href="#r1_155">155. those ychained in sleep.</a> +The poets, in order to gain a syllable, +long continued to use the ancient participle prefix <i>y</i>. +See <i>yclept</i>, <a href="#r3_12">Allegro 12</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_157" href="#r1_157">157. With such a horrid clang.</a> +See Exodus <span class="small">XIX</span>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_168" href="#r1_168">168. The Old Dragon.</a> +See Revelation <span class="small">XII</span> 9.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_173" href="#r1_173">173.</a> +Stanzas <span class="small">XIX-XXVI</span> announce the deposition and expulsion of +the pagan deities, and the ruin of the ancient religions. In accordance +with his custom of grouping selected proper names in abundance, thus +giving vividness and concreteness to his story and sonority to his verse, +the poet here illustrates the triumph of the new dispensation by citing +the names of various gods from the Roman, Greek, Syrian, and Egyptian +mythologies.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_176" href="#r1_176">176. Apollo</a>, the great god, whose oracle was at Delphi, or Delphos.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_179" href="#r1_179">179. spell</a>, +as in <a href="#r7_853">Comus 853</a>, and often.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_186" href="#r1_186">186. Genius.</a> A Latin word, signifying a tutelary or guardian +spirit supposed to preside over a person or place. See +<a href="#r8_183">Lycidas 183</a>, +and <a href="#r4_154">Penseroso 154</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_191" href="#r1_191">191. The Lars and Lemures.</a> In the Roman mythology these +were the spirits of dead ancestors, worshipped or propitiated in families +as having power for good or evil over the fortunes of their descendants.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_194" href="#r1_194">194. Affrights the flamens.</a> The Roman flamens were the priests +of particular gods.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_195" href="#r1_195">195. the chill marble seems to sweat.</a> Many instances of this +phenomenon are reported. Thus Cicero, in his <i>De Divinatione</i>, tells +us: “It was reported to the senate that it had rained blood, that the +river Atratus had even flowed with blood, and that the statues of the +gods had sweat.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_197" href="#r1_197">197. Peor and Baälim.</a> +Syrian false gods. See Numbers <span class="small">XXV</span> 3.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_199" href="#r1_199">199. that twice-battered god of Palestine.</a> +See I Samuel <span class="small">V</span> 2.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_200" href="#r1_200">200. mooned Ashtaroth.</a> +See I Kings <span class="small">XI</span> 33.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_203" href="#r1_203">203. The Lybic Hammon.</a> “Hammon had a famous temple in +Africa, where he was adored under the symbolic figure of a ram.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_204" href="#r1_204">204. their wounded Thammuz.</a> See Ezekiel <span class="small">VIII</span> 14.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_205" href="#r1_205">205. sullen Moloch.</a> See Par. Lost I 392-396.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_210" href="#r1_210">210. the furnace blue.</a> Compare <a href="#r5_51">Arcades 52</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_212" href="#r1_212">212. Isis, and Orus, and the dog Anubis.</a> Egyptian deities, the +latter figured as having the head of a dog.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_213" href="#r1_213">213. Nor is Osiris seen.</a> Osiris was the principal god of the Egyptians, +<span class="pb">[84]</span> +brother and husband of Isis. His highest function was as god +of the Nile. He met his death at the hands of his brother Typhon, a +deity of sterility, by whom he was torn into fourteen pieces. Thereupon +a general lament was raised throughout Egypt. The bull Apis +was regarded as the visible incarnation of Osiris.—<i>Murray’s Manual +of Mythology</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_215" href="#r1_215">215. the unshowered grass.</a> Remember, this was in Egypt.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_223" href="#r1_223">223. his dusky eyn.</a> This ancient plural of eye occurs several +times in Shakespeare, as in As You Like It IV 3 <span class="small">50</span>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_240" href="#r1_240">240. Heaven’s youngest-teemed star.</a> +Compare <a href="#r7_175">Comus 175</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n1_241" href="#r1_241">241. Hath fixed her polished car.</a> +<i>Fix</i> has its proper meaning, <i>stopped</i>. The star +“came and stood over where the young child was.”</p> +</div> +<h3>ON SHAKESPEARE.</h3> +<p>The first edition of the collected works of Shakespeare, known as +the first folio, was published in 1623, when Milton was fifteen years +old. The second Shakespeare folio appeared in 1632. Among the +commendatory verses by various hands prefixed, after the fashion +of the time, to the latter volume, was a little piece of eight couplets, +in which some then unknown rhymer expressed his admiration of +the great poet. Collecting his poems for publication in 1645, +Milton included these couplets, gave them the date 1630, and the +title <i>On Shakespeare</i> which they have since borne in his works. +The fact that he wrote the verses two years before their publication +in the Shakespeare folio shows that he did not produce them to +order, for the special occasion. It is interesting to note that Milton +at twenty-two was an appreciative reader of Shakespeare. The +lines themselves give no hint of great poetic genius; they are a fair +specimen of the conventional, labored eulogy in vogue at the time.</p> +<div class="notes"> +<p><a class="rref" id="n2_4" href="#r2_4">4. star-ypointing.</a> To make the decasyllabic verse, the poet takes +the liberty of prefixing to the present participle the <i>y</i> which properly +belongs only to the past.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n2_8" href="#r2_8">8. a livelong monument.</a> Instead of <i>livelong</i>, the first issue of +the lines, in the Shakespeare folio of 1632, has <i>lasting</i>. The change is +Milton’s, appearing in his revision of his poems in 1645. Does it seem +to be an improvement?</p> +<div class="pb">[85]</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n2_10" href="#r2_10">10-12. and that each heart hath ... took.</a> The conjunction <i>that</i> +simply repeats the <i>whilst</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n2_11" href="#r2_11">11. thy unvalued book.</a> In Hamlet I 3 <span class="small">19</span> <i>unvalued persons</i> are +persons of no value, or of no rank. In Macbeth III 1 <span class="small">94</span> the <i>valued file</i> +is the file that determines values or ranks. In Milton’s phrase the +<i>unvalued book</i> means the book whose merit is so great as to be beyond +all valuation: a new rank must be created for it.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n2_12" href="#r2_12">12. Those Delphic lines:</a> lines so crowded with meaning as to +seem the utterances of an oracle.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n2_13" href="#r2_13">13. our fancy of itself bereaving:</a> transporting us into an ecstasy, +or making us rapt with thought.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n2_14" href="#r2_14">14. Dost make <i>us</i> marble with too much conceiving.</a> The concentrated +attention required to penetrate Shakespeare’s meaning +makes statues of us.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n2_15" href="#r2_15">15.</a> Make the word <b>sepulchred</b> fit metrically into the iambic verse.</p> +</div> +<h3>L’ALLEGRO AND IL PENSEROSO.</h3> +<p>The year in which the poems were composed is uncertain. +Masson regards 1632 as the probable date.</p> +<p>The exquisite poems to which Milton gave the Italian titles +L’Allegro,—the mirthful, or jovial, man,—and Il Penseroso,—the +melancholy, or saturnine, man,—should be regarded each as +the pendant and complement of the other, and should be read as a +single whole. The poet knew both moods, and takes both standpoints +with equal grace and heartiness. The essential idea of thus +contrasting the mirthful and the melancholy temperament he +found ready to his hand. Robert Burton had prefaced his +<i>Anatomy of Melancholy</i>, published in 1621, with a series of not unpleasing, +though by no means graceful, amœbean stanzas, in which +two speakers alternately represent Melancholy, one as sweet and +divine, and the other as harsh, sour, and damned. Undoubtedly +Milton knew his Burton. But if he got his main idea from this +source, he made his poems thoroughly Miltonic by his art of visualizing +in delicious pictures the various phases of his abstract +theme. The poems are wholly poetical, equally free from obscurity +of thought and from obscurity of expression.</p> +<p>Each poem is prefaced with a vigorous exorcism of the spirit to +<span class="pb">[86]</span> +which it is hostile. This is couched in alternate three and five +accent iambics, preparing a delicious rhythmic effect when the +metre changes, in the invocation, to the octosyllable, with or without +anacrusis.</p> +<p>In L’Allegro we accompany the mirthful man through an entire +day of his pleasures, from early morning to late evening. The +melancholy man moves through a programme less definitely and +regularly planned. The scenes of his delights are mostly in the +hours of the night: when the sun is up, he hides himself from day’s +garish eye.</p> +<h4><span class="sc">L’Allegro.</span></h4> +<div class="notes"> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_2" href="#r3_2">2. Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born.</a> Milton follows the +example of the ancient poets in announcing the parentage of the principal +beings whom he brings upon his stage. Moreover, he uses the +ancient freedom in assigning mythical pedigrees, not only adopting no +authority as a canon, but allowing his own fancy to invent origins as +suits his purpose. He knew the Greek and Latin poets, and assumed +for himself the privilege which they exercised of shaping the myths as +they pleased. We are not therefore to seek in Milton a reproduction +of any system of mythology. <i>Cerberus</i> was the terrible three-headed +dog of Pluto. His station was at the entrance to the lower world, or +the <i>Stygian cave</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_3" href="#r3_3">3.</a> The <b>Stygian cave</b> is so called from the Styx, the infernal river, +“the flood of deadly hate.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_5" href="#r3_5">5. some uncouth cell.</a> <i>Uncouth</i> may be used here in its original +sense of <i>unknown</i>, as in Par. Lost VIII 230.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_10" href="#r3_10">10. In dark Cimmerian desert.</a> The Cimmerians were a people +fabled by the ancients to live in perpetual darkness.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_12" href="#r3_12">12. yclept</a> +is the participle of the obsolete verb <i>clepe</i>, with the +ancient prefix <i>y</i>, as in ychained, +<a href="#r1_155">Hymn on the Nativity 155</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_15" href="#r3_15">15. two sister Graces more.</a> Hesiod names, as the three Graces, +Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia, but he makes them the daughters of +Zeus and Eurynome.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_18" href="#r3_18">18. The frolic wind.</a> +See <i>frolic</i> again as an adjective, +<a href="#r7_59">Comus 59</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_24" href="#r3_24">24. So buxom, blithe, and debonair.</a> See Shakespeare’s Pericles, +I Gower 23. All these words are interesting to look up for etymologies +and changes of meaning.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_25" href="#r3_25">25-36.</a> We readily accept and understand the personification of +<span class="pb">[87]</span> +<a class="rref" href="#r3_26">Jest, Jollity, Sport, Laughter</a>, +and <b>Liberty</b>, but the plurals, +<a class="rref" href="#r3_27">Quips, Cranks, Wiles, Nods, Becks, Smiles</a>, +we do not manage quite so +easily, especially in view of the couplet 29-30.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_28" href="#r3_28">28. Smiles</a> may be said to be <b>wreathed</b> because they inwreathe the +face. See Par. Lost III 361.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_33" href="#r3_33">33. trip it, as you go.</a> So in Shakespeare, “I’ll queen it no inch +further; Rather than fool it so; I’ll go brave it at the court, lording +it in London streets.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_41" href="#r3_41">41.</a> With this line begins a series of illustrations of the <i>unreproved +pleasures</i> which L’Allegro is going to enjoy during a day of leisure. +At first the specified pleasures or occupations are introduced by +infinitives, <i>to hear, to come</i>; but the construction soon changes, as we +shall see. The first pleasure is <b>To hear the lark</b>, etc. 41-44. L’Allegro +begins his day with early morning. Here we must imagine him as +having risen and gone forth where he can see the sky and can look +about him to see what is going on in the farm-yard.</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0"><a class="rref" id="n3_45" href="#r3_45">45-46. Then to come, in spite of sorrow,</a></p> +<p class="t3"><b>And at my window bid good-morrow.</b></p> +</div> +<p class="cont">It must be L’Allegro himself who comes to the window, and as he +is outside, he comes to look in through the shrubbery and bid good +morning to the cottage inmates, who are now up and about their work. +The pertinency of the phrase, <i>in spite of sorrow</i>, is not intelligible.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_53" href="#r3_53">53. Oft listening how the hounds and horn.</a> This “pleasure” +and the next—<i>sometime walking</i>—are introduced with present participles. +There is no interruption of grammatical consistency.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_57" href="#r3_57">57. Sometime walking, not unseen.</a> See the counterpart of this +line, <a href="#r4_65">Penseroso 65</a>. Todd quotes the note of Bishop Hurd,—“Happy +men love witnesses of their joy: the splenetic love solitude.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_59" href="#r3_59">59. against</a>, <i>i.e.</i> toward.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_62" href="#r3_62">62. The clouds in thousand liveries dight.</a> <i>Dight</i> is the participle +of the verb <i>to dight</i>, meaning to adorn. It is still used as an archaism.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_67" href="#r3_67">67. And every shepherd tells his tale.</a> This undoubtedly means +<i>counts the number</i> of his flock. In Shakespeare we find, to <i>tell</i> money, +years, steps, a hundred. So <i>tale</i> often means an enumeration, a number. +L’Allegro finds the shepherds in the morning counting their sheep, +not telling stories.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_68" href="#r3_68">68.</a> With this line ends the long, loose sentence that began with +line 37. We now come to a full stop, and with line 69 begin a new +sentence.</p> +<div class="pb">[88]</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_70" href="#r3_70">70. the landskip.</a> A word of late origin in English, of unsettled +spelling in Milton’s day.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_71" href="#r3_71">71. Russet lawns.</a> In Milton, <i>lawn</i> +means field or pasture. See +<a href="#r8_25">Lycidas 25</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_77" href="#r3_77">77.</a> In this line the subject, <i>mine eye</i>, is resumed.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_80" href="#r3_80">80. The cynosure of neighboring eyes.</a> In the constellation +Cynosure, usually called the Lesser Bear, is the pole-star, to which +very many eyes are directed.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_81" href="#r3_81">81.</a> A new “pleasure” is introduced, with a new grammatical +subject.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_83" href="#r3_83">83. Where Corydon and Thyrsis met.</a> The proper names in +lines 83-88 add to the poem a pleasing touch of pastoral simplicity +and cheerfulness. They are taken from the common stock of names, +which, originally devised by the Greek idyllists for their shepherds +and shepherdesses, have by the pastoral poets of all subsequent +ages been appropriated to their special use. Corydon and Thyrsis +stand for farm-laborers, Phyllis and Thestylis for their wives or housekeepers. +The day of L’Allegro has now advanced to dinner-time. +Phyllis has been preparing the frugal meal, as we could surmise +from the smoking chimney. As soon as the dinner is over the women +go out to work with the men in the harvest field.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_87" href="#r3_87">87. bower</a> means simply <i>dwelling</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_90" href="#r3_90">90.</a> In the <b>tanned haycock</b> we see the hay dried and browned by +the sun.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_91" href="#r3_91">91.</a> The scene changes and brings yet another “pleasure.” <b>secure +delight</b> is delight without care, <i>sine cura</i>. See Samson Agonistes 55.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_96" href="#r3_96">96. in the chequered shade.</a> They danced under trees through +whose foliage the sunlight filtered.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_99" href="#r3_99">99.</a> Evening comes on, and a new pleasure succeeds. Story-telling +is now in order.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_102" href="#r3_102">102.