JC-NRLF
%afce EngU&b Classics
MILTON'S
MINOR POEMS
L' ALLEGRO, IL PENSEROSO, COMUS,
AND LYCIDAS
EDITED FOR SCHOOL USB
BY
WILLIAM ALLAN NEILSON, M. A., Ph. D<
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
CHICAGO
8COTT, FORESMAN AND C01VIPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY
SCOTT, FORESMAN AND COMPANY
PR'NTERS AND BINDERS, CHICAGO.
OF THE
' v M '_
PREFACE
In the present edition the main endeavor ht*
been to provide an apparatus that should ensure
the complete intelligibility of the four poems form-
ing the text, and an understanding of the circum-
stances in which they were written. This has
made necessary not only an outline of the poet's
life, but also a sketch of some of the main tenden-
cies in English politics, civil and ecclesiastical, during
his youth. Without some such view, it is impos-
sible for the student to grasp the significance of
the political allusions in Lycidas, while the other
three poems all gain immensely in interest when
it is seen how they are related to the Puritanism
of which the poetry of Milton is the supreme
literary expression.
In addition to the biographical and historical
material, a concise statement is given of what is
known of the sources of the poems. Teachers
using the book have a right to demand that this
should be supplied, yet it is by no means to be
understood that all students should be required to
study it in detail. It is doubtful, indeed, whether
the minds of young students should be burdened
by more than the general bearing of such a state-
ment of Milton's real or supposed debt to previous
writers. More important, because more vital to
*
204509
6 PREFACE
the understanding of literary history, is the at-
tempt to outline the development of such forms as
the pastoral elegy and the masque previous to
their being used by Milton.
The work of aesthetic interpretation has been
left almost entirely to the teacher, but a few
suggestions may be made. An unusually good
opportunity for bringing out the beauty of coher-
ent structure in short poems is afforded by the
present texts. The plan of L 'Allegro and II Pense-
roso, which is roughly traced in the Introduction,
should be worked out in detail by the student.
Lycidas will be grasped in a much more satisfac-
tory way if it is clearly brought out in class that
there is a regular sequence of parts in the elegy,
interrupted by digressions. On the basis of the
analysis of the masque elements in Comus which
will be found on pp. 63-8, the teacher may enlarge
on the characteristically Miltonic elements in the
poem.
The main facts in connection with the versifica-
tion of the poems have been stated as simply as
possible. The artistic value of the lines, however,
will be best imparted viva voce, and here again the
opportunity is exceptional. (The alternating long
and short lines at the beginning of L y Allegro and
II Penseroso, and the short, rapid measure of the
main parts of these poems |Khe blank verse and the
lyrical passages in Comush and* the seeming irregu-
larity in the arrangement of rhymes in Lycidas, -all
PREFACE 7
afford admirable examples of the use a great poet
makes of metrical devices, and should give rise to
stimulating discussions. Attention should be drawn
also to Milton 's double epithets, and the question
of the justification of his coinages raised. The first
two poems consist of series of pictures, and the
student should be induced to test the vividness of
these, one by one, by attempting to visualize them.
The characteristic ethical elements which appear
in all Milton 's productions might also be educed
and illustrated by reference to his own life.
The great mine of information on the life and
times of Milton is Professor David Masson 's mag-
nificent work, The Life of John Milton, narrated in
connection with the political, ecclesiastical, and literary
history of his time (6 vols., Macmillan & Co., new
ed., Lond., 1881-94). For those to whom this is not
accessible, or who desire something on a smaller
scale, Mark Pattison 's Milton in the English Men
of Letters series, Dr. Garnett 's in the Great Writers
series, and the recent volumes on Milton by Pro-
fessor Trent (Macmillan, N. Y., 1899) and Professor
Raleigh (Putnam, N. Y., 1900) may be mentioned.
Dr. Garnett 's book contains an excellent bibli-
ography. Of annotated editions of Milton 's poems
the most elaborate is again Masson 's (2d ed., 3 vols.,
Macmillan, Lond., 1894). Verity 's editions (Cam-
bridge University Press) are very full and scholarly,
and Professor Trent's edition of the poems con-
tained in the present volume (Longmans, 1898) has
8 PREFACE
a number of suggestive interpretative notes.
Professor Corson has recently published an Intro*
duction to Milton which conveniently brings to-
gether the more important autobiographical pas-
sages from the prose works, but its value is lessened
by the lack of exact references to the sources of
the texts quoted. Discussions of Milton 's versi-
fication will be found in the third volume of
Masson 's large edition of the poems, and in Milton 's
Prosody by Robert Bridges (Clarendon Press). It
is, perhaps, unnecessary to refer to the well known
essays on Milton by Macaulay and Lowell.
In the preparation of the introduction and notes
I have freely consulted the work of previous
editors, especially Masson, Verity, Browne, and
Trent, and detailed acknowledgment of obligations
to these and others will be found in the appropri-
ate places. To Professor Masson, as author of the
Life of Milton, every modern student of Milton owes
an immense debt, and I have to add to this general
recognition that of the more personal obligation
which a student owes to an inspiring teacher. I also
wish to thank, for suggestions in connection with
the treatment of the masque, my friends Dr. A. H.
Thorndike of Western Reserve University, and Dr.
John Lester, recently of Harvard, and, for helpful
criticisms throughout, Mr. L. T. Damon of thie
University of Chicago.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, September, 1900.
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE ..-.... -5
INTRODUCTION
I. England in Milton's Youth 11
II. The Life of Milton 20
III. U Allegro and II Penseroso 33
IV. Comus 35
V. Lycidas 43
VI. Milton's Puritanism 47
TEXT ......... 53
NOTES ....-. 115
WORD INDEX 157
INTRODUCTION
I. ENGLAND IN MILTON 's YOUTH
Among English men of letters there is none
whose life andjvork stand in more intimate rela-
tiozL_with the history of his times than those of
Milton. Not only was he for a long period im-
mersed in political controversy and public busi-
ness, but there are few of his important works
which do not become more significant in the light
of contemporary events, and in turn help the
understanding of these events themselves. Both
by temperament and by circumstances he was
destined 10 be much more than an interested on-
looker during the momentous struggles which had
begun to trouble the peace of England at the time
he reached manhood; and it is by no accident that
his most adequate biography is at the same time
a history of his country for three-quarters of a
century.
At the time of Milton's birth in 1608, England
was passing through a period of transition. Much
of thaj^remarkablevigor and abundance of life
whichjiad characterized the age of ElizabeffT still
remained; and the drama, the most typical ex-
pf ession of that age in literature, had hardly begun
It' INTRODUCTION
to decline. Yet, with the change of dynasty at
the union of the crowns of England and Scotland
in 1603, there had appeared a tendency to depart
fromthg^ policy^ of toleration which HadTSade
possible the united patriotism of the preceding
reign. Thenew Kinj^James I., had definite pref-
erences in Religious matters^ and insisted on making
tEem felt. Lines of cleavage 1 , which had before
been only vaguely traceable, broadened into divid-
ing gulfs, ai\d the religious world began more and
morg_to break up into sects and parties. The
antagonisms between these, already in many cases
present during the reign of Elizabeth, were
strengthened when, in the time of Charles I.,
political issues were added to ecclesiastical; and
the hostilityHand intolerance grew more and more
acute, until in 1642 difference of opinion culmi-
nated inlhe horrors o civil war.
^Theoretically, all Englishmen^wg Tne^w of
theTStablished Church. Eutin practice there
were two important groups outside the Anglican
fold, the Roman Catholics and the Protestant
Separatists^ Under Elizabeth, the persecution of
the Roman Catholics had varied in intensity
according to the requirements of the political
situation. Thus, when a Catholic power like Spain
threatened the national safety, considerable rigor
was used to prevent Catholic risings at home.
Similarly, in the reign of James, the alarm caused
ENGLAND IN MILTON'S YOUTH 13
by the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 led to the exercise
of oppressive measures against the same religion.
On the other hand, during the negotiations with
Spain for a marriage between the Infanta and
Prince Charles (1617-1623), these measures were
naturally relaxed; and this relaxation continued
after 1624, when Charles married Henrietta Maria
of France, who was, like the Infanta, a Catholic.
Queen Henrietta's influence in this direction
remained operative throughout her husband's
reign, and had the additional effect of increasing
the suspicion with which the Puritans regarded
the ecclesiastical policy of the court party.
At the opposite extreme from the Roman
Catholic dissenters were the Protestant Separatists,
who had left the church of their own accord.
Many of them emigrated to Holland, and, later,
to America, while others, chiefly Independents and
Baptists, attempted, in defiance of the law, to
follow their own modes of worship in .secret.
These last sects were, numerically, unimportant.
Inside the Church there were
~~~
jhe Prelatists and the Puritans. The Prelatists
Vere those who were on the whole satisfied with
the established Episcopacy; and at the accession
oTTames" I. they probably numbered about nine-
tenths of the whole Church. The attitude of the
Puritans at that time is defined by a petition
which they~presented to James shortly after" his
14 INTRODUCTION
arrival in England. In this document they ob-
jected to certain administrative abuses, sucl^ as
thejnefficienqLof some of the nlergy^an^the hold-
ingjrf church livings by absentees, whether clerical
qr^lay, yho drew a large part of the tithes and
hired a vicar on_a_small salary to care for the
parish. More significant was their request to be
relie^edJrom compulsor^^arjidpaition in certain
of the ceremonies of the Church^ such as the
wearing of surplices^Jhe u^eof_Jhe_^r^sshi
h^ptisrg the ^oEJjrvation of holy days (except
Saobath/which they wished to have observed
more strictly), and bowing at the name of Jesus.
The doctrinal -differences which became so im-
portant later were not mentioned.
The Puritans gained less than nothing by their
petition. The next Convocation of the Clergy
(1603, 4) passed a number of canons reaffirming
the necessity of the ritual to which objection had
been made, and denying the right to dissent. The
laws against Nonconformists were more strictly
enforced, and many were imprisoned or banished.
The effect on the Puritans was seen in the appear-
ance of numerous pamphlets, printed hi Holland
or secretly in England, protesting against the
action of the Prelatists, and in some cases arguing
for Independency or Presbyjterianism.
On the appointment .of a Low Church Arch-
bishop in 1611, the struggle slackened somewhat;
ENGLAND IN MILTON'S YOUTH 15
but about 1619 a new element of great importance
was introduced. This was the appearance of what
was called Arminianism, a doctrinal opposition to
the Calvinistic beliefs that salvation was possible
only for those predestined to it, and that those
who were so elected by God to be saved were
incapable of resisting His grace. The situation
was complicated for James, who was himself a
Calvinist, by the fact that the men of Arminian
tendencies were those who were most zealous in the
support of Prelacy and the royal prerogative. He
attempted to solve the difficulty by issuing Direc-
tions to Preachers, in which he forbade any clergy-
man below the degree of Dean to preach on the
disputed questions at all; but, as might have been
expected, this interference with the liberty of
discussion on both sides did little to reassure the
Puritans, who saw in the Arminianism of the
Prelatists only one more indication of their lean-
ings towards Rome. In fact, many who had
taken no part with the Puritans in the agitation
against ceremonial were forced to join them by
the appearance of this new theological issue.
It was at this juncture that there stepped into
the front rank among the leaders in church and
state, a man who in a few years became, by force of
the definiteness of his views and the restlessness of
his energy, the chief agent in hurrying the nation
towards the terrible conflict that lay before it.
16 INTRODUCTION
William Laud was a man of few aims. He believed
in the strictest uniformity in worship, and was
willing to resort to coercion to bring it about. He
was " in favor of a ceremonial of worship in which
advantage should be taken of every external aid
of architecture, decoration, furniture, gesture, or
costume, either actually at the time allowed in the
Church of England, or for which there was good
precedent in more ancient ritual." 1 He "believed
in the 'divine Apostolic right' of Episcopacy, and
. . . .therefore, could not recognize as a true portion
of the Catholic Church of Christ any community
or set of men who pretended to have emancipated
themselves from Bishops." 1 Thus he regarded the
members of the Church of Rome as belonging to a
true Church, but did not so regard the Independ-
ents and Presbyterians. On the doctrine of
Election he was anti-Calvinist, and he was a strong
upholder of the royal prerogative in church and
state.
^When Charles I. ascended the throne iiLl625, he
held his father's beliefs concerning the supremacy
of the crown, but in theqlogy_was inclined to the
ASaJnianisnTof Laud. The history of his reign is
the history, of the attempt to force these opinions
upon the people of the United Kingdom. When
his first Parliament met, it insisted on prosecuting
the King's chaplain for Arminianism, and showed
1 Masson's Life of Hilton, ed. 1881, vol. I, p, 362.
ENGLAND IN MILTON'S YOUTH 17
its distrust of the policy and advisers of the crown
by restricting the usual grants of money. Charles
retaliated by dissolving the Parliament. The sec-
ond Parliament followed its predecessors in its
protests against Arminianism and illegal taxation,
and met a similar fate. Then for nearly two years
(June, 1 626- March, 1628) Charles governed with-
out a Parliament, and raised money by such illegal
means as forced I5ans^ Meanwhile, the parly ol
La;ud became more open and vigorous in its ad-
vocacy of the King's supremacy, and of the doc-
trine that resistance to his will was sacrilege. The
phrase "absolute monarchy," which in the time of
the Tudors was used to describe a government free
from foreign or Papal interference, had been inter-
preted by James I. in the sense of a monarchy un-
restrained by law or the will of the people, 1 and
the doctrine thus implied became a Watchword of
the Royalist party. Forced by lack of money,
the King called a third Parliament, only to be met
once more with vehement protests against civil
and religious grievances. He yielded, obtained a
grant of subsidies, and prorogued Parliament. But
the value of his supposed concessions soon ap-
peared. Almost at once he relapsed into his
previous arbitrary methods; Laud and other Ar-
minians were promoted, and illegal taxation was
1 See Green's Short History of the English People, Lond. ,
1889, chap, viii., sec. II, p. 478.
\8 INTRODUCTION
again exacted. When this Parliament re-assem-
bled in the beginning of the following year (1629),
the old discussions were renewed with greater
fervor than ever. Laud had used the interval to
issue a Declaration, to be prefixed to the Thirty-
nine Articles, 1 reaffirming the King's supremacy
in the Church, and forbidding discussion of the
Articles. This Declaration became the main object
of attack, but the King stood firm, the Parliament
was dissolved, and Charles began a period of per-
sonal government which lasted for eleven years
(1629-1640). '
The period during which Charles ruled without
a Parliament was marked by a development of the
policy which Laud, soon to become Archbishop,
had already marked out. In religious affairs,
there was an increase in the restrictions on
freedom of discussion by the clergy, and the new
Primate's favorite ideas in matters of worship and
discipline were enforced by his control of Church
legislation, patronage, and organization. Con-
venient instruments of coercion were found in the
already existing Courts of Star Chamber and of
High Commission, which were used with unsparing
severity in the punishment and suppression of
Separatists outside the Church, and Puritans
1 These articles of religion, originally drawn up in
the reign of Edward VI, were, with little change, re-
affirmed at the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, and still
\emain the official statement of Anglican belief.
OF
FO
ENGLAND IN MILTON'S YOUTH 19
within. Men guilty of preaching or writing
against Laudian principles were fined, imprisoned,
and mutilated in the pillory; and the persecutions
were carried even into the Universities. In secular
politics, the chief problem was the raising of money,
and resort was had to the sale of monopolies in
almost all the articles of common consumption, to
the revival of obsolete taxes, to fines for a multi-
tude of petty offenses, to the sale of indulgences to
Catholics who wished to practice their own religion,
and, finally, to Ship-money. This last was an old
tax, instituted before England had a permanent
navy, to provide money for ships to defend the
coast towns. It was now revived, and levied, not
only on the seaboard as before, but over the
whole country; and it was on the refusal of John
Hampden to pay this tax that the spirit of the
country at last rose to resist. Meanwhile, Charles
and Laud had been attempting to impose Episco-
pacy on Presbyterian Scotland, but the task was
beyond their power, and the Scots were already
in armed rebellion.
Nearly four years were to pass before the Civil
War in England actually broke out; but it was
the rumor of these events of the year 1638, reaching
Milton in Italy, which determined him to return to
bear his share in his country's struggle for freedom,
and which brought to a close the period of his life
that includes those of his writings with which
we are more immediately concerned.
20 INTRODUCTION
II. THE LIFE OF MILTON
The intimate relation between the writings of
Milton and the history of his times, to which allu-
sion has been made, is symbolized by the coinci-
dence of the periods into which his life naturally
falls with the periods into which English history
in the seventeenth century divides itself. The
first of these extends from Milton 's birth to his
return from Italy, and corresponds with that por-
tion of the history which has just been outlined.
The second ends with his retirement into private
life in 1660, and coincides with the period of the
Civil War and the Commonwealth. The third
closes with his death in 1674, and falls within the
period of the Restoration.
This threefold classification applies also to his
literary productions. The first group of these, in
which the poems in this volume are the most im-
portant, belongs to the period before 1639; the
second, consisting chiefly of controversial works in
prose, to the period between 1640 and 1660; and
the third, the group containing the two great epics
and Samson Agonistes, to the period of his retire-
ment.
(a) First Period (1608-1639)
John Milton w r as born in Bread Street, London,
on the ninth of December, 1608. He was the son
of John Milton, a prosperous scrivener (i. e., attor-
ney and law-stationer), a man of good family and
THE LIFE OP MILTON 21
considerable culture, especially devoted_jto m^sic.
In the education ofthe future poet the elder
Milton was exceptionally generous. From child-
hood-JijL destined him for the Church, and his
preparation was begun at home, and continued at
St. Paul's School and at Cambridge. We have
abundant evidence that the boy \vas from the first
a quick and diligent student, and that the late
study to which he was addicted from childhood
was the beginning of that injury to his eyes which
ended in blindness. .He entered Christ's College,
-Cambridge, in 1625, took Jbe-degggg QJLSZ2L in
Ol_A. in 1632, when he left-the Uni-
versity after seven years' residence. Like several
other poets who have brought renown to Cam-
bridge, Milton was severely critical of his Univer-
sity. Yet he seems to have been highly respected
while there, both for the purity of his conduct and
the brilliance of his scholarship; and years after-
wards he made public acknowledgment of "that
more than ordinary favour and respect, which I
found above any of my equals at the hands of
those courteous and learned men, the fellows of
that College wherein I spent some years: who at
my parting . . . signified many ways how much
better it would content them that I would stay." 1
1 Apology for Smectymnuus, Milton's Works, ed. Mit-
ford, vol. Ill, p. 266.
22 INTRODUCTION
Milton left Cambridge for his father's house at
Horton in Buckinghamshire with his career still
unsettled. It has been mentioned that he had
been intended for the Church, but this prospect
he had given up before he took his Master's
degree. The reasons for the change of purpose he
has himself stated in no uncertain words. " Coming
to some maturity of years, and perceiving what
tyranny had invaded the Church, that he who
would take orders must subscribe slave, and take
an oath withal, ... I thought it better to prefer a
blameless silence before the sacred office of speak-
ing bought and begun with servitude and fore-
swearing." 1 And he refers to having been " Church-
outed by the Prelates" a phrase which finds
sufficient explanation in what has been said of the
policy of Laud.
The life to which Milton settled down at Hor-
ton was one of quiet but persistent study, varied
with occasional poetical production. Authorship^
indeed, seems to have taken the place of the min-
istry in his vague plans for the future, though the
particular form it was to take was long undefined.
Even as a child he had written verses, and at the
University he had produced, besides academic
exercises and a number of., Latin poems, occasional
poetical effusions in English, the most notable
1 The Eeasm of Church Government (1641), Works, vol.
in, p. 150.
THE LIFE OF MILTON 23
Boe
ing the Ode on the Morning of Christ's Nativity
and the enthusiastic Epitaph on Shakspere. Among
all the writings of that period, however, the most
interesting autobiographically is the Sonnet on his
Being Arrived at the Age of Twenty-three, which may
be quoted here to show how he anticipated the
criticisms upon his apparent lack of purpose and
achievement:
How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,
Stolen on his wing my three-and-twentieth year!
My hasting days fly on with full career,
But my lateWning no bud or blossom shew'th
Perhaps my semblanceT^ight deceive the truth,
That Lto' manhood am arrived so near;
And^nward ripeness doth much less appear,
That some more timely-happy spirits endu'th.
Yet, be it less or more, or soon or slow,
It shall be still in strictest measure even
To that same lot, however mean or high,
Toward which Time leads me, 'and the will of Heaven.
All is, if I have grace to use it so,
As ever in my great Task-Master's eye
We may note implied here (besides the con-
sciousness that he might seem open to reproach)
an^attitude__ofawaiting without impatien-Jjie
fulfilment of his~3estiny, and a determination that
to whatever goal he might ultimately be led,
there should be no doubt as to the principles by
which he was to be governed on his road thither.
Both things were profoundly characteristic. In
24 INTRODUCTION
his own ultimate greatness Milton never ceased to
believe: yet he looked forward to it in no vain-
glorious spirit, but with a legitimate pride in the
part allotted to him in the purposes of Providence-
With equal certainty did he hold to the necessity
of personal purity and integrity in the man who
was to perform noble deeds, whether in affairs or
in literature. The man who "speaks of high
matters/ ' he insists, must live temperately and
have "a youth chaste and free from guilt, and
rigid morals, and hands without stain." 1 And
again; " He who would not be frustrate of his hope
to write well hereafter in laudable things, ought
himself to be a true poem; that is, a composition,
and pattern of the best and honour ablest things;
not presuming to sing high praises of heroic men,
or famous cities, unless he have in himself the
experience and the practice of all that which is
praiseworthy." 2 Such was the spirit in which
Milton prepared himself for his life-work.
Among the results of the years spent at Horton
between 1632 and 1638 were a Latin poem, Ad
Patrem, apparently written n reply to some mild
remonstrance from his father on his giving up the
prospect of a regular profession in favor of scholar-
ship and letters; U Allegro; II Penseroso; Arcades
1 Letter to Charles Diodati.
2 Apology for Smectymnuus, Works, ed. Mitford, vol.
UI, pp, 270,1.
THE LIFE OF MILTON 25
(part of an entertainment given in honor of the
Dowager Countess of Derby); Comus; and Lycidas.
In Milton's days and for long afterwards, no
young gentleman's education was regarded as
complete until he had made " the Grand Tour " of
the continent. It was, then, in accordance with
fashion, as well, no doubt, as with his own taste,
that in 1638 Milton set out on a journey to Italy, f
After some days in Paris, he passed on by way of
Nice to Genoa, Leghorn, Pisa, and Florence, in
which last city he spent about two months in the
society of wits and men of letters. He seems to
have been received with marked courtesy, and to
have appreciated the reception. In or near Flor-
ence he "found and visited the famous Galileo,
grown old, a prisoner to the Inquisition for think-
ing in Astronomy otherwise than the Franciscan
and Dominican licencers thought," a martyr
to truth who doubtless appealed strongly to
Milton's indignation, and who would have touched
him still more deeply could he have foreseen that
one day they were to suffer in common the fate of
blindness. After two months more spent in Rome,
he visited Naples, and had intended to cross to Sicily I
and go thence to Greece, when rumors of civil war I
in England led him to turn his face homewards,
"inasmuch," he says, "as I thought it base to be
travelling at my ease for intellectual culture while
my countrymen at home were fighting for liberty."
26 INTRODUCTION
He may have learned that things had not gone so
far as he feared, for he did not go directly to
England, but paid second visits to Rome (where
his boldness in religious discussion led him to run
risks from the Jesuits), and to Florence, thence to
Venice, Verona, Milan, and Geneva, and so by
Paris to England, where we find him in August,
1639. His writings produced abroad were all in
Italian or Latin, and seem to have brought him
/ considerable distinction among the Italian men of
/ letters whom he met.
(6) Second Period (1640-1660)
Thus was closed the period of Milton's education;
and had public affairs permitted it, he might
now have begun to carry out his plan for the great
poem which was the most persistent of the many
schemes he had meditated for literary production
on a large scale. But public affairs did not permit
it. Whatever view one takes of the merits of the
political and religious questions involved, or of
the permanent value of the prose writings which
formed Milton's contribution to their settlement,
it seems clear that a man of his temperament and
principles could not have done otherwise than he
did. There has been much not very fruitful dis-
\ cussion on what he might have written in pure
I literature had he turned his back^ugon thec^use
y qfjiB^rtyT^e^a^^^Sose welfare waSTnsoeepest
passion. Butsuch conduct in such a man would
THE LIFE OF MILTON 27
have been desertion, and, according to his own
principles, would have unfitted him for noble
achievement in any field.
