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 CLARENDON PRESS SERIES 
 
 MILTON 
 
 LALLEGRO 
 
 EDITED, WITH NOTES 
 
 BY 
 
 OLIA^ER ELTON, B.A. 
 
 SOMETIME SCHOLAR OB CORVUS CHSKTI CQLUCaE, OXFORD 
 
 LRCTCRKft OK RJ4GUSH LCtERAIUHB AT THtC OWRNH COLLECK 
 
 (VtCTOlilA university) MANCHESTStt 
 
 ///J 
 
 OXFORD 
 ILARENDON PREJ 
 
 Prioe Vourpesoe. 
 

 MILTON 
 
 L' ALLEGRO 
 
 EDITED, WITH NOTES 
 
 BY 
 
 OLIVER ELTON, B.A. 
 
 SOMETIME SCHOLAR Ol' COKPLS CHUl.STl (. OLLI.GI;, OXI ORl> 
 
 l.liClUKEK ON KNCLISIl LI TKHATUKIC AT THE OWENS COLLEtili 
 
 (\ ICTORIA university), MANCHESTER 
 
 OXFORD 
 
 AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 
 
 i«93 
 
1 I O v^ vl •«• 
 
 f) 
 
 Bo 
 
 260452 
 
 i» 
 
 HENRY FROWDE, M.A. 
 
 PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD 
 
 LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK 
 
 TORONTO AND MELBOURNE 
 
•I 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 f> 
 
 This poem and the Pcnseroso must be studied side by side 
 in order to understand cither. In mechanism, to begin with, 
 they are parallel : they have a similar overture, development, 
 climax, and close, which it is easy to follow. Each poem opens 
 with an imprecation, in similar metre, against the patron 
 goddess of Lue other, and goes on to invoke its own. Mirth for 
 the joyous man, Melancholy for the sad. The parentage of 
 each goddess is given, and each is bidden to come with its own 
 retinue of beautiful abstractions. Then the poet begins his 
 walk : the lark salutes his joyous mood, the nightingale his sad- 
 ness. Matin sights and sounds fill the sense of the joyous man ; 
 the evening moon and curfew sign to the sad man to go in. 
 Both men, or rather both incarnations of the poet's mood, come 
 together at eve over the well-loved stage ; only, the Allegro goes 
 to a comedy at the theatre, while the Penseroso sits at home to 
 read Aeschylus, Shakspere, and Chaucer. For each the close is 
 music : thrilling and delightful ' airs ' for the Allegro, for the 
 Penseroso cathedral choir and anthem. 
 
 Closer than mere likeness of mechanism is the identity of 
 style and atmosphere in the two poems. The early freshness 
 was still on Milton's genius ; the early excess of imagery, which 
 we find in the Nativity Ode, is purged away. Not yet had the 
 poet struck the note which we first hear in Lycidas, the note of 
 the Hebrews and of Dante, of wrath and righteousness and 
 judgment, of the ' two-handed engine at the door.' There is 
 indeed in these two poems more than the promise of a great 
 poet, there is the performance ; but the full fire of his soul is not 
 yet kindlf^d, and will not be for many years. In other words, 
 his ima.t . tion is still immature ; it is perpetually crossed with 
 fantasy, though it be fantasy of a lofty and gracious order, 
 whose later burning away under the stress of conflict and saeva 
 indignatio we can almost regret. 
 
 A 2 
 
fNTRODUCTlON, 
 
 We have no direct evidence of the ilutc when these poems 
 were written. They belong to the years (1632-8) of Milton's 
 life at Morton in Ducks. Co^nits was acted in 1634 ; and from 
 the evidence of tone and workinanshij) these twin-poems arc 
 generally thought to have preceded it. It should be noted that 
 their scenery is what Professor Masson well calls 'ideal and 
 eclectic' The poet only takes the general character of his 
 setting from the country which was before his eyes ; but, being 
 a poet, he deals with it even more freely than Turner dealt with 
 the subjects of his pictures. 
 