</a> Sufficient information about <b>Faery Mab</b> can be got from +Romeo and Juliet I 4 <span class="small">53-95</span>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_103" href="#r3_103">103-104. She</a>, <i>i.e.</i> one of the maids; <b>And he</b>,—one of the +youths. The <b>Friar’s lantern</b> is the ignis fatuus, or will-o’-the-wisp, +fabled to lead men into dangerous marshes.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_105" href="#r3_105">105.</a> A connective is lacking to make the syntax sound: the subject +of <b>tells</b> must be <i>he</i>. <b>the drudging goblin.</b> This is Robin Goodfellow, +known to readers of fairy tales. Ben Jonson makes him a +character in his Court Masque, Love Restored, where he is made to +<span class="pb">[89]</span> +recount many of his pranks, and says, among other things, “I am the +honest plain country spirit, and harmless, Robin Goodfellow, he that +sweeps the hearth and the house clean, riddles for the country maids, +and does all their other drudgery.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_109" href="#r3_109">109. could not end.</a> Dr. Murray gives this among other quotations +as an instance of the verb <i>end</i> meaning <i>to put into the barn, to get in.</i> +So in Coriolanus V 6 <span class="small">87</span>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_110" href="#r3_110">110. the lubber fiend.</a> This goblin is loutish in shape and fiendish-looking, +though so good to those who treat him well.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_115" href="#r3_115">115. Thus done the tales.</a> An absolute construction, imitating +the Latin ablative absolute.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_117" href="#r3_117">117.</a> The country folk having gone early to bed, tired with their +day’s labor, L’Allegro hastes to the city, where the pleasures of life +are prolonged further into the night.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_120" href="#r3_120">120. In weeds of peace, high triumphs hold.</a> This must mean +such things as masques and revelries among the upper classes.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_122" href="#r3_122">122. Rain influence.</a> +See <a href="#n1_71">note on Hymn on the Nativity 71</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_124" href="#r3_124">124.</a> +What is the antecedent of <b>whom</b>?</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_125" href="#r3_125">125.</a> +What ceremony is here introduced?</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_128" href="#r3_128">128.</a> +Do not misunderstand the word <b>mask</b>. Its meaning becomes +plain from the context.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_131" href="#r3_131">131.</a> +To what pleasure does L’Allegro now betake himself?</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_132" href="#r3_132">132.</a> +Among the dramatists of the Jacobean time <b>Ben Jonson</b> had +especially the repute of scholarship. The <b>sock</b> symbolizes comedy, as +the <b>buskin</b> does tragedy. Compare <a href="#r4_102">Il Penseroso 102</a>.</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0"><a class="rref" id="n3_133" href="#r3_133">133-134. Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy’s child,</a></p> +<p class="t4"><b>Warble his native wood-notes wild.</b></p> +</div> +<p class="cont">The couplet seems intended to convey the idea of a counterpart or +contrast to the <i>learned sock</i> of Jonson. So considered, it is by no +means an unhappy characterization.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_135" href="#r3_135">135.</a> The last of the “unreproved pleasures” that L’Allegro +wishes he may enjoy, seems not so much planned to follow the rest +in sequence of time as to accompany them and be diffused through them +all. Observe the <b>ever</b> in this line. The <b>eating cares</b> are a reminiscence +of Horace’s <i>curas edaces</i>, Ode II 11 <span class="small">18</span>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_136" href="#r3_136">136. Lap me in soft Lydian airs.</a> The three chief modes, or +moods, of Greek music were the <i>Lydian</i>, which was soft and pathetic; +the <i>Dorian</i>, especially adapted to war (see Par. Lost 550); and the +<i>Phrygian</i>, which was bold and vehement.</p> +<div class="pb">[90]</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_138" href="#r3_138">138. the meeting soul.</a> The soul, in its eagerness, goes forth to +meet and welcome the music.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_139" href="#r3_139">139.</a> The word <b>bout</b> seems to point at a piece of music somewhat +in the nature of a round, or catch.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_145" href="#r3_145">145. That Orpheus’ self may heave his head.</a> Even Orpheus, +who in his life “drew trees, stones, and floods” by the power of his +music, and who now reposes in Elysium, would lift his head to listen +to the strains that L’Allegro would fain hear.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n3_149" href="#r3_149">149.</a> Orpheus, with <i>his</i> music, had succeeded in obtaining from +Pluto only a conditional release of his wife Eurydice. He was not to +look back upon her till he was quite clear of Pluto’s domains. He +failed to make good the condition, and so again lost his Eurydice.</p> +<h4><span class="sc">Il Penseroso.</span></h4> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_3" href="#r4_3">3. How little you bested.</a> The verb <i>bested</i> means <i>to avail, to be +of service</i>. It is not the same word that we find in Isaiah <span class="small">VIII</span> 21, +“hardly bestead and hungry.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_6" href="#r4_6">6. fond</a> here has its primitive meaning, <i>foolish</i>. Understand <b>possess</b> +in the sense in which it is used in the Bible,—“possessed with devils.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_10" href="#r4_10">10.</a> Make two syllables of <b>Morpheus</b>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_12" href="#r4_12">12.</a> Note that while he invoked Mirth in L’Allegro under her Greek +name Euphrosyne, the poet finds no corresponding Greek designation +for <b>Melancholy</b>. To us Melancholy seems a name unhappily chosen. +But see how Milton applies it in <a href="#r4_62">line 62 below</a>, and in +<a href="#r7_546">Comus 546</a>. To him the word evidently connotes +pensive meditation rather than gloomy depression.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_14" href="#r4_14">14. To hit the sense of human sight:</a> +to be gazed at by human eyes.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_18" href="#r4_18">18. Prince Memnon</a> +was a fabled Ethiopian prince, black, and celebrated for his beauty. +Recall Virgil’s <i>nigri Memnonis arma</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_19" href="#r4_19">19. that starred Ethiop queen.</a> Cassiopeia, wife of the <b>Ethiopian</b> +king Cepheus, boasted that she was more beautiful than <b>the Nereids</b>, +for which act of presumption she was translated to the skies, where +she became the beautiful constellation which we know by her name.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_23" href="#r4_23">23. bright-haired Vesta.</a> +<i>Vesta</i>—in Greek, Hestia—“was the +goddess of the home, the guardian of family life. Her spotless purity +fitted her peculiarly to be the guardian of virgin modesty.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_30" href="#r4_30">30. Whilst yet there was no fear of Jove</a>, <i>i.e.</i> before Saturn was +dethroned by Jupiter.</p> +<div class="pb">[91]</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_33" href="#r4_33">33. All in a robe of darkest grain.</a> In Par. Lost V 285, the third +pair of Raphael’s wings have the color of <i>sky-tinctured grain</i>; and XI +242, his vest is of purple livelier than “the grain of Sarra,” or Tyrian +purple. This would leave us to infer that the robe of Melancholy is +of a deep rich color, so dark as to be almost black. Dr. Murray quotes +from Southey’s <i>Thalaba</i>, “The ebony ... with darkness feeds its +boughs of raven grain.” What objection is there to making the <i>grain</i> +in Milton’s passage <i>black</i>?</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_35" href="#r4_35">35. And sable stole of cypress lawn.</a> Dr. Murray thus defines +<i>cypress lawn</i>, “A light transparent material resembling cobweb lawn +or crape; like the latter it was, when black, much used for habiliments +of mourning.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_37" href="#r4_37">37. Come; but keep thy wonted state.</a> Compare with this passage, +L’Allegro 33.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_40" href="#r4_40">40. Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes.</a> +In Cymbeline I 6 <span class="small">51</span> we +find the present tense of the verb of which <i>rapt</i> is the participle: +“What, dear Sir, thus raps you?” Do not confound this word with +<i>rap</i>, meaning to strike.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_42" href="#r4_42">42. Forget thyself to marble.</a> +With this compare <a href="#r2_14">On Shakespeare 14</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_43" href="#r4_43">43. With a sad leaden downward cast.</a> +So in Love’s Labor’s Lost IV 3 <span class="small">321</span>, +“In leaden contemplation;” Othello III 4 <span class="small">177</span>, “I have this +while with leaden thoughts been pressed.” So also Gray in the Hymn +to Adversity, “With leaden eye that loves the ground.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_45" href="#r4_45">45-55.</a> Compare the +company which Il Penseroso entreats Melancholy to bring along with +her with that which L’Allegro wishes to see attending Mirth.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_46" href="#r4_46">46. Spare Fast, that oft with gods doth diet.</a> Only the rigid +ascetic has a spiritual ear so finely trained that he hears the celestial +music.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_48" href="#r4_48">48. Aye</a>, as their rhymes show, is always pronounced by the poets +with the vowel sound in <i>day</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_53" href="#r4_53">53. the fiery-wheeled throne.</a> See Daniel <span class="small">VII</span> 9.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_54" href="#r4_54">54. The Cherub Contemplation.</a> Pronounce <i>contemplation</i> with +five syllables. It is difficult to form a distinct conception of the +nature and office of the <i>cherub</i> of the Scriptures. Milton in many +passages of Par. Lost follows, with regard to the heavenly beings, the +account given by Dionysius the Areopagite in his Celestial Hierarchy. +According to Dionysius there were nine orders or ranks of beings in +<span class="pb">[92]</span> +heaven, namely,—seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominions, virtues, +powers, principalities, archangels, angels. The cherubim have the +special attribute of knowledge and contemplation of divine things.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_55" href="#r4_55">55. hist</a>, primarily an interjection commanding silence, becomes +here a verb.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_56" href="#r4_56">56.</a> +With the introduction of the nightingale comes the first intimation +of the time of day at which Il Penseroso conceives the course of +his satisfactions to begin.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_57" href="#r4_57">57.</a> +Everywhere else in Milton <b>plight</b> is used with its modern +connotations.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_59" href="#r4_59">59.</a> +The moon stops to hear the nightingale’s song.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_65" href="#r4_65">65.</a> +Remember L’Allegro’s <a href="#r3_57"><i>not unseen</i></a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_77" href="#r4_77">77.</a> +Up to this point Il Penseroso has been walking in the open air.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_78" href="#r4_78">78. removed</a>,—remote, retired.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_87" href="#r4_87">87.</a> +As <b>the Bear</b> never sets, to <b>outwatch</b> him must mean to sit up +all night.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_88" href="#r4_88">88. With thrice great Hermes.</a> +“Hermes Trismegistos—Hermes +thrice-greatest—is the name given by the Neo-Platonists and the devotees +of mysticism and alchemy to the Egyptian god Thoth, regarded +as more or less identified with the Grecian Hermes, and as the author +of all mysterious doctrines, and especially of the secrets of alchemy.” +(The <i>New Eng. Dicty.</i>) To such studies the serious mediæval scholars +devoted themselves. To <b>unsphere the spirit of Plato</b> is to call him +from the sphere in which he abides in the other world, or, simply, to +take in hand for study his writings on immortality.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_93" href="#r4_93">93-96.</a> On the four classes of <b>demons</b>,—Salamanders, Sylphs, +Nymphs, Gnomes,—see Pope’s Rape of the Lock. These demons are +in complicity with the planets and other heavenly bodies to influence +mortals.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_97" href="#r4_97">97-102. Thebes, Pelops’ line</a>, and <b>the tale of Troy</b> are the staple +subjects of the great Attic tragedians. It seems strange that the poet +finds no occasion to name Shakespeare here, as well as in L’Allegro.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_104" href="#r4_104">104-105. Musæus and Orpheus</a> are semi-mythical bards, to +whom is ascribed a greatness proportioned to their obscurity.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_105" href="#r4_105">105-108.</a> +See <a href="#n3_149">note on L’Allegro, 149</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_109" href="#r4_109">109-115. Or call up him that left half-told.</a> This refers to +Chaucer and to his Squieres Tale in the Canterbury Tales. It is left +unfinished. Note that Milton changes not only the spelling but the +<span class="pb">[93]</span> +accent of the chief character’s name. Chaucer writes, “This noble +king was cleped Cambinskan.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_120" href="#r4_120">120.</a> Stories in which <b>more is meant than meets the ear</b> refer to +allegories, like the Fairy Queen.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_121" href="#r4_121">121.</a> +Having thus filled the night with the occupations that he loves, +Il Penseroso now greets the morning, which he hopes to find stormy +with wind and rain.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_122" href="#r4_122">122. civil-suited Morn:</a> <i>i.e.</i> Morn in the everyday habiliments of +business.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_123" href="#r4_123">123-124.</a> Eos—Aurora, +the Dawn—carried off several youths +distinguished for their beauty. <b>the Attic boy</b> is probably Cephalus, +whom she stole from his wife Procris.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_125" href="#r4_125">125. kerchieft in a comely cloud.</a> <i>Kerchief</i> is here used in its +original and proper sense. Look up its origin.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_126" href="#r4_126">126.</a> The winds may be called <b>rocking</b> because they visibly rock +the trees, or because they shake houses.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_127" href="#r4_127">127. Or ushered with a shower still.</a> +The shower falls gently, without wind.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_130" href="#r4_130">130. With minute-drops from off the eaves.</a> +After the rain has ceased, and while the thatch is draining, the +drops fall at regular intervals for a time,—as it were, a +drop every minute. Il Penseroso listens with contentment to the +wind, the rustling rain-fall on the leaves, and the monotonous +patter of the drops when the rain is over.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_131" href="#r4_131">131.</a> +The shower is past, and the sun appears, but Il Penseroso finds +its beams flaring and distasteful. He seeks covert in the dense groves.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_134" href="#r4_134">134. Sylvan</a> +is the god of the woods.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_135" href="#r4_135">135.</a> +The <b>monumental oak</b> is so called from its great age and size.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_140" href="#r4_140">140.</a> +Consciously nursing his melancholy, Il Penseroso deems the +wood that hides him a sacred place, and resents intrusion as a profanation.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_141" href="#r4_141">141. Hide me from day’s garish eye.</a> +See Richard III. IV 4 <span class="small">89</span>, +Romeo and Juliet III 2 <span class="small">25</span>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_142" href="#r4_142">142. While the bee with honeyed thigh.</a> +Is this good apiology?</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_146" href="#r4_146">146. Entice the dewy-feathered Sleep.</a> Note that sleep is represented +as having feathers. These feathers, in their soft, gentle movement +and in their refreshing effect are likened to dew. The figure is a +common one with the poets. In Par. Lost IX 1044, Milton has,—“till +dewy sleep oppressed them.” Cowper, Iliad II, 41, has,—“Awaking +from thy dewy slumbers.”</p> +<div class="pb">[94]</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_148" href="#r4_148">148. his</a> refers to the <i>dewy-feathered sleep</i>. Il Penseroso asks that +a strange, mysterious dream, hovering close by the wings of sleep, and +lightly pictured in a succession of vivid forms, may be laid on his eye-lids.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_155" href="#r4_155">155-166.</a> The word <b>studious</b> in line 156 determines that the passage +refers to college life and not to church attendance. The old +English colleges have their cloisters, and these have much the same +architectural features as do churches.