Yet Milton did not plunge rashly into the con-
flict. Shortly after he returned from the Conti-
nent, the household at Horton was broken up,
and he wea^bT^ndon to resume his studies, and I)
decide on the formTa^d^ub]^c?*^fTn^gr^t poem. V
Part of his time was occupied in teaching his two
nephews, and afterwards he took under his care
a small number of other youths, sons of his friends,
T n TjH 2 ? hpuna,rri*H Mmy P"\v&\] } the daughter of
an Oxfordshire Royalist. In about a month she
left him and remained away for two years, at the
end of which time she sought and obtained a
reconciliation. She died in 1653 or 1654, leaving
him three little daughters. He married a second
time in 1656, but this wife lived only fifteen
months after the marriage.
The main occupation of his first years in London
waSuXontroversy. We have said that liberty was
MijtQjjVHeepestmssion, 3j^j^bGrt^?f^^urr(, up-
the themej)Jns prose^ritings. There are " three
species of liberty," he says, " which are essential to
the happiness of social life religious, domestic,
ancLcivil," and for all three Ke fought. Hislnost
important prose works may, indeed, be roughly
classed under these heads:
\
INTRODUCTION
1. RELIGIOUS, A group of five pamphlets
against Episcopacy (1641, 2).
2. DOMESTIC. This he subdivides as follows:
a EDUCATION: one pamphlet (1644).
b. MARRIAGE: four pamphlets on behalf of
freedom of Divorce (1643-5). Milton's
personal experience with his first wife
seems to have first led to his consideration
of this subject.
c. FREE SPEECH: Areopagitica (1644), an
argument in favor of unlicensed printing.
This is the most important of Milton's prose
writings regarded as literature.
3. CIVIL. A large number of pamphlets on
questions arising out of the execution of
Charles I and the establishment of a Com-
monwealth (1649-1660).
His prose writing continued into his last period,
when he produced, among other things, a history
of Britain to the Norman Conquest, and a Latin
disquisition on Christian Doctrine, which is our
chief source of information about his later theolog-
ical opinions.
Meanwhile, the crisis in national affairs was
growing more acute. In 1639, the Scots had
obtained from Charles, through force of arms, the
temporary withdrawal of all attempts to force
Episcopacy upon them. Soon, however, he had
broken with them again, had called the Short
THE LIFE OF MILTON 29
Parliament in order to obtain supplies, had been
presented with a request for the redress of griev-
ances, and had once more ordered a dissolution.
A second attempt to subdue the Scotch resistance
by force failed, and in November, 1640, Charles
called the famous Long Parliament. This assem-
bly began by instituting constitutional reforms
with great energy, and later took up Church ques-
tions. It was at this juncture that Milton entered
the lists with his pamphlets against Episcopacy. 7
In 1642, the differences between Charles and V
the Parliamentary party became so acute that
civil war broke out; and after a struggle of four
years it ended in the overthrow of the Realists,
and the surrender of the King to the Scots aux-
iliaries who had been fighting on the Parliamentary
side in England.
Now a new cause of controversy arose. The
opponents of the King split into two parties, one
desirous of establishing a strict and uniform
national church on Presbyterian principles, with
no toleration for dissenters, the other standing for
the right of liberty of worship for those whose /
consciences forbade their entering the established /
Church. The latter party, supported by Cromwell V
and the army, triumphed; and to this side Milton
belonged.
Charles, meanwhile, had been negotiated with
again and again; had entered into a treaty with
30 INTRODUCTION
the Scots with the result of bringing about a second
civil war, which ended abruptly in the overthrow
of his allies; and had finally been brought to trial
by the army and the remnant of the Long Parlia-
V ment, condemned, and executed (January, 1649).
^ England now became a Republic, and Milton
threw himself into the task of defending the
principles on which it had been established. He
became officially associated with the new govern-
ment as Secretary for Foreign Tongues, in which
capacity he not only conducted its foreign corre-
spondence, but also acted as its literary adviser
and champion in the controversies by pamphlet
that arose in connection with the execution of the
King and the theory of the Commonwealth. It
was in the midst of these activities that a great
calamity fell upon him. The defence of the late
King had been undertaken by the famous Dutch
Latinist Salmasius in a Defensio Regia, and to
Milton fell the task of replying to it. His eyesight,
weakened even in childhood by overstudy, was
now failing fast, and he was warned by physicians
that it would go altogether if he persisted in this
work. But to Milton the fight he had entered was
no mere matter of professional employment as it
was to his opponent, and he deliberately sacrificed
what remained to him of light in the service of the
cause to which he was devoted. The reply was a
most effective one, but it left Milton hopelessly
THE LIFE 0^ M1LTQJS 31
blind. With the aid of an assistant, however, he
retained his office through the Protectorate of
Cromwell, until the eve of the Restoration.
(c) Third Period (1660-1674)
Oliver Cromwell died in 1658, his son Richard
succeeded him for a short time, and in 1660 Charles
II. was restored to the throne. To the last Milton
fought with tremendous earnestness against this
catastrophe. For, to him, it was indeed a catas-
trophe. The return of the Stuarts meant to
him not only great personal danger, but,
what was far more important, it meant the over-
throw of all that he had for twenty years spent
himself to uphold. It meant the setting up in
government, in religion, and in society, of ideals
and institutions that he could not but regard as
the extreme of reaction and national degradation. J
Almost by a miracle he escaped personal violence, v
but he was of necessity forced into obscure retire-
ment; and there, reduced in fortune, blind, and
broken-hearted, he devoted himself to the pro- /
auction of Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. V
The great schemes which in his early manhood
he had planned and dreamed over, had for years
been laid aside; but now at last he had a mournful
leisure, and with magnificent fortitude he availed
himself of the opportunity.
Paradise Lost had been begun even before the
King's return; in 1665 it was finished, and in 1667
32 INTRODUCTION
the first edition appeared. Paradise Regained
and Samson Agonistes were published in 1671.
The History of Britain already mentioned, and a
number of other prose works, chiefly of a personal
and curious interest, were produced in the same
period.
In 1657, Milton's second wife, Catherine Wood-
cock, had died. For about seven years after, he
lived alone with his three daughters, whom he
trained to read to him not merely in English, but
in Latin, Greek, Italian, French, Spanish, and He-
brew, though they did not understand a word of
what they read. What little we know of their
relations to their father is not pleasant. They
seem to have been rebellious and undutiful,
though doubtless there was much provocation.
In 1663, Milton took a third wife, Elizabeth
Minshull, who did much' to give ease and comfort
to his last years, and who long survived him.
The retirement in which he lived during this
third period, when public affairs seemed to him
to have gone all wrong, was not absolutely soli-
tary. He was visited by a number of friends and
admirers, men of culture and rank, and often by
foreigners who wished, before they left London, to
see the great Latinist who had humbled Salmasius.
The harshness that appears in his controversial
writings, and the somewhat unsympathetic aus-
terity that seems to be indicated by his relations
L' ALLEGRO AND IL PENSEROSO 33
with his first wife and his children, are to be coun-
terbalanced in our minds by the impression of
companionableness that we derive from the picture
of the old blind poet, sought out by many who not
merely admired his greatness, but found pleasure
in his society, and counted it a privilege to talk
with him and read to him. Stern and sad he
could hardly fail to be, but his old age was peaceful
and not bitter.
He died on November 8, 1674, and was buried
in the Church of St. Giles, Cripplegate, London.
III. L 'ALLEGRO AND IL PENSEROSO
jind II PmserosQjWQ believed to jiave
They are com-
panion studies 01 the cmiracteristic occupations of
two men of different temperaments, or of the same
man in two different moods. The plan of the t:wo
pieces is in general the same. Both begin with
an invocation and a fanciful mythological gene-
alogy, and proceed to describe a series of imagined
typical experiences. These follow roughly the
times of the day in natural succession, but it is
not to be supposed that in either case Milton
meant the hero to include within one span of
twenty-four hours all the occupations mentioned.
: Thus L 'Allegro, the cheerful man, may rise with the
lark, walk out among the blithe sounds of the
early morning, observe the various occupations of
34 INTRODUCTION
the country people, and in the evening sit by the
fire and hear their rustic tales. Or he may spend
his time among the brilliant gaieties of the court,
or go to the theatre, or listen to light music. On
the other hand, II Penseroso, the meditative man,
hears the nightingale instead of the lark, and
walking out by moonlight, he catches the sound
of a far-off curfew over the waters. Or, if the
evening is chill, he will sit by his fireside listening
to the sounds in the street below, or studying
philosophy and literature until the dawn. The
congenial morning for him will be cloudy, with
showers and wind, and when the sun begins to
glare he will seek shades in the gloom of the forest,
where he will drowse beside a murmuring stream.
He will find delight, too, in the dim light of a great
church, and in the solemn tones of the organ. His
Jd age he would spend in the peaceful retirement
of a hermitage*
f Milton is supposed by some to have received
suggestions for these poems from Burton's Anat-
omy of Melancholy, especially the prefatory verses
called The Author's Abstract of Melancholy, and
from the song, Hence, all you vain delights, in
Beaumont and Fletcher's The Nice Valour. In
neither case is the obligation very clearly marked.
Another probable source of suggestion, to which
attention does not seem to have yet been called,
is in John Marston's Scourge of Villainy , Satire xi;
COMUS 35
Sleep, grim Reproof; my jocund Muse doth sing
In other keys, to nimbler fingering.
Dull-sprighted Melancholy, leave my brain-
To hell, Cimmerian night! in lively vein
I strive to paint, then thence all dark intent
And sullen frowns! Come, sporting Merriment
Cheek-dimpling Laughter, crown my very soul
With jouisance, whilst mirthful jests control
The gouty humours of these pride-swolTn days. 1
The resemblance of these lines, both in thought
and phrasing, to the opening of U Allegro scarcely
needs to be pointed out.
Both poems contain the same variety of metres ,\
They open with ten liries of six and ten syllables
alternately, while the main parts of the poems
consist of lines of eight syllables. The accents
fall as a rule on the even, but not infrequently on
the odd, syllables, and' in the latter case, the line
is one syllable shorter. The arrangement of rhymes
in the opening lines is as follows: a b b a c d d
e e c; throughout the rest of the poems the lines
rhyme in pairs.
IV. COMUS
/ During the reign of Charles I., as for a consider-
'able time previously, the government of certain
outlying parts of the realm was presided over by
noblemen with almost vice-regal state. Such
was the position of Wentworth, afterwards Earl
1 The Works of John Marston, ed. by A. EL Bullen.
London, 1887, vol. Ill, p. 371.
36 INTRODUCTION
of Strafford, as Lord President of the North and
later as Lord Deputy in Ireland, and such also was
that of the Earl of Bridge water, who had been
| created Lord President of Wales. The appoint-
. ment was made in 1631, but the Earl does not
seem to have actually entered upon his office until
a year or tw r o later. At any rate, it was not till
/ the summer of 1634 that the celebrations in honor
/ of his inauguration were held; and it was these
/ celebrations that gave occasion for the writing of
Comus.
Mr. Henry Lawes, one of the mosc distinguished
musicians of the time, and a person of experience
in the presentation of court entertainments, was
intimate both with the Bridgewaters to some of
whom he had given instruction in music and
with Milton. Indeed, he had already induced
the young poet to write his Arcades for an enter-
tainment to be given in honor of a member of the
same noble family. It is more than probable,
/ then, that it was through Lawes that Milton came
/ to compose this work, so far his most considerable
production. Lawes himself wrote the music for
the songs, attended to the stage management,
acted the very important part of the Attendant
Spirit, and, some years later, obtained Milton's
consent to the publication of the poem itself.
The form of the entertainment was far from
unusual at the time. The practice of dancing by
COMUS 37
masked figures had existed as part of the revels
'on festive occasions in England for two or three
centuries; but in the beginning of the sixteenth
century, if not sooner, the additional feature of
the dancing of the masquers with the spectators
was introduced (from Italy, one chronicler seems
to say), and the name masque was used of the
performance. Throughout the reign of Elizabeth, /
it underwent a considerable development, and /
came to be a common episode in the regular/
drama, as well as a frequent part of the gorgeous/
entertainments in which that queen delighted.*
f But it was not till the accession of James I. that, \
the* hfl.Tiffc_nf Ttem Jnrt^on^Jt took rank in
Jandjis a form of literature/^ To the introductory
speech and the occasional songs in which had
hitherto mainly consisted the literary elements of
the representation, Jonson added dialogue of
varying length and the grotesque anti-masque,
while the mechanical ingenuity of Inigo Jones and
the musical ability of men like Lawes combined to
build up those splendid and costly performances
which were one of the chief sources of brilliancy
in the court society of the reigns of James I. and
Charles I. The form was at its point of highest V
development when Milton produced Comus; and j
an analysis of that performance into its most im-
portant elements will sufficiently indicate the
characteristics of the type.
u
38 INTRODUCTION
1. The occasion was that of an important
festivity in a great family. So royal accessions,
progresses, weddings, and the like, were most
frequently celebrated by a masque.
2. Most of the actors in Comus were members
of a noble family. This was usual, and distin-
guished the masque from the stage-plays performed
by professional actors.
3. The long introductory speech by the At-
tendant Spirit, in which the situation is explained
to the audience, represents the prologue wtiich,
spoken by a "presenter," was probably the first
literary element to attach itself to the original
masque dance. '
4. At vv. 960 and 974 the words of the Spirit
indicate courtly dancing of a different type from
that of the rustics that has just taken place. This
was doubtless taken part in by some members of
the audience, as such mixed dances had been a
feature of masques since the time of Henry VIII.
at least.
5. The dance of monsters, introduced by vv.
143, 4, and the country dances referred to in vv.
951 ff. and 958, and indicated by the stage direc-
tion at v. 957, are examples of the anti-masque
used by Jonson to afford contrast and amusement.
The anti-masque was frequently performed by
professionals of whose names no records are
preserved, and as Comus himself takes part in
COMUS 39
the first one at v. 144, we may here have a reason
why the name of the performer who acted this role
has not been handed down.
6. The mythological element seen, for example,
in the character and genealogy of Comus and of
Sabrina,had for long been one of the characteristics
of the type. The water-nymphs were especially
common.
7. Since masques were usually produced in
honor of some great personage, it was natural that
flattering speeches and complimentary allusions
should be prominent in the dialogue. Examples
of this are found in Comus in the following pas-
sages :
a. To the Earl of Bridgewater, vv. 30-36.
b. To the Bridgewater family, vv. 34, 966 - 975,
and more especially to the Lady Alice Egerton,
vv. 145-150, 244-264, 366 ff., 555-562, 739 ff., and
her brothers, the Viscount Brackley and Mr.
Thomas Egerton, vv. 297-303.
c. To Mr. Henry Lawes, the musician, who
acted Thyrsis, vv. 494-496.
d. To the Welsh people, who were doubtless
represented in the audience, v. 33.
8. The lyrics, which were added to the original
dance very early in the development of the masque,
are represented here by the song to Echo, vv.
230-243, the songs to Sabrina, w. 859-889, and
*0 INTRODUCTION
by Sabrfna, w. 890-900, as well as by the lyrical
speeches of the Spirit at the end.
pastoral element appears in. the disguise
Spirit and Comus as shepherds, in the
speeches made by them in this character, especially
in such passages as w. 493-496, 540-548, and
822, 3, where reference is made to shepherds as
devotees of the Muses, and in the dance of shep-
herds in the second anti-masque. The presence
of such features as these in this and other masques
has led some critics to confuse the masque in
general with the pastoral. 1 There is not, how-
ever, any essential connection between the two
types; though the conventions of pastoral poetry
occasionally found their way into the masque as
they did into other literary forms.
10., The didacticism by which^ Milton availed
himself of a festive occasion to proclaim his belief
in the supreme value of purity/had precedent in
the practice Of Jonson. The earnestness and
elevation, however, of this part of the work
suggest how widely Milton's ideas of the scope and
purpose of poetry differed from those of his prede-
cessors in the masque and of his contemporaries *
in English poetry generally.
These points describe with some fullness the
type of dramatic composition to which Comus be-
longs. A comparison of this analysis with Milton's
1 See especially Macaulay's Essay on Milton.
COMUS 41
poem as a whole shows how much its greatness
depends on the use he made of the form, how little
on. the form itself.
The figure of_Comus, God of Cheer or of the
Belly, had appeared in Ben Jonson's masque of
~fteaure Reconciled to Virtue in 1619, but the re-
semblance to Milton's creation does not go much
farther than what is implied in the name.
Much more suggestive as a source is a curious ^
Latin work, written mostly in prose by a Dutch-
man, Hendrik van der Putten. ComuSj sive Pha-
gesiposia Cimmeria: Somnium, as it was called,
had been published at Oxford in the year in which
Comus was composed. It is " the description of a
dream in which Comus, the genius of Love and
Cheerfulness, appears to the author, declares him-
self the lord of the whole wide realm of pleasure,
and briefly expounds his idea of life." In a " won-
drous structure, the palace of Comus, . . a
feast is celebrated, the guests at which are masked;
but those that one takes for men are Daunian
and Getulian wolves, dangerous monsters by their
bite, hiding their true n.ature under masks and
hypocritical appearances Comus .... is
found at a brilliant table surrounded by all the
refinements of luxury. . . . During the feast
Comus sings an ode on the mysteries of his wor-
ship. . . . Then Tabutius, an old man, begins
to moralize prolixly. . . . The themes which
y
42 INTRODUCTION
he handles are drunkenness, excess in eating, fre-
quent banquets, . . . and the like." 1
\ In George Peele's Old Wives' Tale (pub. 1595),
there are two brothers searching for a lost sister
who has fallen into the power of an enchanter.
The enchanter has learned his magic from his
witch mother, and exercises it by means of a
potion .which induces forge tfulness. Finally the
enchantment is broken and the lady liberated. It
contains also an echo-song, vaguely suggestive of
the first lyric in Comus. There is no reason why
Milton may not have read this play, and had one
or two- of its features in mind when he constructed
the plot of his masque, but the method of treat-
f ment and the whole atmosphere of the two works
are so utterly different that it would be a mistake
to regard the Old Wives' Tale as in any important
sense the original of Comus.
Even less substantial are the resemblances to
Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess. This play, largely
imitated from two Italian pastoral dramas, Tasso's
Aminta and Guarini's Pastor Fido, is entirely
different in plot from Comus, and it has no charac-
ters which correspond. The resemblances chiefly
consist in the fact that the virtue of chastity is
the main theme of both, and in a number of small
1 Masson, Poetical Works of John Milton, Lond. and
N. Y., 1894, vol. I, pp. 174-6, abridged from I. Schmidt's
Milton's Comus, Berlin, 1860.
LYCIDAS 43
details none of which is important enough to
justify any decided statement about Milton's in-
debtedness.
In the Inner Temple Masque by William Browne /
(1614), the chief character is Circe, whose attempts I
to enchant Ulysses bear some likeness to the wiles
of Comus. She is surrounded by nymphs and
sirens (cf . Comus, vv. 252-257) and has a following
of men in beasts' shapes who dance an anti-
masque (cf. Comus, v. 144). It is probable that
Milton derived suggestions from this production.
Other sources of detail in Comus, such as the
Circe episode from the Odyssey, are pointed out in
the notes.
The^ dialogue of Comus is written in the blank /
verge of ten syllables with five accents, which^was/
the usual metre of the English drama. One pas-
'' sage (yv. 495-512) is rhymed in couplets. There
are besides two long lyrical passages (vv. 93-144
and 902-1023) in the same octosyllabic metre as
the greater part of L 'Allegro and II Penseroso.
The songs are made up of a variety of lines, vari-
ously rhymed.
V. LYCIDAS
Lycidas was written in 1637, and published in
the following year as the last of a collection of
poems by various hands, lamenting the death of
Edward King, a Fellow of Christ's College, Cam-
bridge. In August, 1637, King had set out to
44 INTRODUCTION
visit relatives in Ireland; but the vessel in which
he was crossing the Irish Sea foundered and was
lost. Milton and he had been at Christ's at the
same time, and though the intimacy between them
was not of such warmth as that existing between
Milton and Charles Diodati, for whom he wrote
his Latin elegy, (the Epitaphium Damonis) ,he yet
seems to have known King well, and to have had a
sincere admiration for both his character and his
ability.
The poem is a pastoral elegy following the tra-
dition begun by Theocritus. In works of this
type, the scene is laid in a fanciful Sicily or Ar-
cadia, whose inhabitants are figured as shepherds,
spending th^ir days watching their sheep and
playing on their pipes of straw. The example of
\ the Sicilian School had been followed by Vergil
and other classical writers, and with the Renais-
sance there had come a great revival of the pas-
toral throughout western Europe. The idea had
been used not only in elegy but also in prose
romance and in the drama; and Milton had Eng-
lish examples in such works as Sir Philip Sidney's
Arcadia and The Faithful Shepherdess of John
Fletcher. He had already employed the pastoral
fiction in Arcades and in parts of Comus, and
throughout the present poem the setting and
imagery are of this nature.
LYCIDAS 45
The poem opens with a statement of the occasion
(vv. 1-14), and this is followed by the conventional
invocation of the Muses (vv. 15-22).
The pastoral proper begins with v. 23, where he
images the life of King and himself while students at
Cambridge, following the same studies and alike x
experimenting in poetr}^ as that of two young *
shepherds, born on the same hillside, herding
their flocks together, and piping on the oaten flute.
This figure is kept up throughout the poem, ex-
cept in the digressions.
The first of these (vv. 64-84) deals~with Poetry
and J^ame^and is very significant of the spirit in
which Milton devoted himself to a poetical career.
In it he rises from the lower view uf Fame as mere
worldly reputation to a conception of it as the
stamp of (Jivine approval
The lament is then resumed (v. 85) in an attempt
to fix the blame for the disaster, and at v. 108
St. Peter is introduced as the guardian of the
church he founded, lamenting the death of so v
promising a youth at a time when the ministry
was crowded with hirelings. In this digression on
the state of the English Church, the service of
which King had intended to enter, we have a 1
splendid bur?t of indignation against those abuses
which from Milton's point of view were bringing
the Church into deeper and deeper degradation. 1
1 See Section I of this Introduction.
46 INTRODUCTION
His hope that a short and effective remedy was
at hand is expressed in'vv. 130, 1.
The elegy proper is then taken up again (vv.
165-185), and he rises from the tone of regret that
has prevailed hitherto to a triumphant assertion
of his friend's immortality. In these lines he
leaves the classical and pagan allusions, which,
following the tradition of the pastoral, he had
freely introduced in the earlier pages, and adopts
the language of the New Testament.
In the last eight lines we have a kind of epilogue
in which Milton separates himself from the speaker
in the foregoing lament, tells of the close of the
shepherd's lay., and refers symbolically to his own
approaching change of occupation.
The metre of Lycidas consists mainly of ^ten-
syllabled lines, with the accents on the even sylla-
bles. It is rhymed^lrregularly^but with the most
subtly musical effectTanoT^t is varied by the
occasional introduction of a blank verse line and
of a shorter line of three accents. 1 So successfully
has Milton used this freedom that the poem ranks
as one of the most varied and best sustained
pieces of rhythm in the language.
1 For examples of blank verse lines, see vv. 1, 22,
39. 51, 82, 91, 161; of lines of three accents, see vv. 4, 19,
21, 33, 41, 43, 48, 56, 79, 88, 90, 95, 108, 145.
MILTON'S PURITANISM 47
VI. MILTON'S PURITANISM
In reading the poems of Milton contained in the
present volume, it is easy to be at a loss to account
for what may appear their inconsistency with
Puritanism, as Puritanism is ordinarily conceived.
L' Allegro and II Penseroso both show a genuine
delight in_art, and a capacity for sheer pleasure
which Puritanism is_supppsed to Jiava_shunn@d.
Comus ^Belongs to^a type of dramatic literature
which, more than any other, is associated with the
pleasure-loving Cavalier society, and which is
particularly identified with that Court the downfall
of which the triumph of Puritanism implied.
And LycidaSj in spite of the outburst on the cor-
ruption in the Church, shows an anxious care for
that Church itself the Church which Puritanism
attempted to transform, if not to destroy. How
is the author of such poems to be accounted a
Puritan?
The explanation lies in a clearer understanding,
first, of the history of Puritanism itself; and, sec-
ond, of the growth of Milton's opinions.
In the first section of this Introduction, there
has been indicated a gradual development of Puri-
tan sentiment with regard to ritual and doctrine.
This was brought about largely by the innovations
of the High Church party; for, as that party at-
tempted more and more effectually to introduce
its views and practices into the Established
48 INTRODUCTION
Church, the Puritans were led to define more
clearly and emphasize more strongly their points
of difference. Partly, perhaps, through the ani-
mus of controversy, partly through logical neces-
sity, these points of difference increased in number
and apparent importance. They began to appear
in fields that had at first been quite remote from
the dispute. Thus, in the earlier part of the
seventeenth century, there had been many
English gentlemen, Puritan in theology, who were
lovers of the beautiful in art, in literature, and,
like Milton's father, in music; and who, whil6 rig-
orously pure in their private morals, were yet gen-
erous in their culture and cheerful in their attitude
towards life. But it was by the Cavalier that the
pleasure-giving sides of life were most assiduously
cultivated; and when the Puritans found them-
selves forced by the ecclesiastical and political
issues of the time to take sides against the Cav-
aliers, they were led by the violence of the more
extreme members of their party to relegate to the
background those aesthetic tastes which they held
in common with the more refined men of the oppo-
site party, and finally, in many cases, to regard all
such things as wiles of" the devil. Thus became
predominant that narrow and unlovely typ'Q of
Puritanism which to-day is so often regarded as
the only one; while, as a matter of fact, it was only
the triumph of an extreme party brought about
MILTON'S PURITANISM 49
by the open rupture with those who, whatever
may have been their vices, were generous in their
view of the place of beauty in life.