 The rhythm of these poems, like that of all Milton's verse, 
 deserves close study. The base-metre in both poems is the old 
 eight-syllabled, four-accent rhyming line with the accent on the 
 even syllables (second, fourth, &c.). 'I'his is the measure of many 
 old French Romances, of Gower, and often of Chaucer ; of Scott, 
 Byron, Coleridge, and countless others afterwards. No one, 
 unless it be Coleridge (in C/iristabel), has approached Milton 
 in the mastery of it ; and Milton used it only for these two 
 poems and for some of the songs in Counts ; soon he discarded 
 it, first for the measure oi Lycuius, and then for blank verse. 
 
 In the Penscroso the base-metre prevails ; that is, lines like— 
 'To hit I the sense | of hu | man sight.' 
 Lines like — 
 
 'Sober | steadfast | and de- | mure,' 
 
 where there are seven syllables, but still four accents (these 
 accents however being on the odd syllables, first, third, &c.), are 
 the exception. There are twenty-four such lines out of a total 
 of 176. But in the Allegro this joyous and tripping variation of 
 the measure is naturally much commoner, occurring in fifty-five 
 lines out of 152. The effect of each occasion where it is used 
 should be carefully noted and felt. The other notable variation 
 of the base-metre (besides a simple extra syllable at the end, 
 which is called a feminine rhyme), is where the accent is reversed 
 in the first foot, as in — 
 
 * Under \ the haw- \ thorn in ' the dale' 
 This line closes a series (11. 64-68) of the seven-syllabled lines, 
 and produces an effect of peculiar lightness, swing, and satisfac- 
 tion in the climax. 
 
 <> 
 
 *c- 
 
♦s 
 
 L' ALLEGRO. 
 
 Hence, loathed Melancholy, 
 
 Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born 
 In Styg'an cave forlorn 
 
 'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unlioly ! 
 Find out some uncouth cell, 5 
 
 Where brooding Darkness spreads his jealous wings. 
 And the night-raven sings ; 
 
 There, under ebon shades and low-browed rocks 
 As ragged as thy locks, 
 
 In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell. 10 
 
 ' 
 
 But come thou goddess fair and free, 
 
 In Heaven yclept Euphrosyne, 
 
 And by men heart-easing Mirth ; 
 
 Whom lovely Venus at a birth 
 
 With two sister Graces more 
 
 To ivy-crowned Bacchus bore ; 
 
 Or whether (as some sager sing) 
 
 The frolic wind that breathes the spring, 
 
 Zephyr, with Aurora playing, 
 
 As he met her once a-Maying, 
 
 There on beds of violets blue, 
 
 And fresh-blown roses washed in dew, 
 
 Filled her with thee, a daughter fair, 
 
 So buxom, blithe, and debonair. 
 
 15 
 
 20 
 
Z' ALLEGRO. 
 
 Haste thee, Nymph, and bring with thee 
 Jest and youthful Jollity, 
 Quips and Cranks and wanton Wiles, 
 Nods and Becks and wreathed Smiles, 
 Such as hang on Hebe's cheek, 
 And love to live in dimple sleek ; 
 Sport that wrinkled Care derides, 
 And Laughter holding both his sides. 
 Come, and trip it as ye go 
 On the Hght fantastic toe ; 
 And in thy right hand lead with thee 
 The mountain-nymph, sweet Liberty; 
 And, if I give thee honour due. 
 Mirth, admit me of thy crew, 
 To live with her, and live with thee. 
 In unreproved pleasures free; 
 To hear the lark begin his flight, 
 And singing startle the dull night, 
 From his watch-tower in the skies, 
 Till the dappled dawn doth rise ; 
 Then to come, in spite of sorrow, 
 And at my window bid good morrow, 
 Through the sweet-briar, or the vine, 
 Or the twisted eglantine; 
 While the cock with lively din, 
 Scatters the rear of darkness thin. 
 And to the stack, or the barn-door, 
 Stoutly struts his dames before : 
 Oft listening how the hounds and horn 
 Cheerly rouse the slumbering Morn, 
 From the side of some hoar hill. 
 Through the high wood echoing shrill. • 
 Sometime walking, not unseen, 
 By hedgerow elms, on hillocks green, 
 Right against the eastern gate 
 Where the great Sun begins his state, 
 
 25 
 
 30 
 
 35 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 45 
 
 50 
 
 f 
 
 55 
 
 60 
 
J^ ALLEGRO. 
 