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_157" href="#r4_157">157. embowed</a> +means vaulted, or bent like a <i>bow</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_158" href="#r4_158">158. massy-proof:</a> +massive and proof against all failure to support +their load.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_159" href="#r4_159">159. And storied windows richly dight.</a> +Compare <a href="#r3_62">L’Allegro, 62</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n4_170" href="#r4_170">170.</a> +The best possible comment on this use of the verb <b>spell</b> is Milton’s +own language, Par. Regained IV 382, where Satan, addressing +the Son of God, thus speaks:—</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">Now, contrary, if I read aught in Heaven,</p> +<p class="t2">Or Heaven write aught of fate, by what the stars</p> +<p class="t2">Voluminous, or single characters</p> +<p class="t2">In their conjunction met, give me to spell,</p> +<p class="t2">Sorrows and labors, opposition, hate,</p> +<p class="t2">Attends thee; scorns, reproaches, injuries,</p> +<p class="t2">Violence and stripes, and, lastly, cruel death.</p> +</div> +<p class="cont">Il Penseroso’s aspiration is that as an astrologer he may learn the +influence of every star and that he may come to know the virtue of +every herb.</p> +</div> +<h3 id="n5_0">ARCADES.</h3> +<p>The noble persons of the family of the Countess Dowager of +Derby were fortunate enough to obtain the services of the poet +John Milton to aid in the composition of a mask, which they presented +to her ladyship at her residence in the country. Arcădes—the +Arcadians—is Milton’s contribution to this performance. In +date the poem precedes Comus, which is known to have been composed +in 1634.</p> +<p>On the meaning of the term <i>mask</i>, as applied to a dramatic form, +see <a href="#n7_0">introductory note on Comus</a>.</p> +<div class="notes"> +<p><a class="rref" id="n5_20" href="#r5_20">20. Latona</a> (or Leto) was the mother of Apollo and Diana by Zeus.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n5_21" href="#r5_21">21. the towered Cybele</a> is Virgil’s Berecyntia Mater, the Phrygian +mother, who, wearing her mural crown, drives in her chariot through +<span class="pb">[95]</span> +the cities of Phrygia. She was conceived as one of the very oldest +deities, and as mother of a hundred gods. See Æneid VI 785.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n5_28" href="#r5_28">28. Of famous Arcady ye are.</a> +Arcadia, in the Peloponnesus, was +peculiarly the home of music and song, especially among the shepherds. +See Virgil, Eclogue VII 4-5.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n5_30" href="#r5_30">30. Divine Alpheus.</a> +See <a href="#n8_132">note on Lycidas 132</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n5_46" href="#r5_46">46. curl the grove:</a> +bestow upon the grove dense, crisp foliage.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n5_47" href="#r5_47">47. With ringlets quaint and wanton windings wove.</a> +The grove is intersected with a maze of circling and purposeless paths.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n5_49" href="#r5_49">49. noisome:</a> +full of annoyance, injurious. See Par. Lost XI 478. +<b>blasting vapors.</b> See <a href="#n7_640">note on Comus 640</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n5_51" href="#r5_51">51. thwarting thunder blue.</a> +Compare Julius Cæsar I 3 <span class="small">50</span>, “the +cross blue lightning.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n5_52" href="#r5_52">52. the cross dire-looking planet.</a> +Cross means <i>adverse, unfavorable</i>. +See <a href="#n1_71">note on <i>influence</i></a>, Hymn on the Nativity 71.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n5_54" href="#r5_54">54. evening gray.</a> See <a href="#n8_187">note on Lycidas 187</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n5_60" href="#r5_60">60. murmurs.</a> Compare <a href="#r7_526">Comus 526</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n5_63" href="#r5_63">63. the celestial Sirens’ harmony.</a> The Sirens are here advanced +to a high function and given a new Epithet. Compare <a href="#r7_253">Comus 253</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n5_64" href="#r5_64">64. the nine infolded spheres.</a> +See <a href="#n1_48">note on Hymn on Nativity 48</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n5_65" href="#r5_65">65-66.</a> See <a href="#n8_75">note on Lycidas 75</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n5_69" href="#r5_69">69. the daughters of Necessity:</a> the Fates.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n5_72" href="#r5_72">72-73. which none can hear Of human mould with gross unpurged +ear.</a> Compare Merchant of Venice V 1 <span class="small">64</span>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n5_87" href="#r5_87">87. touch the warbled string:</a> the string that is accompanied with +the voice. See <a href="#r4_106">Il Penseroso 106</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n5_97" href="#r5_97">97. Ladon</a>, a river of Arcadia, flowing into the Alpheus.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n5_98" href="#r5_98">98. Lycæus and Cyllene</a>, mountains of Arcadia.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n5_100" href="#r5_100">100. Erymanth.</a> Erymanthus is a range of mountains separating +Arcadia from Achaia and Elis.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n5_102" href="#r5_102">102. Mænalus</a>, another mountain of Arcadia.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n5_106" href="#r5_106">106. Though Syrinx your Pan’s mistress were.</a> Syrinx was an +Arcadian nymph, who, being pursued by Pan, threw herself into +the Ladon, where she was metamorphosed into a reed, of which the +shepherds thereafter made their pipes.</p> +</div> +<h3>AT A SOLEMN MUSIC.</h3> +<p>The poet listens to what in the phrase of his time is a <i>solemn +music</i>, but which we should name a sacred concert. The poem is +<span class="pb">[96]</span> +unalloyed lyric, expressing the rapture to which the music has +lifted his soul. We must remember that Milton was himself an +amateur musician, and in his days of darkness found habitual +diversion at his organ. Indications of a susceptible and appreciative +ear for musical harmony are frequent throughout the poems.</p> +<div class="notes"> +<p><a class="rref" id="n6_7" href="#r6_7">7. the sapphire-colored throne.</a> See Ezekiel <span class="small">I</span> 26.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n6_27" href="#r6_27">27. consort</a> is the word from which we derive our <i>concert</i>.</p> +</div> +<h3 id="n7_0">COMUS.</h3> +<p>During the reigns of Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I., the <i>mask</i> +was one of the most popular forms of dramatic entertainment. +Having a function and a character peculiar to itself, it flourished +side by side with the regular plays of the theatrical stage, and gave +large scope to the genius of poets, composers, and scenic artists.</p> +<p>The mask was usually designed to grace some important occasion, +in which members of the upper classes of society, or even +royal personages, were concerned. When the occasion called for +particularly brilliant display, and had been long foreseen, the preparations +for it would involve immense outlays for costumes, theatrical +machinery, for new music, and for a libretto by a play-writer +of the greatest note. When the mask was purely a private one, like +Arcades and Comus, it was all the fashion for the gentle youths +and maidens, for gentlemen and ladies of the highest rank, to take +upon themselves the parts of the drama, to rehearse them assiduously, +and finally to enact them on the private stage or on the lawn +in the presence of a select audience.</p> +<p>The mask thus differentiated itself from the stage play in that +it was not given for the pecuniary behoof of a company of actors, +but represented rather expenditure for the simple purpose of producing +grand effects. To act in a mask was an honor, when common +players were social outcasts. The mask was got up for the +occasion, and was not intended to keep the boards and attract a +paying public. When the august ceremonial was over, the poet +had his manuscript, to increase the bulk of his works, and the composer +had his score, to furnish airs that might be played and sung +in drawing-rooms if they had the good fortune to be popular.</p> +<div class="pb">[97]</div> +<p>Such was the origin of the poem which Milton, in all the editions +published during his lifetime, entitled simply “A Maske presented +at Ludlow Castle, 1634,” but which editors since his day have +agreed to name Comus.</p> +<p>The occasion of the poem was the coming of the Earl of Bridgewater +to Ludlow Castle, to enter upon his official residence there +as Lord President of Wales. The person chiefly concerned in the +scenic, musical, and histrionic preparations of the mask was +Milton’s esteemed friend, the most accomplished musical composer +of the day, Henry Lawes. Lawes composed the music and +arranged the stage business. He seems to have taken upon himself +the part of the Attendant Spirit. Lawes knew to whom to +apply for the all-important matter of the book, the words, or the +poetry, of the piece, for he had learned to know Milton’s qualifications +as a mask-poet in the fragment which we have under the +name <i>Arcades</i>. With good music even for commonplace lyric +verse, and with sprightly declamation even of conventional dialogue, +the thing, as we know from modern instances, might have +been carried off by gorgeous costumes and shrewdly devised scenic +effects. Most of the masks of the time fell at once into oblivion. +But Lawes had secured for his poet John Milton; and the consequence +thereof is that the Earl of Bridgewater is now chiefly heard +of because at Ludlow Castle there was enacted, in the form of a +mask written by Milton, a drama which is still read and reread by +every English-speaking person who reads any serious poetry, though +Ludlow Castle has long been a venerable ruin.</p> +<p>For his plot, the poet feigned that the young children of the earl, +two sons and a daughter, in coming to Ludlow, had to pass unattended +through a forest, in which the boys became separated from +the girl and she fell into the hands of the enchanter Comus. The +Attendant Spirit appears to the youths with his magic herb, and +with the further assistance of the water-nymph Sabrina, at last +makes all right, and the children are restored to their parents in +the midst of festive rejoicing.</p> +<p>The poem is dramatic, because it is acted and spoken or sung in +character by its persons. It is allegorical, because it inculcates a +moral, and more is meant than meets the ear. In parts it is pastoral, +<span class="pb">[98]</span> +both because the chief personage appears in the guise of a +shepherd, and because its motive largely depends on the superstitions +and traditions of simple, ignorant folk. In the longer +speeches, where events are narrated with some fulness, it becomes +epic. Lastly, in its songs, in the octosyllables of the magician, and +in the adjuration and the thanking of Sabrina, it is lyric. With +iambic pentameter as the basis of the dialogue, the poet varies his +measures as Shakespeare does his, and with very similar ends in +view.</p> +<p>The name <i>Comus</i> Milton found ready to his hand. As a common +noun, the Greek word <i>comus</i> signifies carousal,—wassail. In +the later classic period it had become a proper name, standing for +a personification of nocturnal revelry, and a god Comus was frequently +depicted on vases and in mural paintings. Philostratus, +in his <i>Ikŏnes</i>,—or <i>Pictures</i>,—gives an interesting description of a +painting of this god. See Encyclopædia Britannica, article <i>Comus</i>. +Ben Jonson, in his mask, <i>Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue</i>, played in +1619, presents a Comus as “the god of cheer, or the belly, riding +in triumph, his head crowned with roses and other flowers, his hair +curled.” The character and the name were the common property +of mask-writers.</p> +<p>The great distinction of Comus is its beauty, maintained at +height through a thousand lines of supremely perfect verse. +Greatly dramatic it of course is not. It yields its meaning to the +most cursory reading; it has no mystery. It is simply beautiful, +with a sustained beauty elsewhere unparalleled.</p> +<p> </p> +<p>The following letter of Sir Henry Wotton to the Author deserves +to be read both for its engaging style as a piece of English prose +and for its exquisite characterization of Comus. Wotton was a +versatile scholar, diplomat, and courtier, seventy years old at the +time of this letter, with a reputation as a kindly and appreciative +literary critic. He was now residing at Eton College, where he +held the office of Provost. Milton, thirty years of age, the first edition +of his Comus recently published anonymously, had good cause +for elation over such a testimonial from such a source.</p> +<div class="pb">[99]</div> +<p class="jr1">“From the College, this 13 of April, 1638.</p> +<p class="bq">“Sir,</p> +<p class="bq">“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, over a poor meal or two, that we +might have banded together some good Authors of the ancient time; +among which I observed you to have been familiar.</p> +<p class="bq">“Since your going, you have charged me with new obligations, both +for a very kind letter from you dated the 6th 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: +<i>Ipsa mollities</i>. 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 was added (as I now suppose) that the accessory might help +out the principal, according to the art of Stationers, and to leave the +reader <i>con la bocca dolce</i>.</p> +<p class="bq">“Now, Sir, concerning your travels; wherein I may challenge a +little more privilege of discourse with you. I suppose you will not +blanch 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 the 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.</p> +<p class="bq">“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.</p> +<p class="bq">“At Siena I was tabled in the house of one Alberto Scipioni, 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 +<span class="pb">[100]</span> +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 his confidence enough to beg +his advice how I might carry myself there without offence of others or +of mine own conscience. ‘<i>Signor Arrigo mio</i>,’ says he, ‘<i>I pensieri +stretti ed il viso sciolto</i> 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</p> +<p class="bq">“Your friend, as much to command as any of longer date,</p> +<p class="jr1">“<span class="sc">Henry Wotton</span>.”</p> +<p class="center"><i>Postscript.</i></p> +<p class="bq">“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.”</p> +<p class="tb">The Latin phrase, <i>ipsa mollities</i>, may be translated,—it is the +very perfection of delicacy. The Italian words below mean,—My +dear Henry, thoughts close, face open.</p> +<div class="notes"> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_1" href="#r7_1">1. Before the starry +threshold of Jove’s court.</a> The attendant spirit not +only announces himself as a dweller in heaven, but he specifies +his particular function among the celestials: he is doorkeeper in +the house of God.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_3" href="#r7_3">3. insphered.</a> Compare +<a href="#r4_88">Il Penseroso 88</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_7" href="#r7_7">7. Confined and pestered.</a> <i>Pester</i> has its primitive meaning, to +clog or encumber. <b>In this pinfold here.</b> <i>Pinfold</i> is probably not +connected with the verb to pen, but is a shortened form of poundfold, +and means, literally, an enclosure for stray cattle.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_10" href="#r7_10">10. After this mortal change:</a> after this life on earth, which is +subject to death.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_11" href="#r7_11">11. Amongst the enthroned gods.</a> Make but two syllables of +<i>enthroned</i>, and accent the first.</p> +<p><a id="n7_11a" href="#r7_11a">The long sentence ending with line 11</a> is very loose in construction: +the <i>and</i> in line 7 is a coördinate conjunction, but does not connect +coördinate elements.</p> +<div class="pb">[101]</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_13" href="#r7_13">13. To lay their just hands on that golden key.</a> +Compare <a href="#r8_110">Lycidas 110</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_16" href="#r7_16">16. these pure ambrosial weeds.</a> Ambrosial has its proper meaning,—pertaining +to the immortals.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_20" href="#r7_20">20. by lot ’twixt high and nether Jove.</a> Neptune drew lots with +Jupiter and Pluto. To Jupiter fell the region of the upper air, to +Pluto the lower world, and to Neptune the sea. The ancient poets +sometimes spoke of Jupiter and Pluto as the upper and the lower +Jove.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_25" href="#r7_25">25. By course commits to several government:</a> in due order he +assigns the islands to his tributaries, giving them an island apiece.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_27" href="#r7_27">27. But this Isle</a> is so large that he has to divide it.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_29" href="#r7_29">29.</a> Consider <b>quarters</b> to mean nothing more than divides. <b>his +blue-haired deities</b>. The epithet is conventional, taken from the +Greek poets, and probably has no special significance in this passage.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_31" href="#r7_31">31. A noble Peer.</a> This connects the poem with actual persons +and announces its occasion. The noble peer is the Earl of Bridgewater, +and the event which is to be celebrated is his appointment to the Vice-royalty +of Wales.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_33" href="#r7_33">33.