Now Milton, by upbringing and by tempera-
ment, belonged to the more moderate and cultured
group of Puritans. He was brought up in a
refined home, his father was a man of artistic
sensibilities, and the poet himself received, as we
have seen, a mo^liberal^eclujcatipn. His purpose,
cherished till manhood, of becoming a clergyman,
along with the passage in II Penseroso which shows
his appreciation of beautiful architecture and
music in the services of the Church, is sufficient to
disprove any natural aversion to the English
Church itself. Further, he deliberately chose an
artistic career; and after the turmoil of the Puritan
Revolution was over, he returned to it. For
nothing are the poems in the present volume more
notable than for their artistic qualities.
But keen as was Milton's love of art, there were
things for which he cared still more. Throughout
these earlier productions we find him constantly
awake to the moral questions suggested by his
subject. Comus, a poem written ostensibly for
the entertSmment ot a lestive gathering;, "Isf
an expfessionT of his convictions on fundamental
moral problems.JIK n
diligence, the necessity of the strictest personal
purity for the best results, whether in thinking or
50 INTRODUCTION
living, the conviction that Virtue must in the long
run triumph these things, and not the celebration
of the inauguration of the Earl of Bridgewater,
are the real themes of the masque. The passion
in Lycidas rises to its highest pitch, not in ex-
pressions of grief over the death of his friend, but
in an almost irrelevant burst of righteous indig-
nation over the degradation of the holy office,
and the falsehood and hypocrisy and selfishness
which were undermining the foundations of the
Church.
When he was on the threshold of his career,
national events turned this moral enthusiasm into
a new channel. The sacred principle of liberty was
in danger. Without hesitation, Milton laid aside
his poetry and turned to the service of the cause
which seemed to him to call most loudly for help;
and since the upholders of that cause had in many
cases no sympathy with those other interests to
which he had expected to devote himself, the
period of his active association with them is al-
^n\ns,t- {wren of poetical production.
Yet the old ideal was befor^ETm still; and when,
old, blind, and disappointed of the .results of his
long hope and endeavor, he retired to his obscure
corner, it was not like Swift, " to die like a poisoned
rat in a hole/' but to take up the task that he had
always regarded as his, and to carry it to a glorious
consummation. Paradise Lost may be the epic of
MILTON'S PURITANISM 51
a dead or dying theology; Samson Agonistes may
be the grim deathsong of the ruined Roundhead ;
but in both Milton is the artist still, and the last-
ing proof of the possibility of the combination of
Puritanism and culture.
L'ALLEGRO
HENCE, loathed Melancholy,
Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born
In Stygian cave forlorn
'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights
unholy! '.jzJ^
5 Find out gome uncoSith cell,
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,
10 In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell.
But come,\thou Goddess fair land free,
In heaven yclept EiiphxQs^jae,
And by men heart-easing Mirth,
Whom lovely Venus, at a birth,
is With two! sister Graces more,
To ivy-crowned Bacchus bore: -
Or whether (as some sager sing)
e faolie wind tlmt breathes the spring,
Stiyr, with Aurora playing,
s 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,
54 . MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
Scrbuxom, blithe, and debonair.
jx^Haste thee, Nymph, and bring with thee
"Jest, and youthful ,
Quips and cranks
^xNods and becks and wreathed smiles, ~ *
X Such as hang on Hebe's che&J?^* r * r " % *\^ \"
And love to live in dimple sleek; ao
Sport that wrinkled Care derides,
AndLaughter holding both his sides.
/ I Come, and trip it, as you go,
-\0n the light fantastic toe;
/ And in thy right hand lead with thee 35
The mountain-nymph, sweet Liberty ;/
And, if I give thee honour due,
Mirth, admit me of thy crew,
To live with her, and live with thee,
unreproved pleasures free:
To hear the lark begin his flight, "^
And, singing, startle the dull night,
f :>"" From his watch-tower in the skies,
/-Till the dapplgd dawn doth rise;
Then to come, hi spite of sorrow, &
And at my window bid good-morrow,
Through the sweet-briar or the vine,
^y^Or the twisted eglantine;
\VTiile the cock, with lively din,
Scatters the rear of darkness thin, $
/ And to the stack, or the barn-door,
,, Stoutly struts his dames before:
L'ALLEGRO 55
Oft listening how the hounds and horn/*'
^xCheerly rouse the slumbering morn, Y^^aT^^^
s^ From the side of some hoar hill,
/ Through the high wood echoing shrill:
y Sometime! walking! not uijseen,
By hedgqrow elmsL on hillocks green,
Right atainstl tha eastern gate,,
eo Where the great Sun begins his stai
Robed in flames and amber light,
jj^The clouds in thousand liveries dight;
II N^ ' mtit '_
1 , While the plowman, near at hand,
& Whistles o'er the furrowed land,
the milkmaid singeth blithe,
/'And the mower whets his scythe, ^ Q*
f /And every shepherd tells hiT^al^
the ha\vthorn in the dale.
r Straight 'mine eye hath caught new pleasures
70 Whilst the landskip roun
^Russet lawnsj and f
-/Where the nibbling flocks do stray;
f .Mountains on whose barren breast
The labouring clouds do often rest;
^d Meadows trim, with daisies pied;
i^hallow brooks, and rivers wide;
"Towers and bat%m,ents.it sees
Where perhaps some beauty lies,
so " v l 'ne cynosure of neighbouring eyes.
Hard by a cottage chimney smokes ^
66 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
xTYom betwixt two aged oaks, ^^* -
Where Corydon and Thyrsis met feT^T.
Are at their savoury dinner jSt lyH^Crvj
Of herbs and other countryTmlsses,
Which the neat-handed Phyllis dresses;
And then in haste her bower she leaves,
With Thestylis to bind the sheaves;
Or, if the earlier season lead,
>*To thekannedfcaykKJck inUhe_mead.
* Sometimes with
^XtSometimes,! with
The upland hamlets will invite,
When the merry bells ring round,
the jocund rebecks sound
To many a youth and many a maid
Dancing in the chequered shade,
And young and old come forth to play
x On a sunshine holiday,
^,-Till the livelong daylight fail:
/Then to the spicy nut-brown ale,
With stories told of many a feat,
How Faery Mab the junkets eat.-
was pinched and pulled, she said;
And he, by Friar's lantern, led,
. Tells how the drudging goblin sweat
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 couklnot end;
Then lies him down, the lubber-fiend,
L'ALLEGRO 67
^
(
And, stretched out all
s Basks at the fire his hairy strength,
And crop-full out of doors he flings,
^ Ere the first cock his matin pings.
115 Thus done the tales, to bed they creep, ^
( By whispering winds soon lulled asleep.!/
^Towered cities please us then, v-
XAnd the busy hum of men, -^y
Where throngs of knights and barons bold,
<***Zyi*& ,., Jk*^&&r ,1
isoInsAveeds of peace, nigh friumpns hold,
With storemmdies, whose bright eyes
Rain influence, and judge the prize
Of wit or arms, while both contend
To win her grace whorn jjll < $ rlm end.
There let Hymeiaottappfer ^
In saffron robe7"with taper clear,
And pomp, and feast, and revelry,
With mask and antique pageantry;
Such sights as youthful poets dream
130 On summer eves by haunted stream.
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,
135 And ever, against eating cares,
^Lap me in soft Lydian airs,
, ''JtMarried to immor^^verse,
jr Such as the Tmeetrngsoul may pierce,
In notes with many a winding bout
58 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
Of linked sweetness long drawn out 140
With wanton heed and giddy cunning,
The melting voice through mazes running,
Untwisting all the chains that tie
The hidden soul of harmony;
That Orpheus' self may heave his head 145
From golden slumber on a bed
Of heaped Elysian flowers, and hear
Such strains as would have won the ear
Of Pluto to have quite set free
His half-regained Eurydice. iso
These delights if thou canst give, /
Mirth, with thee I mean to live.
^*
r\
IL \PENSEROSO
1 Hence, vain, deluding Joys,
The brood of EoUywithout father bred!
How little you bested;
Or fill the fixM mind with all your toys!
6 Dwell in some, idle bram, /?
. , e . X^^^ry *^f^\^ \
And fanciesvfond with^gaudy shapes) possess,
As thick and numberless
As the gay motes that people the sun-beams,
Or likest ho vermg* dreams,
The fickle pensi6ners*bf Morpheus' train.
But, hail! thou Goddess sage and holy!
Hail, divinest Melancholy!
i Whose saintly/visage is too bright
i ToTut^'trie 1 sense of human sigjjt,
is And therefore to our
O'erlaid with black, staid Wisdom's
: Black, but such as in esteem
Prince Memnon's sister might beseem,
Or that starred Ethiop queen that strove
20 To set her beauty's praise above
The Sea-Nymph's, and their powers offended.
Yet thou art higher far descended: ,
Thee bright-haired Vesta long of yore )
To solitary Saturn bore;
96 His*jfaughter she; in Saturn's reign,
.
60 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
Such mixture was not held a stain.
Oft|in glim^nering|bowers)and glades
He metiher, and' in scfcret shades
Of woody Ida's inmost 1 grove.
Whilst yet there was no fear of Jove. so
Come, pensive Nun, devout and pure*
- Sober, steadfast, and I demure,
All hi a robejof daijkest grain,
' Flowing \witn (majestic tram,
And sable stole^f cypress lawn 35
Over thy ofcenr^houlders. drawn '
e; but keep thy wonted ^m^7^
With even step, and musing gait,
And looks commercing with the skies.
Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes: 40
There, held hi holy passion still,
Forget thyself to marble, till
With a < gaaladen downward cast
Thou fix them on the earth as fast.
And join with thee calm Peace and Quiet, 45
Spare Fast, that oft with gods doth diet,
And hears the Muses in a ring
Aye round about Jove's altar sing;
And add to these retired Leisure,
That in trim gardens takes his pleasure; sc
But, first and chief est, with thee bring
Him that yon soars on golden wing,
^ Guiding the fiery-wheeled throne,
The Cherub Contemplation;
IL PENSEROSO 61
55 And the mute Silence hist along,
/X'Less Philomel will deign a song,&
In her sweetest saddest plight,!*^
Smoothing the rugged brow of Night, -f**
While Cynthia checks her dragon yoke
yeo Gently o'er th' accustomed oak.
; Sweet bird, that shunn'st the noise of folly,
Most musical, most melancholy!
*- Thee, chauntress, oft the woods among
I woo, to hear thy even-song;
es And, missing thee, I walk unseen
On the dry smooth-shaven green,-^
To behold the wandering moon, -^
Riding near her highest noon,
Like one that had been led astray
70 Through the heaven's wide pathless way, ""
And oft, as if her head she bowed,
Stooping through a fleecy cloud. ~
Oft, on a plat of rising ground,
I hear the far-off curfew sound,
75 Over some wide-watered shore, " ^*
^Swinging slow with sullen roar;
y-Or, if the air will not permit,
Some still removed place will fit,
Where glowing embers through the room
so Teach light to counterfeit a gloom,
- Far from all resort of mirth, * "* - **
Save the cricket on the hearth,
Or the bellman's drowsy charm +* 1 **
62 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
To bless the doors from nightly harm.
Or let my lamp, at midnight hour,
Be seen in some high lonely tower,
Where I may oft outwatch the Bear,
With thrice great Hermes, or
The spirit of Plato, to unfold
What worlds or what vast regions hold
The immortal mind that hath forsook
Her mansion in this fleshly nook;
And of those demons that are found
In fire, air, flood, or underground,
Whose power hath a true consent
With planet or with element.
Sometime let gorgeous Tragedy
In sceptred pall come sweeping by,
Presenting Thebes, or Pelops' line,
Or the tale of Troy divine,
r what (though rare) of later age
Ennobled hath the buskined stage.
But, sad Virgin! that thy power
Might raise Musseus from his bower;
Or bid the soul of Orpheus sing
Such notes as, warbled to the string,
Drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek,
And made Hell grant what love did seek;
Or call up him that left half told
The story of Cambuscan bold,
Of Camball, and of Algarsife,
And who had Canace to wife,
TJ* PFNSEKOSO
That owned the virtuous ring and glass,
And of the wondrous horse of brass
us On which the Tartar king did ride;
And if aught else great bards beside
In sage and solemn tunes have sung,
Of tourneys, and of trophies hung, ,
Of forests, and enchantments drear,
120 Where more is meant then meets the ear.
Thus, .^" me m thy P a ^ e career,
appear,
Not tnckeoand frounced, as she was wont
With the Attic boy to hunt,
125 But kerchieft in a comely cloud, -
While rocking winds are piping loud,
Or ushered with a shower still,
When the gust hath blown his fill,-
\ Ending on 4he t rustling Jeave
1T7UU *YWl fc L **T V ^"A* ' "
130 With minute-drops from on the eave
, when the sun begins to fling
His flaring beams, me, Goddess, bring
To arched walks of twilight groves, -
And shadows brown, that Sylvan loves,
135 Of pine, or monumental oak,
Where the rude axe with heaved stroke's-
'Was never heard the nymphs to daunt,
for fright them from their hallowed haunt*)
; There in close covert, by some brook,
i40 Where no profaner eye may look,
\ Hide me from day's garish eye,
6* MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
^* While the bee with honeyed thigh,
That at her flowery work doth sing,
And the waters murmuring,
s With such consort as they keep, I4g
^ Entice the dewy-feathered Sleep.
And let some strange mysterious dream
^Wave at his wings, in airy stream
Of lively portraiture displaced,
"Softly on my eyelids laid; . 15C
And, as I wake, sweet music breathe
Above, about, or underneath,
Sent by some Spirit to mortals good,
Or the unseen Genius of the wood.
-But let my due feet never fail ^
To walk the studious cloister's pale,
AII ; i vi \~-K itr i rf-r*- ,.
And love the high emuowed roof,
AncFstonea windows richly digrit,
'asting a dim religious light. 16C
There let the pealing organ blow,
To the full-voiced quire below,
In service high and anthems clear,
As may with sweetness, through mine ear,
Dissolve me into ecstasies, 165
L. And bring all Heaven before mine eyes.
pAnd may at last my weary age
Find out the peaceful hermitage.
t^^u. ^J^ww r\ <^ K^CSS^
Ine hairy gown and mossy cell,
'' " gr / ' A ^ Q-JX- f^
Where I may sit and rightly spell o#*^* ** 170
IL PENSEROSO 65
every st^r that heaven doth shew,
And every herb that sips the dew,
Till old experience do attain
To something like prophetic strain.
35 These pleasures, Melancholy, give:
.And I with thee will choose to live.
COMUS
A MASQUE PRESENTED AT LUDLOW CASTLE, 1634,
BEFORE THE EARL OF BRIDGEWATER, THEN
PRESIDENT OF WALES
THE PERSONS
The ATTENDANT SPIRIT, afterwards in the habit of
THYRSIS.
COMUS, with his crew.
THE LADY.
FIRST BROTHER.
SECOND BROTHER.
SABRINA, the Nymph.
The Chief Persons which presented were
The LORD BRACKLEY;
Mr. THOMAS EGERTON, his brother;
The Lady ALICE EGERTON.
The First Scene Discovers a Wild Wood
The ATTENDANT SPIRIT descends or enters
BEFORE the starry threshold of Jove's court
My mansion is, where those immortal shapes
Of bright aerial spirits live insphered
In regions mild of calm and serene air,
Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot \
66
COMUS 67
Which men call Earth, and, with low-thoughted
care,
Confined and pestered in this pinfold here,
Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being,
Unmindful of the crown that Virtue gives,
10 After this mortal change, to her true servants
Amongst the enthroned gods on sainted seats.
Yet some there be that by due steps aspire
To lay their just hands on that golden key
That opes the palace of eternity.
15 To such my errand is; and, but for such,
I would not soil these pure ambrosial weeds
With the rank vapours of this sin-worn mould.
But to my task. Neptune, besides the sway
Of every salt flood and each ebbjng strain,*
20 Took in by lot, 'twixt high and neffier
Imperial rule of all the sea-girt isles
That, like to rich and various gems, inlay
The unadorned bosom of the deep;
Which he, to grace his tributary gods,
25 By course commits to several government,
And gives them leave to wear their sapphire
crowns
And wield their little tridents. But this Isle,
The greatest and the best of all the main,
He quarters to his blue-haired deities;
30 And all this tract that fronts the falling sun
4^ioble Peer of mickle trust and power "~
Has in his charge, with tempered awe to guide
68 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
An old and haughty nation, proud in arms:
Where his fair offspring, nursed in princely lore,
I Are coming to attend their father's state, 35
And new-intrusted sceptre. But their way
/Lies through the perplexed paths of this drear
wood,
The nodding horror of whose shady brows
Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger;
And here their tender age might suffer peril, 48
But that, by quick command from sovran Jove,
I was dispatched for their defence and "guard:
And listen why; for I will tell you now
What never yet was heard in tale or song,
From old or modern bard, in hall or bower. 45
Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape
"Crushed the sweet poison of misused wine,
I After the Tuscan mariners transformed,
/ Coasting the Tyrrhene shore, as the winds listed,
>0n Circe's island fell. (Who knows not Circe, 50
^SThe daughter of the Sun, whose charmed cup
Whoever tasted lost his upright shape,
And downward fell into a grovelling swine?)
This Nymph, that gazed upon his clustering locks,
With ivy berries wreathed, and his blithe youth, 55
Had by him, ere he parted thence, a son
I Much like his father, but his mother more,
\Whom therefore she brought up, and Comus
named:
Who, ripe and frolic of his full-grown age,
COMUS 69
eo Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields,
At last betakes him to this ominous wood,
And, in thick shelter of black shades imbowered,
Excels his mother at her mighty art;
Offering to every weary traveller
65 His orient liquor in a crystal glass,
To quench the drouth of Phoebus; which as they
taste
(For most do taste through fond intemperate
thirst),
Soon as the potion works, their human count 'nance.
The express resemblance of the gods, is changed
70 Into some brutish form of wolf or bear,
Or ounce or tiger, hog, or bearded goat,
All other parts remaining as they were.
And they, so perfect is their misery,
Not once perceive their foul disfigurement,
75 But boast themselves more comely than before,
And all their friends and native home forget,
To roll with pleasure in a sensual sty.
Therefore, when any favoured of high Jove
Chances to pass through this adventurous glade,
so Swift as the sparkle of a glancing star
I shoot from heaven, to give him safe convoy,
ASJLQW I do. But first I must put off
These my sky-robes, spun out of Iris' woof,
And take the weeds and likeness of a swain
85 That to the service of this house belongs,
Who, with his soft pipe and smooth-dittied song,
70 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
/ \
Well knows to still ;the wild winds when they roar,
And hush the waving woods; nor of less faith,
And in this office of his mountain watch
Likeliest, and nearest to the present aid gc
Of this occasion. But I hear the tread
Of hateful steps; I must be viewless now.
COMUS enters , with a charming-rod in one hand, his
glass in the other: with him a rout of monsters,
headed like sundry sorts of wild beasts, but other-
wise like men and women, their apparel glistering.
They come in making a riotous and unruly noise,
with torches in their hands.
Comus. The star that bids the shepherd fold,
Now the top of heaven doth hold;
Ami the gilded car of_day_ 95
His glowing axle doth allay
In the steep Atlantic stream;
And the slope sun his upward beam
Shoots against the dusky pole,
Pacing toward the other goal 100
Of his chamber in the east.
Meanwhile, welcome joy and feast,
Midnight shout and revelry,
Tipsy dance and jollity.
Braid your locks with rosy twine, leg
Dropping odours, dropping wine.
Rigor now is gone to bed;
And Advice with scrupulous head,
COMUS 71
Strict Age, and sour Severity,
110 With their grave saws, in slumber lie.
We, that are of purer fire,
Imitate the starry quire,
Who, in their nightly watchful spheres, I
Lead in swift round the months and years.
us The sounds and seas, with all their finny drove,
Now to the moon in wavering morrice move;
And on the tawny sands and shelves
Trip the pert fairies and the dapper elves;
By dimpled brook and fountain-brim,
120 The wood-nymphs, decked with daisies trim,
Their merry wakes and pastimes keep :
What hath night to do with sleep?
Night hath better sweets to prove;
Venus now wakes, and wakens Love.
125 Come, let us our rites begin;
; Tis only daylight that makes sin,
Which these dun shades will ne'er report.
(Hail, goddess of nocturnal sport,
Dark- veiled Cotytto, to whom the secret flame
130 Of midnight torches burns! mysterious dame,
That ne'er art called but when the dragon womb
Of Stygian darkness spets her thickest gloom,
And makes one blot of all the air!
Stay thy cloudy ebon chair,
135 Wherein thou ridest with Hecat', and befriend
Us thy vowed priests, till utmost end
Of all thy dues be done, and none left out;
72 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
Ere the blabbing eastern scout,
The nice Morn on the Jndian_steep,
From her cabined loop-hole peep, no
And to the tell-tale Sun descry
Our concealed solemnity.
Come, knit hands, and beat the ground
In a light fantastic round.)
The Measure
Break off, break off! I feel the different pace 145
Of some chaste footing near about this ground.
Run to your shrouds within these brakes and
trees;
Our number may affright. Some virgin sure
(For so I can distinguish by mine art)
Benighted in these woods! Now to my charms, 150
And to my wily trains: I shall ere long
Be well stocked with as fair a herd as grazed
About my mother Circe. Thus I hurl
My dazzling spells into the spongy air,
Of power to cheat the eye with blear illusion, 155
And give it false preserftments, lest the place
And my quaint hffiitsbreed astonishment,
And put the damsel to suspicious flight;
Which must not be, for that's against my course.
I, under fair pretence of friendl^ends, ieo
And well-placed words of glozing courtesy,
Baited with reasons not unplausible,
Wind me into the easy-hearted man,
COMUS 73
And hug him into snares. When once her eyj
165 Hath met the virtue of this magic dust,
I shall appear some hamiless villager,
Whom thrift keeps < up*atx)ut his country g^ar.
But here she comes; I fairly step aside,
And hearken, if I may her business hear.
The LADY enters
170 Lady. This way the noise was, if mine ear be
true,
My best guide now. Methought it was the sound
Of riot and ill-managed merriment,
Such as the jocund flute or gamesome pipe
Stirs up among the loose unlettered hinds,
175 When, for their teeming flocks and granges full,
In wanton^ dance they praise the bounteous Pan,
And thank the gods amiss. I should be loth
To meet the rudeness and swilled insolence
Of such late wassailers; yet, oh! where else
iso Shall I inform my unacquainted feet
In the blind mazes of this tangled wood?
My brothers, when they saw me wearied out
With this long way, resolving here to lodge
(Under the spreading favour of these pines,)
185 Stepped, as they said, to the next thicket-side
To bring me berries, or such cooling fruit
As the kind hospitable woods provide.
They left me then, when the grey-hooded Even,
Like a sad votarist in palmer's weed,
74 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
Rose from the hindmost wheels of Phoebus' wain. 190
But where they are, and why they came not back,
Is now the labour of my thoughts. Tis likeliest
They had engaged their wandering steps too far;
And envious darkness, ere they could return,
Had stole them from me. Else, thievish Night, 195
Why shouldst thou, but for some felonk)ii end,
In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars
That Nature hung in heaven, and filled their lamps
With everlasting oil to give due light
/To the misled and lonely traveller? ) 200
This is the place, as well as I may guess,
Whence even now the tumult of loud mirth
Was rife, and P e ^^^_^Y listening ear;
Yet nought but smgJ^oa^^ss do I find.
What might this be? A thousand fantasies 205
Begin to throng into my memory,
Of calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire,
And airy tongues that syllable men's names
On sands and shores and desert wildernesses.
These thoughts may startle well, but not astound 210
The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended
By a strong-siding champion, Conscience.
Oh, welcome, pure-eyed Ijjith. white-handed
Hoge,
Thou hovering angel girt with golden wings,
And thou, unblemished form of Chastity! 215
I see ye visibly, and now believe
That He, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill
COMUS 75
Are but as slavish officers of vengeance,
Would send a glistering guardian, if need were,
220 To keep my life and honour unassailed ....
Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud
(Turn forth her silver lining on the night? \
I did not err: there does a sable cloud
Turn forth her silvei lining on the night,
225 And casts a gleam over this tufted grove.")
I can not hallo to my brothers, but
Such noise as I can make to be heard farthest
I'll venture; for my new-enlivened spirits
Prompt me, and they perhaps are not far off.