 25 
 
 30 
 
 35 
 
 # 
 
 40 
 
 } 
 
 45 
 
 50 
 
 I 
 
 55 
 
 9 
 
 60 
 
 Robed in flames, and amber light, 
 
 The clouds in thousand liveries dight : 
 
 While the ploughman, near at hand. 
 
 Whistles o'er the furrowed land. 
 
 And the milkmaid singeth blithe, 65 
 
 And the mower whets his scythe, 
 
 And every shepherd tells his tale 
 
 Under the hawthorn in the dale. 
 
 Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures 
 
 Whilst the landskip round it measures; 70 
 
 Russet lawns, and fallows gray, 
 
 Where the nibbling flocks do stray ; 
 
 Mountains on whose barren breast 
 
 The labouring clouds do often rest ; 
 
 Meadows trim with daisies pied, 75 
 
 Shallow brooks, and rivers wide ; 
 
 Towers and battlements it sees 
 
 Bosomed high in tufted trees. 
 
 Where perhaps some beauty lies, 
 
 The Cyn ire of neighbouring eyes. 80 
 
 Hard by a cottage chimney smokes. 
 
 From betwixt two aged oaks. 
 
 Where Corydon and Thyrsis met 
 
 Are at their savoury dinner set 
 
 Of herbs and other country messes, 85 
 
 Which the neat-handed Phillis dresses ; 
 
 And then in haste her bower she leaves, 
 
 With Thestylis to bind the sheaves ; 
 
 Or, if the earlier season lead, 
 
 To the tanned haycock in the mead. 90 
 
 Sometimes with secure delight 
 
 The upland hamlets will invite, 
 
 When the merry bells ring round. 
 
 And the jocund rebecks sound 
 
 To many a youth, and many a maid, 95 
 
 Dancing in the chequered shade ; 
 
 And young and old come forth to play 
 
L ALLEGRO, 
 
 On a sunshine holiday, 
 
 Till the livelong daylight fail : 
 
 Then to the spicy nut-brown ale, loo 
 
 With stories told of many a feat, 
 
 How faery Mab the junkets eat ; 
 
 She was pinched and pulled, she said ; 
 
 And he, by Friar's lantern led. 
 
 Tells how the drudging goblin sweat 105 
 
 To earn his cream-bowl duly set, 
 
 When in one night, ere glimpse of morn. 
 
 His shadowy flail hath threshed the corn 
 
 That ten day-labourers could not end ; 
 
 Then lies him down the lubber fiend, no 
 
 And, stretched out all the chimney's length. 
 
 Basks at the fire his hairy strength ; 
 
 And crop-full out of doors he flings, 
 
 Ere the first cock his matin rings. 
 
 Thus done the tales, to bed they creep, 115 
 
 By whispering winds soon lulled asleep. 
 
 Towered cities please us then. 
 
 And the busy hum of men, 
 
 Where throngs of knights and barons bold, 
 
 In weeds of peace, high triumphs hold, 120 
 
 With store of ladies, whose bright eyes 
 
 Rain influence, and judge the prize 
 
 Of wit or arms, while both contend 
 
 To win her grace whom all commend. 
 
 There let Hymen oft appear 125 
 
 In saffron robe, with taper clear, 
 
 And pomp, and feast, and revelry, 
 
 With mask and antique pageantry ; 
 
 Such sights as youthful poets dream 
 
 On summer eves by haunted stream. 130 
 
 Then to the well-trod stage anon, 
 
 If Jonson's learned sock be on, 
 
 Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child, 
 
 Warble his native wood-notes wild. 
 
 V 
 
 
lOO 
 
 105 
 
 no 
 
 11: 
 
 L ALLEGRO. 
 
 And ever, against eating cares, 
 Lap me in soft Lydian airs, 
 Married to immortal verse, 
 Such as the meeting soul may pierce 
 In notes with many a winding bout 
 Of linked sweetness long drawn out 
 With wanton heed, and giddy cunning ; 
 The melting voice through mazes running, 
 Untwisting all the chains that tie 
 The hidden soul of harmony : 
 That Orpheus' self may heave his head 
 From golden slumber on a bed 
 Of heaped Elysian flowers, and hear 
 Such strains as would have won the ear 
 Of Pluto, to have quite set free 
 His half-regained Eurydice. 
 
 These delights if thou canst give. 
 Mirth, with thee I mean to live. 
 