</a> The <b>old and haughty nation</b> are the Welsh.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_34" href="#r7_34">34. his fair offspring</a> are two sons and a daughter, who are to play +the parts of the Two Brothers and the Lady in the mask.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_37" href="#r7_37">37. the perplexed paths of this drear wood.</a> Compare Par. Lost +IV 176.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_41" href="#r7_41">41. sovran.</a> See <a href="#n1_60">note on Hymn on the Nativity 60</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_45" href="#r7_45">45. in hall or bower.</a> Hall and bower are conventionally coupled +by the poets to signify the dwellings, respectively, of the gentry and +the laboring classes.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_46" href="#r7_46">46.</a> +The transformation by Bacchus of the treacherous Tuscan sailors +into dolphins belongs to the established myths of that god. But Milton +exercises his right as a poet to add to the classic story whatever suits +his purposes.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_48" href="#r7_48">48. After the Tuscan mariners transformed;</a> a Latinism, meaning, +after the transformation of the Tuscan mariners.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_50" href="#r7_50">50. fell:</a> chanced to land.</p> +<p>For the story of <a class="rref" id="n7_50a" href="#r7_50a">Circe</a>, see the Odyssey X.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_58" href="#r7_58">58.</a> +Understand that no such distinct character as <b>Comus</b> belongs +to the received mythology. Milton is a myth-maker.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_59" href="#r7_59">59. frolic</a> +is used as an adjective, as in <a href="#r3_18">L’Allegro 18</a>.</p> +<div class="pb">[102]</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_60" href="#r7_60">60. the Celtic and Iberian fields.</a> The god traversed Gaul and +Spain, on his way to Britain.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_61" href="#r7_61">61. ominous:</a> abounding in mysterious signs of danger.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_65" href="#r7_65">65. His orient liquor.</a> +See <a href="#r7_672">line 673</a> of this poem.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_72" href="#r7_72">72.</a> Note that only the countenance is changed.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_87" href="#r7_87">87. Well knows to still the wild winds.</a> The poem moves throughout +in the realm of romance. The swain Thyrsis is in his own character +a practitioner of magic.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_88" href="#r7_88">88. nor of less faith.</a> +Thyrsis has just been described as a person +of great skill.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_90" href="#r7_90">90. Likeliest:</a> most likely to be.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_93" href="#r7_93">93.</a> +The transition from the stately mood of the Attendant Spirit’s +exordium to the noisy exhilaration of Comus is marked by appropriate +changes in the verse. Comus speaks in a lyric strain, and his tone +is exultant. When he comes to serious business, in <a href="#r7_145">line 145</a>, he also +employs blank-verse. The lyric lines, 93-144, rhyme in couplets, and +vary in length, most of them having four accents, while some have +five. The four-accent lines vary between seven and eight syllables, +many of them dropping the initial light syllable, or anakrusis (Auftakt). +These seven-syllable lines have a trochaic effect, but are to be +scanned as iambic, the standard rhythm of the poem. <b>The star +that bids the shepherd fold.</b> So Collins, in his ode To Evening,—“For +when thy folding-star arising shows His paly circlet.” See also +Measure for Measure IV 2 <span class="small">218</span>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_96" href="#r7_96">96. doth allay:</a> doth cool.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_97" href="#r7_97">97.</a> +The epithet <b>steep</b> is applied to the ocean, though really it is the +course of the downward-moving sun that is steep.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_99" href="#r7_99">99-101.</a> +Milton uses <b>pole</b>, as the poets were wont to do, to mean +the sky; and the passage means,—the sun, moving about the earth +in his oblique course, now shines upon that part of the heavens which, +when it is daylight to us, is in shadow.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_105" href="#r7_105">105. with rosy twine</a>; +with twined, or wreathed, roses.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_108" href="#r7_108">108-109. Advice ... Age ... Severity.</a> +For these abstract terms +substitute their concretes.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_110" href="#r7_110">110. their grave saws.</a> +So Hamlet I 5 <span class="small">100</span>, “all saws of books.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_116" href="#r7_116">116. in wavering morrice.</a> +See M. N. Dream II 1 <span class="small">98</span>; All’s Well +II 2 <span class="small">25</span>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_118" href="#r7_118">118. the dapper elves.</a> +<i>Dapper</i> is akin to the German <i>tapfer</i>, but +with a very different connotation.</p> +<div class="pb">[103]</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_124" href="#r7_124">124. Love:</a> +the Latin Amor, the Greek Eros, and our Cupid.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_129" href="#r7_129">129. Dark-veiled Cotytto</a> +was a Thracian goddess, whose worship +was connected with licentious frivolity.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_133" href="#r7_133">133. makes one blot of all the air.</a> +Compare <a href="#r7_204">line 204</a> of this poem.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_135" href="#r7_135">135. thou ridest with Hecat’.</a> +<i>Hecate</i> was a goddess of the lower +world, mistress of witchcraft and the black arts.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_139" href="#r7_139">139. The nice Morn.</a> +<i>Nice</i> is used in a disparaging sense, meaning +over particular, minutely critical.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_140" href="#r7_140">140. From her cabined loop-hole peep.</a> +As if morn dwelt in a +cabin and clandestinely peeped from a small window.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_141" href="#r7_141">141. descry</a> +must here mean reveal.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_144" href="#r7_144">144. In a light fantastic round.</a> +Recall <a href="#r3_33">L’Allegro 34</a>. +Comus and his crew are now dancing.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_147" href="#r7_147">147. shrouds:</a> +hiding-places. See the verb, <a href="#r7_316">line 316</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_151" href="#r7_151">151. my wily trains.</a> +<i>Trains</i> are tricks, as in Macbeth IV 3 <span class="small">118</span>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_154" href="#r7_154">154.</a> +The air is <b>spongy</b> because it absorbs his magic dust.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_155" href="#r7_155">155. blear</a>, +usually applied to eyes, here refers to the effect of seeing +objects with blear eyes.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_174" href="#r7_174">174. the loose unlettered hinds.</a> +The hinds are farm-servants, +usually with an implication of rudeness and rusticity, and they are +loose because unrestrained in speech and act by considerations of +propriety.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_177" href="#r7_177">177. amiss:</a> +in wrong or unseemly ways.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_178" href="#r7_178">178. swilled</a> +is a very contemptuous word.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_179" href="#r7_179">179. wassailers.</a> +See Macbeth I 7 <span class="small">64</span>. The word has an interesting +etymology.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_188" href="#r7_188">188. the grey-hooded Even.</a> +Milton is fond of applying the epithet +<i>gray</i> to the evening and the dawn. See Par. Lost IV 598, +<a href="#r8_187">Lycidas 187</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_189" href="#r7_189">189. Like a sad votarist in palmer’s weed.</a> +The votarist is one +who has made a vow. In this case he goes on a pilgrimage, carrying +a palm branch, and wearing the pilgrim garb.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_203" href="#r7_203">203. the tumult of loud mirth was rife.</a> +As to the meaning of <i>rife</i> +compare Sam. Ag. 866 and Par. Lost I 650.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_204" href="#r7_204">204. Yet nought but single darkness do I find.</a> +The darkness is unbroken by any ray of light.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_210" href="#r7_210">210. may startle well, but not astound.</a> +<i>Astound</i> is a strong word. +See Par. Lost I 281.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_212" href="#r7_212">212. a strong siding champion:</a> +a champion who sides with the virtuous mind.</p> +<div class="pb">[104]</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_222" href="#r7_222">222. her silver lining.</a> +Note Milton’s avoidance of the possessive +<i>its</i>. In all his verse he uses <i>its</i> but three times.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_231" href="#r7_231">231. Within thy airy shell.</a> +The <i>airy shell</i> in which Echo lives +must be the “hollow round” of the atmosphere. +Compare <a href="#r1_100">Hymn on the Nativity 100-103</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_232" href="#r7_232">232.</a> +The <b>Meander</b> is the river of Asia Minor, famous for its windings.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_233" href="#r7_233">233-237.</a> +The mention of the <b>nightingale</b> and <b>Narcissus</b> in this +passage suggests that it may be a reminiscence of the chorus in the +Oedipus Coloneus,—“Of this land of goodly steeds, O stranger.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_237" href="#r7_237">237.</a> +Echo’s passion for the beautiful <b>Narcissus</b> was not requited, +and she pined away till she became a mere voice, which she could not +utter till she was spoken to.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_241" href="#r7_241">241. Daughter of the Sphere:</a> +daughter of the air, which forms a hollow sphere about the earth.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_243" href="#r7_243">243. And give resounding grace to all Heaven’s harmonies:</a> +by echoing back the music of the spheres.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_249" href="#r7_249">249-252.</a> +Even darkness smiled, as if acknowledging itself agreeably +caressed by the strains of the lady’s song.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_251" href="#r7_251">251. At every fall.</a> +<i>Fall</i>, as a musical term, is “a sinking down or +lowering of the note or voice; cadence” (New Eng. Dict.).</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_253" href="#r7_253">253. the Sirens</a> +dwelt on an island near Sicily, and by their sweet +song allured mariners to destruction. See Odyssey XII.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_254" href="#r7_254">254. the Naiades</a> +were nymphs attendant on Circe and the Sirens.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_257" href="#r7_257">257. And lap it in Elysium.</a> +Compare <a href="#r3_136">L’Allegro 136</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_257a" href="#r7_257a">257-259. Scylla and Charybdis</a> +were dangerous rocks and whirlpools +on opposite sides of the strait of Messina. They were personified +as cruel sea-monsters.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_260" href="#r7_260">260. Yet they:</a> Circe and the Sirens.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_267" href="#r7_267">267. Unless the goddess.</a> Supply <i>thou art</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_273" href="#r7_273">273. extreme shift:</a> a pressing necessity of devising some expedient.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_289" href="#r7_289">289. Were they of manly prime or youthful bloom?</a> Were they +in the prime of adult manhood, or in the bloom of youth?</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_277" href="#r7_277">277-290.</a> These fourteen lines are an instance of “stichomythia, +or conversation in alternate lines, which was always popular on the +Attic stage. This scheme of versification is used chiefly in excited +discussions, where the speakers are hurried along by the eagerness of +their feelings.”—Haigh, <i>The Tragic Drama of the Greeks</i>.</p> +<div class="pb">[105]</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_292" href="#r7_292">292. An ox in traces</a> would now be a rare sight.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_294" href="#r7_294">294. a green mantling vine.</a> See Par. Lost IV 258.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_299" href="#r7_299">299. gay creatures of the element:</a> creatures of the air,—supernatural +beings.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_301" href="#r7_301">301. And play i’ the plighted clouds.</a> Probably the poet means +the <i>plaited</i>, or <i>pleated</i>, clouds, conceiving the clouds as appearing +folded together. <b>I was awe-strook.</b> +See <a href="#r1_95">Hymn on the Nativity 95</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_316" href="#r7_316">316. Or shroud within these limits.</a> +<i>Shroud</i> as a noun we saw above, <a href="#r7_147">line 147</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_318" href="#r7_318">318. From her thatched pallet rouse.</a> +The lark builds on the +ground, seeking a spot protected by overarching stems of grass or +grain, which may be called a natural thatch; and if this protection is +destroyed by mowers or reapers, the bird will at once take pains to +build a roof or thatch over the nest, completely covering it, and for a +door will make an opening on the side.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_325" href="#r7_325">325. where it first was named.</a> +The derivation of the words <i>courteous</i> and <i>courtesy</i> +from <i>court</i> is obvious.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_327" href="#r7_327">327. Less warranted than this, or less secure.</a> +The lady says that she cannot be in any place less guaranteed than +this against evil, and that she cannot anywhere be less free from +anxiety. Her situation she conceives to be as bad as it can be.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_329" href="#r7_329">329. square my trial To my proportioned strength:</a> +make my trial +proportionate to my strength.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_332" href="#r7_332">332. That wont’st to love.</a> <i>Wont’st</i>, in the present tense, means, +as we say, art wont.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_333" href="#r7_333">333. Stoop thy pale visage.</a> +Stoop is thus used, transitively, +Richard II. III 1 <span class="small">19</span>, “myself ... have stooped my neck.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_334" href="#r7_334">334. And disinherit Chaos, that reigns here.</a> +<i>Chaos</i>, “the formless +void of primordial matter,” is personified by Milton here and, +much more conspicuously, in Par. Lost III.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_338" href="#r7_338">338. a rush-candle:</a> +a candle made with a rush for a wick,—the +cheapest kind of light. <b>from the wicker hole Of some clay habitation.</b> +Imagine a hut whose walls are made of wattled twigs plastered +with clay. This clay when dry is apt to fall off in spots, leaving holes +through which the light within can be seen from without. A wicker +hole is a hole in the wicker-work, perhaps made intentionally, to serve +as a window.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_341" href="#r7_341">341-342. The star of Arcady</a> +is the constellation of the Greater +<span class="pb">[106]</span> +Bear, and the <b>Tyrian Cynosure</b> that of the Lesser Bear. Stars in +these constellations served as guides to Greek and Tyrian mariners.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_345" href="#r7_345">345. Or sound of pastoral reed with oaten stops.</a> +Compare Collins’s Ode to Evening,—<i>If aught of +oaten stop, or pastoral song</i>. The shepherds of the Greek idylls +made their musical pipes of reeds or oat-straws, and the oat has +therefore been adopted by the pastoral poetry of all ages.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_349" href="#r7_349">349. innumerous boughs.</a> +Compare Par. Lost VII 455.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_358" href="#r7_358">358. Of savage hunger, or of savage heat:</a> +of hungry savages, or +of lustful savages.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_361" href="#r7_361">361. grant they be so:</a> +grant that they are real evils.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_365" href="#r7_365">365.</a> Make four syllables of <b>delusion</b>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_366" href="#r7_366">366. I do not think my sister so to seek:</a> +I do not think she has +her seeking, or learning, still to do: I do not think her so inexperienced.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_373" href="#r7_373">373-375.</a> +Is this practical doctrine?</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_377" href="#r7_377">377.</a> +Make five syllables of <b>Contemplation</b>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_380" href="#r7_380">380. Were all to-ruffled.</a> +The particle <i>to</i>—Anglo Saxon <i>tô</i>, +Modern German <i>zer</i>—has disappeared from Modern English. In +Old English it was often used with the force of the Latin <i>dis</i>. So still +in Chaucer, <i>to-bete, to-cleve, to-rende</i>, and many others.