Song
230 Sweet Echo, sweetest n YffiP]i i that liv'st unseen
Within thy ajry^lhdl^^
/ j if i * ^^^
By slow Meander's marg&nt*green,
And in the violet-embroidered vale
Where the love-lorn nightingale
235 Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well:
Canst thou not tell me of a gentle pair
That likest thy Narcissus are?
0, if thou have
Hid them in some flowery cave,
240 Tell me bi^where,^
Sweet Queen ofTParley,Daughter of the Sphere!
So may'st thou be translated to the skies,
And give resounding grace to all Heaven's har-
monies.
76 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
Comus. Can any mortal mixture of earth's
mould
Breathe such divine enchanting ravishment? 345
Sure something holy lodges in that breasi,
And with-ihese raptures moves the vocal air
To testify^ hidden residence.
How sweetly did they float upon the wings
Of silence, through the empty-vaulted night, 250
At everylallsmoothing the raven down
Of darkness till it smiled! I have oft heard
My mother Circe with the Siren*three,
Amidst the flowery-kirtled Naiades,
Culling their potent herbs and baleful drugs, 255
Who, as they sung, would take the prisoned soul,
And lap it in Elysium: Scylla wept,
And chid her barking waves into attention,
And fell Charybdis murmured soft applause.
Yet they in pleasing slumber lulled the sense, see
And in sweet madness robbed it of itself;
But such a sacred and home-felt delight,
Such sober certainty of waking bliss,
I never heard till now. I'll speak to her,
And she shall be my queen. Hail, foreign wonder! 265
Whom, certain, these rough shades did never
breed,
Unless the goddess that in rural shrine
Dwell'st here with Pan or Sylvan, by blest song
Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog
To touch the prosperous growth of this tall wood. 270
COMUS 77
Lady. Nay, gentle shepherd 111 is lost that
praise
That is addressed to unattending ei
Not any boast of skill, but extigmeshift
How to regain my severed company,
275 Compelled me to awake the courteous Echo
To give me answer from her mossy couch.
Comus. What chance, good Lady, hath bereft
you thus?
Lady. Dim darkness, and this leavy labyrinth*
Comus. Could that divide you from near-
ushering guides? ^f***f >***<*^***&*i
280 Lady. They left me weary on a grassy turf.
Comus. By falsehood, or discourtesy, or why?
Lady. To seek i' the valley some cool friendly
spring.
Comus. And left your fair side all unguarded,
Lady?
.Lady. They were but twain, and purposed quick
return.
285 Comus. Perhaps forestalling night prevented
them.
Lady. How easy my misfortune is to hit!
Comus. Imports their loss, beside thejpresent
npprl? *L fcflu^* -te~*- vv^%>*^t>^^
llCt/Ll. *J* ******
Lady. No less than if I should my brothers lose.
Comus. Were they of manly prime, or youthful
bloom?
29c Lady. As smooth as Hebe's their unrazored lips
78 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
Comus. Two such I saw, what time the laboured
ox
In his loose traces from the furrow came,
And the swinked hedger at his supper sat.
I saw them under a green mantling vine,
That crawls along the side of yon small hill, 295
Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots:
^^^fcAxV^
Their port wafc more than human, as they stood.
I took it for a faery vision
Of some gay creatures of the ele$"en%
That in the colours of the rainbow live, soo
And play i' the *pn^ea clouds. I was awe-
strook,
And, as I passed, I worshiped. If those you seek,
It were a journey like the path to Heaven
To help you find them.
Lady. Gentle villager,
What readiest way would bring me to that place? 305
Comus. Due west it rises from this shrubby
point.
Lady. To find that out, good shepherd, I sup-
pose,
In such a scant allowance of star-light,
Would overtask the best land-pilot's art,
Without the sure guess of well-practised feet. ao
Comus. I know each lane, and every alley green,
Dingle, or bushy dell, of this wild wood,
QJ- t.-nj\i M*( f}\'~~* f ~
And every oosky bffnrnTrom side to side,
My daily walks and ancient neighbourhood;
COMUS 79
315 AncLifYOur stray attendance be yet lodged,
Or^nromwithin these limits, I shall kiiow
Ere morrow wake, or the low-roosted lark
From her thatched pallet rouse. If otherwise,
I can conduct you, Lady, to a low
320 But loyal cottage, where you may be safe
Till further quest.
Lady. Shepherd, I take thy word,
And trust thy honest-offered courtesy;
Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds,
With smoky rafters, than in tapestry halls
325 And courts of princes, where it first was named,
And yet is most pretended.^ In a place
|*1K<I|^^ secure,
I cannot be, that I should fear to changei
Eye me, blest Providence, and sqtferarriy trial
330 To my proportioned strength! Shepherd, lead on,
The TWO BROTHERS
Eld. Bro. Unmuffle, ye faint stars; and thou.
ThafwonTsttoTove the traveller's benison,
Stoop thy pale visage through an amber cloud,
And disinherit Chaos, that reigns here
335 In double night of darkness and of shades;
Or, if your influence be quite dammed up
With black usurping mists, some gentle taper,
Though a rush-candle from the wicker hole
Of some clay habitation, visit us
80 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
With thy long levelled rule of streaming light, 340
And thou shalt be our Star of Arcady,
Or Tyrian Cynosure.
Sec. Bro. Or, if our eyes
Be barred that happiness, might we but hear
The folded flocks, penned in their wattled cotes,
Or sound of pastoral reed with oaten stops, 345
Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock
Count the night-watches to his feathery dames,
'Twould be some solace yet, some little cheering,
In this close dungeon of innumerous boughs.
But, oh, that hapless virgin, our lost sister! sso
Where may she wander now, whither betake her
From the chill dew, amongst rude burs and
thistles?
Perhaps some cold bank is her bolster now,
Or 'gainst the rugged bark of some broad elm
Leans her unpillowed head, fraught with sad fears. 355
What if in wild amazement and affright,
Or, while we speak, within the direful grasp
Of savagejhunger, or of savage heat? ^ JUS^A**"
Eld. Bro. Peace, brother: be not over-exquisite
To cast the fashion of uncertain evils; seo
For, grant they be so, while they rest unknown,
What need a man forestall his date of grief,
And run to meet what he would most avoid?
Or, if they be but false alarms of fear,
How bitter is such self-delusion! * 365
I do not think my sister so tojeek, ^ ^
COMUS 81
Or so unprincipled in virtue's book,
And the sweet peace that goodness bosoms ever,
As that the suf|le want of light and noise
370 (Not being in danger, as I trust she is not)
Could stir the constant mood of her calm thoughts,
And put them into misbecoming plight.
/' Virtue could see to do what Virtue would
* By her own radiant light, though sun and moon
875 Were in the flat^ea sunk. And Wisdom's self
Oftl$eksjto sweet retired solitude,
Where, with her best nurse, Contempjation,
She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings,
That, in the various bustle of resort,
sso Were all to-ruffled, and sometimes impaired.
He that has light within his own clear breast
May sit i' the centre, and enjoy bright day:
But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts
Benighted walks under the mid-day sun;
885 Himself is his own dungeon.
Sec.Bro. Tis most true
That musing meditation most affra^
The pensive secrecy of desert cell,
Far from the cheerful haunt of men and herds,
And sits as safe as in a senate-house;
890 For who would rob a hermit of his weeds,
His few books, or his beads, or maple dish,
Or do his gray hairs any violence?
But Beauty, like the fair Hesperian tree
Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard
82 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
^j ^^L-
Of dragon-watch with unenchanted eye
To save her blossoms, and defend her fruit
From the rash hand of bold Incontinence. ,.
JYou may as well spread out the unsunned heaps
/Of miser's treasure by an outlaw's den,
/ And tell me it is safe, as bid me hope 400
Danger will wink on Opportunity,
And let a single helpless maiden pass
Uninjured in this wild surrounding waste.
Of night or loneliness it recks me not;
I fear the dread [ eygnts, that dog them both, 405
Lest some ill-greetmgtouch attempt the person
Of ourt^fowne^^is^erT '
Eld. Bro. I do not, brother,
Infer as if I thought my sister's state
Secure without all doubt or controversy;
Yet, where an equal poise of hope and fear 410
Does arbitrate the event, my nature is
That I incline to hope rather than fear,
And gladly banish squint suspicion.
My sister is not so defenceless left
As you imagine; she has a hidden strength, 4is
Which you remember not.
Sec. Bro. What hidden strength,
Unless the strength of Heaven, if you mean that?
Eld. Bro. I mean that too, but yet a hidden
strength,
Which, if Heaven gave it, may be termed her own.
Tis chastity, my brother, chastity; 420
OOMUS 83
She that has that is clad in complete steej
And, like a quivered nymph with arrows keen,
May trace huge forests, and unharboured heaths,
Infamous hills, and sandy perilous wilds;
425 Where, through the sacred rays of chastity,
No savage fierce, bandite, or mountaineer,
Will dare to soil her virgin purity.
Yea, there where very desolation dwells,
(By grots and caverns shagged with horrid shades,
430 She may pass on with unblenchedL
Be it not done in pride, or in presumption.
Some say no evil thing that walks hy nighf-j
In fog or fire, by lake or moorish fen,
Blue meagre hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost,
435 That breaks his magic chains at curfew time,
No goblin or swart faery of the mine,
Hath hurtful power o^erjyug virginity,
Do ye believe me yet, or shall I call
Antiquity from the old schools of Greece
440 To testify the arms of chastity?
Hence had the huntress Dian her dread bow,
Fair silver-shafted queen for ever chaste,
Wherewith she tamed the brinded lioness
And spotted mountain-pard, but set at nought
445 The frivolous bolt of Cupid; gods and men
Feared her sjgrn frown, and shewas queen o' the
woods.
What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shield
That wise Minerva wore, unconquered virgin,
84 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
Wherewith she freezed her foes -to congealed stone,
But rigid looks of^chaste austerity^ 450
And noble grace that dashed brute violence
With sudden adoration and blank awe?
So dear to Heaven is saintly chastity
' That, when a soul is found sincerely so,
A thousand liveried angels lackey her, 455
Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt,
And in clear dream and solemn vision
Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear;
Till oft converse with heavenly habitants
Begin to cast a beam on the outward shape, 480
The unpolluted temple of the mind,
And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence,
Till all be made immortal. But, when lust,
/By unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk,
But most by lewd and lavish act of sin, 465
Letsjn defilement to the inward parts,
The souLgrows clotted by contagion,
Imbodies, and imbrutes, till she quite |pse
The divine property of her first being.
Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp 470
Oft seen in charnel-vaults and sepulchres^;
Lingering and sitting by a new-made grave,
As loth to leave the body that it loved,
And linked itself by carnal sensualty
To a degenerate and degraded state. 475
Sec. Bro. How charming is divine Philosophy!
Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose,
COMUS 85
But musical as is Apollo's lute,
And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets,
480 Where no crude surfeit reigns.
Eld. Bro. List! list! I hear
Some far-off hallo break the silent air.
Sec. Bro. Methought so too; what should it be?
Eld. Bro. For certain,
Either some one, like us, night-foundered here,
Or else some neighbour woodman, or, at worst,
485 Some roving robber calling to his fellows.
Sec. Bro. Heaven keep my sister! Again, again,
and near!
Best draw, and stand upon our guard.
Eld. Bro. I'll hallo.
If he be friendly, he comes well; if not,
Defence is a good cause, and Heaven be for us!
The ATTENDANT SPIRIT, habited like a shepherd
490 That hallo I should know. What are you? speak.
Come not too near; you fall on iron stakes else.
Spir. What voice is that? my young Lord?
speak again.
Sec. Bro. brother, 'tis my father's Shepherd,
sure.
Eld. Bro. Thyrsis! whose artful strains have
oft delayed
495 The huddling brook to hear his madrigal,
And sweetened every musk-rose of the dale.
How earnest thou here, good swain? Hath any
ram
86 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
Slipped from the fold, or young kid lost his dam,
Or straggling wether the pent flock forsook?
How couldst thou find this dark sequestered nook? 500
Spir. my loved master's heir, and his next joy,
I came not here on such a trivial toy
As a strayed ewe, or to pursue the stealth
Of pilfering wolf; not all the fleecy wealth
That doth enrich these downs is worth a thought sos
To this my errand, and the care it brought.
But, oh! my virgin Lady, where is she?
How chance she is not in your company?
Eld. Bro. To tell thee sadly, Shepherd, without
blame
Or our neglect, we lost her as we came. 5io
Spir. Ay me unhappy! then my fe_ars_a^re true.
Eld. Bro. What fears, good Thyrsis? Prithee
briefly shew.
Spir. I'll tell ye. 'Tis not vain or fabulous
(Though so esteemed by shallow ignorance)
What the sage poets, taught by the heavenly sis
Muse,
Storied of old in high immortal verse
Of dire Chimeras and enchanted isles,
And rifted rocks whose entrance leads to Hell;
For such there be, but unbelief is blind.
Within the navel of this hideous wood, 520
Immured in cypress shades, a sorcerer dwells.
Of Bacchus and of Circe born, great Comus,
Deep skilled in all his mother's witcheries,
COMUS 87
And here to every thirsty wanderer
525 By sly enticement gives his baneful cup,
With many murmurs mixed, whose pleasing poison
The visage quite transforms of him that drinks,
And the inglorious likeness of a beast
Fixes instead, un moulding reason's mintage
530 Charactered in the face. This have I learnt
Tending my flocks hard by i' the hilly crofts
That brow this bottom glade; whence night by
(night
He and his monstrous rout arejieard to howl
Like stabled wolves, or tigers at their prey,
535 Doing abhorred rites to Hecate
In their obscured haunts of inmost bowers.
Yet have they many baits and_guileful spells
To inveigle and invite the unwary sense
Of them that pass unweeting by the way.
MoThi&eveninjy late, by then the chewing flocks
Had ta'en their supper on the savoury herb
Of knot-grass dew-besprent, and were in fold,
I sate me down to watch upon a bank
With ivy canopied, and interwove
545 With flaunting honeysuckle, and began,
Wrapt in a pleasing fit of melancholy,
I To meditate my rural minstrelsy,
Till fancy had her fill. But ere a close
The wonted roar was up amidst the woods,
560 And filled the air with barbarous dissonance;
At which I ceased, and listened them a while.
88 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
Till an unusual stop of suddenjdlence
Gave respite to the drowsy-flighted steeds
That draw the litter of close-curtained Sleep.
At last a soft and solemn-breathing sound 555
Rose like a steam of rich distilled perfumes,
And stole upon the air, that even Silence
Was took ere she was ware, and wished she might
Deny her nature, and be never more,
Still to be so displaced. I was all ear, seo
And took in strains that might create a soul
Under the ribs of Death. But, oh! ere long
Too well I did perceive it was thejvoice
Of my most honoured Lady, your dear sister.
Amazed I stood, harrowed with grief and fear; 565
And "0 poor hapless nightingale," thought I,
"How sweet thou sing'st, how near the deadly
snare!"
Then down the lawns I ran with headlong haste,
Through paths and turnings often trod by day,
Till, guided by mine ear, I found the place 570
Where that damned wizard, hid in sly disguise
(For so by certain signs I knew), had met
Already, ere my best speed could prevent,
The aidless innocent Lady, his wished prey;
Who gently asked if he had seen such two, 575
Supposing him some neighbour villager.
Longer I durst not stay, but soon I guessed
Ye were the two she meant; with that I sprung
Into swiftjlight, till I had found you here;
COMUS 89
680 But further know I not.
Sec. Bro. night and shades,
How are ye joined with helljn triple knot,
Against the unarmed weakness of one virgin,
Alone and helpless! Is this the confidence
You gave me, brother?
Eld. Bro. Yes, and keep it still;
685 Lean on it safely; not a period
i Shall be unsaid for me. Against the threats
Of malice^orosorcery, or that power ./
Which erring men call Chance, this I hold firm:
Virtue mayjb^assailed, but neveriurt,
690 Surprised by unjust force, but not enthralled;
Yea, even that which Mischief meant most harm
Shall in the happy trial prove most glory.
But evil jm itself shall back recoil,
And mix no more with goodness, when at last,
595 Gathered like scum, and settled to itself,
It shall be in eternal restless change
Self-fed and selfHonsumed. If this fail,
The pillared firmament is rottenness,
And earth's base built on stubble. But come,
let's on!
coo Against the opposing will and arm of heaven
May never this just sword be lifted up;
But for that damned magician, let him be girt
With all the grisly legions that troop
Under the sooty flag of Acheron^ ^X^
cos Harpies and Hydras, or all the monstrous forms
90 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
'Twixt Africa and Ind, I'll find him out,
And force him to return his purchase back,
Or drag him by the curls to a foul death,
Cursed as his life.
Spir. Alas! good venturous youth,
I love thy courage yet, and bold emprise; 311
But here thy sword can do thee little stead.
Far other arms and other weapons must
Be those that quell the might of hellish charms.
He with his bare wand can unthread thy joints,
And crumble all thy sinews.
Eld. Bro. Why, prithee, Shepherd, 611
How durst thou then thyself approach so near
As to make this relation?
Spir. Care and utmost shifts
How to secure the Lady from surprisal
Brought to my mind a certain shepherd lad,
Of small regard to see to, yet well_skilled 62
In every virtuous plant and healing herb
That spreads her verdant leaf to the morning ray.
He loved me well, and oft would beg mejiing;
Which, when I did, he on the tender grass
Would sit, and hearken even to ecstasy,
And in requital <>$ Ws leathern scrip,
And shew me simpfes 01 a thousand names,
Telling their strange and vigorous faculties.
Amongst the rest a small unsightly root,
But of divine effect, he culled me out:
The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it,
COMUS 91
But in another country, as he said,
Bore a bright golden flower, but not in this soil:
Unknown, and like esteemed, and the dull swain
35 Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon;
And yet more med'cinal is it than that Moly
That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave.
He called it Hsemony, and gavej^me^
And bade me keep it as of sovra&use
iiof'Gainst all enchantments, mildew blast, or /damp,
v^ * ^ __^ * . .
Or ghastly Furies' apparition. ^-* *"
I pursed it up, but little reckoning made,
Till now that this extremity compelled.
But now I find it true; for by this means
145 1 knew the foul enchanter, though disguised,
Entered the very lime-twigs of his spells,
And yet came off. If you have this about you
(As I will give you when we go), you may
Boldly assault the necromancer's hall;
iso Where if he be, with dauntless hardihood,
And brandished blade rush on him: break his glass,
And shed the luscious liquor on the ground;
But seize his wando Though he and his curst
crew
Fierce sign of battle make, and menace high,
m Or, like the sons of Vulcan, vomit smoke,
Yet will they soon retire, if he but shrink.
Eld.Bro. Thyrsis, lead on apace; I'll follow
thee;
And some good angel bear a shield before us!
92 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
The Scene changes to a stately palace, set out with all
manner of deliciousness: soft music, tables spread
with all dainties. COMUS appears with his rabble,
and THE LADY set in an enchanted chair: to whom
he offers his glass; which she puts by, and goes
about to rise
Comus. Nay, Lady, sit; if I but wave this wand,
Your nerves are all chained up in alabaster, e
And you a statue; or as Daphne was,
Root-bound, that fled Apollo.
Lady. Fool, do not boast;
Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind
With all thy charms, although this corporal rind
Thou hast immanacled while Heaven sees good.
Comus. Why are you vexed, Lady? why do you
frown?
Here dwell no frowns, nor anger; from these gates
Sorrow flies far. See, here be all the pleasures
That fancy can beget on youthful thoughts,
When the fresh blood grows lively, and returns
Brisk as the April buds in primrose season.
And first behold this cordial julep here,
That flames and dances in his crystal bounds,
With spirits of balm and fragrant syrups mixed.
Not that Nepenthes, which the wife of Thone
In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena
Is of such power to stir up joy as this,
To life so friendly, or so cool to thirst.
ICOMUS 93
Why should you be so cruel to yourself,
680 And to those dainty limbs, which Nature lent
For gentle usage and soft delicacy?
But you invert the covenants of her trust,
And harshly deal, like an ill borrower,
With that which you received on other terms,
ess Scorning the unexempt condition
By which all mortal frailty must subsist,
Refreshment after toil, easejifter pain,
That have been tired all day without repast,
And timely rest have wanted. But, fair virgin,
690 This will restore all soon.
Lady. 'Twill not, false traitors
Twill not restore the truth and honesty
That thou hast banished from thy tongue with lies,
Was this the cottage and the safe abode
Thou told'st me of? What grim aspects are these,
695 These ugly-headed monsters? Mercy guard me!
Hence with thy brewed enchantments, foul de-
ceiver!
Hast thou betrayed my credulous innocence
With vizored falsehood and base forgery?
And would 'st thou seek again to trap me here
x> With liquorish baits, fit to ensnare a brute?
Were it a draughtjor_Juno when she banquets,
I would not taste thy treason rms offer. None
But such as are good men can, give good things;
And that which is not goocHs not delicious
705 To a well-governed and wise appetite.
94 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
Comus. foolishness of men! that lend their
ears
To those budge doctors of the Stoic fur,
And fetch their precepts from the Cynic tub,
Praising the lean and sallow Abstinence!
Wherefore did Na-ture pour her bounties forth TK
With such a full and un withdrawing hand,
Covering the earth with odours, fruits, and flocks,
Thronging the seas with spawn innumerable,
But all to please and sate the curious taste?
And set to work millions of spinning worms, 711
That in their green shops weave the smooth-haired
silk,
To deck her sons; and, that no corner might
Be vacant of her plenty, in her own loins
She hutched the all-worshiped ore and precious
gems,
To store her children with. If all the world 72
Should, in a pet of temperance, feed on pulse,
Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but
frieze,
The All-giver would be unthanked, would be un-
jpraised,
Not half his riches known, and yet despised;
And we should serve him as a grudging master, 72
As a penurious niggard of his wealth,
And live like Nature's bastards, not her sons,
Who would be quite surcharged with her own
weight,
COMUS 95
And strangled with her waste fertility:
rao The earth cumbered, and the winged air darked
with plumes,
The herds would over-multitude their lords;
The sea o'erfraught would swell, and the unsought
diamonds
Would so emblaze the forehead of the deep,
And so bestud with stars, that they below
res Would grow inured to light, and come at last
To gaze upon the sun with shameless brows.
List, Lady; be not coy, and be not cozened
With that same vaunted name, Virginity.
Beauty is Nature's coin) must not be hoarded^
r4o But must be currerr^ and the good thereof
Consists in mutual and partaken bliss,
Unsavoury in the enjoyment of itself.
If you let slip time, like a neglected rose
It withers on the stalk with languished head.
r45 Beauty is Nature's brag,\and must be shown
Qn courts, at feasts, and high solemnities,
^Vliere most may wonder at the workmanship.
It is for homely features to keep home;
They had their name thence: coarse complexions
750 And cheeks of sorry grain will serve to ply
The sampler, and to tease the huswife's wool.
What need ai^ermeil-tinctured lip for that,
Love-darting eyes, or tresses like the morn?
There was another meaning in these gifts;
755 Think what, and be advised; you are but young yet
96 MILTON'S MiNOR POEMS
Lady. I had not thought to have unlocked my
lips
In this unhallowed air, but that this juggler'
Would think to charm my judgment, as mine eyes,
Obtruding false rules pranked in reason's garb.
/ 1 hate when vice can bolt her arguments, w.
* And virtue has no tongue to check her pride.
Impostor! do not charge most innocent Nature,
As if she would her children should be riotous
With her abundance. She, good cateress,
Means her provision only to the good, 765
That live according to her seber laws,
And holy dictate of spare Temperance.
If every justjman that now pines with want
Had but a moderate and beseeming share
Of that which lewdly-pampered Luxury 77<
Now heaps upon some few with vast excess,
Nature^ full blessings would be well dispensed
In unsuperfluous even proportion,
And she no whit encumbered with her store;
And then the Giver would be better thanked, 775
His praise due paid: for swinish gluttony
Ne'er looks to Heaven amidst his gorgeous feast,
But with besotted base ingratitude
Crams, and blasphemes his Feeder. Shall I go on?
Or have I said enough? To him that dares 730
Arm his profane tongue with contemptuous words
Against the sun-clad power of chastity
Fain would I something say; yet to what end?
COMUS 97
Thou hast not ear, nor soul, to apprehend
185 The sublime notion and high mystery
That must be uttered to unfold the sage
And serious doctrine of Virginity;
And thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know
More happiness than this thy present lot.
790 Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric,
That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence;
Thou art not fit to hear thyself convinced.
Yet, should I try, the uncontrolled worth
Of this pure cause would kindle my rapt spirits
795 To such a flame of sacred vehemence,
That dumb things would be .moved to sympathize,
And the brute earth would lend her nerves, and
shake,
Till all thy magic structures, reared so high,
Were shattered into heaps o'er thy false head.
soo Comus. She fables not. I feel that I do fear
Her words set off by some superior power;
And, though not mortal, yet a cold shuddering dew
Dips me all o'er, as when the wrath of Jove
Speaks thunder and the chains of Erebus
s805 To some of Saturn's crew. I must dissemble,
And try her yet more strongly. Come, no more!