 9 
 
 135 
 
 140 
 
 145 
 
 150 
 
 120 
 
 125 
 
 130 
 
NOTES. 
 
 Some valuable notes and quotations are borrowed below from Mr. R. 
 C Browne's edition of Milton, and are marked with his initials. The 
 editions of Keightley and Masson have proved most useful. The 
 Glossary is mainly taken from Prof. .Skcat's Etymological Dictionary. 
 
 1, 2. Melancholy is the child of the porter of Ilell and of Midnight : 
 the classical husband of Night was Erebus or Darkness : perhaps Milton 
 substituted ' Cerberus ' because its first syllable is more sonorous to 
 dwell upon than that of ' Erebus.' 
 
 J. 3. Stygian. The original meaning of the word 'hateful' is sug- 
 gested : 'Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly /laie,'' Paradise Lost, ii. 
 
 ir 
 1.5- 
 1.6. 
 
 uncouth : rough, uncivilized, 
 
 jealous : jealous to guard its ' brood ' from intniders, like an 
 angry vuPure, or some dusky bird of ill omen. 
 
 11. 8, 9. ' The tops of the ragged rocks ' (Isaiah ii. 21) probably sug- 
 gested this word to Milton. But ' rocks as ragged as thy locks ' is a 
 piece of fantasy more in the manner of Donne than of Milton at his 
 best; there seems no true picture in the comparison, unless the 'ragged' 
 seaweed be thought of. 
 
 1. 10. The Cimmerians. See Odyssey, xi. 13 : 'The ship came to 
 the end of the world, the deep-flowing Ocean-stream. There is the 
 land and city of the Cimmerians, swathed in mist and in cloud ; and the 
 shining sun never looks down on them with his beams, neither when he 
 climbs up the starry heavens, nor when again he turns from the heaven 
 earthward : but over miserable mortals is spread out fatal night.' 
 
 1. 12. yclept, called. See Glossary, 
 
 Euphrosyn ; means Blitheness, Festal Cheer. Her ' sister Graces ' 
 were Aglaia (Radiance) and Thalia (The Blooming). The Graces 'are 
 the friends of the Muses, with whom they live together in Olympus' 
 (Smith, Class. Diet. Art. Charites). 
 
 1. 17. some sager. Milton's own fancy has to answer for this 
 beautiful alternative genealogy. Mirth is daughter of the soft west 
 wind and the Dawn. 
 
 1. 18. frolic, sportive and blithe, with a touch of mischief like Ariel. 
 
 ) 
 
NOTES. 
 
 II 
 
 from Mr. R. 
 litials. The 
 iseful. The 
 ►ictionary. 
 
 f Midnight : 
 haps Milton 
 sonorous to 
 
 iful ' is sug- 
 ise Lost, ii. 
 
 lers, like an 
 
 •obably siig- 
 ' locks ' is a 
 ilton at his 
 he 'ragged' 
 
 lip came to 
 liere is the 
 lid ; and the 
 ler when he 
 L the heaven 
 
 ight; 
 
 ster Graces ' 
 Graces 'are 
 11 Olympus' 
 
 er for this 
 
 e soft west 
 
 like Ariel. 
 
 ) 
 
 1. 22. Milton remembers The Taming of the Shrew, ii. i. 174 lall 
 references are to Globe edition) ;-- 
 
 ' I '11 say she looks as clear 
 As morning roses newly washed with dew.' [R. C. B.] 
 
 1. 24. buxom. See Glossary, 
 
 debonair, courteous, of easy and kindly manner. See Glossary. 
 ' So buxom, blithe,' occurs in the Prologue to Pericles, Prince of Tyre 
 (not Shakspere's part). 
 
 1. 27. A quip is defined by Lyly in Alexander and Campaspe as 'a 
 short saying of a sharp wit, with a bitter sense in a sweet word.' 
 [R. C. B.] It is a smart and usually punning retort. See (Glossary. 
 cranks are sudden twists and turns of wit. See Glossary. 
 
 1. 29. Hebe, the cupbearer of nectar and ambrosia to the gods. 
 
 1- 33« y©> plural, addressed to Sport, &c. Thy, in 1. 35, is addressed 
 to the nymph Mirth alone. 
 