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_386" href="#r7_386">386. affects:</a> +likes, has an affection for.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_390" href="#r7_390">390. weeds,</a> +as in <a href="#r7_84">line 84</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_393" href="#r7_393">393. the fair Hesperian tree.</a> +See <a href="#r7_983">line 983</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_394" href="#r7_394">394. had need the guard.</a> +An elliptical expression. <i>Need</i> is a +noun, but is treated as if it were a verb.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_395" href="#r7_395">395.</a> +The dragon Ladon was not able to defend the apples of Hesperides +against Hercules.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_401" href="#r7_401">401. will wink on Opportunity:</a> +will fail to see its chance.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_404" href="#r7_404">404. it recks me not.</a> +The verb is thus used, impersonally, also +in <a href="#r8_122">Lycidas 122</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_407" href="#r7_407">407.</a> +The line has two hypermetric syllables, one after the third +foot, and one at the end.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_413" href="#r7_413">413. squint suspicion.</a> +An epithet applicable only to a physical infirmity is applied to +a mental act.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_422" href="#r7_422">422. quivered:</a> bearing a quiver.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_423" href="#r7_423">423. unharbored:</a> +furnishing no shelter.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_424" href="#r7_424">424. Infamous hills.</a> +Accent <i>infamous</i> as we do now and as Milton +does elsewhere. Verses thus beginning with trochees are common.</p> +<div class="pb">[107]</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_429" href="#r7_429">429.</a> +Look up the origin of the word <b>grots</b>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_430" href="#r7_430">430. unblenched:</a> +unstartled.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_434" href="#r7_434">434. Blue meagre hag.</a> +The <i>hag</i> has the livid hue of hunger.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_436" href="#r7_436">436. swart faery of the mine.</a> +A malignant demon dwelling under ground,—a gnome.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_441" href="#r7_441">441. the huntress Dian.</a> +The powerful goddess Diana, or Artemis, +twin sister of Apollo, was figured bearing a bow and arrows.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_448" href="#r7_448">448. wise Minerva.</a> +Minerva, or Pallas Athene, is usually represented as wearing +on her breast the ægis with a border of snakes and +the Gorgon’s head in the centre.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_460" href="#r7_460">460-462.</a> +Note the different modes in <b>begin</b> and <b>turns</b>, where we +should look for similar constructions.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_487" href="#r7_487">487.</a> +The ellipsis of <i>we had</i> is readily supplied. <b>Draw</b> and +<b>stand</b> are infinitives.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_494" href="#r7_494">494. Thyrsis,</a> +a stock shepherd-name. The spirit henceforth +appears to his fellow-actors in the mask as the shepherd with whom +they are familiar.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_495" href="#r7_495">495-512.</a> +These lines express sudden emotion, and approximate +lyric in character. Hence the rhyme.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_508" href="#r7_508">508. How chance she is not.</a> +Supply the ellipsis.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_517" href="#r7_517">517. Chimeras</a> +is here used vaguely in the plural to mean dangerous +monsters.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_526" href="#r7_526">526. With many murmurs mixed.</a> +The enchanter spoke or sang forms of incantation over his mixing and brewing. +Recall Macbeth.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_529" href="#r7_529">529.</a> +The word <b>mintage</b> has an interesting history. The human +countenance is conceived as an imprint, like the characters on a +coin.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_530" href="#r7_530">530. Charactered in the face.</a> +The <i>noun character</i> Milton pronounces with accent on the +first syllable, as does Shakespeare. Probably he also agrees with +Shakespeare in pronouncing the <i>verb</i> with the accent on the +second syllable, as this verse suggests.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_531" href="#r7_531">531. crofts.</a> +The word is still in use in England, meaning a small farm.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_540" href="#r7_540">540. by then the chewing flocks:</a> +by the time when, etc.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_547" href="#r7_547">547. To meditate my rural minstrelsy:</a> +to play on my shepherd-pipe +and to sing. To meditate the muse is a standard expression of +the pastoral poets. See <a href="#r8_66">Lycidas 66</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_552" href="#r7_552">552.</a> +What do we know was the cause of this <b>unusual stop of +sudden silence</b>?</p> +<div class="pb">[108]</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_553" href="#r7_553">553-554.</a> +The cessation of the din gave to the steeds of sleep, and +to people who were trying to sleep, relief from annoyance.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_557" href="#r7_557">557-560.</a> +Be sure you understand the figure.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_560" href="#r7_560">560. Still,</a> +in its very frequent sense, <i>always</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_562" href="#r7_562">562. Under the ribs of Death:</a> +in a skeleton.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_575" href="#r7_575">575. such two;</a> describing them.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_586" href="#r7_586">586. Shall be unsaid for me:</a> +it is not necessary for me to make +any change in my opinion to make it harmonize with this new aspect +of affairs.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_595" href="#r7_595">595. Gathered like scum, and settled to itself.</a> +The two metaphors +thus combined make a rather strange mixture.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_598" href="#r7_598">598. The pillared firmament.</a> +By the <i>firmament</i> is usually understood +the sphere of the fixed stars. How to introduce the conception +of <i>pillars</i> is not clear.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_604" href="#r7_604">604. Acheron.</a> +See Par. Lost II 578.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_605" href="#r7_605">605.</a> +The <b>Harpies</b> were monstrous birds with women’s heads. +Their doings are described Æneid III. The <b>Hydra</b> was a monster +serpent with a hundred heads.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_607" href="#r7_607">607. his purchase:</a> +his acquisition.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_610" href="#r7_610">610. I love thy courage yet,</a> +though thou hast spoken most unwisely.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_611" href="#r7_611">611. can do thee little stead:</a> +can avail thee but little.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_617" href="#r7_617">617. utmost shifts:</a> +most carefully devised precautions.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_620" href="#r7_620">620. Of small regard to see to:</a> +of very insignificant appearance.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_621" href="#r7_621">621.</a> +A <b>virtuous plant</b> is a plant which has virtues, i.e. powers or +qualities.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_624" href="#r7_624">624. Which when I did.</a> +The modern English has lost the power +of beginning a sentence thus, with two relatives.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_626" href="#r7_626">626. scrip,</a> +a word in no way connected with <i>script</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_627" href="#r7_627">627. And show me simples of a thousand names.</a> +Compare Hamlet IV 7 <span class="small">145</span>, “no cataplasm so rare, +Collected from all simples that have virtue Under the moon.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_634" href="#r7_634">634. Unknown and like esteemed:</a> +neither known nor esteemed.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_635" href="#r7_635">635. Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon.</a> +See 2 Henry VI. IV 2 <span class="small">195</span>,—“Spare none but +such as go in clouted shoon,” and Hamlet IV 5 +<span class="small">26</span>,—“By his cockle hat and staff, And his +sandal shoon.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_636" href="#r7_636">636.</a> +The story of Hermes’ giving Ulysses the <b>Moly</b> read in Odyssey +X. “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 +<span class="pb">[109]</span> +call it, but it is hard for mortal men to dig; howbeit with the gods all +things are possible.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_638" href="#r7_638">638. He called it Hæmony.</a> +<i>Hæmony</i> is a nonce-word of Milton’s +own coining. He may have derived it from a Greek word meaning +<i>skilful</i> or from another meaning <i>blood</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_640" href="#r7_640">640. mildew blast, or damp.</a> +<i>Blast</i> is defined by Dr. Murray: +“A sudden infection destructive to vegetable or animal life (formerly +attributed to the blowing or breath of some malignant power, foul air, +etc.)”; and <i>damp</i>: “An exhalation, a vapor or gas, of a noxious +kind.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_641" href="#r7_641">641. Or ghastly Furies’ apparition:</a> +or the appearance of terrifying ghosts.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_646" href="#r7_646">646. Entered the very lime-twigs of his spells.</a> +<i>Lime</i> was a viscous +substance, spread upon the twigs of trees and bushes to entangle +the feet of birds. The figure is frequent in Shakespeare. See Hamlet +III 3 <span class="small">68</span>, “O limed soul, that, struggling to be free, Art more engaged.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_657" href="#r7_657">657. apace:</a> quickly.</p> +<p><a id="n7_658">In</a> the stage directions, +<a class="rref" href="#r7_658">goes about</a> means, makes a movement.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_661" href="#r7_661">661. as Daphne was, Root-bound, that fled Apollo.</a> +The great god, Apollo, pursuing the nymph Daphne, Diana saved her +by transforming her into a laurel tree.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_672" href="#r7_672">672. this cordial julep.</a> +<i>Julep</i> is a word of Persian origin, meaning +rose-water. Note the poet’s skill in culling words of delicious +sound.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_675" href="#r7_675">675. Not that Nepenthes +which the wife of Thone In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena.</a> +See Odyssey IV: “Then Helen, daughter +of Zeus, cast a drug into the wine whereof they drank, a drug to +lull all pain and anger, and bring forgetfulness of every sorrow.... +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.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_685" href="#r7_685">685. the unexempt condition:</a> +the condition from which no one is exempt.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_695" href="#r7_695">695. These oughly-headed monsters.</a> +Perhaps by this peculiar +spelling, <i>oughly</i>, Milton meant to add to the word <i>ugly</i> a higher +degree of ugliness.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_698" href="#r7_698">698. With vizored falsehood:</a> +falsehood with its vizor, or face-piece, +down, to conceal its identity.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_700" href="#r7_700">700. With liquorish baits.</a> +<i>Liquorish</i>, now usually spelled <i>lickerish</i>, +<span class="pb">[110]</span> +is allied to <i>lecherous</i>, and has no connection with <i>liquor</i> or +with <i>liquorice</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_703" href="#r7_703">703.</a> +The goodness of the gift lies in the intention of the giver.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_707" href="#r7_707">707. those budge doctors of the stoic fur.</a> +<i>Budge</i> is defined by +Dr. Murray: “Solemn in demeanor, important-looking, pompous, stiff, +formal.” Cowper, in his poem Conversation, has the couplet: “The +solemn fop; significant and budge; A fool with judges, amongst fools a +judge.” <i>A doctor of the Stoic fur</i> is a teacher of the Stoic philosophy, +who wears a gown of the fur to which his degree of doctor entitles him.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_708" href="#r7_708">708. fetch their precepts from the Cynic tub:</a> +teach doctrines +learned from the Cynic Diogenes, who is reputed to have lived in +a tub.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_719" href="#r7_719">719. hutched:</a> +stowed or laid away, as in a chest or hutch.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_721" href="#r7_721">721. pulse;</a> +conceived as the simplest kind of food.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_722" href="#r7_722">722. frieze;</a> +to be pronounced <i>freeze</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_724" href="#r7_724">724. and yet:</a> +and what is yet more.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_728" href="#r7_728">728. Who</a> +refers back to Nature.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_734" href="#r7_734">734. they below:</a> +the people of the lower world.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_737" href="#r7_737">737. coy.</a> +See <a href="#r8_18">Lycidas 18</a>. +<b>cozened.</b> See Merchant of Venice II 9 <span class="small">38</span>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_744" href="#r7_744">744. It</a> refers back to beauty.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_748" href="#r7_748">748. homely;</a> in the modern disparaging sense.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_750" href="#r7_750">750. grain:</a> color.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_751" href="#r7_751">751. To ply</a>, +or make, a <b>sampler</b>, as a proof of her skill with the +needle, was, until very modern times, the duty of every young girl. +The old samplers are now precious heirlooms in families. <b>to tease +the huswife’s wool.</b> To <i>tease wool</i>, or to card it, was to use the +teasle, or a card, to prepare it for spinning. Carding and spinning +were common duties of the huswife and her daughters.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_753" href="#r7_753">753.</a> +In what respect can <b>tresses</b> be said to be like the <b>morn</b>?</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_760" href="#r7_760">760. when vice can bolt her arguments.</a> +There are two verbs, +spelled alike, <i>bolt</i>. One means to sift, and is used often of arguments +and reasonings. To bolt arguments is to construct them with logical +care and precision. The other <i>bolt</i> means to shoot forth or blurt out. +We may take our choice of the two words.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_773" href="#r7_773">773.</a> How is the line to be scanned?</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_780" href="#r7_780">780. Or have I said enow?</a> +In the edition of Comus published in 1645 this passage reads, +<i>Or have I said enough?</i> In the edition of 1673, the latest +that he revised, Milton changed <i>enough</i> to <i>enow</i>. +<span class="pb">[111]</span> +Grammatically, <i>enough</i> is the better form, as the Elizabethan usage +favored <i>enough</i> for the form of the adjective with singular nouns and +for the adverb, and <i>enow</i> as the adjective with plurals. It would seem +that the poet must have had some motive of euphony for the change +he made.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_788" href="#r7_788">788. thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know.</a> +A Latinism: <i>dignus es qui non cognoscas</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_793" href="#r7_793">793. the uncontrolled worth Of this pure cause:</a> +the invincible +power inherent in the cause by virtue of its nature.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_804" href="#r7_804">804. Speaks thunder and +the chains of Erebus To some of Saturn’s crew:</a> +pronounces sentence upon his foes, condemning them to the punishments +named. <i>Erebus</i>—Darkness—is one of the +numerous names of the lower world, the kingdom of Pluto.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_808" href="#r7_808">808. the canon laws:</a> +the fundamental laws, or the Constitution. +Canon law, generally speaking, is ecclesiastical law, or the law governing +the church.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_817" href="#r7_817">817. And backward mutters of dissevering power.</a> +The “many +murmurs” with which his incantations have been mixed must be +spoken backward in order to undo their effect. This backward +repetition of the charm has the power to break the spell which the +charm has wrought.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_822" href="#r7_822">822. Melibœus</a> +is yet another of the stock names of pastoral +poetry.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_823" href="#r7_823">823. The soothest shepherd.</a> +The ancient adjective <i>sooth</i> means +essentially nothing more than <i>true</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_826" href="#r7_826">826. Sabrina is her name.</a> +The story of Sabrina is told by Geoffrey +of Monmouth, whose history is included in the volume of Bohn’s +Antiquarian Library, entitled <i>Six Old English Chronicles</i>. The book +is easily accessible.