This is mere moral babble, and direct
Against the canon laws of our foundation;
I must not suffer this, yet 'tis but the lees
Jio And settlings of a melancholy blood.
But this will cure all straight; one sip of this
98 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight,
Beyond the bliss of dreams. Be wise, and taste.
The BROTHERS rush in with swords drawn, wrest his
glass out of his hand, and break it against the
ground: his rout make sign of resistance, but are
all driven in. The ATTENDANT SPIRIT comes in
Spir. What! have you let the false enchanter
scape?
O ye mistook; ye should have snatched his wand, sis
And bound him fast. Without his rod reversed,
And backward mutters of dissevering power,
We cannot free the Lady that sits here
In stony fetters fixed and motionless.
Yet stay, be not disturbed; now I bethink me, 820
Some other means I have which may be used,
Which once of Meliboeus old I learnt,
The soothest shepherd that e'er piped on plains.
There is a gentle Nymph not far from hence,
That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn 825
stream:
Sabrina is her name: a virgin pure;
Whilom she was the daughter of Locrine,
That had the sceptre from his father Brute.
She, guiltless damsel, flying the mad pursuit
Of her enraged stepdame, Guendolen, gsc
Commended her fair innocence to the flood
That stayed her flight with his cross-flowing
course.
COMUS 99
The water nymphs, that in the bottom played,
Held up their pearled wrists, and took her in,
835 Bearing her straight to aged Nereus' hall;
Who, piteous of her woes, reared her lank head,
And gave her to his daughters to imbathe
In nectared lavers strewed with asphodil,
And through the porch and inlet of each sense
840 Dropt in ambrosial oils, till she revived,
And underwent a quick immortal change,
Made Goddess of the river. Still she retains
Her maiden gentleness, and oft at eve
Visits the herds along the twilight meadows,
845 Helping all urchin blasts, and ill-luck signs
That the shrewd meddling elf delights to make,
Which she with precious vialed liquors heals:
For which the shepherds, at their festivals, I
/ Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays,
SEC And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream
^Of pansies, pinks, and gaudy daffodils.
And, as the old swain said, she can unlock
The clasping charm, and thaw the numbing spell,
If she be right invoked in warbled song;
&5 For maidenhood she loves, and will be swift
To aid a virgin, such as was her self,
In hard-besetting need. This will I try,
And add the power of some adjuring verse.
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
100 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
Song
Sabrina fair,
Listen where thou art sitting
Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,
In twisted braids of lilies knitting
The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair;
Listen for dear honour's sakeT"
Goddess of the silver lake,
Listen and save.
Listen, and appear to us,
In name of great Oceanus.
By the earth-shaking Neptune's mace,
And Tethys' grave majestic pace;
By hoary Nereus' wrinkled look,
And the Carpathian wizard's hook;
By scaly Triton's winding shell,
And old soothsaying Glaucus' spell;
By Leucothea's lovely hands,
And her son that rules the strands;
By Thetis' tinsel-slippered feet,
And the songs of Sirens sweet;
By dead Parthenope's dear tomb,
And fair Ligea's golden comb,
Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks
Sleeking her soft alluring locks;
By all the Nymphs that nightly dance
Upon thy streams with wily glance;
Rise, rise, and heave thy rosy head
From thy coral-paven bed,
COMTTS 101
And bridle in thy headlong wave,
, Till thou our summons answered have.
Listen and save!
SABRINA rises, attended by Water-nymphs, and sings
) By the rushy-fringed bank,
Where grows the willow and the osier dank,
My sliding chariot stays,
Thick set with agate, and the azurn sheen
pf turkis blue, and emerald green, j
> ' That in the channel strays;
Whilst from off the waters fleet
Thus I set my printlessjfeet
O'er the cowslip's velvet head,
That bends not as I tread.
3 Gentle swain, at thy request
I am here.
Spir. Goddess dear,
We implore thy powerful hand
To undo the charmed band
3 Of true virgin here distressed
Through the force and through the wile
Of unblessed enchanter vile.
Sabr, Shepherd, 'tis my office best
To help ensnared chastity.
9 Brightest Lady, look on me.
Thus I sprinkle on thy breast
Drops that from my fountain pure
I have kept of precious cure;
102 'MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
Thrice upon thy finger's tip,
Thrice upon thy rubied lip: 915
Next this marble venomed seat,
Smeared with gums of glutinous heat, ,
I touch with chaste palms moist and cold.
Now the spell hath lost his hold;
And I must haste ere morning hour 920
To wait in Amphitrite's bower.
SABRINA descends, and THE LADY rises out of her
seat
Spir. Virgin, daughter of Locrine,
Sprung of old Anchises' line,
May thy brimmed waves for this
Their full tribute never miss 925
/From a thousand petty rills,
That tumble down the snowy hills:
Summer drought or singed air
Never scorch thy tresses fair,
Nor wet October's torrent flood 930
Thy molten crystal fill with mud;
May thy billows roll ashore
The beryl and the golden ore;
May thy lofty head be crowned
With many a tower and terrace round, 935
And here and there thy banks upon
With groves of myrrh and cinnamon.
Come, Lady; while Heaven lends us grace,
Let us fly this cursed place,
COMUS 103
940 Lest the sorcerer us entice
With some other new device.
Not a waste or needless sound
Till we come to holier ground.
I shall be your faithful guide
945 Through this gloomy covert wide;
And not many furlongs thence
Is your Father's residence,
Where this night are met in state
Many a friend to gratulate
950 His wished presence, and beside
All the swains that there abide
With jigs and rural dance resort.
We shall catch them at their sport,
And our sudden coming there
f >5 Will double all their mirth and cheer.
Come, let us haste; the stars grow high,
But Night sits monarch yet in the mid sky.
The Scene changes, presenting Ludlow Town, and
the President's Castle: then come in Country
Dancers, after them the ATTENDANT SPIRIT with
the two BROTHERS and THE LADY
Song
Spir. Back, shepherds, back! enough your
play
Till next sun-shine holiday,
eo Here be, without duck or nod,
104 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
Other trippings to be trod
Of lighter toes, and such court guise
As Mercury did first devise
With the mincing Dryades
On the lawns and on the leas. 965
This second Song presents them to their Father and
Mother
Noble Lord and Lady bright,
I have brought ye new delight.
Here behold so goodly grown
Three fair branches of your own.
Heaven hath timely tried their youth, 970
Their faith, their patience, and their truth,
And sent them here through hard assays
With a crown of deathless praise,
To triumph in victorious dance
O'er sensual folly and intemperance. 975
The dances ended, the SPIRIT epiloguizes
Spir. To the ocean now I fly,
And those happy climes that lie
Where day never shuts his eye,
Up in the broad fields of the sky.
There I suck the liquid air, 980
All amidst the gardens fair
Of Hesperus, and his daughters three
That sing about the golden tree.
COMUS 105
Along the crisped shades and bowers
585 Revels the spruce and jocund Spring;
The Graces, and the rosy-bosomed Hours
Thither all their bounties bring;
There eternal Summer dwells,
And west-winds, with musky wing
wo About the cedarn alleys fling
Nard and cassia's balmy smells.
\ Iris there with humid bow
Waters the odorous banks, that blow
Flowers of more mingled hue
995 Than her purfled scarf can shew,
And drenches with Elysian dew
(List,_mortals, if your ears be true)
<TBeds of hyacinth and roses,
Where young Adonis oft reposes,
ooo Waxing well of his deep wound,
In slumber soft, and on the ground
Sadly sits the Assyrian queen.
But far above, in spangled sheen,
Celestial Cupid^her famed son, advanced
KJS Holds his dear Psyche, sweet entranced
After her wandering labours long,
Till free consent the gods among
Make her his eternal bride,
And from her fair unspotted side
10 Two blissful twins are to be born,
Youth and Joy; so Jove hath sworn.
But now my task is smoothly done:
106 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
I can fly, or I can run,
Quickly to the green earth's end,
Where the bowed welkin slow doth bend, 101
And from thence can soar as soon
To the corners of the moon.
Mortals, that would follow me,
Love Virtue; she alone is free.
She can teach ye how to climb ia
Higher than the sphery chime;
f Or, if Virtue feeble were,
Heaven itself would stoop to her.
LYCIDAS
In this Monody the Author bewails a learned Friend,
unfortunately drowned in his passage from Chester on
the Irish Seas, 1637; and, by occasion, foretells the ruin
of our corrupted Clergy, then in their height.
/ i> V V L// *S / ^ /
YET oncemore, Oyela>nrek, and oncepiore, <=-
Ye myrtles b^^n; with iv^myer Jgre;^*- 2^+'
I^dm^jo pluck Vour berries harsh land crude, c
And with fOTcea fingers rude *~ /
t m *-ib- *' '
5 Shatter your leaves -before the mellowing year.*-
Bitter constraint and sad occasion dear,
Compels me to disturb your season due;
For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime,
Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer
10 Who would not sing for Lycidas? He Knew
Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.
He rnupt not float upon his watery bier v
Unwept, and welter to the parching wind,
\yithout thS meed of some melodious tear^
is Begin, then, Sisters of the sacred well
That from beneath the seat of Jove dotty spring;
Begin, and somewhat loudly sweep the string.
Hence with denial vain and coy excuse:
So may ^pme gentle/Muse k*w
UP ^cf^rutT iCfcJL '> / / ' ' >^*
go With mcky worasr^vour my destined Urn,
And as he passes turn ( ^ /
107
108 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
And bid fair peace be to my sable shroud!
For we were nursed upon the self-same hill,
Fed the same flock, by fountain, shade, and rill;
; Together both, ere the high lawns appeared . 25
Under the opening eyelids of the Morn,.
We drove a-field, and both together heard
Wha ; t time the grey-fly winds her sultry horn,
Battening our flocks with the fresh dews of night,
Oft till the star that rose at evening bright so
Toward heaven's descent had sloped his westering
wheel.
Meanwhile the rural ditties were not mute;
~~ Tempered to the oaten flute,
Rough Satyrs danced, and Fauns with cloven heel
From the glad sound would not be absent long; 35
And old Damcetas loved to hear our song.
/But, oh! the heavy change, now thou art gone,
Now thou art gone, and never must return!
Thee, Shepherd, thee the woods and desert caves,
With wild thyme and the gadding vine o'ergrown, 40
And all their echoes, mourn.
\The willows, and the hazel copses green, J
Shall now no more be seen
Fanning their joyous leaves to thy soft lays./
As killing as the canker to the rose, 45
Or taint-worm to the weanling herds that graze,
Or frost to flowers, that their gay wardrobe wear,
When first the white-thorn blows;
Such, Lycidas, thy loss to shepherd's ear.
LYCIDAS 109
60 Whereja^erfi-^e, Nymphs, when the remorseless
deep
Closed o'er the head of your loved Lycidas?
For neither were ye playing on the steep
Where your old bards, the famous Druids, lie,
Nor on the shaggy top of Mona high,
55 Nor yet where Deva spreads her wizard stream.
Ay me! I fondly dream
"Had ye been there,". .. .for what could that
have done?
What could the Muse herself that Orpheus bore,
The Muse herself, for her enchanting son,
eo Whom universal nature did lament,
When, by the rout that made the hideous roar,
His gory visage down the stream was
Down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore?
7 Alas! what boots it with uncessant care
85 To tend the homely, slighted shepherd's trade,
And strictly meditate the thankless Muse?
Were it not better done, as others use,
To sport with Amaryllis in the shade,
Or with the tangles of Nesera'a hair?
to Fame is the spur that 4 ,he clear spirit doth raise
(That last infirmity of noble mind)
To scorn delights, and live laborious days;
But, the fair guerdon when we hope to find,
And think to burst out into sudden blaze,
TO Comes the blind Fury with the abhorred shears,
And slits the thin-spun life. " But not the praise,"
Ill* MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
Phoebus replied, and touched my trembling ears:
" Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil,
Nor in the glistering foil
Set off to the world, nor in broad rumour lies, so
But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes
And perfect witness of all- judging Jove;
As he pronounces lastly on each deed^^-^*-*^
^Oi so much fame in_heaven expect thy meed.'N
fountain Arethuse, and thou honoured flood, 85
Smooth-sliding Mincius, crowned with vocal reeds.
That strain I heard was of a higher mood.
' But now my oat proceeds,
And listens to the Herald^of the Sea
That came in Neptune's plea. 90
He asked the waves, and asked the felon winds,
What hard mishap hath doomed this gentle swain^?
And questioned every gust of rugged wings
That blows from off each beaked promontory ,
They knew not of his story; 95
And sage Hippotades their answer brings,
That not a blast was from his dungeon strayed:
The air was calm, and on the level brine
Sleek Panope with all her sisters played.
It was that fatal and perfidious bark, j
Built in the eclipse, and rigged with curses dark,
That sunk so low that sacred head of thine.
Next, Camus, reverend sire, went footing slow,
His mantle hairy, and his bonnet sedge,
Inwrought with figures dim, and on the edge *
LYCIDAS 111
Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe.
;i< AhI who hath reft," quoth he, "my dearest
pledge?"
Last came, and last did go, ^
The Pilot of the Galilean Lake;
no Two massy keys he bore of metals twain
(The golden opes, the iron shuts amain).
He shook his mitred lock, and stern bespake:
"How well could I have spared for thee, young
swain,
Enow of such as, for their bellies' sake,
115 Creep, and intrude, and climb into the fold!
Of other care they little reckoning make,
Than how to scramble at the shearers' feast,
And shove away the worthy bidden guest.
Blind mouths! that scarce themselves know how
to hold
120 A sheep-hook, or have learnt aught else the least
That to the faithful herdman's art belongs!
What recks it them? What need they? They are
sped;
And, when they list, their lean and flashy songs
Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw;
125 The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed,
But, swoln with wind and the rank mist they draw,
Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread;
Besides what the grim wolf with privy paw
Daily devours apace, and nothing said.
;soBut that two-handed engine at the door
112 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more."
Return, Alpheus, the dread voice is past
That shrunk thy streams; return, Sicilian Muse,
And call the vales, and bid them hither cast
Their bells and flowerets of a thousand hues^\ sa
Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers use
Of shades, and wanton winds f\nd gushing brooks,
On whose fresh lap the swart star sparely looks,
Throw hither all your quaint enamelled eyes,
That on the green turf suck the honeyed showers, u
And purple all the ground with vernal flowers.
Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies,
The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine,
The white pink, and the pansy freaked with jet,
The glpwin^violet, ^ / ^ / ^/ / 14
The musk-rose, aria the well-attired woodbine,
(With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head, \
And every flower that sad embroidery wears;
Bid amaranthus all his beauty shed,
And daffadillies fill their cups with tears, 15
To strew the laureate hearse where Lycid lies.
For so, to interpose a little ease,
Let our frail thoughts dally with false surmise.
Ay me! Whilst thee the shores and sounding seas
Wash far away, where'er thy bones are hurPd; 15
Whether beyond the stormy Hebrides,
Where thou perhaps under the whelming tide
Visit 'st the bottom of the monstrous world;
Or whether thou, to our moist vows denied,
LYCIDAS 113
leo Sleep's! by the fable of Bellerus old,
Where the great Vision of the guarded mount
Looks toward Namancos and Bayona's hold.
^ Look homeward, Angel, now, and melt with ruth:
X And, ye dolphins, waft the hapless youth.
neB Weep no more, woeful shepherds, weep no more,
For Lycidas, your sorrow, is not dead,
Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor.
So sinks the day-star in the ocean be(J,
And yet anon repairs his drooping head,
170 And tricks his beams, and with new spangled ore
Flames m^ the forehead of the morning sky:
So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high,
Through the dear might of Him that walked the
waves,
Where, other groves and other streams along,
175 With nectar pure his jx>zy locks he laves,
And hears the unexpressive nuptial song,
In the blest kingdoms meek of joy and love.
There entertain him all the Saints above,
In solemn troops, and sweet societies,
iso That sing, and singing in their glory move,
And wipe the tears for ever from his eyes.
Now, Lycidas, the shepherds weep no more;
Henceforth thou art the Genius of the shore,
In thy large recompense, and shalt be good
185 To all that wander in that perilous flood.
114 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
'
Thus sang the uncouth swain to the oaks and
rills/
While thqf still mom; went out/with saqjdals grey;
Hejbouchedjthe tender stops of various quills,
( /xWith eater thought warbling his Doric lay.
And now Jthe sun had stretched tout all tho hills, 190
And now was dropt into the western bay.
At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blue:
To-morrow to fresh woods, and pastures new.
NOTES
ABBREVIATIONS
A. S. Anglo Saxon.
B. R. C. Browne, Mttton's Poetical Works (Clarendon Press).
Cf. -Compare. ^
Fr. French.
Lat. Latin.
M. Masson, Milton's Poetical Works (Macmillan).
O. F. Old French.
Skeat Skeat's Etymological Dictionary.
T. W. P. Trent, Milton' 8 V Allegro, II Penseroso,etc. (Longmans)/
V. A. W. Verity, editions of V Allegro, II Penseroso, etc. (Cam-
bridge University Press).
I/ALLEGRO
Title I? Allegro: Italian, the cheerful man.
1. Melancholy. The mythological figures in these
poems are sometimes taken from the classics, sometimes,
as in this case, created and given a parentage by Milton.
2. Cerberus: in Greek mythology, the three-headed
dog who guarded the entrance to the lower world.
3. Stygian. The cave of Cerberus looked out on the
Styx, one of the four rivers of Hades.
5. uncouth: literally, "unknown," hence "wild,"
"fearful."
6. brooding: partly literal, in keeping with the figure
suggested also by wings; partly metaphorical, in keeping
with the idea of watchfulness in jealous.
7. night-raven. The raven is not a night bird, yet
Shakspere also uses this term. The croaking of a raven
was regarded as ominous, and perhaps the compound
was formed, without reference to natural history, to
intensify the idea of gloom.
115
116 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
10. Cimmerian. The Cimmerians were a mythical
people who, according to Homer (Odyssey t xi, 14) dwelt in
perpetual mist and darkness.
12-16. This account of the parentage of the three
Graces (Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia) has been traced
to Servius, a fourth century commentator on Vergil.
12. Euphrosyne: Mirth, yclept: called, from the past
participle of A. S. cleopian.
17. sager: more sagely, or, "some wiser poets."
19. Zephyr: the west wind. Aurora: the dawn.
12-24. Note the significance of the two parentages
suggested for Mirth: first, Love and Wine; second, and
to Milton preferable, the spring breeze and the early
morning.
22. Cf. Shakspere's "Morning roses newly wash'd
with dew" (Taming of the Shrew, II, i, 174).
24. buxom: originally, * 'pliant;" later, as here,
"gracious," "lively." What is the modern sense?
debonair: O. F. de ban aire t of a good mien (Skeat);
courteous, pleasant.
27. Quips: sharp speeches, cranks: witty turns of
expression, wanton wiles: sportive tricks.
28. becks: nods, signs, bows. (Contracted -from
beckon. )
29. Hebe: the goddess of Youth, who carried the cups
of nectar to the gods.
36. mountain-nymph. Inhabitants of mountainous
countries are proverbially lovers of liberty.
40. unreprovdd: unreprovable.
45-48. The sense of this passage has been much dis-
puted. The chief interpretations are these: (1) That
it is the lark that comes. But it has been pointed out
that it is not true to nature to make a lark come to a
window, and some have instanced this as an example
of Milton's inaccuracy in natural description. The
NOTES L'ALLEGRO 117
grammar also is unsatisfactory under this interpretation,
to being unnecessary: hear the lark begin . . . to come . . .
and bid. Again, if the lark is meant, why in spite of
sorrow? (2) That L* Allegro is already out walking, and
comes to the cottage window and bids good-morrow
from the outside. To come would then be coordinate
with to live (ver. 39) and to hear (ver. 41). This is M.'s
view. (3) That L' Allegro, hearing the song of the lark,
rises and comes to the window to bid good-morrow to
whatever may be outside as he looks out through the
vines. The grammatical construction according to this
view is the same as in (2), and this has the advantage of
making the succeeding barnyard scene a natural sequence.
The following couplet from Sylvester's translation of
Du Bartas (p. 70) a book well-known to Milton, is worth
noting in this connection:
The cheerful birds, chippfng him sweet good morrow,
With Nature's music do beguile his sorrow.
The passage is noted by C. Dunster in Considerations on
Milton's Early Reading, etc., Lond., 1800, p. 62.
48. eglantine. Milton is not exact here. Eglantine
is really the same as sweet-briar, and is not twisting. It
has been suggested that he means honeysuckle.
50. The figure seems to be that of the rear of a
retreating army scattering before the trumpet blast of
the enemy, and to be mock-heroic in its application to
the strutting fowl.
57. not unseen. ' 'Happy men love witnesses of their
joy" (Kurd, quoted by M.).
60. state: stately progress (Keightley).
62. liveries: used not merely in the sense of ' 'dress, "
but of the dress delivered by a lord to his retinue, and so
suggesting the idea of the clouds as retainers of the sun
in his stately progress, dight: arrayed.
67. tells his tale: counts his number (of sheep).
118 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
70.landskip: an older spelling of ' 'landscape, " the
suffix being the same as in friends/wp, worship, etc.
71. fallows: ploughed land unsown; originally, "pale-
colored, '' as in fallow-deer.
75. pied: variegated, like a (mag)pie.
78. bosomed: surrounded breast-high.
79. lies: dwells.
80. cynosure: literally, "dog's tail," a name given to
that part of the constellation of the Lesser Bear in which
the polestar is situated, whence the present use in the
sense of an object to which all eyes are directed. Cf.
Comus, ver. 342 and note.
83-8. Corydon and Thyrsis . . . Phyttis ... . Thestylis:
typical names of peasants in the pastoral poetry of Theo-
critus and Vergil.
85. messes: dishes.
87. bower: chamber.
91. secure: used in the literal sense of "free from care."
92. upland: remote from towns.
94. rebeck: a musical instrument now obsolete, which
resembled a fiddle, but had fewer strings.
96. chequered: i. e., with the sun shining through the
spaces between the leaves.
100. spicy. The practice of flavoring ale and wine
with nutmeg and other spices was common.
102. Faery Mob. See Romeo and Juliet, I, iv, 54-95,
and Shelley ' s Queen Mab. M. quotes Jonson's Satyr,
beginning:
This is Mab, the mistress Fairy,
That doth nightly rob the dairy.
junkets: originally, a kind of cream-cheese (wrapt in
rushes, from Italian giunco, a rush), and now most
commonly used of curds and cream.
103.; pinched. This was the usual sign of the anger
of the fairies. Cf. the sufferings of Falstaff in The Merry
Wives of Windsor, V, v, 96, 103-105.
NOTES-L' ALLEGRO 119
103, 4. she. . . he: individuals in the company.
104. Friar's lantern. The allusion is to the ignis
fatuus, known by various popular names> such as " Will-
o'-the-wisp," "Jack o' Lanthorn," etc. Friar's has,
in all probability, no connection with Friar Rush, a
demon of folk-lore who was disguised as a friar. Scott,
however, as the New English Dictionary notes, has
confused the two, probably misinterpreting Milton:
Better we had through mire and bush
Been lanthorn-led by Friar Rush.
Marmion, IV, 1.
104, 5. The punctuation here is that of the first edi-
tion, making he the subject of tells. If this is thought
to crowd the sense too much, the reading of the second
edition may be taken, with a period after led, and the
subject of tells to be supplied.
105-114. Cf. Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, I, i\,
1, 2, (quoted by Warton and others): "A bigger kind
there is of them [i. e. , spirits] called with us hobgob-
lins and Robin Goodfellows, that would in these super-
stitious times grind corn for a mess of milk, cut wood,
or do any manner of drudgery work."
1 1 0. lubber: clumsy, doltish.
1 1 1. chimney: fireplace.
113. crop: here used for "stomach."
1 17. M. thinks that what follows is meant to suggest
merely L' Allegro's evening reading. But it seems more
naturally taken as describing actual experiences in the
city, just as the previous passage has described actual
country sights. In a poem dealing with a series of typ-
ical occupations, there is no need to make it possible to
fit them into a practicable time-table for one day, and it
is no objection that no means are provided to transport
L* Allegro to the town.
120 MILTOK'S MINOR POEMS
120. weeds: garments. There are two weeds in
English. In what modern phrase do we find the one
here used? triumphs: pageants, spectacles.
121. store: abundance.
122. influence. The original use of this word had
reference to the astrological belief in the power of the
stars over human destiny. The easy comparison of
bright eyes to stars strengthens the suggestion that the
poet had the original sense of the word in mind here.
123. The references are to contests in poetry and to
tournaments, in both of which ladies were accustomed
to award the prize.
124. her: i. e. t the presiding lady Queen of Love,
Queen of the Tourney, or whatever her title might be for
the particular occasion.