 1. 34. fantastic. The dance is to be a country one, full of wild and 
 graceful figures : not a solemn ceremonious one. 
 
 1. 36. The Oread, or hill-nymph, is Liberty incarnate, ranging free as 
 air. 
 
 1. 40. unreproved, unblameable, innocent. * What is not reproved ' 
 easily comes to mean 'what cannot be reproved;' and the idiom is 
 common in Milton and Shakspere. In the lines on Shakspere (i. 11) 
 we have ' the leaves of thy unvalued book : ' an usage perhaps 
 borrowed from Shakspere himself, Richard III. i. 4. 27, 'unvalued 
 jewels' (that is, 'invaluable'). 
 
 1. 43. The lark sees the dawn sooner than the dull night which grovels 
 on the earth, because he is high up in his ' watchtower.' The word 
 to7ocy (spelt tovJ'r in edition 1645) is, like ' flower,' 'bower,' &c., nearly 
 always one syllable in Milton. 
 
 1. 44. The best commentary is Much Ado about Nothing, v. 3. 25 : — 
 ' And look ! the gentle day . . . 
 Dapples the drowsy east with spots of gray.' [R. C. B.] 
 
 1. 45. Then to come is parallel in construction to ' to hear ' in 1. 41 
 and ' to live ' in 1. 39 : depending, that is, on ' admit ' in 1. 38, or rather 
 on ' permit ' understood from ' admit.' Mark Pattison thinks that the 
 lark comes to the window and greets the Allegro (construing 'to 
 come' as parallel to ' begin ' and 'startle' in 11. 41-2^ But the words 
 ' in spite of sorrow ' seem to imply the Allegro going to his own window 
 and greeting the morning ; they would mean little applied to the lark. 
 
 1. 48. The eglantine used to mean the sweet-briar; Milton must 
 have meant the honeysuckle. ' Twisted ' would not suit the dog-rose, 
 
li 
 
 L ALLEGRO. 
 
 which some have conjectured as })cing tlie nearest thing to the 
 sweet-briar. Hut, as Mark Tattison points out in his excellent book 
 on Milton vl''.ng. Men of Letters series;, the city-bred Milton ignored 
 such details. ' 
 
 1. 5c The last thin wreaths of dark mist that linger after sunrise are, 
 like a i uted army, scattered by * the cock's shrill clarion.' 
 
 1. 53. .istening {list'nin^, edition 1645) is two syllables. So slum- 
 bering in the next line. 
 
 1. 54. With this description of the morn contrast that in the Pen- 
 seroso, 11. 122 sq. 
 
 Cheerly, blithely and with good heart. ' Cheerly, good Adam,' 
 As You Like It, ii. 6. 19. 
 
 1. 55. hoar, with ?arly unmelted rime. 
 
 I. 58. The Pcnseroso (1. 65) ' walks unseen,' and on college lawns 
 retired, not on 'hillocks.' 
 
 II. 59-63. Note the magnificent sound of these lines. Milton once or 
 twice in these two poems seems to quit the tone of gracious fantasy 
 which he has laid down for them, and to ' somewhat loudly sweep the 
 string.' But the fanciful word ' liveries ' brings him back again. 
 
 1- 59- against : the cheerful man walks facing the east, with the sun 
 full in his eyes. 
 
 1. 60. Like a king holding a court. See Penseroso 37, 'keep thy 
 wonted state.' ' The clouds' in 1. 62 are his courtiers in full dress. 
 
 1. 62. dight, adorned. See Glossary. 
 
 1. 67. tale is probably • story,' not 'the number of his flock.' If it 
 be literally said that telling stories is a strange occupation for day- 
 break, there is the etpially literal reply that 'under the hawthorn' 
 suggests story-telling much more than it does the ' telling ' or counting 
 of flocks. 
 
 1. 69. The ' eye ' is the mind's eye. The cheerful man is figured, not 
 as looking at different points of a single scene, but as imagining scene 
 after scene. Remember once more that 'The scenery is ideal and 
 eclectic' At any rate, ' mountains ' shews that the Horton country is 
 not ibought of exclusively. 
 
 1. 70. landskip. See (Glossary. 
 
 1. 71. Russet lawns: heath or other waste-lands between woods. 
 ' Russet ' is the rusty brown of the bracken or ling. Set Glossary for ' lawns.' 
 