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_827" href="#r7_827">827. Whilom</a> +is derived from the dative plural <i>hwílum</i> of the Old +English noun <i>hwíl</i>, and originally meant <i>at times</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_831" href="#r7_831">831.</a> +What does Sabrina do in this line?</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_835" href="#r7_835">835. aged Nereus</a> +was one of the numerous Greek deities of the +water. He and his wife Doris had fifty or a hundred daughters, who +are called Nereids.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_838" href="#r7_838">838. In nectared lavers strewed with asphodel.</a> +The <i>nectar</i> of the +gods, which we usually think of as their drink, was also applied to +other purposes, as when Thetis anoints with it the body of Patroclus, +to prevent decay. <i>Asphodel</i> is a flower in our actual flora; but in the +<span class="pb">[112]</span> +poets Asphodel is an immortal flower growing abundantly in the +meadows of Elysium.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_840" href="#r7_840">840. ambrosial</a> +here means, <i>conferring immortality</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_845" href="#r7_845">845. Helping all urchin blasts;</a> +<i>i.e.</i> helping the victims of the +blasts against their baleful influence. See note on line 640. See +Merry Wives of Windsor IV 4 <span class="small">49</span>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_851" href="#r7_851">851.</a> +The word <b>daffodil</b> is directly derived from asphodel, with a <i>d</i> +unaccountably prefixed. The English daffodil is the narcissus.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_858" href="#r7_858">858. adjuring:</a> +charging or entreating solemnly and earnestly, as +if under oath.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_868" href="#r7_868">868. Oceănus</a> +is the personified Ocean, a broad, flowing stream +encircling the earth.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_869" href="#r7_869">869. Earth-shaking</a> +is a Homeric epithet of Neptune. The mace +of Neptune must be his trident.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_870" href="#r7_870">870. Tethys</a> +is wife of Oceanus and mother of the Oceanids. She reared the great +goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter. Her <b>pace</b> is suitable +to her dignity.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_871" href="#r7_871">871. hoary Nereus.</a> +See <a href="#n7_835">note on line 835</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_872" href="#r7_872">872. the Carpathian wizard’s hook.</a> +Proteus, son of Oceanus and +Tethys, herded the sea-calves of Neptune on the island of Carpathus. +As a herdsman he bore a crook, or <i>hook</i>. He had the gift of prophecy, +and so is called a <i>wizard</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_873" href="#r7_873">873. Scaly Triton’s winding shell.</a> +<i>Triton</i> was herald of Neptune +and so carried a shell, which he was wont to <i>wind</i> as a horn. His +body was in part covered with scales like those of a fish.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_874" href="#r7_874">874. The soothsaying Glaucus</a> +was a prophet, and gave oracles at +Delos. He is represented as a man whose hair and beard are dripping +with water, with bristly eyebrows, his breast covered with sea-weeds, +and the lower part of his body ending in the tail of a fish.</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0"><a class="rref" id="n7_875" href="#r7_875">875. By Leucothĕa’s lovely hands,</a></p> +<p class="t2"><b>And her son that rules the strands.</b></p> +</div> +<p class="cont">Ino, after she had slain herself and her son Melicertes, by leaping +with him into the sea, became a protecting deity of mariners under +the name Leucothea, or the white goddess. So she came to the aid of +Ulysses when he was passing on his raft from Calypso’s isle to Phæacia. +She there appears “with fair ankles,” and when she receives back from +him her veil, which she had lent him, she does it with “<i>lovely hands</i>.”</p> +<p class="cont">Melicertes becomes a protecting deity of shores, under the name +Palæmon. The Romans identified him with their god <b>Portunus</b>.</p> +<div class="pb">[113]</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_877" href="#r7_877">877. By Thetis’ tinsel-slippered feet.</a> +Thetis was the wife of +Peleus, and the mother of Achilles. In Homer she has the epithet +<i>silver-footed</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_878" href="#r7_878">878. the songs of Sirens.</a> +See <a href="#n7_253">note on line 253</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_879" href="#r7_879">879. By dead Parthenope’s dear tomb.</a> +Parthenope was one of the Sirens. At Naples her tomb was shown.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_880" href="#r7_880">880. And fair Ligea’s golden comb.</a> +Ligea was probably also a +siren. In Virgil, Georgics IV 336, we find a nymph of this name, +spinning wool with other nymphs, “their bright locks floating over +their snowy necks.” The name Ligea means shrill-voiced.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_887" href="#r7_887">887.</a> +In the reading make <b>in</b> an adverb.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_892" href="#r7_892">892. My sliding chariot stays.</a> +Compare this use of <i>stay</i> with that +found in lines 134, 577, 820.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_893" href="#r7_893">893. the azurn sheen.</a> +With <i>azurn</i> compare <i>cedarn</i>, line 990.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_908" href="#r7_908">908-909.</a> +Be careful what inflection you give these lines in the +reading.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_913" href="#r7_913">913. of precious cure:</a> +of precious power to cure.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_921" href="#r7_921">921. To wait in Amphitrite’s bower.</a> +<i>Amphitrite</i> was a daughter +of Oceanus and Tethys. She was goddess of the sea, had the care of +its creatures, and could stir up the waves in storm.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_923" href="#r7_923">923. Sprung of old Anchises’ line.</a> +According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, +Brutus the Trojan was the grandson of Æneas and founder of +London. Anchises, in the Homeric story, is the father of Æneas. +This fable plays an important part in the ancient British myth.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_924" href="#r7_924">924. thy brimmed waves.</a> +A river is happiest when full to its +brim.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_930" href="#r7_930">930.</a> +Of what parts of speech are <b>torrent</b> and <b>flood?</b></p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_933" href="#r7_933">933.</a> +It is very curious that our word <b>beryl</b> and the German +<i>Brille</i> come directly from the same source.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_937" href="#r7_937">937.</a> +And yet this river is the English Severn!</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_957" href="#r7_957">957.</a> +Note the impressive effect of the five-foot line ending the scene.</p> +<p>The shepherds have their dance in rustic fashion. The words +describing this dance are the familiar peasant words, +<a class="rref" id="n7_960" href="#r7_960">jig, duck, nod</a>. +The playful tone in which the spirit calls upon the swains to give place +to their betters is charming.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_964" href="#r7_964">964. With the mincing Dryades.</a> +“The <i>Dryades</i> were nymphs of +woods and trees, dwelling in groves, ravines, and wooded valleys, and +were fond of making merry with Apollo, Mercury, and Pan.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_980" href="#r7_980">980. I suck the liquid air:</a> +I inhale the upper air,—the <i>æther</i> +<span class="pb">[114]</span> +<i>liquidus</i> of the poets. So Ariel, Tempest V 1 <span class="small">102</span>, +“I drink the air before me.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_981" href="#r7_981">981. the gardens fair Of Hesperus and his daughters three.</a> +The number of the Hesperides and their parentage are differently given in +various legends. The story of their garden in some mysterious place +in the far west, where they guarded the tree that bore the golden +apples, assisted by the dragon Ladon, is one of the best known in +the classic mythology.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_984" href="#r7_984">984. Along the crisped shades and bowers.</a> +Milton applies <i>crisped</i> to brooks, Par. Lost IV 237. Herrick +has,—“the crisped yew,” and +the American Thoreau,—“A million crisped waves.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_985" href="#r7_985">985. spruce.</a> +A very interesting account of the origin of this word +is given by Skeat in his Etymological Dictionary.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_986" href="#r7_986">986. The Graces and the rosy-bosomed Hours.</a> +See <a href="#n3_15">note on L’Allegro 15</a>. +“The <i>Graces</i> were guardians of the vernal sweetness +and beauty of nature, friends and protectors of everything graceful +and beautiful.” The <i>Hours</i> were goddesses of the seasons, daughters +of Zeus and Themis. They were the door-keepers of Olympus, whose +cloud-gate they open and shut: thus they preside over the weather.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_990" href="#r7_990">990. About the cedarn alleys:</a> +about the pathways through +cedar groves. Coleridge, in Kubla Khan, has the line, “Down the +green hill athwart a cedarn cover”; and Tennyson, Geraint and Enid, +the line,—“And moving toward a cedarn cabinet.” So also William +Barnes, in his Rural Poems, uses the expression, “stonen jugs.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_992" href="#r7_992">992. Iris</a> +is the messenger of the gods: her path is the rainbow.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_993" href="#r7_993">993.</a> +Dr. Murray gives other instances of <b>blow</b> as a transitive +verb.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_999" href="#r7_999">999. Adonis</a> +was a young shepherd, the special favorite of Venus. +His death was caused by a wild boar. The story is told in various +forms. Observe that Milton makes him wax well of his deep wound.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_1002" href="#r7_1002">1002. the Assyrian queen.</a> +The worship of Aphrodite (Venus) +was brought into Greece from Assyria.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_1005" href="#r7_1005">1005. Holds his dear Psyche.</a> +Psyche—the personification of +the human soul—was a mortal maiden, beloved of Cupid. Venus, +in her jealousy of Psyche, compelled her to pass through a long series +of hardships and toils. Cupid at last succeeded in reconciling his +mother and his beloved, and in having <i>Psyche</i> advanced to the dignity +of an immortal.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_1015" href="#r7_1015">1015. Where the bowed welkin slow doth bend:</a> +where the curvature of the vault of the sky seems less than higher up +toward the zenith.</p> +<div class="pb">[115]</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n7_1021" href="#r7_1021">1021. the sphery chime.</a> +See notes, Hymn on the Nativity <a href="#n1_48">48</a> and +<a href="#n1_125">125</a>.</p> +</div> +<h3>LYCIDAS.</h3> +<p>Lycidas is Milton’s contribution to a volume of elegiac verses, in +Greek, Latin, and English, composed by many college friends of +Edward King, who was drowned in the wreck of the vessel in +which he was crossing the Irish Channel.</p> +<p>In its main intention, Lycidas is an elegy, because it professes to +mourn one who is dead and extols his virtues. In its form it is +almost wholly pastoral, because it feigns an environment of shepherds, +allegorizing college life as the life of men tending flocks, +and the occupations of earnest students as the careless diversions +of rustic swains.</p> +<p>Four times the pastoral note is rudely interrupted by the intervention +of majestic beings who speak in awful tones from another +world, and whose voices instantly check all familiar rustic speech, +compelling it to wait till they have announced their messages from +above. The supernal powers who thus descend to take their parts +in the office of mourning are Phœbus, Apollo, Hippotades, god +of the winds, Camus, god of the river Cam, and St. Peter. This +mingling of classic, Hebrew, and Christian conceptions is a marked +characteristic of all Milton’s poetry.</p> +<p>Thus Lycidas is neither wholly elegiac nor wholly pastoral. +From the lips of St. Peter, typifying the church, comes a speech of +violent denunciation, in the true later Miltonic manner. In strange +contrast to this grim invective is the famous flower-passage, the +sweetest and loveliest thing of its kind in our literature.</p> +<div class="notes"> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_1" href="#r8_1">1-5.</a> +To pluck once more the berries of the evergreens, or to gather +laurels,—is to make a new venture as a poet,—to compose a poem. +The berries are harsh and crude,—he shatters their leaves before the +mellowing year, either because he is to mourn the death of a young +man, or because he feels in himself a lack of “inward ripeness” to +treat his theme worthily,—perhaps for both reasons. He shatters the +leaves with forced fingers rude, in the sense that his subject is not of +his own choosing.</p> +<div class="pb">[116]</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_6" href="#r8_6">6-7.</a> +A sad duty is imposed upon him, forbidding further delay on +any personal grounds.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_8" href="#r8_8">8. Lycidas</a> +is one of the stock names of pastoral poetry. The poem, +though most serious in its main motive and intention, is to have a +pastoral coloring throughout. Note the impressive repetitions, <b>dead, +dead</b>, and the recurrences of the name Lycidas in the next two lines.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_11" href="#r8_11">11. he knew Himself to sing and build the lofty rhyme.</a> +Edward King had, in accordance with the college custom of his time, +written verses, apparently all in Latin. Of these verses Masson, in his +life of Milton, gives specimens. They seem to be commonplace.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_13" href="#r8_13">13. and welter to the parching wind.</a> +See Par. Lost II 594, I 78.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_15" href="#r8_15">15. Sisters of the sacred well.</a> +Ancient tradition connects the +origin of the Muses with Pieria, a district of Macedonia at the foot of +Olympus. But the springs with which we associate the Muses are +Aganippe and Hippocrene on Mount Helicon.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_19" href="#r8_19">19. So may some gentle muse.</a> +A peculiar use of the word <i>muse</i> +as masculine, and meaning <i>poet</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_23" href="#r8_23">23-31.</a> +We pursued the same studies, at the same college, and we +studied from early morning sometimes till after midnight. The +metaphors are all pastoral.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_32" href="#r8_32">32-36.</a> +We wrote merry verse, bringing in the college jollities, in +wanton student-fashion, and the good-natured old don who was our +tutor affected to be pleased with our work.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_34" href="#r8_34">34. Rough Satyrs danced, and Fauns with cloven heel.</a> +The <i>Satyrs</i>, represented as having human forms, with +small goat’s horns and a small tail, had for their occupation +to play on the flute for their master, Bacchus, or to pour his wine. +The <i>Fauns</i> were sylvan deities, attendants of Pan, and are +represented, like their master, with the +ears, horns, and legs of a goat.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_37" href="#r8_37">37-49.</a> +Nature herself sympathizes with men, and mourns thy loss.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_50" href="#r8_50">50. Nymphs:</a> +deities of the forests and streams.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_52" href="#r8_52">52. on the steep Where your old bards, the famous Druids, lie.</a> +The shipwreck in which King was lost took place off the coast of +Wales. Any one of the Welsh mountains will serve to make good +this allusion.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_54" href="#r8_54">54. Nor on the shaggy top of Mona high.</a> +<i>Mona</i> is the ancient +and poetical name of the island of Anglesea.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_55" href="#r8_55">55. Nor yet where Deva spreads her wizard stream.</a> +The Dee (Deva) below Chester expands into a broad estuary. In his lines +<span class="pb">[117]</span> +spoken At a Vacation Exercise, Milton, characterizing many rivers, +mentions the “ancient hallowed Dee.” The country about the Dee +had been specially famous as the seat of the old Druidical religion. +In the eleventh Song of his Polyolbion, Drayton eulogizes the +medicinal virtues of the salt springs in the valley of the river Weever, +which attract Thetis and the Nereids:—</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">And Amphitrite oft this Wizard River led</p> +<p class="t2">Into her secret walks (the depths profound and dread)</p> +<p class="t2">Of him (supposed so wise) the hid events to know</p> +<p class="t2">Of things that were to come, as things done long ago.</p> +<p class="t2">In which he had been proved most exquisite to be;</p> +<p class="t2">And bare his fame so far, that oft twixt him and Dee,</p> +<p class="t2">Much strife there hath arose in their prophetic skill.</p> +</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_56" href="#r8_56">56-63.