125-8. Milton has in mind the court masques
which reached their highest degree of splendor in the
reigns of James I. and Charles I. See Introduction, pp. 34 ff.
125. Hymen: the God of Marriage, a common figure
in masques, since they were frequently presented on the
occasion of the marriages of nobles. Cf. As You Like It,
V, iv, 113 ff., and Ben Jonson's Masque of Hymen.
1 26. saffron. In the masques, Hymen appeared in a
yellow robe.
132, 3. Milton here points out the familiar contrast
between the learning shown in Jonson's plays, and the
spontaneity and natural genius of Shakspere' s. On the
ground of the comparatively faint praise given here to
Shakspere, and of one or two other passages equally
doubtful, some have based the opinion that Milton had
an inadequate appreciation of Shakspere.
132. sock. The soceus was the low-heeled slipper
worn by actors in the classical comedy, as opposed to
the high-heeled buskin used in tragedy. Cf. 11 Pens.,
ver. 102:
NOTES 1L PENSEROSO 121
1 33. Fancy: used in the wider sense of "Imagination."
135. Note that these lines describing L' Allegro's mu-
sical diversions are the most melodious in the poem.
136. Lydian. The three "modes' ' of ancient music
were the Dorian, the Phrygian, and the Lydian, char-
acterized respectively by stateliness, liveliness, and soft-
ness.
138. meeting: responsive. Soul is the object of. pierce.
139 bout: literally, a "bend" or "round;" here, a
"passage."
141. Note the apparent contradiction between ad-
jectives and nouns. The adjectives describe the ap-
pearance of unconsciousness in a work of art where the
perfection is shown in the concealment of the pains
taken. The figure used here is called oxymoron.
142-4. "The accompanied voice is meant, otherwise
there would be melody, but not harmony" (B.).
145. Orpheus: the famous mythical poet and musi-
cian, who, when his wife Eurydice died, descended into
Hades, and so charmed by his music the rulers of the
underworld that he was permitted to take his wife away
with him, on condition that he should not gaze around
him as he returned through the shades. But, just as
he was leaving, he looked behind, and Eurydice had to
remain hence quite and half-regained.
147. Ely sian. In the Greek mythology, the Elysian
fields were the abode of the blessed after death.
149. Pluto: the god of the underworld.
^ IL PENSEROSO
Title The statement made by Mark Pattison that
Milton was mistaken as to both the form and the mean-
ing of this word has been disproved by W. H. David
(Notes and Queries, 7th series, VIII, 326). The word is
122 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
correct Italian of the seventeenth century, and means
"pensive" or "meditative."
3. bested' (or bestead): help, avail.
Q.fond: foolish, the original meaning, possess: take
possession of, enter into. The object of possess is fancies.
6-9. The gaudy shapes are most like to dreams.
10. pensioners: retinue.
14. hit: meet, agree with, be tolerable to.
15. weaker: the comparative used in the sense of "too
weak."
17, 18. i. e., though she seems black, yet her beauty
is as estimable as befits the sister of Memnon.
18. Memnon: the Ethiopian prince, famous for his
beauty, who fought for Troy (Odyssey, xi, 552). His sis-
ter, Hemera, is mentioned by Dictys, but the fact of her
beauty seems to have been inferred by Milton from
, Homer's statement about Memnon.
19. starred Ethiop queen: Cassiopeia, who boosted
that she (or, according to a common version, her daugh-
ter Andromeda) was more beautiful than the Nereids.
These latter persuaded Poseidon to send floods and a
monster to ravage the land. Andromeda was given up
to the monster in atonement, but was rescued by Perseus.
Both mother and daughter were afterwards placed among
the constellations: hence starred.
23. Vesta: the goddess of the hearth. In her worship
special stress was laid on purity.
24, 5. Saturn. This god was reputed the founder of
civilization. The derivation of Melancholy from Purity
and Solitude or Culture, is, like the second one suggested^
for Euphrosyne in U Allegro, of the poet's own manufac-
ture. Milton probably also had in mind the astrological
belief that the influence of Saturn made men morose.
(Cf, Saturnine.) Saturn's reign is the fabled golden age.
NOTES-IL PENSEROSO 123
29. Ida: the mountain in Crete where Jupiter was
reared.
30. Jupiter (Zeus), according to the myth, overthrew
Saturn (Cronus).
33. grain: originally a small seed, but used especially
of the insect coccus from which the red cochineal dye ia
made. Hence "to dye in grain" meant to dye a fast
color, in Comus, ver. 750, red, but here and in Par. Lost,
XI, 242, 3, probably a dark purple.
35. stole: sometimes a long robe, or, in ecclesiastical
vestments, a scarf, but here more probably in the sense
of a veil or hood, since her robe has already been men-
tioned, cypress: (probably from Cyprus, the island in
the Mediterranean, New English Dictionary) made of
cypress or crape, lawn: a fine linen.
36. decent: comely.
37. state: stateliness, dignity.
39. commercing: having intercourse.
40. rapt: originally past participle of verb rap, to
transport.
41. still. Adjective or adverb?
43. sad: serious, rather than "sorrowful.' 1 "Leaden
was the Saturnian colour" (M,). cast: turn of the eyes,
gaze.
44. i. e. 9 fix your eyes as fast on earth as formerly on
heaven.
45-8. Milton here implies his favorite doctrine of
the necessity of temperance for the highest inspiration.
47, 8. "The Muses haunt the hill of Helicon, mighty
f and divine, and dance with tender feet around the fount-
ain and the altar of the great son of Kronion" (Hesiod's
Theogony quoted by V.).
52-4. See Ezekiel X. The name Contemplation seems
to have been given to the Cherub by Milton. To the
124 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
Cherubim was attributed knowledge, to the Seraphim,
love.
55. hist. This may be (1) an imperative in the sense
of "bring silently/' or (2) a past participle in the sense
of "hushed," silence being then an object of bring, ver. 51.
56. Philomel. Philomela, daughter of Pandion, King
of Attica, was changed into a nightingale in order to save
her from Tereus, her brother-in-law.
57. plight: mood.
59. Cynthia: Diana, who was born on Mt. Cynthus in
Delos. The moon is here represented as checking her
car to listen to the nightingale singing in its haunt in the
oak-tree. The attributing of a dragon yoke to Diana in-
stead of to Ceres has been regarded as Milton's own
transference, but in Dekker's Song of the Cyclops in Lon-
don's Tempe (1629) I find
We shoe the horses of the sun,
Harness the dragons of the moon,
and in A Midsummer Night' 's Dream, III, ii, 379,
For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast.
65. unseen: in direct contrast with IS All., ver. 57.
73. plat: plot.
74. curfew: (Fr. couvrir t to cover; feu y fire) the bell
rung at eight or nine o' clock in the evening as a signal
to put out all fires. The practice of ringing the curfew
goes back at least to the Conquest, and was meant to
prevent risk of conflagration.
78. removed: remote.
80. "The light of the fire is so soft as to be a kind of
darkness" (V.). "The 'glowing embers' make 'darkness
visible* " (T.). The phrase is probably meant to be
suggestive rather than exact, and to refer vaguely to the
black shadows that throng a fire-lit room.
83. bellman: the night-watchman who used to patrol
the city streets, keeping order, and announcing the hours
NOTES-IL PENSEROSO 126
and the state of the weather. The kind of charms they
recited may be gathered from Herrick's verses:
From noise of scare-fires rest ye free,
From murders Benedicitie.
From all mischances, that may fright
Your pleasing slumbers in the night:
Mercie secure ye all, and keep
The Goblin from ye, while ye sleep.
Past one o'clock, and almost two,
My masters all, Good day to you.
Grosart's ed. of Herrick, Lond., 1876, II, 28.
84. nightly: by night (not "every night").
87. i. e., all night, as the Bear never sets, but disap-
pears only with the coming of daylight.
88. with: studying Hermes Trismegistus (i. e., thrice
great), the fabled Egyptian philosopher and king, had
ascribed to him a number of forged writings, and was
credited with the invention of magic and the black arts
generally, unsphere: call from the sphere it now inhabits.
89-96. The references here are to the subjects dis-
cussed in Plato's Phaedo. The whole passage means
simply that II Penseroso would enjoy sitting up all
night reading Hermes and Plato.
93. Some such word as "tell" should be understood
before of those. Demons: the spirits inhabiting the four
elements, fire, air, earth, and water, into which the
Greek and Medieval philosophers divided the material
universe.
95. consent: agreement, influence. The reference is
to astrology.
98. sceptred: because tragedy dealt with the calami-
ties of princes, pall: "Lat. palla, the mantle worn by
tragic actors" (V.).
99, 100. The chief subjects of Greek tragedy were
drawn from the stories of the royal house of Thebes, the
descendants of Pelops, and the Trojan War.
126 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
101, 2. A somewhat slighting reference to the Eliza-
bethan and Jacobean drama. For buskined cf. IS All. ,
ver. 131 and note.
104. Musaem: a mythical singer, sometimes said to be
the son of Orpheus.
105-8. See note on L'AU., ver. 145-150.
109-15. The references here are to the Squire's Tale,
which Chaucer left unfinished. Cambuscan ( which
Chaucer accented on the last syllable) is a corrupted form
of Genghis Khan, the name of the eastern ruler at whose
court the story opens. Camball and Algarsife were his
sons, and Canace his daughter. Canace received gifts of a
ring that enabled her to understand the language of birds
and to know the medicinal properties of plants, and a
mirror in which one's future could be seen. Cambuscan
himself received a horse of brass which, by the turning of
a pin, would bear the rider any distance he pleased in
twenty-four hours, and a sword which would cut through
anything, and the wounds from which could be cured
only by being stroked by the flat of the sword itself.
1 13. virtuous: having virtue or exceptional power.
116. The allusion best fits Spenser and the Faerie
Queene. The plural bards may be meant to include other
writers of chivalrous poetry, such as Tasso and Ariosto.
120. A reference to the allegory in the Faerie Queene
and similar works.
122. civil-suited: quietly dressed, i. e., in plain citizen
garb, as differing from court or military dress (M.).
123. tricked: adorned, frounced: with hair curled.
124. the Attic boy: Cephalus, grandson of the King of
Attica, whom Eos, goddess of the Dawn, carried off on
account of his beauty.
125. With a cloud worn like a kerchief on her head.
127. ushered: attended, shown in. Still is an adj.
here.
NOTES IL PENSEROSO 127
130. minute-drops: drops falling at intervals of a
minute.
134. brown: used for "dark," without emphasis on
particular color. Sylvan: Silvanus, the old Italian god of
woods and fields.
135. monumental: memorial of past times, with the
additional idea of "massiveness."
140. profaner. This is sometimes taken as equiva-
lent to "too profane," like the Latin absolute compara-
tive. Cf. weaker in ver. 15.
141. garish: staring.
145. consort: so spelled means strictly "partner."
But the word was often confused with "concert," and
may be so here, in the sense of "harmony."
147-50. This passage is very obscure, and no satis-
factory interpretation has yet been offered. V. para-
phrases thus: "Let some dream float with undulating
motion, (i. e., wave) at the wings of Sleep, amid a stream of
vivid pictures which rest lightly on the eyelids." But
the use of at is peculiar, and it is not clear that his in
ver. 148 refers to sleep and not to dream. Dunster here
again quotes from Syl vested a passage which Milton seems
to have had in mind: \
Confusedly about the silent bed,
Fantastic swarms of dreams there hovered,
Green, red, and yellow, tawny, black, and blue;
They make no noise but right resemble may
Th' unnumber'd moats that in the sunbeams play.
Considerations on Milton' s Early Heading, etc., p. 70,
154. Genius: guardian spirit.
155. due. His feet are due in the cloister in the sense
that it is the appropriate place for such a man. Cf.
Comus, ver. 11. But Keightley explains it thus, "Denot-
ing that it was his constant resort," and he has been
much quoted.
128 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
156. pale: enclosed place. Cloister has also literally
this meaning, but Milton had in mind the special appli-
cation of the word to the covered walks in the English
Colleges.
157. love. We have to supply a new subject here:
let me love. embowZd: vaulted.
158. antique. If we retain Milton's own spelling,
antick, the meaning would be "fancifully ornamented."
massy-proof: proof against mass, i. e., able to bear the
weight.
159. storied: painted with (Scripture) histories.
dight: decorated. Cf. L'AIL, ver. 62.
161-6. If we suppose this poem to be an indication
of Milton's personal tastes, we see that at this time he
was far from feeling the antagonism towards the ritual of
the Church which he shows later in his prose writings.
See Introduction, p. 47.
169. hairy gown: the coarse dress of the hermit.
170. spell: study laboriously.
171. of. The sense would be unaltered by the omis-
sion of this preposition. It may be taken as equivalent
to "about."
COMUS
For the occasion and the actors, see Introduction,
pp. 33 ff.
I Title. Comus. The name is from a Greek word mean-
/ ing "revel" 01 "band of revelers." The personification as
/ the God of Mirth belongs to late classical mythology. He
/ had already appeared in English literature in Jonson's
/ masque of Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue (1619), and still
' earlier in French, presented: represented, acted. dis-
covers: reveals, the usual technical term for displaying a
scene on the stage.
Iff. This opening speech by the Attendant Spirit
serves as a sort- of prologue to explain the situation.
NOTES-COMUS 129
2. those: L e., those well known.
3. insphered. It has been questioned whether this
means "each in his separate star," or refers to the
spheres of the Ptolemaic system. But perhaps it is bet-
ter taken as merely * 'surrounded by regions, " etc.
7. pestered: clogged, hampered, pinfold: properly "a
pound for cattle:" here, "a narrow enclosure."
8. this mortal change. The "change by death" is the
meaning that first strikes one, but the use of this inclines
us to accept M.'s explanation, "this mortal state of life."
1 1. gods: saints in the company of God.
12. due. Cf. II Pens., ver. 155 and note.
16. ambrosial: heavenly, as ambrosia was the food of
the gods. For weeds, cf. IS AIL, ver. 120 and note.
17. mould: earth, rather than the human form he ia
wearing.
18-23. When Saturn's empire was divided, Neptune
was assigned the Sea, Jupiter Heaven, Pluto Hades;
hence nether Jove = Pluto.
23. unadorned: i. e., otherwise unadorned.
25. i. e., each island to its own governing deity.
29. quarters: assigns, blue-haired: from the color of
the sea. V. notes that this was the conventional color
of sea-nymphs' hair in the masques, and Bell (quoted by
T. ) traces the epithet back to Ovid.
30. this tract: Wales.
31. peer: the Earl of Bridge water, to celebrate whose
installation as Lord President of Wales, Comus was pro-
duced, mickle: great. The word survives in Scottish.
33. i. e., of course, the Welsh.
35. state: referring to the ceremony of installation.
Cf. L'AIL, ver. 60 and note.
37. perplexed: entangled.
38. horror: used with the classical connotation of
'rough," ''shaggy," "bristling."
130 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
45. hall or bower: in the general assemblage in the
hall of state, or in the lady's chamber.
43-5. V. takes this as a claim to originality for the
whole work, but it seems rather to be an admission
that the character and parentage of Comus are of Milton's
own invention.
48. The reference is to the story of Bacchus, who,
sailing to Naxos, was seized and bound by the sailors,
who intended to sell him as a slave. But he freed him-
self from his fetters, turned the masts and oars into ser-
pents and himself into a lion, while the sailors went
mad, jumped overboard, and were changed into dolphins.
transformed: note the Latinism in the use of the past
participle.
49. Tyrrhene shore: the western shore of the central
part of Italy.
49. listed: willed.
55. The association of ivy with Bacchus was tradi-
tional. Cf. L'Att., ver. 16.
59. frolic . . . age: rejoicing in his prime.
60. Celtic and Iberian fields: France and Spain.
65. orient. The associations which the word carries
are of brightness, richness, and mystery.
66. drouth: dry ness, thirst.
67. fond: foolish. Cf. 11 Pens., ver. 6 and note.
69. express: complete and exact.
71. ounce: a kind of lynx.
77. In Homer's account of Circe, the minds of the
victims remain unchanged. This gives greater pathos,
but Milton's version implies greater degradation.
83. Iris: the goddess of the rainbow.
84. weeds. Cf. V All., ver. 120 and note.
86.- Thia is usually interpreted as a compliment to
Lawes, who wrote the music for the masque.
NOTES COMUS 131
87. knows to still: another Latinism. Cf. Lyc. t ver.
10, 11, "He knew Himself to sing."
88. nor... faith: nor less faithful than skilful in
music.
89-91. He explains his choice of a disguise by say-
ing that as a shepherd his appearance will be plausible in
this place where he has to be at hand to give assistance.
92. viewless: invisible.
Stage direction. rout: unruly crowd.
93. star: the evening star, Hesperus, fold: the verb
horn fold, a sheep pen.
96. allay: cool.
97. steep: deep, or descriptive of the rising appear-
ance of the sea seen from the shore, stream: the ancients
regarded the Atlantic as a great stream flowing round
the earth.
98, slope: that has sloped down below the horizon.
100, 1. Critics usually quote Psalm XIX, 4, 5, "In
them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a
bridegroom coming out of his chamber."
105. rosy twine: wreaths of roses.
110. saws: maxims.
\12.~ starry quire: referring to the belief that the
spheres make music as they move. Quire is the older
spelling of choir. From the next line it appears that
the spirits inhabiting the spheres are meant.
115. sounds: straits, the geographical term.
116. morrice: morrice or Moorish dance.
1 1 8. pert: smart, dapper: neat, dainty.
121 . wakes: night watches.
l29.Cottyto: a Thracian goddess of debauchery,
whose licentious rites were celebrated by night.
131. called: invoked, dragon-womb: "alluding per-
haps to the idea that the chariot of the night was
drawn by dragons" (V.) or "that the womb of darknes3
breeds monsters" (T.). Cf. note to II Pens., ver. 59.
132 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
132. Stygian: of the underworld; from Styx, one
of the four rivers of Hades, spets: spits.
135. Hecat': Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft,
often confused with the goddess of Hades.
139. nioe: fastidious, prudish (used sneeringly). In-
dian steep: the eastern ascent of the heavens.
140. cabined. "Confined," "narrow," is the usual
meaning, but it does not seem very appropriate here.
The phrase is perhaps, better understood as equivalent to
"the loop-hole of her cabin," the cabined being used
merely to make loop-hole more vivid, but not to be empha-
sized itself.
144. round: a country dance.
Stage direction. The Measure: i. e. t the dance takes
place here.
147. shrouds: covers, hiding placeSo brakes: brush-
wood, undergrowth.
151. trains: snares.
154. spongy: that can hold the spells as a sponge
holds water.
1 56 . blear illusion: il lusion that makes bleared or dim.
presentments: pictures, appearances.
157. quaint habits: odd garments.
159. course: plan of action.
161. glozing: flattering, deceptive.
163. wind: creep like a serpent, insinuate'myself into
his bosom.
165. virtue: power. Cf . 11 Pens., ver. 113, "virtuous
ring."
167. Keeps awake about his country affairs.
168. -fairly: quietly. "Fair and softly" was a com-
mon phrase meaning "gently."
172. ill-managed: uncontrolled.
475. teeming: fruitful, granges: granaries.
NOTES COMDS 133
176. loose: loose-mannered, without polite restraint.
hinds: peasants. Pan: the god of shepherds and of
country life generally.
177. amiss: in the wrong way, for they misuse their
gifts.
178. swilled insolence: insolence caused by swilling or
drinking freely.
179. wassailers: carousers, from wassail, to drink a
health.
180. inform: get information or direction for.
189. sad: serious, votarist: one who has taken a vow.
palmer: one who bears a palm-branch in token of having
been to the Holy Land (Skeat).
190. wain: , wagon.
193. engaged: entangled.
203. rife: abundant, perfect: quite distinct.
205. single: perfect, complete, unmixed.
210. may startle well: may indeed startle.
212. strong-siding: taking one's side strongly.
214. girt: surrounded, or simply, "furnished with."
215. Chastity. We expect "charity," to complete
the Pauline trinity, but Milton uses this device to em-
phasize chastity, the main theme of the poem.
21 9. glistering: shining. Cf. Lyc. 9 ver. 79.
225. casts: grammatically coordinate with does rather
than with turn.
231. airy shell: the atmosphere.
232. Meander: a river in Asia Minor, whose winding
course has given us the word "meander." mar gent:
margin.
237. Narcissus: a beautiful youth whom Echo loved
in vain, so that she pined away in grief till nothing was
left of her but her voice.
241. Parley: conversation, daughter of the sphere: the
reference in sphere may be to the airy shell of ver. 231, or
134 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
to a theory that echo had "her origin from the reverbera-
tion of the music of the spheres." Editors cf. Milton's
At a Solemn Music, ver. 2, * 'Sphere-born harmonious
sisters, Voice and Verse."
% 243. Add the beauty of repetition to the music of the
spheres.
247. vocal: i. e., which carries the voice.
248. his: for "its," i. e. of "something holy."
251. fall: cadence.
253. Sirens: the nymphs described in the Odyssey
and elsewhere, who lured mariners to their death by
their singing.
25&.flowery-kirtled: with garments made of, or adorn-
ed with, flowers. The naiads were properly nymphs of
fresh water.
257 '.Elysium: see note to I? All., ver. 147. Scylla; a
monster with a bark like that of a whelp, (hence barking
in ver. 258) afterwards identified with rocks on the
Italian side of the Straits of Messina.
259. Charybdis: the whirlpool on the Sicilian side of
the Straits of Messina.
262.homefelt: felt home, keenly, intimately.
263. ivaking: i. e., as contrasted with the dreamy
pleasure given by the sirens.
267. unless: supply "thoube."
268. Sylvan: Silvanus. See 11 Pens., ver. 134, note.
271. ill is lost: is unfortunately lost, a Latinism.
273. extreme shift: last resort.
277-90. This dialogue in alternate single lines is in
imitation of classical tragedy.
279. near-ushering: going immediately before.
285. forestalling: coming sooner than was expected.
286. hit: guess.
287. Is their loss important?
290. Hebe: cup-bearer of the gods, goddess of youth.
Cf. L'Att., ver. 29.
NOTES-COMUS 135
291. what time. Cf. Lyc. } ver. 28 and note, labour-
ed: tired with labour.
293. swnked: tired with toil (A. S.,swincan, to labour),
hedger: a man who mends hedges, a farm labourer. This
method of noting time is according to classical tradition,
though the local color is English.
294. mantling: covering (as with a mantle).
297. port: bearing.
299. element: air, sky.
301. plighted: folded. This plight is really the same
word as plait (Lat. plicare, to fold) and is to be distin-
guished from the word of Teutonic origin, plight,
obligation, as in troth-plight, strook: obsolete form of
struck.
303. i. e. y to be undertaken as eagerly, with such
bliss at the end. Note the studiously flattering tone of
Comus's references to the brothers.
312. dingle: a narrow valley or dell.
313. bosky: bushy, bourn: stream; more familiar in
the northern form burn.
314. ancient: long familiar.
315. stray attendance: strayed attendants, abstract for
concrete.
316. shroud: are sheltered. Cf. ver. 147 and note.
317. low-roosted: because it builds on the ground.
318. thatched pallet: in reference to the woven grasses
with which the lark lines its nest.
318. rouse. This may be taken as an intransitive use,
="rise," or lark may be regarded as its object, and
morrow as its subject (M.).
321.- further quest: till further search is made.
325. In reference to the derivation of courtesy from
court.
327. less warranted: giving less assurance of safety.
The general sense is: This place is so insecure that there
is no risk that a change would be for the worse.
136 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
329. square: make fit or suffici3nt.
332. wont'st: art accustomed, benison: benediction,
blessing.
334. disinherit: dispossess. So inherit is common in
Shaksperean English without the idea of succession.
338. rush candle: candle with the pith of a rush for
a wick, wicker hole: "the wretched wicker-crossed aper-
ture, not worth the name of a window" (M.).
340. rule. The figure is from a rule for drawing
straight lines.
341. Star . . . Cynosure. Callisto, daughter of the King
of Arcady, was turned into the constellation of the
Greater Bear, and her son Areas into that of the Lesser
Bear. Greek sailors steered by the Greater Bear, and
Phoenician (including those of Tyre) by the Lesser, in
which is situated the polestar. For Cynosure, see IS AIL,
ver. 80, note.
344. wattled cotes: sheep-pens enclosed by hurdles
made of interwoven branches.
345. Cf. Lye., ver. 188 and note.
349. innumerous: innumerable.
355. head. It seems better to take head as subject
of leans than to supply "she."
358. hunger: of wild beasts; heat: of human lust.
359. over-exquisite: too curious, running too much
into subtle detail.
360. cast: forecast, foretell.
366. to seek: at a loss.
367. unprincipled: ignorant of the principles.
368. bosoms: embosoms, holds in her heart.
369. single: mere.
372. plight: condition, from the same source as plight-
td in ver. 301, on which see note.
376 seeks to: has recourse to.
379. resort: places of resort.