 1. 74. laboxiring : charged with rain, and toiling onwards like 
 swimmers in the sky. Goldsmith, Deserted Village, 191 : — 
 
 ' Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, 
 Kternal sunshine settles on its head.' 
 
 I 
 
NOTES. 
 
 13 
 
 Ting to the 
 cellent book 
 Itoii it^nored 
 
 r sunrise are, 
 ;. So slum- 
 in the Pen- 
 jood Adam,' 
 
 )llege lawns 
 
 ilton once or 
 ;ious fantasy 
 ly sweep the 
 jain. 
 with the sun 
 
 ', 'keep thy 
 1 dress. 
 
 lock." If it 
 on for day- 
 hawthorn ' 
 or counting 
 
 figured, not 
 'ining scene 
 s ideal and 
 1 country is 
 
 'een woods, 
 1' for 'lawns.' 
 iwards like 
 
 ead. 
 
 1. 75. So ' trim gardens,' II Fenseroso 50. pied, variegated pink, 
 yellow and white. The word originally refers chiefly to black and 
 white. Shakspere has ' When daisies pied,' Love's Labour's Lost, song 
 at end; also 'piedncss,' Winter's Tale, iv. 3. 87, in the great scene of 
 Perdita and the flowers. 
 
 1. 77. Windsor Castle, though not ' bosomed high in tufted trees,' 
 may have suggested this line. 
 
 1. 79. lies, lives. Properly of lodging or passing the night at a place. 
 Justice Shallow (2 HenrylV.iii. 2. 299) ' lay at Clement's Inn.' [R .C .B.] 
 
 1. 80. Cynosure is literally 'dog's tail ' in Greek, and me.tnt the Lesser 
 Bear, which the Phenician sailors fixed their eyes upon to steer by. 
 
 1. 83. Corydon, Thyrsis, &c., are pastoral personages out of Virgil's 
 Eclogues. The scholar- poet, writing in part for scholars, dresses the 
 English peasant playfully in classic names, and calls a country girl's 
 room a * bower.' 
 
 1. 89. lead, namely, lead ' her thither, i. e. if it be haymaking time ' 
 (Keightley). 
 
 1. 90. tanned, by the sun. 
 
 1. 91. secure means careless (Lat. securus;, not ' safe,' with which it 
 is contrasted, e. g. by Ben Jonson in his Epode :— 
 
 * Men may securely sin, but safely never." [R. C. B.] 
 
 1. 93. Peals were and are often rung on church-bells on feast-days. 
 
 1. 94. rebecks are a sort of fiddle. See Glossary. The fiddler in 
 Romeo and Juliet, iv. 5. 135, is named Hugh Rebeck. 
 
 1. 100. Then (go we) to, &c. The 
 wassail bowl of warm sweet ale. 
 
 1. 102. For Queen Mab see Mercutio's speech in Romeo and Juliet, 
 i- T- 53-94' But Milton doubtless owed more to Ben Jonson's Satyr, 
 where Mab is called ' She that pinches country wenches If they rub not 
 clean their benches . . . But if so they chance to feasl Ler, In a shoe she 
 drops a tester.' 
 
 junkets are properly milk curdled and served on rushes ^Ital. 
 giuiic/n). 
 
 1. 103. She, one of the maids: he, in the next line, is one of the lads. 
 
 1. 104. 'The Priar is the celebrated Friar Rush, who haunted 
 houses not fields, and was never the same witli Jack-o'-the-Lanthorn ' 
 : Keifj-htlevV 
 
 1, 105. The goblin is Robin Goodlellow, he is long and hairy ; a 
 Puck ' imprisoned,' to use Carlyle's i)hrase, ' in the coarse hulls of a 
 Caliban.' 
 
 sweat, past tease, ' sweated.' 
 
 'spice' is the nutmeg in the 
 
M I' ALLEGRO. 
 
 1. III. chimney's length, the width of the old broad-chimneyed 
 hearth. 
 
 1. 112. 'Relax his ponderous strength,' Goldsmith, Deserted Village, 
 346. 
 
 1. 113. crop-full, with his crop or stomach full. The word 'crop' 
 suits the half-animal goblin, 
 
 1. 115. creep, frightened by the tales. 
 