</a> +Even the Muse Calliope could do nothing for her son +Orpheus, whom the Thracian women tore to pieces under the excitement +of their Bacchanalian orgies. The gory visage floated down the +Hebrus and through the Ægean Sea to the island of Lesbos.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_64" href="#r8_64">64. what boots it:</a> +of what use is it?</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_64a" href="#r8_64a">64-66.</a> +What good are we going to derive from this unremitting +devotion to study?</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_67" href="#r8_67">67-69.</a> +Would it not be better to abandon ourselves to social enjoyment, +and to lives of frivolous trifling? <b>Amaryllis</b> and <b>Neæra</b> are +stock names of shepherdesses.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_70" href="#r8_70">70-72.</a> +Understand <b>clear</b>, +as applied to <b>spirit</b>, to mean “pure, +guileless, unsophisticated.” Sir Henry Wotton, in his Panegyric to +King Charles, says of King James I.,—“I will not deny his appetite +of glory, which generous minds do ever latest part from.” Love of +fame, according to the poet, is the motive that prompts the scholar +to live as an ascetic and to persevere in toilsome labor. This love +of fame is an infirmity, but not a debasing one: it leaves the mind +noble. Remember, however, that the author of the Imitation of +Christ prayed, <i>Da mihi nesciri</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_75" href="#r8_75">75. the blind Fury with the abhorred shears.</a> +Milton here seems +to ascribe to the Furies (Erinyes) the function belonging to the Fates +(Parcæ, Moiræ). The three Fates were Klotho, the Spinner; Lachĕsis, +the Assigner of lots; and Atrŏpos, the Unchanging. It was the duty +of Atropos to cut the thread of life at the appointed time.</p> +<p class="cont">A querulous thought comes to the poet’s mind. Our lives are +obscure and laborious, sustained only by the hope of future fame; +<span class="pb">[118]</span> +but before we attain our reward, comes death, and our ambition is +brought to naught.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_76" href="#r8_76">76-77. But not the +praise, Phœbus replied, and touched my trembling ears.</a> +The Fury cannot destroy the praise, which necessarily +belongs to doing well. Praise here means the essential praise, +which naturally inheres in excellence, and not the being talked about +by men.</p> +<p class="cont">The speaker is now Phœbus, the august god Apollo, the pure one, +who protects law and order, and promotes whatever is good and +beautiful; who reveals the will of Zeus, and presides over prophecy.</p> +<p class="cont">Phœbus has now an admonition to give and he touches the poet’s +ears; as in Virgil, Eclogue IV 3,—<i>Cynthius aurem vellit et admonuit</i>, +“The Cynthian twitched my ear and warned me.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_79" href="#r8_79">79. in the glistering foil Set off.</a> +See Shakespeare, Richard III. V 3 <span class="small">250</span>,—“A +base foul stone, made precious by the foil of England’s +chair.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_85" href="#r8_85">85-86. O fountain Arethuse, +and thou honored flood, Smooth-sliding +Mincius.</a> Arethusa was a fresh-water fountain at Syracuse +in Sicily, and the Mincius is a river in north Italy, on which is situated +Mantua, the birthplace of the poet Virgil. The great pastoral +poet Theocritus is said to have been born at Syracuse. Thus Arethusa +and the Mincius typify the pastoral tone in which Milton conceives +and constructs his poem. But the intervention of the great god +Apollo has frighted the bucolic muses, to whom therefore the poet +explains it, line 87.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_88" href="#r8_88">88.</a> +Now I am on good terms again with the deities of lower rank. +<b>Oat</b> is a common designation of the shepherd’s pipe, or syrinx.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_89" href="#r8_89">89-90.</a> +Neptune, through his herald, Triton, pleads his freedom +from all complicity in the drowning of Lycidas. Triton sends to +Æolus, god of the winds, requesting him to cross-question all his +subjects as to what they were doing on the day of the wreck.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_95" href="#r8_95">95-99.</a> +The winds prove their innocence, and Æŏlus himself comes +to report to Triton that at the time of the disaster they were all at +home and the air was perfectly calm. Even Panope and all her +sisters were out playing on the tranquil water.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_96" href="#r8_96">96. sage Hippotădes.</a> +Æolus was the son of Hippotes. See all +about him in Odyssey, book X. Read also Ruskin, Queen of the Air, +section 19.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_99" href="#r8_99">99. Panope</a> +was a Nereid, one of the numerous daughters of Nereus.</p> +<div class="pb">[119]</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_103" href="#r8_103">103.</a> +Now comes another grand personage to make inquiry about +the death of Lycidas. <b>Camus</b>, the deity of the river Cam, stands +for the University of Cambridge.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_104" href="#r8_104">104. His mantle hairy, and his bonnet sedge.</a> +The river god is +represented as wearing a mantle made of water-grasses and reeds.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_105" href="#r8_105">105-106.</a> +These lines refer to certain markings on the water-plants +of the Cam, said to be correctly described here by the poet. The dimness +of the figures may suggest the great age of the university, and the +tokens of woe belong to the present occasion.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_106" href="#r8_106">106. that sanguine flower inscribed with woe.</a> +This is the hyacinth, +the flower that sprang up on the spot where the youth Hyacinthus +had been accidentally slain by Apollo. The petals of the hyacinth are +said to be marked with the Greek letters AI AI, which form an interjection +expressing grief.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_107" href="#r8_107">107.</a> +Lycidas was one of those collegians whose scholarship, character, +and piety promise to make them the pride of their Alma Mater.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_109" href="#r8_109">109. The Pilot of the Galilean Lake.</a> +See Matthew <span class="small">XIV</span>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_110" href="#r8_110">110. Two massy keys he bore of metals twain.</a> +See Matthew +<span class="small">XVI</span> 19. See also <a href="#r7_13">Comus 13</a> and +Par. Lost III 485. The idea of <i>two</i> +keys, one of gold and one of iron, is not in the Bible.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_112" href="#r8_112">112. He shook his mitred locks.</a> +St. Peter wears the mitre as bishop.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_113" href="#r8_113">113-131.</a> +St. Peter makes but little reference to Lycidas, and his words add almost +nothing to the elegiac character of the poem. His speech is one of stern +and bitter satire. The second period of Milton’s life, which is to +be given up to intense and uncompromising partisanship +in religion and politics, foreshadows itself in these lines.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_114" href="#r8_114">114. Enow</a> +is here used in its proper plural sense. See +<a href="#n7_780">note on Comus 780</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_115" href="#r8_115">115. climb into the fold.</a> +See John <span class="small">X</span> 1. The metaphor of sheep +and herdsmen is continued throughout the speech.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_119" href="#r8_119">119. Blind mouths!</a> +As the relative pronoun beginning the next +clause refers to this exclamation, mouths must be taken as a bold +metaphor meaning men who are all mouth, or are supremely greedy +and selfish. Moreover, they are blind.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_122" href="#r8_122">122. What recks it them?</a> +See note on <a href="#n7_404">Comus 404</a>. <b>They are +sped:</b> they have succeeded in their purpose. See Antony and Cleopatra +II 3 <span class="small">35</span>. Note also the phrase of greeting, <i>bid God speed</i>, as in +2 John <span class="small">I</span> 10, 11, King James version.</p> +<div class="pb">[120]</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_123" href="#r8_123">123. their lean and flashy songs:</a> +their sermons.</p> +<p>Evidently Milton can cull words of extreme disparagement and +vilification as well as words of unapproachable poetic beauty.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_125" href="#r8_125">125-127.</a> +The congregations are not edified. The miserable preaching +they listen to fails to keep them sound in doctrine. They grow +lax in their faith, and heretical opinions become fashionable.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_128" href="#r8_128">128. the grim wolf with privy paw</a> +is undoubtedly the Roman church.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_130" href="#r8_130">130-131.</a> +These lines evidently denounce some terrible retribution +that is sure ere long to overtake the corrupt clergy described in +the preceding passage. <b>The two-handed engine at the door, that +stands ready to smite once and smite no more</b>, has never been +definitely explained. We naturally think of the headsman’s +axe, which, however, does not become applicable till the execution +of Archbishop Laud, an event not to take place till eight years +after the composition of the poem. It has been suggested that +Milton had in mind the two houses of Parliament, or the Parliament +and the Army, as the agency through which reform was to be effected. +We must remember that Milton in 1637 could not foresee the Civil +War. He may have meant to combine certain scriptural expressions +into a mysteriously suggestive and oracular prediction, without +having in view any single and definite possibility.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_132" href="#r8_132">132. Return, Alphēus.</a> +The Alpheus was a river of the Peloponnesus, +said to sink underground and to flow beneath the sea to Ortygia, +near Syracuse, where it attempted to mingle its waters with those +of the fountain Arethusa. See <a href="#n8_85">note on lines 85, 86</a>. +See also Shelley’s poem, Arethusa.</p> +<p class="cont">The pastoral tone of lightness and simplicity could not be maintained +while St. Peter spoke. But now the Sicilian Muse returns, all +the more lovely for the contrast with the stern malediction that has +gone before.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_134" href="#r8_134">134-151.</a> +Milton is fond of thus collecting names of persons, places, +and things, choosing them as well for their effect on the ear as for +their significance. The botany of this passage is of little consequence: +it matters not whether all these flowers could, or could not, be collected +at the same season, or whether they could be found at the time of the +year when Lycidas died. The passage offers a picture of exquisite +beauty to the eye, and to the ear a strain of perfect melody.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_136" href="#r8_136">136. where the mild whispers use.</a> +The verb <i>use</i>, in this intransitive +<span class="pb">[121]</span> +sense, with only adverbial complement, and meaning <i>dwell</i>, is +now obsolete.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_138" href="#r8_138">138. the swart star:</a> +the star that makes <i>swart</i>, or <i>swarthy; i.e.</i> +the sun.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_139" href="#r8_139">139. enamelled eyes</a> +are the flowers generally, which are to be +specified. Scattered over the turf, the flowers seem to be looking +upward, like eyes.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_142" href="#r8_142">142. rathe</a> +is the adjective whose comparative is our <i>rather</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_149" href="#r8_149">149. amaranthus</a>, +by its etymology, means <i>unfading</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_150" href="#r8_150">150. Daffadil</a> +is derived from <i>asphodel</i>, with a curious, and altogether +unusual, prefixed <i>d</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_153" href="#r8_153">153. dally with false surmise.</a> +King’s body was not found. There +was no actual strewing of the laureate hearse with flowers.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_156" href="#r8_156">156. the stormy Hebrides:</a> +islands off the northwest coast of Scotland.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_160" href="#r8_160">160. Sleep’st by the fable of Bellerus old.</a> +The fable of Bellerus +is the fabled Bellerus, or Bellerus of the fable. He was a mythical +giant of Cornwall in old British legend. Bellerium was the name +given to Land’s End, where he was supposed to live.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_161" href="#r8_161">161. the great Vision of the guarded mount.</a> +St. Michael’s Mount +is a pyramidal rock in Mounts Bay on the coast of Cornwall. This +was guarded by the angel, St. Michael, whose gaze was directed seaward, +toward Namancos and Bayona, in northwestern Spain. In +some unknown place between these widely sundered limits, the body +of Lycidas is tossed.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_170" href="#r8_170">170. with new-spangled ore.</a> +<i>Ore</i>, from its original meaning of +metal in the natural state, comes to signify metallic lustre generally. +See Comus <a href="#r7_719">719</a>, <a href="#r7_933">933</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_173" href="#r8_173">173.</a> +See Matthew <span class="small">XIV</span> 25.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_175" href="#r8_175">175.</a> +Compare <a href="#r7_838">Comus 838</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_176" href="#r8_176">176. the unexpressive nuptial song.</a> +See <a href="#r1_116">Hymn on the Nativity 116</a>. See also Revelation <span class="small">XIX</span> 7-9.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_181" href="#r8_181">181. And wipe the tears forever from his eyes.</a> +See Revelation <span class="small">XXI</span> 4.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_183" href="#r8_183">183. Henceforth thou art the genius of the shore.</a> +This is the +same promotion that was accorded to Melicertes, son of Ino, who on +his death became the genius of the shore under the name of Palæmon.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_186" href="#r8_186">186. uncouth;</a> +a self-depreciating expression meaning <i>unknown</i> +or <i>obscure</i>.</p> +<div class="pb">[122]</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_187" href="#r8_187">187.</a> +Milton applies the epithet <b>gray</b> both to evening and to morning.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_188" href="#r8_188">188. various quills</a> +are the tubes of the shepherd pipe.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_189" href="#r8_189">189. Doric</a> +means simply <i>pastoral</i>, because the idylls of the first +pastoral poets were written in the Doric dialect of Greek.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n8_190" href="#r8_190">190. had stretched out all the hills:</a> +had caused the shadows of +the hills to prolong themselves eastward on the plain.</p> +<p>The poet seems to feign that he spent a day in the composition of +Lycidas.</p> +</div> +<h3>SONNETS.</h3> +<p>Of poems in strict sonnet form, that is, containing neither +more nor less than fourteen decasyllable iambic lines, interlocked +by some scheme of symmetrical rhyme, not in couplets, Milton left +twenty-three, of which five are in Italian. Of the three sonnets in +English omitted from this edition, two have reference to the violent +controversy occasioned by Milton’s publications in advocacy of +greater freedom of divorce, and are rough and polemic in style; +the third is omitted on account of its unimportance and lack of +distinction.</p> +<p>In their dates the twenty-three sonnets range from the poet’s +twenty-third to his fiftieth year. They are the only form of verse +in which he indulges during that middle period of his life which +was abandoned to political partisanship on the side of the Parliament +in the Civil War, and to the service of the government during +the Commonwealth and the Protectorate. If, as is now widely believed, +Shakespeare’s sonnets are artificial and tell us little or +nothing about their author, those of Milton are purely natural and +subjective and tell us nothing else but what their writer was thinking +and feeling. Their themes are his veritable moods and passions. +The mood is now friendly, amiable, and serene, now bitter, +strenuous, indignant, vindictive.</p> +<p>Wordsworth, in his sonnet, <i>Scorn not the Sonnet</i>, thus refers to +Milton’s sparing use of this poetic form:—</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t12">and when a damp</p> +<p class="t2">Fell round the path of Milton, in his hand</p> +<p class="t2">The Thing became a trumpet; whence he blew</p> +<p class="t2">Soul-animating strains,—alas too few.</p> +</div> +<div class="pb">[123]</div> +<p>The Shakespearean sonnet consists of three quatrains followed +by a couplet,—the usual English form up to the seventeenth century. +Milton adopted the Italian, or Petrarchian model, which +has continued to be the standard sonnet form in our modern poetry. +In the Miltonic, or Italian, sonnet a group of eight lines, linked by +two rhymes each occurring four times, is followed by a group of +six lines linked by three rhymes each occurring twice. The octave +and the sextet are severed from each other by the non-continuance +of the rhymes of the former into the latter. At the end of the +octave, or near it, is usually a pause, marking the culmination of +the thought, and the sextet makes an inference or rounds out the +sense to an artistic whole.