NOTES COMUS 137
380. to-ruffled. This prefix to- meant first "in pieces"
as in to-brokerij then it became merely intensive as here,
where the meaning is "much ruffled."
382. centre: i. e., of the earth.
386.- affects: loves.
390. weeds: cf. L'AU. t ver. 120 and note, beads:
rosary: originally, "prayers," then "little balls for
counting prayers."
393. Hesperian tree: the tree that bore the golden
apples, presented to Hera by Gaea on her marriage with
Zeus. It was guarded by the daughters of Hesperus, and
by a dragon (ver. 395) which Hercules slew in his labour
of obtaining the Hesperian apples.
395.unenchanted: not able to be enchanted.
398. unsunned: kept in the dark.
401. wink on: shut its eyes to.
404. it recks me not: I do not trouble about.
406. ill-greeting: rude.
407. unowned: unmarried or unprotected.
408. infer: reason.
413. squint: not straightforward.
419. if: even if.
423. unharboured: without shelters. The original sense
of harbour was "army-shelter," and had nothing to do
with the sea.
424. Infamous. The accent is on the second syllable.
426. trace: trace her way through.
4:2G.bandite: Milton's spelling of "bandit."
430. unblenched. This word combines the notions
of "unfaltering," and "not made pale by fear. M
432, 3. Cf. L'AIL, ver. 104 and note.
434. unlaid. To "lay" a ghost is to pacify or charm
him so that he ceases to walk.
435. curfew. Cf. 11. Pens., ver. 74, note. From curfew
to cock-crow was the period when ghosts were supposed
to be permitted to walk.
138 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
436 swart . . . mine. Popular superstition peopled
mines with spirits of earth called "gnomes."
443. brinded: brindled, streaked, literally "branded."
447. r -(rm#on. The head of Medusa, the only one of
the three Gorgons who was mortal, regained its petrify-
ing power even after it waa cut off by Perseus and placed
in the shield of Athene. The moral interpretation of
the myths of Diana's invulnerability by Cupid and of
the Gorgon shield is Milton's own.
451. dashed: suddenly checked.
452. blank: sheer.
455. lackey: wait on.
459. oft converse: frequent intercourse.
460. begin: subjunctive mood. Note that the in-
dicative is used in turns (ver. 462), as if, according to M;,
to show increased certainty.
468. imbodies and imbrutes: becomes fleshly and
brutish.
469. -property: peculiar quality.
463-75. Warton notes that Milton here paraphrases
a passage from Plato's Phaedo.
471. charnel: burial.
474:. sensually. It is necessary to retain Milton's
spelling here for the sake of the metre.
479. nectar ed: heavenly. Cf. ambrosial in ver. 16 and
note.
480. crude: unrefined.
483. night-foundered*, lost in the night.
491. iron stakes: i. e., their swords.
494. Thyrsis: a traditional pastoral name.
495. huddling: either hastening, or with the sense of
heaping up its waters through delaying, madrigal: a
kind of pastoral song. The passage is obviously meant
as a compliment to Lawes, who acted Thyrsis, in his
own character as a musician. Note that ver. 495-512
NOTES COMUS 139
rhyme in couplets, the rest of the poem (except the
lyrics) being in blank verse.
501. next: nearest, dearest.
502. toy: trifle. Cf. 11 Pens., ver. 4.
503. stealth: the abstract noun from steal.
506. to: compared to.
508. how chance: how chances it? According to V., it
is a combination of this construction and the adverbial
"by what chance?' '
509. sadly: seriously.
516. Stoned. Cf. // Pens., ver. 154.
517. chimeras: fire-breathing monsters, part lion, part
serpent, and part goat.
520. navel: centre.
521. immured: walled in.
526. murmurs: muttered charms.
529. mintage: stamp, imprint.
530. charactered: marked, engraved, stamped.
531. crofts: small fields.
532. that . . . glade: overhanging this deep wooded
valley.
533. monstrous rout: band of monsters.
534. stabled: in their lairs.
535. Hecate: goddess of witchcraft. Cf. ver. 135 and
note.
539. unweeting: unwitting.
542. besprent: besprinkled.
547. meditate: practise (imitated from Vergil). Cf.
Lye., ver. 66 and note.
548. ere a close: before I had finished a song.
552. i. e., when Comus hushed his revellers at the
lady's approach.
553. drowsy-flighted. This is the reading of the Cam-
bridge MS., and is preferred by M. and others, who take
it as meaning "flying drowsily." Milton's early printed
140 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
editions have "drowsie frighted," i. e. y drowsy, as being
the horses of the chariot of sleep, and frighted by the
noise of Comus and his rout.
558. took. This is usually explained as "charmed,"
a common Shaksperean usage, which fits the context.
On the other hand, the phrase took ere she was ware may
mean merely "taken unawares," "surprised."
559, 60. be . . . displaced: cease to exist, if her place
could be always taken by such sounds.
565. amazed: confounded, not merely "astonished" as
in modern English.
573. prevent. Here it probably includes the etymo-
logical sense of "anticipate."
585. period: sentence.
591. After meant supply "to be" or "to do."
592. happy trial: trial which will result happily.
597. pillared: referring to the ancient belief as to the
manner in which the heavens were supported.
604. Acheron: one of the rivers of the lower world.
Used here for the infernal regions in general.
605. Harpies: monstrous creatures in Greek mythol-
ogy, half woman and half bird. Hydras. The Hydra
was the many-headed serpent slain by Hercules.
607. purchase: acquisition, prize, prey.
610. emprise: poetical form of "enterprise."
611. stead: service, assistance.
614. unthread: unstring, loosen.
617. relation: tale, shifts: skilful devices.
620. to see to: to look at. The editors attempt to
identify this shepherd lad with Milton's early friend
Diodati, who taught him botany, and on the occasion of
whose death Milton wrote the Latin Epitaphiwn Damonis.
621. virtuous: see note on ver. 165, and cf. 11 Pens.,
ver. 113 and note.
626. scrip: bag.
NOTES COMUS 141
627. simples: medicinal herbs, originally single ingre-
dients in compounded drugs.
634. like esteemed: i. e., likewise unesteemed.
636. M oly: the name of the plant in the passage in
Homer here alluded to (Odyssey, x).
637. To enable him to resist the spells of Circe.
638. Hsemony: a name that appears to have been in-
vented by Milton from Heemonia or Thessaly, the land
of magic.
639. sovran: literally, "supreme;" here," of the high-
est efficacy."
641. Furies: goddesses of vengeance.
Stage direction. goes about: makes an attempt.
642. pursed it up: put it away in my purse.
661. Daphne: a maiden who was pursued by Apollo,
and, at her own request, turned into a bay-tree. The
syntax here is loose, but easily intelligible.
672. julep: from a Persian word meaning "rose-
water;" here, "a sweet drink."
673. his:- its.
675. Nepenthes: cf. Odyssey, iv, 219-226: "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. Whoso should
drink a draught thereof, when it is . mingled in the
bowl, on that day he would let no tear fall down his
cheeks, not though his mother and father died, not
though men slew his brother or dear son with the sword
before his face, and his own eyes beheld it." (Butcher
and Lang's translation.)
685. unexempt condition: condition from which no
mortal is exempt.
688. that. The antecedent is you in ver. 682.
694. aspects: appearances, sights.
695. ugly: Milton's spelling is oughly.
142 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
698. vizored: wearing a mask.
700. liquorish: tempting to the appetite.
707. budge. The word has two meanings: (1) a kind
of fur, (2) stout, pompous, surly. The second one is not
found elsewhere as early as the date of Comus, and the
use of/wr in the same line supports the view that (1) is
meant. If so, it is probably an allusion to the fur used
on academic gowns, here suggested by doctors.
708. Cynic tub: in reference to the tub in which Di-
ogenes the Cynic philosopher is said to have lived. The
Stoic and the Cynic philosophers are alluded to here on
account of their contempt for the pleasures of the senses.
714. but all: except merely, sate: satisfy, curious:
dainty, critical (V.); perhaps with a shade of the sense
of ' 'inquisitive, " ' 'eager to try new sensations."
719. hutched: enclosed.
722. frieze: a coarse woolen cloth.
734. they below. Various interpretations have been
made of this. (1) If the deep = the sea, then they below
= sea-monsters, or (2) men (V). (3) If the deep = the
center of the earth, then they below = gnomes (T).
735. inured: hardened, accustomed.
737. coy: bashful or disdainful at this period with-
out the implication of affectation, cozened: cheated.
750. sorry grain: wretched hue. Cf. II Pens., ver.
33, note.
751. sampler: a pattern piece of needlework, tease:
to comb or card wool, scratch or raise the nap of cloth
(Skeat). The modern sense of "irritate" is derived
from this.
759. pranked: dressed up.
760. bolt: to separate the flour from the bran, hence,
"to refine."
779-806. This passage is wanting in the earlier
MSS. and seems to have been added later.
NOTES COMUS 143
80 1. set off: supported by.
804. Erebus: the darkness of the lower world.
805. Saturn? s crew: the Titans who supported Saturn
against Jupiter.
808. canon . . . foundation: the rules of our company.
The figure is from the ecclesiastical laws established by
the Papacy and the Church Councils; and the word
foundation was familiar in connection with endowed in-
stitutions such as the Colleges of the Universities.
816,7. The idea is, of course, to undo the force of
the spells by reversing the process used by Comus.
822. Melibceus: a traditional name for a shepherd in
pastoral poetry. The story of Sabrina had been told by
Geoffrey of Monmouth, the prose chronicler, and by
Sackville, Dray ton, Warner, and Spenser. Geoffrey and
Spenser have been most frequently identified with Me-
liboeus by the editors.
825. The masque was performed not far from the
Severn.
827. Locrine. Mr. Swinburne has written a tragedy
on this subject.
828. Brute: from this legendary Brutus medieval
writers derived the name Britain.
834. pearled: adorned with pearls. The association
of pearls with water-divinities was conventional.
835. Nereus: the father of the Nereids or water-
nymphs.
838. lavers: baths, nectared: "often has much the
same force as ambrosial, i. e., fragrant" (V.). In the
baths filled with nectar floated asphodels, the flower
that grows over the Elysian fields where the blessed
dead wander.
845. helping: supply "to cure", urchin blasts: in-
fluence of wicked elves. Urchin is used here in a
144 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
sense intermediate between the original one of "hedge-
hog' ' (a beast of ill-omen) and the modern one of "small
child."
863 amber-dropping hair. This does not seem to mean
anything more difficult than that amber-colored water
was dropping from her hair. Several editors, however,
suppose that the amber color was reflected from her
hair.
870. Oceanus: in Greek mythology, the god of the
great river that flowed around the earth. Tethys : the
wife of Oceanus.
871.Nereutf. Cf. ver. 835 and note.
872. Carpathian wizard's hook. Proteus, the "old
man of the sea," had the power of prophecy (whence
wizard), lived on the island of Carpathos near Crete
(whence Carpathian), and was the shepherd of the flocks
of Amphitrite, L e., the seals (whence hook).
873. Triton. Cf. Lye., ver. 89 and note.
874. Glaucus: a fisherman of Boeotia who was changed
into a sea-god with a gift of prophecy.
875. Leucothea: i. e., the white goddess the name
given to Ino after she had been saved from drowning
by the dolphins and had been made a sea-goddess.
Homer calls her "Ino of the fair ankles." See next note.
877. her son. When Ino threw herself into the sea
to escape from her mad husband, Athamas, she had with
her Melicertes,' her son, who also was deified as Palsemon.
877. Thetis: the daughter of Nereus and mother of
Achilles, always called "silver-footed" by Homer. Mil-
ton translates the epithet, using tinsel in the sense of
"silvery," "flashing."
879. Parthenope: one of the Sirens who was fabled to
have been buried near Naples.
880. Ligea: another of the Sirens.
891. osier: the water- willow.
NOTES-COMUS j*5
893. azurn. This derivative from azure occurs no-
wttere else.
893-5. The sense of this passage seems to be that
the chariot is inlaid with agate, turquoise, and emerald
colors, like the shifting blue and green lights that
glimmer through the" water (in the channel strays).
917. of glutinous heat: i. e., glutinous when heated.
921. Amphitrite: the wife of Neptune.
923. In ver. 827, Locrine was stated to be the son of
Brutus who was descended from JEneas, the son of
Anchises.
934-7. The confusion of figure here is due to the
two conceptions of Sabrina as a maiden and as a river.
In the crowned head he is thinking of the former, in the
towers and groves, of the latter. Roun:l (ver. 935) may be
taken as an adverb modifying crowned, and upon (ver.
936) as a preposition governing banks.
945. covert: thicket. Editors have noted that the
scene has changed from the palace (cursed place, ver. 939),
but T. points out that the Spirit may refer by anticipa-
tion to the covert, everyone knowing that a forest lay
round the palace of Comus. This is supported, he notes
acutely, by the use of thence, not "hence," in the next
line.
949. gratulate: welcome, rejoice in,
963. Mercury does not seem to be elsewhere associ-
ated with the wood nymphs or Dryads. He may be
mentioned here on account of his being the god of in-
ventiveness (cf. devise), the discoverer- of music, and
proverbially light-footed.
972. assays: tests.
976-1011. When the masque was originally per-
formed, this passage, with slight change, was sung at the
opening, and the epilogue began at But now my
ver. 1012,
146 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS ,
981, 2. Cf. ver. 393 and note.
985. spruce: gay, fresh.
91. nard and cassia: aromatic plants.
992. Iris: goddess of the rainbow. Cf. ver, 83, Irit
woof,
995. purfled: with embroidered edge (V.).
999. Adonis: the youth beloved of Venus, who died
of a wound from a boar's tusk. [The ' 'gardens of
Adonis," to which many editors refer in connection
with this passage, are not here alluded to.]
1002. Assyrian queen: Ashtaroth, i. e:, Venus. She
is given her oriental name here in recollection of the
eastern origin of the Adonis myth.
1005. Psyche: the soul, beloved of Cupid, according
to a late [myth. Venus opposed her son's love, and
wandering labors refers to the tasks set by the goddess
for Psyche to perform before she could gain immortality
and be united to Cupid.
101 1. This offspring of Cupid and Psyche is Milton's
own invention.
1015. bowed welkin: vaulted heaven.
LYCIDAS
Title. The name is taken from the pastoral poetry
of Theocritus and Vergil. Here it stands for Edward
King, the subject of the elegy. Monody: originally "a
solo, 7 ' then "a lament. " This argument was written by
Milton for the second edition of the poem..
1-14. The poem opens with a reference to Milton's
resuming the writing of poetry Yet once more after he"
had determined to discontinue it for a time. *
1, 2. laurels . . . myrtles . . . ivy: evergreens tradition-
ally used for the crowning of poets. .
2. brown: dark. Cf. II Pens. , ver. 134 and note, sere:
dry, withered.
NOTES- 1 YCIDAS 147
3. crude: unripe (with reference to his sense of un-
readiness for writing great poetry).
5. shatter: scatter (originally forms of the same word).
before . . . year: before the autumn ripens the fruit, i. e.,
before time matures my genius.
6. dear. In Shakspere this word is used, as here, of
anything that comes home to one intimately, whether
good or bad. constraint: compulsion.
7. compels: singular verb, because constraint and occa-
sion refer to one idea, due: proper.
9. peer: equal.
10. knevi to sing: a Latin idiom. In modern English
we should say, ''knew how."
1 1 . rhyme: used here for verse.
13. welter: toss about.
14. tear. This was a conventional figure for elegiac
poetry.
15. sisters. The Muses were goddesses of inspiring
springs, and so were associated with a number of
fountains. V. thinks that sacred well here is Aganippe on
Mt. Helicon, where there was an altar to Jove; M. and B.
think it is Pieria, near Mt. Olympus, on whicfo were
the residences of the gods. There is nothing in the
passage t<5 give ground for a definite conclusion. Of. 11
Pens. , ver. 47, 8, and note.
18. coy: bashful, difficult of access, disdainful.
19. Muse here stands for "poet." Note the he in
ver. 21.
20. lucky: wishing me good luck.
23-36. In this passage the elegy becomes clearly
pastoral. The hill, the shepherds, the rural ditties, etc.,
signify Cambridge, the student society, college verses,
etc. But the allegory is not to be interpreted in every
detail, or it becomes ridiculous.^
27. drove: supply "our flocks."
148 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
28. "i. e. y heard the grey-fly at what time (i. e. t when)
she winds her sultry horn" (T.). The grey-fly is said to
be the trumpet-fly, which is heard in the heat of noon,
whence sultry.
29. battening: feeding. The word is more accurately
used in the intransitive sense of "growing fat."
30. star: usually understood as Hesperus, the evening
star, and an early draft of the lines shows Milton had
this in mind at one time. But critics have pointed out
that strictly speaking this star does not rise at sunset,
but merely becomes visible then. Moreover, it is already
sloping toward heaven's descent when it first appears.
Perhaps Milton meant to signify the all-night sederunts of
fellow-students, in which case the reference would be to
any star rising in the evening and setting in the morning.
33. tempered to: harmonized with.
34. Satyrs were the sportive divinities of the fields in i
Greek mythology, and were later identified with the
Fauns of the Romans who also were half men, half goats.
36. Damcetas: a familiar name in the.pastorajs. *Here
it may be taken as standing for any of the older men in
authority about the University.
40. gadding: straggling.
45. canker: the canker-worm that gnaws the hearts
of flowers.
46. taint-worm. The particular worm referred to is
not known, weanling: lately weaned.
48. white-thorn: the hawthorn, as distinguished from
the black-thorn or sloe.
50-63. This passage addressed to the nymphs has
been shown to be imitated from Theocritus (Idyls i ) and
Vergil (Eclogues x).
52. steep. Milton doubtless had in mind some
mountain on the coast of Wales near the spot where
King was drowned.
NOTES LYCIDAS 149
53. bards. In calling the Druids bards, Milton has in
mind the fact that they were the minstrels as well as the
priests of the Celts.
54. Mona: the Latin name for the island of Angelsey,
off the Welsh coast.
55. Deva: the river Dee, which flows along the
boundary of Wales into the Irish Sea. wizard: with super-
natural associations. The origin of these associations is
diversely explained. "The river was supposed to be a
haunt of magicians, and was so described by Spenser and"
Drayton' ' (T.). "It was supposed to foretell, by changing
its course, good or ill events for England and Wales, of
which it forms the boundary" (V.). There is^no reason
why Milton should not have had both points in mind. *
56. fondly: foolishly. Cf. II Pens. , ver. 6 and note.
58. Calliope: the muse" of epic poetry, and mythical
mother of Orpheus.
59. enchanting: in the literal sense of using enchant-
ments, viz., his music.
61. On the loss of Eurydice, Orpheus so disdained
all other women that he enraged the Thracian women,
who tore him to pieces. His head was thrown into the
river Hebrus, and borne to the island of Lesbos, where it
was buried. See note on L'AIL, ver. 145-50. rout: an
unruly band.
64. what boots it: what good is it?
66: shepherd's trade: as generally in pastoral poetry,
this figure stands for the writing of verse, meditate: e^l-
tivate, practise. Cf. Comus, ver. 547 and note, thankless^
The epithet is probably meant to imply not so much that
the Muse is ungrateful as that her service brings no
profit from the world.
67. use: are accustomed to do.
67-70. These lines have usually been interpreted as
referring to the amatory poetry of the Cavalier lyrists
150 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
such as Herrick. But if the contrast with ver. 66 be held
to strictly, does it not rather mean the abandonment of
poetry altogether for the life of pleasure of the Cavalier
if you like? Amaryllis and Necera are stoek names for the
heroines of classical love poetry.
70. clear. The word here may be taken as combining
the senses of "pure," "unsullied," and of the Lat. clarus,
illustrious.
I 71. The weakness which is the last to be overcome
by the noble mind.
73. guerdon: recompense.
75. Fury. Of the three Fates, Clotho spun the thread
of life, Lachesis measured the lengths, and Atropos cut
them off. If Atropos is meant here, as seerns^ probable,
Milton uses Fury for Fate. Blind Fury expresses more
passionately his feeling of the mad unreason of such a
premature cutting off as is the subject of the poem.
76. slits: cuts off. In this sense the same word will
serve to govern praise.
77. Plicebus: introduced here as the god of poetry
touched . . . ears. "The action was a symbolical way of
recalling a matter to a person's memory, the ear being
regarded as the seat of memory" (Conington, quoted by
V.). M. interprets trembling ears as an allusion to the
popular superstition that a person's ears tingle when
people are speaking of him in his absence. Milton thus,
he thinks, shows himself conscious of the applicability
of the passage on Fame to himself.
79, 80. The general sense seems to be as follows:
Fame does not consist in the showy achievements (=glister-
ing foil) exhibited (=set off) to the world, nor in broad ru-
mor, foil: gold or silver leaf, such as was placed under
transparent gems to increase their brilliance.
82. Jove: God. The word is used here to preserve
the consistency of the classical nomenclature.
NOTES LYCIDAS 151
83. lastly: finally, without appeal.
85. The lament is resumed here, after the digression
on fame. Arethuse. Arethusa was a spring in the island
of Ortygia in the port of Syracuse in Sicily. It is used
here in allusion to the Sicilian school of pastoral poets,
Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus.
86. Minclus: the stream by which Vergil was born
and which he honoured by his poetry. It flows into the
Po near Mantua. Here it is used in allusion to Vergil's
pastoral poems. vocal: because used for shepherds 1
pipes.
87. that strain: the speech of Phoebus, mood: used
technically for ' 'kind of music."
-88. i. e., I go on playing on my oaten pipe, or resume
my pastoral poem.
89. Herald: Triton, who was Neptune's trumpeter.
90. came . . . plea. This may mean either (1) came to
hold a court of inquiry on behalf of Neptune, or (2) came
in defence of Neptune (by laying the blame on one of the
minor powers).
9 1 .felon: because presumably guilty of the death of
King.
96. Hippotades. ^Eolus, the god of the winds, was the
son of Hippotes.
99. Panope, one of the sea-nymphs called nereids, or
daughters of Nereus (hence sisters).
101. eclipse. Eclipses were regarded as of ill-omen.
103. Camus: the god of the river Cam, here used to
represent the University, footing slow may refer to the
sluggish stream of the Cam, or may be part of the repre-
sentation of Camus as an old man.
104. hairy: i. e. y with river- weeds, sedge: a coarse
grass that grows on the banks of rivers.
105. figures dim: faint designs taken by some to be
symbolical of the old traditions of Cambridge.
162 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
106. sanguine: bloody (the literal meaning). The
flower is the hyacinth, named after the mythical Spartan
youth Hyacinthus. He was killed by a quoit thrown by
Apollo, but blown aside by Zephyrus, who was jealous of
the youth's love for Apollo. From his blood sprang the
nower, and on its petals the words, Ai, Ai (alas, alas!)
were supposed to be traceable.
107. reft: snatched away, pledge: child (a transla-
tion of the Lat. pignus, which is used in both senses).
I II. pilot: St. Peter. He is introduced as the
.founder of the Church, in which King had intended to
take orders. The belief that Peter is the keeper of the
keys of heaven is derived, from Matthew, XVI, 19, and
the tradition of the number has grown up in the Church.
The difference in metal and function is due to Milton.
amain: with force.
112. mitred: wearing a mitre, as a dignitary of the
Church, bespoke: used simply in the sense of "spoke."
The modern use is restricted.
1 14. enow: poetical form of "enough."
115. "First, those who creep into the fold: who do
not care for office or name, but for secret influence
Then those who intrude, (thrust, that is) themselves into
the fold, who, by natural insolence of heart, and stout
eloquence of tongue, and fearlessly perseverant self-asser-
tion, obtain hearing and authority with the common
crowd. Lastly, those who climb, who by labour and
learning, both stout and sound, but selfishly exerted in
the cause of their own ambition, gain high dignities and
authorities, and become 'lords over the heritage, 'though
not 'ensamples to the flock.' "
Ruskin: Sesame and Lilies , 21.
117. shearers' feast: i. e., the endowments meant for
Vh'e working clergy.
118. worthy bidden guest: cf. Matthew, XXII, 1-9.
NOTES LYCIDA& 153
119. blind mouths: "A 'Bishop' means 'a person who
sees.' A 'Pastor' means 'a person who feeds.' The most
unbishoply character a man can have is therefore to be
Blind. The most unpastoral is, instead of feeding, to
want to be fed, to be a Mouth."
Sesame and Lilies, $ 22.
120, 1. The pastoral imagery familiar in connection
with the Church is here united with that of the conven-
tional literary type which the poem follows in general.
122. What recks^.. . sped: What does it matter to
them? What iSSBrfrtley want? They have succeeded
in getting what they were after, the material rewards of
the priesthood.
123. list: please. The implication is that they
preached only when they felt inclined, lean: containing
no spiritual nourishment, flashy: watery, insipid, trashy.
124. scrannel: said to be a Lancashire dialect word
meaning "thin," "meagre." The sound of the word and
the context go far to give us Milton's idea. Cf. Scottish,
scran, to scrape together.