 1. 117. Towered is spelt to'ii'rcd in the edition of 1645, and should 
 be pronounced in two syllables so as to rhyme not with 'sour'd' or 
 ' embow-er'd,' but with ' how red.' 
 
 1. 120. triumphs are here shows, spectacles. One of Bacon's Essays 
 is on Masques and Triumphs, the latter term being applied to 
 'justs, tourneys, and barriers' (railings between the fighters to save the 
 horses). [R. C. B.] 
 
 1. 121. store, plenty. 
 
 1. 122. Bain influence. Power was thought by the astrologers to 
 stream down from the stars and bring good or ill fortune to men ; and 
 the technical word for this was ' influence.' Edmund, in King Lear, 
 i. 2. 128, says : ' we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and 
 the stars; as if we were villains by necessity.' Here the 'bright eyes' 
 of the ladies are the stars that not only 'judge the prize ' but determine 
 the victory. 
 
 1. 124. The Queen of Beauty at the particular tourney, her grace 
 whom, the grace of her whom. 
 
 1. 125. Hymen, the god of marriage, was a common character in 
 Masques, and appeared in a saffron dress. His ' taper ' was his ' teade ' 
 [taeda) or torch. See Spenser's Epithalamion. [R. C. B.] 
 
 1. 127. pomp, procession, /ow/«. 
 
 1. 128. mask or masque meant the kind of entertainment of which 
 Comus is the noblest instance. It was lyric (or at least undramatic) 
 poetry in a dramatic setting. See notes on Comus for further eluci- 
 dation. 
 
 I. 129. Marriage songs or Epithalamia (like, for instance, Spenser's;, 
 as well as masques are meant. 
 
 1. 132. The sock {soccus), low-heeled shoe, indicates comedy, in which 
 it was worn, just as the ' buskined stage' (Penseroso, 102) indicates 
 tragedy. Learned is as true an epithet of Jonson's comedies as of 
 Jonson himself : they brim over with allusion and remote information. 
 ' Jonson,' says Professor Masson, ' was still alive when the lines were 
 written.' He died in 1637, and it is probable, though not certain, that 
 the Allegro was written before this date. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 15 
 
 ad-chimneycd 
 
 erted Village, 
 
 word ' crop ' 
 
 5, and should 
 1 'sour'd' or 
 
 aeon's Essays 
 ; applied to 
 rs to save the 
 
 strologers to 
 to men ; and 
 King Lear, 
 le moon, and 
 bright eyes ' 
 lit determine 
 
 her grace 
 
 character in 
 s his ' teade ' 
 
 ent of which 
 undramatic) 
 urther eluci- 
 
 ;e, Spenser's) 
 
 ;dy, in which 
 12) indicates 
 nedies as of 
 information, 
 e lines were 
 certain, that 
 
 ( 
 
 1 
 
 1. 133. Read the lines on Shakspere (1630) to learn the full scope of 
 Milton's admiration fur him. Here, where the poetic note is not one of 
 very deep feeling, Milton merely puts into verse the contrast, accepted 
 in his (lay, of Jonson the elaborate and Shakspere the spontaneous poet. 
 Besides, the context suggests that the Allegro goes to see Comedy ; and 
 Milton doubtless was thinking of one of the open-air comedies like As 
 You Like It (as in keeping with the daydreams of the Allegro), a play 
 which would be exactly suited for the phrase ' native woodnotes wild.' 
 Milton, so seldom spontaneous himself, felt the spontaneity of Shakspere 
 almost more than all his other qualities. See the lines to Shakspere, 
 ' Thou, to the shame of slow endeavouring art.' 
 
 1. 135. eating cares contains the same idea as the Italian word Pen- 
 seroso (not in Milton's sense of 'thoughtful'). 
 
 1. 136. Lydiau means sweet and tender music. For contrast, see 
 Paradise Lost, i. 550 : ' Anon they moved 
 
 In perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood 
 Of flutes and soft recorders — such as raised 
 To highth of noblest temper heroes old 
 Arming to battle.' 
 
 '■ 1 37- Just like Penseroso, he asks for music accompanied by song, 
 and not simple instrumental music. 
 
 1. 138. pierce was pronounced a.^ perse, retaining traces of its French 
 form perccr. 
 