</p> +<p>Read Wordsworth’s sonnets, <i>Happy the feeling from the bosom +thrown,</i> and <i>Nuns fret not at their convent’s narrow room.</i></p> +<h4>I.</h4> +<p>The date of this sonnet is unknown. From the fact that it +comes first in the series as arranged by the poet, it is inferred that +it is the earliest sonnet he chose to publish.</p> +<div class="notes"> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_1_4" href="#r9_1_4">4. the jolly Hours.</a> +See <a href="#n7_986">note on Comus 986</a>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_1_5" href="#r9_1_5">5-6.</a> +To hear the nightingale before the cuckoo was for lovers a +good sign. This superstition is a motive in the +<i>Cuckoo and the Nightingale</i>, a poem formerly attributed to +Chaucer, and as such “modernized” by Wordsworth, but now +known to be the work of <b>Sir Thomas Clanvowe</b>. Stanza X of +this poem is thus given by Wordsworth:—</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">But tossing lately on a sleepless bed,</p> +<p class="t2">I of a token thought which Lovers heed;</p> +<p class="t2">How among them it was a common tale,</p> +<p class="t2">That it was good to hear the Nightingale</p> +<p class="t2">Ere the vile Cuckoo’s note be utterèd.</p> +</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_1_9" href="#r9_1_9">9. the rude bird of hate.</a> +This gives to the cuckoo altogether too +bad a character. The bird has on the whole a fair standing in English +poetry. We must think of the very pleasing <i>Ode to the Cuckoo</i>,—written +either by Michael Bruce or by John Logan,—as well as of the +passage in which Shakespeare makes Lucrece ask (line 848),—</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">Why should the worm intrude the maiden bud?</p> +<p class="t2">Or hateful cuckoos hatch in sparrows’ nests?</p> +</div> +<div class="pb">[124]</div> +<p class="cont">Look up other nightingale and cuckoo songs; for example, Keats’s +<i>Ode to a Nightingale</i>, and Wordsworth’s <i>The Cuckoo at Laverna</i>.</p> +</div> +<h4>II (1631).</h4> +<p>This sonnet Milton appears to have sent with a prose letter to +a friend who had remonstrated with him on the life of desultory +study which he was so long continuing to lead. In this letter he +professes the principle of “not taking thought of being <i>late</i>, so it +gave advantage to be more fit.” He adds, “That you may see +that I am something suspicious of myself, and do take notice of +a certain <i>belatedness</i> in me, I am the bolder to send you some of +my nightward thoughts some little while ago, because they come +in not altogether unfitly, made up in a Petrarchian stanza, which +I told you of.”</p> +<div class="notes"> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_2_8" href="#r9_2_8">8. timely-happy:</a> +wise with the wisdom proportionate to one’s +years. Similar compounds of two adjectives in Shakespeare are very +frequent; for example, holy-cruel, heady-rash, proper-false, +devilish-holy, cold-pale.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_2_10" href="#r9_2_10">10. even:</a> equal, adequate.</p> +</div> +<h4>VIII (1642).</h4> +<p>The occasion of this sonnet was the near approach of the royalist +army to London, early in the Civil War. The people of the city +had reason to fear the entrance of the cavalier troops and the sacking +of the houses of citizens obnoxious to the party of the king. +Milton would have been an object of special animosity to victorious +royalists, and for a short time he had grounds for the acutest anxiety. +It is not easy to see how, in case of actual pillage of the city, +he could have made use of such an appeal as this. The sonnet is +probably to be regarded as a work of art constructed when the +vicissitudes which it pictures were happily past, and when the +poet’s mind had regained its tranquillity.</p> +<div class="notes"> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_8_1" href="#r9_8_1">1.</a> +Note that <b>Colonel</b> has three syllables, according to the +pronunciation prevailing in Milton’s time. Look up the etymology +of this word.</p> +<div class="pb">[125]</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_8_10" href="#r9_8_10">10. The great Emathian conqueror:</a> +Alexander the Great, called +Emathian from Emathia, a district of his kingdom of Macedonia.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_8_11" href="#r9_8_11">11. bid spare +The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower +Went to the ground.</a> Alexander destroyed the city of Thebes in +335 B.C. Pindar, the famous lyric poet, a native and resident of +Thebes, had then been dead more than a century. But Pindar’s +house still stood, and was left standing by the conqueror, who +destroyed all other buildings of the city.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_8_12" href="#r9_8_12">12. the repeated air +Of sad Electra’s poet had the power To +save the Athenian walls from ruin bare.</a> To quote from Plutarch, +Life of Lysander: “The proposal was made in the congress of the +allies, that the Athenians should all be sold as slaves; on which occasion +Erianthus, the Theban, gave his vote to pull down the city and +turn the country into sheep-pasture; yet afterwards, when there was +a meeting of the captains together, a man of Phocis singing the first +chorus in Euripides’ Electra, which begins,—</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t2">“Electra, Agamemnon’s child, I come</p> +<p class="t2">Unto thy desert home,</p> +</div> +<p class="cont">they were all melted with compassion, and it seemed to be +a cruel deed to destroy and pull down a city which had been so famous, +and produced such men.”</p> +</div> +<h4>IX (1644).</h4> +<p>Who the virtuous young lady was is not known.</p> +<div class="notes"> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_9_2" href="#r9_9_2">2.</a> +See the gospel of Matthew <span class="small">VII</span> 13.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_9_5" href="#r9_9_5">5.</a> +See Luke <span class="small">X</span> 40-42; Ruth <span class="small">I</span> 14.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_9_8" href="#r9_9_8">8.</a> +Note the “identical” rhyme. The effect of such a rhyme is +unpleasant. Modern poets avoid it.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_9_9" href="#r9_9_9">9-14.</a> +See Matthew <span class="small">XXV</span> 1-13.</p> +</div> +<h4>X (1644 or 1645).</h4> +<p>Lady Margaret’s father was the Earl of Marlborough, who had +been President of the Council under Charles I. Milton attributes +his death to political anxiety caused by the dissolution of Charles’s +third Parliament in 1629.</p> +<div class="notes"> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_10_6" href="#r9_10_6">6-8. that dishonest victory at Chæronea.</a> +The victory of Philip over the Greeks at Chæronea, B.C. 338, is +called by the poet <i>dishonest</i> because obtained by means of intrigue +and bribery. <a class="rref" href="#r9_10_6">that old man eloquent</a> +<span class="pb">[126]</span> +is the orator and rhetorician Isocrates, who, in his grief over +the defeat of his countrymen, committed suicide.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_10_9" href="#r9_10_9">9. later born than to have known:</a> +too late to have known. <i>Serius nata quam ut cognosceres</i>.</p> +</div> +<h4>XIII (1646).</h4> +<p>“In these lines, Milton, with a musical perception not common +amongst poets, exactly indicates the great merit of Lawes, which +distinguishes his compositions from those of many of his contemporaries +and successors. His careful attention to the words of the +poet, the manner in which his music seems to grow from those +words, the perfect coincidence of the musical with the metrical +accent, all put Lawes’s songs on a level with those of Schumann +or Liszt.”—<i>Encyclopædia Britannica</i>.</p> +<p>See introductory notes to <a href="#n7_0">Comus</a> and +<a href="#n5_0">Arcades</a>.</p> +<div class="notes"> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_13_3" href="#r9_13_3">3-4. not to scan With Midas’ ears.</a> +The god Apollo, during the +time of his servitude to Laomedon, had a quarrel with Pan, who +insisted that the flute was a better instrument than the lyre. The +decision was left to Midas, king of Lydia, who decided in favor of +Pan. To punish Midas, Apollo changed his ears into those of an ass.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_13_4" href="#r9_13_4">4. committing short and long:</a> +setting long syllables and short +ones to fight against each other, and so destroying harmony.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_13_5" href="#r9_13_5">5.</a> +The subject is conceived as a single idea, and so takes the verb +in the singular. <b>exempts thee:</b> singles thee out, selects thee.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_13_8" href="#r9_13_8">8. couldst humor best our tongue:</a> +couldst best adapt or accommodate +itself to our language.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_13_10" href="#r9_13_10">10. Phœbus’ quire:</a> +the poets. <i>Quire</i> is Milton’s spelling of <i>choir</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_13_12" href="#r9_13_12">12-14.</a> +Read the story of Dante’s meeting with his friend, the +musician Casella, in the second canto of Purgatory.</p> +</div> +<h4>XV (1648).</h4> +<p>The taking of Colchester by the parliamentary army under Fairfax, +Aug. 28, 1648, was one of the most important events of the +Civil War.</p> +<div class="notes"> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_15_7" href="#r9_15_7">7. the false North displays Her broken league.</a> +The Scotch and the English accused each other of having violated the +Solemn League and Covenant, to which the people of both countries had +subscribed.</p> +<div class="pb">[127]</div> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_15_8" href="#r9_15_8">8. to imp their serpent wings.</a> +To <i>imp</i> a wing with feathers is to attach feathers to it so as to +strengthen or improve its flight. The word is originally a term of +falconry. See Richard II. II 1 <span class="small">292</span>. See +also Murray’s <i>New English Dictionary</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_15_13" href="#r9_15_13">13-14. Valor, Avarice, Rapine;</a> +personified abstracts, after the +manner of our earlier poetry.</p> +</div> +<h4>XVI.</h4> +<p>As Secretary for Foreign Tongues to the Council of State of the +Commonwealth, Milton saw much of Cromwell, and came under +the influence of his voice and manner. Whether the great general +had ever taken note of the poems written by the secretary who +turned his despatches into Latin, or whether he gave any special +heed to the man himself, with whom he must have come into some +sort of personal relation, we have no means of knowing. We know, +however, perfectly well what the poet thought of the victorious +general. Though by no means always approving his state policy, +Milton retained to the end the warm personal admiration for Cromwell +which he expresses in this sonnet.</p> +<div class="notes"> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_16_7" href="#r9_16_7">7-9. Darwen stream</a>, +usually spoken of as the battle of Preston, +was fought Aug. 17, 1648; <b>Dunbar</b>, Sept. 3, 1650; <b>Worcester</b>, Sept. 3, +1651.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_16_12" href="#r9_16_12">12. to bind our souls with secular chains:</a> +to fetter our religious freedom with laws made by the civil power.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_16_14" href="#r9_16_14">14. hireling wolves.</a> +Milton applies this degrading appellation to +clergymen who received pay from the state. His appeal to Cromwell +was not successful. Cromwell was to become the chief supporter of a +church establishment.</p> +</div> +<h4>XVII (1652).</h4> +<p>Sir Henry Vane was member of a committee of the Council of +State appointed in 1649 to consider alliances and relations with the +European powers. Milton, as Secretary of the Council, had abundant +opportunity to observe Vane’s skill in diplomacy, his ability +to “unfold the drift of hollow states hard to be spelled.” Both +Vane and Milton held to the doctrine, preëminently associated +with the name of Roger Williams, of universal toleration, based on +<span class="pb">[128]</span> +the refusal to the civil magistrate of any authority in spiritual +matters.</p> +<div class="notes"> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_17_1" href="#r9_17_1">1. Vane, young in years:</a> +Vane was born in 1613.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_17_3" href="#r9_17_3">3. gowns, not arms:</a> +civilians, not soldiers. The expression is a +Latinism, the <i>gown</i> standing for the <i>toga</i>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_17_4" href="#r9_17_4">4. The fierce Epirot and the African bold:</a> +Pyrrhus and Hannibal.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_17_6" href="#r9_17_6">6. hard to be spelled.</a> +Compare <a href="#r4_170">Il Penseroso 170</a>.</p> +</div> +<h4>XVIII (1655).</h4> +<p>The historical event which furnishes the occasion of this sonnet +is the persecution of the Protestant Waldenses by the Piedmontese +and French governments, at the time of Cromwell’s Protectorate. +Cromwell’s vigorous and successful intervention was the means of +staying this horror, and gives evidence of the respect entertained +for his government among the states of Europe.</p> +<div class="notes"> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_18_4" href="#r9_18_4">4. when all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones.</a> +Christianity had been introduced into the Waldensian country +while Britain was still pagan.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_18_5" href="#r9_18_5">5. their groans Who were thy sheep:</a> +the groans of those who were.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_18_12" href="#r9_18_12">12. The triple Tyrant.</a> +The Pope, who wore a triple crown.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_18_14" href="#r9_18_14">14. the Babylonian woe.</a> +The puritans interpreted the <i>Babylon</i> of Revelation as the +church of Rome. See Revelation <span class="small">XVIII</span>.</p> +</div> +<h4>XIX.</h4> +<p>The sonnet, says Masson, may have been written any time between +1652 and 1655.</p> +<div class="notes"> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_19_2" href="#r9_19_2">2. Ere half my days.</a> +Milton’s blindness is considered to have +become total in 1652, when he was at the age of forty-four. How +shall we understand these words?</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_19_3" href="#r9_19_3">3.</a> +See the Parable of the Talents, Matthew <span class="small">XXV</span>.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_19_8" href="#r9_19_8">8. I fondly ask.</a> +See <a href="#n4_6">note on Il Pens. 6</a>.</p> +</div> +<h4>XX.</h4> +<p>Probable date, 1655. Of the Mr. Lawrence to whom the sonnet +is addressed nothing is certainly known.</p> +<div class="pb">[129]</div> +<div class="notes"> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_20_6" href="#r9_20_6">6. Favonius</a> +is the Latin name for Zephyrus, the west wind.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_20_10" href="#r9_20_10">10. Attic:</a> +refined, delicate, poignant.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_20_13" href="#r9_20_13">13. and spare To interpose them oft:</a> +refrain from too free enjoyment +of them.</p> +</div> +<h4>XXI.</h4> +<p>The second sonnet to Cyriac Skinner determines its own date +as 1655, and this one is probably to be assigned to the same year.</p> +<p>But little is known of the person to whom this sonnet and the +next one are addressed, except what we learn from the sonnets +themselves,—that he was an intimate and esteemed friend of Milton. +He may have been one of Milton’s pupils; and he may, when +his old teacher had become blind, have rendered him important +services as amanuensis or as reader.</p> +<div class="notes"> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_21_1" href="#r9_21_1">1-4.</a> +Cyriac Skinner’s mother was daughter of the famous lawyer +and judge, Sir Edward Coke.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_21_2" href="#r9_21_2">2. Themis</a> +is personified <i>law</i>, this being the meaning of the Greek +word.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_21_7" href="#r9_21_7">7. Let Euclid rest, and Archimedes pause:</a> +intermit for a day your severe mathematical studies.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_21_8" href="#r9_21_8">8. And what the Swede intend, and what the French:</a> +and pay no heed to foreign news.</p> +</div> +<h4>XXII (1655).</h4> +<div class="notes"> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_22_1" href="#r9_22_1">1. this three years’ day:</a> +three years ago to-day.</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_22_10" href="#r9_22_10">10.</a> +Milton’s duties as Latin secretary to the government were +exceedingly arduous.</p> +</div> +<h4>XXIII.</h4> +<p>Milton’s second wife died in February, 1658; her child lived +but a short time. At the time of his second marriage Milton had been +blind several years. Notice the reference in the sonnet to the sense +of sight: in his dream he <i>saw</i>.</p> +<div class="notes"> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_23_2" href="#r9_23_2">2. like Alcestis.</a> +Read the story of the Love of Alcestis in William Morris’s +Earthly Paradise; and read in Euripides, “That strangest, +saddest, sweetest song of his, Alkestis.”</p> +<p><a class="rref" id="n9_23_6" href="#r9_23_6">6. Purification in the Old Law.</a> +See Leviticus <span class="small">XII</span>.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Minor Poems by Milton, by John Milton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MINOR POEMS BY MILTON *** + +***** This file should be named 31706-h.htm or 31706-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/7/0/31706/ + +Produced by Thierry Alberto, Stephen Hutcheson and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> |