126. rank: poisonous. The suggestion is that the
careless shepherds let the sheep wander into pestilential
marshes. Symbolically, it refers to the risk of heresy.
draw: inhale.
128. grim wolf: the church of Rome, privy: referring
to the secret proselytizing then going on.
130. two-handed engine. engine= instrument. The
reference here is obscure. A favorite explanation is that
it is to "the axellaid unto the root of the tree" (Matthew III,
10); M. sees a reference to the two Houses of Parliament
V. to the sword of Justice. Perhaps Milton meant noth
ing more than that an effective remedy was at the door
i. e. t close at hand.
132. Alpheus. Just as after the digression on Fame h
resumed by calling on Arethusa as a symbol of pastora
154 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
poetry, so after this digression on the state of the
Church he calls on Alpheus, the lover of Arethusa. The
dread voice is, of course, St. Peter's, and the shrinking of
the streams represents the checking of the flow of pastor-
al verse.
133. Sicilian muse. Cf. note on ver. 85.
136. use: dwell, have their haunts.
138. swart star: i. e. y the star that makes things swart
or dark with scorching, the Dog-star, Sirius. sparely: but
little, seldom.
139. quaint enamelled eyes: curiously colored flowers.
141. purple: imperative of the verb. Purple is used
in a general sense, ''to make richly colored."
142. rathe: early. Used now only in the compara-
tive, forsaken. This is usually interpreted as "un wed-
ded," partly because Milton first wrote "unwedded" in
obvious reminiscence of Shakspere's
Pale primroses
That die unmarried, ere they can behold
Bright Phoebus in his strength.
But perhaps he was thinking of the loneliness of the
primrose, blooming in retired places, and so early that
tew other flowers are out.
49. (amaranthus. The name is Greek, meaning i
"never-fading."
151. laureate hearse, hearse has had a great variety of ^
meanings, but here it is understood to signify the wood-
en frame on which the coffin rested. Memorial stanzas /
were often fastened to this, hence laureate refers to Lycidas
and the other verses written in honor of King.
153, 4. Milton recalls the fact that he has been play-
ing with the idea that they really had the body of King
for burial, when in fact it was lost in the sea. surmise:
fancy.
154. The series of clauses beginning at whilst are all
subordinate to the clause iiuver. 153.
NOTES LYCIDA8 155
156. Hebrides: islands off the west coast of Scotland.
158. monstrous: inhabited by monsters.
159. moist vows: tearful vows.
160. -fable of Bellerus: i. e., Land's End, in the ex-
treme southwest of England. The Latin name for this
cape was BeSerium, and this word Milton derives from
an imaginary Bellerus.
161 . guarded mount: St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall,
on which was a craggy seat where the Archangel was
fabled to appear at times: hence great vision. There are
ruins of a fortress on the hill, but the epithet guarded is
more likely to refer to the protection of the angel.
162. Namancos and Bayona are both on the coast of
Spain near Cape Finisterre, the direction in which the
vision of the Archangel was fabled to have looked over
the sea.
163. ruth: pity. Professor Corson ingeniously sug-
gests that in this line we have a further reference to the
ecclesiastical situation. In making the Archangel
Michael, the guardian of the Church, look to wards Spain,
the stronghold of Catholicism, Milton, he thinks, meant
to symbolize the Archangel's watchfulness against
foreign danger. But now that the Church is exposed to
danger from within, he calls on him to Look homeward,
Angel, now, and melt with ruth.
164. -dolphins: in allusion to the story of Arion, a
Greek poet and musician. Once, when he was at sea,
the crew determined to kill him for his wealth, but he
obtained permission to sing to his lyre for the last time*
and then jump into the sea. His music brought a num-
ber of dolphins round the ship, and when he jumped
overboard they bore him safe to land, where he had the
sailors punished.
168. day-star: the sun.
156 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS
170. tricks: dresses, ore: here used for 4 'sparkling
metal." Milton probably thought of gold. "No doubt,
this was due to a mistaken belief that ore=aurum" (V.).
175. nectar: used to keep up the imagery of pagan
mythology, though in a description of the Christian
heaven, oozy: moist, referring to the manner of his
death.
176. unexpressive: inexpressible, nuptial song. Cf.
Revelation, XIX, 9, "Blessed are they which are bidden
to the marriage supper of the Lamb."
186-193. The last eight lines form a stanza (in ottava
rima, as has been pointed out) apart, in which the poet
no longer sings as a shepherd, but in a detached way
describes the speaker of the foregoing.
186. uncouth: literally, "unknown," here "rough,"
"rustic."
188. stops: the holes in a wind instrument, quills.
Skeat says that this sense of "reed" is probably older
than that of "feather."
189. Doric. The Sicilian pastoral poets wrote in the
Doric dialect.
190. Had lengthened out the shadows of the hills,
192. twitched: gathered round him.
WORD INDEX
I I/ALLEGRO. II IL PENSEROSO. Ill COMUS. IV LYCIDAS
Acheron, in, 604.
Adonis, in, 999.
^Eolus, iv, 96 n.
affects, in, 386.
Aganippe, iv, 15 n,
airy shell, in, 231.
Algarsife, n, 111.
allay, in, 96.
Allegro, i, Title.
Alpheus, iv, 132.
amain, iv, 111.
amaranthus, iv, 149.
Amaryllis, iv, 68.
amazed, in, 565.
amber-dropping, in, 863.
ambrosial, in, 16, 838 n.
amiss, in, 177.
Amphitrite, in, 921.
Anchises, in, 923.
ancient, in, 314.
Angel, iv, 163.
antique, 11, 158.
Arcady, in, 341.
Arethuse, iv, 85, 132 n.
Arion, iv, 164 n.
Ariosto, 11, 116 n.
Ashtaroth, in, 1002 n.
aspects, in, 694.
asphodil, in, 838.
assays, in, 972.
Assyrian, in, 1002.
at the door, iv, 130.
attendance, in, 315.
Attic, n, 124.
Aurora, i, 19.
azurn, in, 893.
Bacchus, i, 16; in, 46.
bandite, in, 426.
bards, iv, 53.
battening, iv, 29.
Bayona, iv, 162.
beads, in, 391.
Bear, n, 87; in, 341 n.
becks, i, 28.
begin, in, 460.
Bellerus, iv, 160.
bellman, n, 83.
benison, in, 332.
bespake, iv, 112.
besprent, in, 542.
bested, 11, 3.
blank, in, 452.
blasts, in, 845.
blear, in, 155.
blind mouths, iv, 119.
blue-haired, in, 29.
bolt, in, 760.
boots, iv, 64.
bosky, in, 313.
bosomed, i, 78.
bosoms, in, 368.
bottom glade, in, 532.
bourn, in, 313.
bout, i, 139.
bowed, in, 1015.
bower, i, 87; in, 45.
brakes, in, 147.
Bridgewater, Earl of, in s
31 n.
brinded, in, 443.
brooding, i, 6.
brow, in, 532.
157
158 WORD INDEX
I L' ALLEGRO. II IL PENSEBOSO, III COMUS.
IV LTCIDAS.
brown, 11, 134; iv, 2.
Brute, in, 828.
budge, in, 707.
but, in, 714.
buxom, i, 24.
cabined, in, 140.
called, in, 131.
Calliope, iv, 58 n.
Callisto, in, 341 n.
Camball, n, 111.
Cambuscan, n, 110.
Camus, iv, 103.
Canace, n, 112.
canker,iv, 45.
canon laws, in, 808.
Carpathian, in, 872.
cassia, in, 991.
cast, n, 43; in, 360.
casts, in, 225.
Celtic, in, 60.
centre, in, 382.
Cephalus, n, 124 n.
Cerberus, i, 2.
chamber, in, 101.
chance, in, 508.
change, in, 10.
charactered, in, 530,
Chastity, in, 215.
charnel, in, 471.
Charybdis, in, 259.
chequered, i, 96.
Cherub, n, 54.
chimeras, in, 517.
chimney, i, 111.
Cimmerian, i, 10.
tJirce, in, 77 n.
civil-suited, n, 122.
clear, iv, 70.
climb, iv, 115.
cloister, n, 156.
close, in, 548.
cock, i, 49.
commercing, n, 39.
compels, iv, 7.
Comus, in, Title,
condition, in, 685.
consent, 11, 95.
consort, n, 145.
constraint, iv, 6.
Contemplation, 11, 54.
counterfeit, n, 80.
converse, in, 459.
Corydon, i, 83.
cotes, in, 344.
Cotytto, in, 129.
course, in, 159.
courtesy, in, 322.
covert, in, 945.
coy, in, 737; iv, 18.
cozened, in, 737.
cranks, i, 27.
creep, iv, 115.
crofts, m, -531.
crop, i, 113.
crowned, in, 934.
crude, in, 480; iv, 3.
Cupid, HI, 1004.
curfew, 11, 74; in, 435.
curious, in, 714.
Cynic, m, 708.
cynosure, i, 80; m, 342.
Cynthia, n, 59.
cypress, n, 35.
dally, iv, 153.
Damoetas, iv, 36.
Daphne, m, 661.
dapper, m, 118.
dashed, in, 451.
Daughter of the Sphere.
in, 241.
day-star, iv, 168.
dear, iv, 6.
WORD INDEX 159
I [/ALLEGRO. II IL PBNSBBOSO. Ill COMUS. IV LTCLDAB.
debonair, i, 24.
decent, n, 36.
Dee, iv, 55 n.
deep, in, 733.
demons, n, 93.
Deva, iv, 55.
dight, i, 62; n, 159.
dingle, in, 312.
Diodati, in, 620 n.
discovers, in, 1.
disinherit, in, 334.
displaced, in, 560.
dolphins, iv, 164.
Doric, iv, 189.
dragon womb, in, 131.
dragon-yoke, n, 59.
draw, iv, 126.
dread voice, iv, 132.
dream, n, 147.
drouth, in, 66.
drove, iv, 27.
drowsy-flighted, in, 553.
Druids, iv, 53.
Dryades, in, 964.
Du Bartas, i, 45-8 n.
due, 11, 155; in, 12; iv, 7.
Echo, in, 230, 237 n.
eclipses, iv, 101.
eglantine, i, 48.
element, m, 299.
Elysian, i, 147.
Elysium, in, 257.
embowed, n, 157.
emprise, m, 610.
enamelled, iv, 139.
enchanting, iv, 59.
engaged, m, 193.
engine, iv, 130.
enow, iv, 114.
Erebus, in, 804.
esteemed, in, 634.
Ethiop queen, n, 19.
Euphrosyne, i, 12.
^Eurydice, i, 150; iv, 61 n.
express, in, 69.
extreme, in, 273.
eyes, iv, 139.
Faerie Queene, 11, 120 n.
fairly, m, 168.
faith, in, 88.
fall, in, 251.
fallows, i, 71.
Fancy, i, 133.
fast, n, 44.
Fates, iv, 75 n.
felon, iv, 91.
figures, iv, 105.
flashy, iv, 123.
flowery-kirtled, m,254.
foil, iv, 79.
fold, in, 93.
fond, n, 6; in, 67.
fondly, iv, 56.
footing, iv, 103.
forestalling, in, 285.
forsaken, iv, 142.
foundation, in, 808.
Friar's lantern, i, 104; in.
432 n.
frieze, m, 722.
frolic, in, 59.
frounced, n, 123.
Furies, in, 641.
Fury, iv, 75.
gadding, iv, 40.
garish, 11, 141.
gaudy shapes, ii y 6.
gear, m, 167.
Genius, n, 154.
ghost, in, 434.
girt, in, 214.
160 WORD INDEX
I L' ALLEGRO. II IL PENSEROSO. Ill COMUS. IV LYCIDAS.
Glaucus, in, 874.
glistering, in, 219; iv, 79.
glozing, in, 161.
glutinous, in, 917.
goblin, i, 105.
gods, in, 11.
goes about, in, 658.
Gorgon, in, 447.
Graces, i, 15.
grain, n, 33; in, 750.
granges, in, 175.
gratulate, in, 949.
grey-fly, iv, 28.
grim wolf, iv, 128.
guarded mount, iv, 161.
guerdon, iv, 73.
habits, in, 157.
Haemony, in, 638.
hairy, 11, 169; iv, 104.
hall, in, 45.
happy trial, in, 592.
harmony, i, 144.
Harpies, in, 605.
head, in, 355.
hearse, iv, 151.
heat, in, 358.
heaven's descent, iv, 31.
Hebe, i, 29; in, 290,
Hebrides, iv, 156.
Hebrus, iv, 63.
Hecate, in, 135, 535.
hedger, in, 293.
heed, i, 141.
helping, in, 845.
Herald of the Sea, iv, 89.
Hermes, n, 88.
Herrick, 11, 83 n.
Hesperus, in, 93 n, 982;
iv, 30 n.
Hesperian tree, in, 393.
hinds, in, 174.
Hippotades, iv, 96.
his, in, 248, 673.
hist, 11, 55.
hit, 11, 14; in, 286.
homefelt, in, 262.
horror, in, 38.
huddling, in, 495.
hunger, in, 358.
hutched, in, 719.
Hyacinthus, iv, 106 n.
Hydras, in, 605.
Hymen, i, 125.
Iberian, in, 6Q.
Ida, n, 29.
if, in, 419.
II Penseroso, n, Title,
ill is lost, in, 271.
ill-greeting, in, 406.
ill-managed, in, 172.
imbodies, in, 468.
imbrutes, in, 468.
immured, in, 521.
imports, in, 287.
Indian steep, in, 139.
infamous, in, 424.
infer, in, 408.
infirmity, iv, 71.
influence, I, 122.
inform, in, 180.
innumerous, in, 349.
insphered, in, 3.
intrude, iv, 115.
inured, in, 735.
Iris, in, 83, 992.
iron stakes, in, 491.
ivy, in, 55; iv, 2.
Jonson, i, 132; in, Title n.
Jove, n, 30; in, 20; iv, 82.
Jove's altar, n, 48.
Joy, m, 1011,
WORD INDEX 161
I L' ALLEGRO. II IL PENSEROSO. ' III COMUB. IV LYOIDAS.
julep, in, 672.
junkets, i, 102.
kerchieft, n, 125.
knows to still, in, 87.
knew to sing, iv, 10.
laboured, in, 291.
lackey, in, 455.
L 'Allegro, i. Title,
landskip, i, 70.
lantern (Friar's), i, 104.
lark, i, 41.
lastly, iv, 83.
laureate, iv, 151.
laurels, iv, 1.
lavers, in, 838.
Lawes, in, 86 n, 495 n.
lawn, n, 35.
lean, iv, 123.
Leucothea, in, 875.
lies, i, 79.
Ligea, in, 880.
like, in, 634.
likeliest, in, 90.
liquorish, in, 700.
list, iv, 123.
listed, in, 49.
liveries, i, 62.
Locrine, in, 922.
loose, in, 174.
low-roosted, in, 317.
lubber, i, 110.
lucky, iv, 20.
Lycjdas, iv, Title.
Lydian, i, 136.
Mab, i, 102.
madrigal, m, 495.
mantling, in, 294.
mask, i, 128.
massy-proof, n, 158.
Meander, in, 232.
meant, in, 591.
measure, in, 144.
meditate, in, 547; iv, 66.
meeting, i, 138.
Melancholy, i, 1.
Meliboeus, m, 822.
Melicertes, in, 876 n.
mellowing, iv, 5.
Memnon, n, 18.
Mercury, in, 963.
messes, i, 85.
mickle, m, 31.
Mincius, iv, 86.
Minerva, m, 448.
mintage, in, 529.
minute-drops, n, 130.
Mirth, i, 13.
mitred, iv, 112.
moist vows, iv, 159.
Moly, in, 636.
Mona, iv, 54.
monody, iv, Title,
monstrous, m, 533; iv, 158
monumental, 11, 135.
morning roses, i, '22 n.
morrice, m, 116.
mortal change, in, 10.
mould, in, 17.
mountain-nymph, i, 36.
murmurs, m, 526.
Musseus, n, 104.
Muse, iv, 19.
Muses, n, 47.
myrtles, iv, 2.
Namancos, iv, 162.
Narcissus, m, 237.
nard, in, 991.
navel, in, 520.
near-ushering, in, 279.
Neaera, iv, 69.
162 WURD INDEX
I I/ALLEGRO. II IL PENSEROSO. Ill COMUB. IV LYCIDAS.
nectar, iv, 175.
nectared, in, 479, 838.
Nepenthes, in, 675.
Neptune, in, 18; iv, 90.
Nereus, in, 835, 871.
nether Jove, in, 20.
next, in, 501.
nice, in, 139.
night-foundered, in, 483.
nightly, n, 84.
night-raven, I, 7.
nuptial song, iv, 176.
Nymphs, iv, 50.
oat, iv, 88.
Oceanus, in, 868.
of, n, 171.
oozy, iv, 175.
ore, iv, 170.
orient, in, 65.
Orpheus, i, 145; n, 105;
iv, 58.
osier, in, 891.
ounce, in, 71.
over-exquisite, in, 359.
Palaemon, in, 876 n.
pale, n, 156.
pall, n, 98.
pallet, in, 318.
palmer, in, 189.
Pan, in, 176.
Panope, iv, 99.
Parley, in, 241.
Parthenope, in, 879.
pastoral imagery, iv,120n.
pastoral reed, HI, 345.
path to Heaven, in, 303.
pearled, HI, 834.
Peer, HI, 31; iv, 9
Pelops' line, n, 99.
Penseroso, n, Title,
pensioners, n, 10.
perfect, in, 203.
period, in, 585.
perplexed, in, 37.
pert, HI, 118.
pestered, in, 7.
Philomel, n, 56.
Phcebus, iv, 77.
Phyllis, i, 86.
pied, i, 75.
Pieria, iv, 15 n.
pillared, in, 598.
Pilot, iv, 109.
pinched, i, 103.
pinfold, HI, 7.
plat, 11, 73.
Plato, n, 89; in, 463-75 n
pledge, iv, 107.
plight, n, 57; in, 372.
plighted, in, 301.
Pluto, i, 149; n, 107; in,
20 n.
port, in, 297.
praise, iv, 76.
pranked, in, 759.
presented, in, Title,
presentments, in, 156.
prevent, in, 573.
privy, iv, 128.
profaner, 11, 140.
prologue, in, 1 n.
property, in, 469.
Proteus, in, 872 n.
Psyche, in, 1005.
purchase, HI, 607.
purfled, in, 995.
purple, iv, 141.
pursed, HI, 642,
quaint habits, in, 157
quarters, in, 29.
WORD INDEX 163
I L' ALLEGRO. II IL PENSEROSO. Ill COMUS. IV LTCIDAS
quest, in, 321.
quills, iv, 188.
quips, i, 27.
quire, in, 112.
rank, iv, 126.
rapt, II, 40.
rathe, iv, 142.
rebeck, I, 94.
recks, in, 404; iv, 122.
reft, iv, 107.
relation, in, 617.
removed, n, 78.
resort, in, 379.
resounding grace, in, 243.
reversed, in, 816.
rhyme, iv, 11.
rife, in, 203.
ritual, 11, 161-6 n.
root-bound, in, 662.
roses, i, 22.
rosy twine, in, 105.
round, in, 144, 935.
rouse, in, 318.
rout, in, 92; rv, 61.
rule, in, 340.
rush candle, in, 338.
ruth, iv, 163.
Sabrina, in, 826.
sad, 11, 43; in, 189.
sadly, in, 509.
saffron, i, 126.
sager, i, 17.
sampler, in, 751.
sanguine, iv, 106.
saws, in, 110.
sate, in, 714.
Saturn, 11, 24; in, 805.
Saturn's reign, n, 25.
Satyrs, iv, 34.
sceptered. n* 98*
scrannel, iv, 124,
scrip, in, 626.
Scylla, in, 257.
Sea-Nymphs, .11, 21.
secure, i, 91.
sedge, iv, 104.
see to, in, 620.
seek, in, 366.
seeks to, in, 376.
self-same hill, iv, 23.
sensualty, in, 474.
sere, iv, 2.
set off, in, 801; iv, 80.
several, in, 25.
Severn, in, 825.
Shakspere, i, 133.
shatter, iv, 5.
shearers' feast, iv, 117.
shepherd's trade, iv, 65.
shift, in, 273.
shifts, m, 617.
shroud, in, 316.
shrouds, in, 147.
Sicilian Muse, iv, 133.
simples, in, 627.
single, in, 204, 369.
Sirens, iir, 253.
Sisters, iv, 15.
slits, iv, 76.
slope, in, 98.
sock, i, 132.
sorry, in, 750.
sounds, in, 115.
sovran, in, 639.
sparely, iv, 138.
spell, n, 170.
Spenser, 11, 116 n.
spets, in, 132.
sphere, in, 241. '
spicy, i, 100.
spruce, in, 985.
spongy, in, 154.
164 WORD INDEX
I L ALLEQRO. II IL PENSBROSO. Ill GOMUS. IV LYCIDA&
square, in, 329.
squint, Hi, 413.
St. Peter, iv, 111 n.
stabled, in, 534.
stage, n, 102.
stakes, in, 491.
Star, in, 93; iv, 30.
Star of Arcady, in, 341.
starred, n, 19.
starry, in, 112.
state, i, 60; 11, 37; in, 35
stead, in, 611.
stealth, in, 503.
steep, in, 97; iv, 52.
still, n, 41, 127; in, 56G.
Stoic, in, 707.
stole, 11, 35.
stop, in, 552.
stops, iv, 188.
store, I, 121.
storied, n, 159; ill, 516.
strain, iv, 87.
stray, in, 315.
stream, in, 97.
stretched, iv, 190.
strong-siding, in, 212.
strook, in, 301. *
Stygian, i, 3; 111, 132.
surmise, iv, 153.
swart, in, 436; iv, 138.
swilled, in, 178.
swinked, ill, 293.
Sylvan, 11, 134; in, 268.
taint-worm, iv, 46.
tale, i, 67.
Tasso, n, 116 n.
tear, iv 9 14.
tease, in, 751.
teeming, in, 175.
temperance, 11, 45-8 n.
tempered, iv, 33,,
Tethys, in, 870.
thankless, iv, 66.
thatched pallet, in, 318.
Thebes, n, 99.
Thestylis, i, 88.
Thetis, in, 877.
they below, in, 734.
those, in, 2.
thrice-great, n, 88.
Thyrsis, i, 83; in, 494.
tinsel-slippered, in, 877.
to, in, 506.
to seek, in, 366.
took, in, 558.
to-ruffled, in, 380.
touched . . .ears, iv, 77.
tourneys, n, 118.
toy, in, 502.
trace, in, 423.
trains, in, 151.
transformed, in, 48.
tricked, n, 123.
tricks, iv, 170.
Triton, in, 873; iv, 89 n
triumphs, I, 120.
Troy, n, 100.
turkis, in, 894.
Tuscan, in, 48.
twine, in, 105.
twitched, iv, 192.
two-handed, iv, 130.
Tyrian, in, 342.
Tyrrhene, in, 49.
ugly, in, 695.
unadorned, in, 23.
unblenched, in, 430.
uncouth, i, 5; iv, 186.
unenchantedj in, 395.
unexempt, in, 685.
UD expressive, iv, 176.
unharboured, in, 423,
WORD INDEX 165
I L' ALLEGRO. II IL PENBBROSO. Ill COMUS. iV LYcn>i*
unlaid, nr, 434.
unless, in, 267.
unowned, ill, 407.
unprincipled, in, 367.
unreproved, i, 40.
unseen, i, 57; n, 65.
unsphere, II, 88.
unsunned, in, 398.
unthread, in, 614.
unweeting, in, 539.
upland, i, 92.
urchin, in, 845.
use, iv, 67, 136.
ushered, 11, 127,
Vergil, iv, 86 n.
Vesta, n, 23.
viewless, in, 92.
virtue, in, 165.
virtuous, n, 113; in, 165n.
Vision, iv, 161.
vizored, in, 698.
vocal, in, 247; iv, 86
votarist, in, 189.
wain, in, 190.
wakes, in, 121.
waking, in, 263.
Wales, in, 30 n,
wandering labours, Ul,
1006.
wanton, i, 27, 141.
warranted, in, 327.
wassaiiers, in, 179.
wattled, in, 344.
weaker, n, 15, 140 n.
weanling, iv, 46.
weeds, i, 120; m, 16, 84,
390.
welkin, in, 1015.
well, in, 210.
Welsh, in, 33 n.
welter, iv, 13.
what time, in, 291; iv, 28
whilst, iv, 154.
white-thorn, iv, 48.
wicker hole, in, 338.
wiles, i, 27.
wind, in, 163.
window, i, 46.
wink on, in, 401.
with, n, 88.
wizard, in, 872; iv, 55.
wont'st, in, 332.
worthy bidden, iv, 11&
yclept, I, 12.
yet once more, iv, 1.
Youth, m, 1011.
Zephyr, I, 19, "
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