 1. 139. bout, twist, coil, 'bought.' The word expresses perhaps the 
 complication of the music, which is in the end resolved or * untwisted.' 
 There may be a kind of suggestion of the Aristotelian 5«'o-jf, complica- 
 tion, and At/ffiy, denotement , of a dramatic action. 
 
 I. 141. These words depend on ' drawn out' in the line before, not on 
 ' running ' in the line after, and are to be punctuated accordingly. 
 
 cunning, skill. 'The adjectives describe the appearance, the 
 nouns the reality.' [R. C. B.] 
 
 II. 143-4. The singer jmd the instrument accompanying him unbind 
 the ' hidden soul of harmony,' which is unknown and a prisoner till they 
 release it by utterance. 
 
 11. 144-150. See the latter part of the Fourth Georgic of Virgil. 
 Orpheus went down into Hades and by his music charmed Pluto, so 
 that he consented to let him. take back to life his dead wife Eurydice, 
 provided that he would not turn to look at her as they ascended. He 
 did turn, and — ' Ibi omnis 
 
 Effusus labor : ' ' there all his toil was wasted : ' 
 and Eurydice must go back for ever. 
 
i6 
 
 /'allegro. 
 
 1. I4y. quite, without the conditions which ho impose*! on Orpheus. 
 Note the harmony of these two lines as tlie conclusion of the lonj,' para- 
 graph, and the skill with which the concluding couplet is varied in the 
 two poems. 
 
 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Buxon, 1. .'4, bright and gay. O. E. /ni/isttiii, flexible, pliant : hence 
 
 ' easy-going," and hence kindly, merry, as here. Milton, Paradise 
 
 Lost, ii. 842, has the sense 'yielding': 'the buxom air.' Germ. 
 
 I'ie^'sam, pliant. The word now means ' jolly and well-favoured,' and 
 
 is chiefly used of women. 
 Crank, 1. 27, a turn or twist (here a turn of wit, a jest). To irank 
 
 (i Hen. IV. iii, i. 98) is to wind about. 
 Debonair, 1. 24, courteous. O, F. tie don aire, of a good address. 
 Dight, 1. 62, adorned. A. S. dilitan, to set in order, Lat. liutai-e, to 
 
 prescribe. 
 Frolic, 1. 18, gay, mischievous. Dutch vroltjk, O. H. Germ, frdhlich. 
 Junket, 1. 102, originally a kind of cream-cheese served up on rushes, 
 
 whence the name. Ital. gitmcata, lit. strewid with rushes [giumhi), 
 
 Lat. junciis, rush, 
 Landskip, 1. 70, originally a painter's term . . . answering somewhat to 
 
 modern ' background.' From the Dutch lamlschap ( ^land-shape). 
 Lawns, 1. 71, grassy glades between trees, salt us. From O.F. latidc, a 
 
 wild, untilled, shrubby plain. Perhaps same as Gael. /«««, Welsh 
 
 Uan, a piece of (enclosed) land. 
 Lubber, 1. no, uncouth, doltish. Shakspere's lob is allied. 
 Pomp, 1. 127, procession, /ow/a. 
 
 Quip, 1. 27, perhaps adapted from Latin qitippey 'forsooth.' 
 Eebeck, 1. 94, three-stringed fiddle. Fr. rebec ^ from Ital. ribecca or 
 
 ribebba, from Persian riibab. 
 Secure, 1. 91, careless; see note. 
 Yclept, 1. \i, called ; past pt. of O. E. elipiait, to call. 
 
 OXFORD : HORACE HART, M.A , PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY 
 
ti Orpheus, 
 loiij^j para- 
 Tied in the 
 
 lit : hence 
 , Paradise 
 r.' Germ. 
 )ured,' and 
 
 To crank 
 
 Ircss. 
 iiclare, to 
 
 frohlich. 
 on rushes, 
 gi line hi), 
 
 newhat to 
 d-shape). 
 *. latide, a 
 ««, Welsh 
 
 ribecca or 
 

 H 
 
 HBNRY FROWDB, M.A. 
 rUBUSHKR ro TH« UI.IVM8IT* or OXFORD 
 
 LONDON, ED.NBUROH. NEW VCiRK, TORONTO 
 AND MELBOURNE 
 
 .':■«««; a^ ■'-E^i- "*'-^ati-. 
 
 73|dl4