RKELEY 
 
 LIFORNIA 
 
THE SHORTER POEMS OF 
 JOHN MILTON 
 
THE SHORTER POEMS 
 
 OF 
 
 JOHN MILTON 
 
 INCLUDING 
 
 THE TWO LATIN ELEGIES AND ITALIAN SONNET TO 
 DIODATI, AND THE EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS 
 
 ARRANGED IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, WITH PREFACE, 
 INTRODUCTION, AND NOTES 
 
 BY 
 
 ANDREW J. GEORGE, M.A. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, HIGH SCHOOL, NEWTON, MASS. 
 
 EDITOR OF WORDSWORTH'S " PRELUDE," " SELECT POEMS OF 
 
 KOBERT BURNS," TENNYSON'S "PRINCESS," ETC. 
 
 gorfc 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 
 
 1898 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1898, 
 BY ANDREW J. GEORGE 
 
 r/ 
 
 'O 
 
 Nortoooto 
 
 J. S. Cashing & Co. Berwick & Smith. 
 Norwood Mass. U.S.A. 
 
To 
 DAVID MASSON, M.A., LL.D. 
 
 WHOSE COMPLETE AND SCHOLARLY WORKS 
 
 ON MILTON 
 
 HAVE WON THE ADMIRATION OF ALL 
 STUDENTS OF ENGLISH LETTERS 
 
 THIS EDITION 
 IS GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED 
 
 413 
 
"AFTER I had for my first years, by the ceaseless diligence 
 and care of my father, (whom God recompense) been exercised 
 to the tongues, and some sciences, as my age would suffer, by 
 sundry masters and teachers, both at home and at the schools, 
 it was found that whether aught was imposed me by them that 
 had the overlooking, or betaken to of mine own choice in 
 English or other tongue, prosing or versing, but chiefly by this 
 latter, the style, by certain vital signs it had, was likely to live. 
 ... I began thus far to assent to an inward prompting which 
 now grew daily upon me, that by labour and intent study, 
 (which I take to be my portion in this life), joined with the 
 strong propensity of nature, 1 might perhaps leave something 
 so written to aftertimes as they should not willingly let it die. 
 ... I applied myself to fix all the industry and art I could 
 unite to the adorning of my native tongue." 
 
 The Reason of Church Government. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 IN June, 1891, I received a letter from Senator 
 George F. Hoar, in which occurs the following: "I 
 should like to make a suggestion to you which I 
 think would enable you to do a service to the lovers 
 of good literature of the same character as that ren- 
 dered by your Wordsworth's ' Selections ' and edition 
 of the l Prelude,' that is, that you publish a care- 
 fully annotated edition, with full explanations, of 
 Milton's * Shorter Poems,' including all the poems, ex- 
 cept ' Paradise Lost,' ' Paradise Eegained,' and ' Sam- 
 son Agonistes.' I read 'Lycidas' aloud to my wife 
 last evening, and we were both surprised to find so 
 great a number of allusions and phrases, the meaning 
 of which we did not in the least comprehend. I do 
 not refer merely to the classical or historic names, or 
 the places in and about the English seas and rivers, to 
 which Milton makes reference, but also to the mean- 
 ing of some of the lines." 
 
 At that time I was not ready to act upon Mr. Hoar's 
 suggestion as I had not determined what was the best 
 form the work ought to assume. In the six years 
 which have followed, I have been watching the vari- 
 ous lines along which the mind of the student natu- 
 rally works, in gathering what is needful for an 
 appreciation of the " Shorter Poems," and I have 
 
 vii 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 found that what Rev. F. D. Maurice said at Birming- 
 ham, in 1862, is fundamentally sound. 
 
 "I believe you cannot understand Milton, or his 
 works," said he, " in any way, so well as by connect- 
 ing them with the stages of his life : in what place, at 
 what time, under what impulses, amidst what society, 
 the thoughts were breathed and the words came forth." 
 
 The aim of this volume is to present the poems 
 which preceded the great epics in the order and under 
 those influences in the home and the school, in the uni- 
 versity and the world, which formed the mind and 
 fashioned the art of the poet. The notes give each 
 poem its appropriate setting of natural, personal, and 
 historical associations. It is hoped that the book will 
 be found representative and fairly complete in its 
 biography, history, and criticism, and that it will serve 
 as a natural and healthful incentive to those who wish 
 to extend their researches in any of these lines. I 
 have found by experience that this method of read- 
 ing the " Shorter Poems " creates such an interest in 
 Milton, as man and poet, that it carries one naturally, 
 and with no abrupt transition, to the great epics. 
 
 It must be confessed that the editor who follows 
 Professor Masson is like "the Turk who builds his 
 cabin out of Grecian or Roman ruins," and I wish to 
 record my indebtedness to his complete and scholarly 
 works. While a large part of the notes needed are 
 such as have grown out of my teaching of the poems, 
 yet, in very many cases, the material could not be 
 found elsewhere than in the volumes of Professor 
 Masson, and in every case, where I have been so in- 
 debted, credit has been given. 
 
PREFACE IX 
 
 My thanks are due to Professor Masson for the 
 privilege, so graciously given, of associating his name 
 with this edition. 
 
 The Latin poems and Italian sonnet to Diodati, with 
 Cowper's translation, have been included because it is 
 believed they will add to the interest of the work by 
 revealing a most significant influence in the life of the 
 poet. 
 
 The dates which precede the notes to each poem 
 refer, if there are two, to the date of composition of 
 the poem and its first publication by Milton ; and if 
 three, the second refers to date of first publication by 
 some one other than Milton. The letters K., T., and 
 M., in brackets, refer to Keightley, Todd, and Masson 
 respectively. 
 
 If errors, biographical, historical, or textual, are 
 found in this edition, I shall be glad to have my 
 attention called to them. 
 
 A. J. G. 
 BBOOKLINE, MASS., 
 
 March, 1898. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 THE period intervening between the destruction of 
 the Spanish galleons in 1588 and the battle of La 
 Hogue, which gave England her dominion of the seas 
 in 1692, witnessed the glorious reign of Queen Eliza- 
 beth close in an evening of extraordinary splendor 
 and beauty, 
 
 " From worlds not quickened by the sun, 
 A portion of the gift is won ; 
 An intermingling of Heaven's pomp is spread 
 On ground which British shepherds tread," 
 
 and the splendor penetrated into the dark night of 
 the Stuarts, illuminating a solitary peak which in its 
 turn threw the fire across the waste of the eighteenth 
 century, and in its light arose Wordsworth and Cole- 
 ridge, those 
 
 "Twin morning stars of the new century's song." 
 
 The two great influences at work in England at the 
 time of Milton's birth were Hellenism, which came 
 through the Renaissance, and revived the spontaneity 
 of consciousness out of which literature and art were 
 recreated; and Hebraism, which came through the 
 Reformation, and revived the strictness of conscience 
 out of which the spirit of righteousness was quick- 
 ened. The former gave us Elizabethan England, with 
 
 xi 
 
Xll INTRODUCTION 
 
 Spenser, Sidney, and Shakespeare ; the latter Puritan 
 England, with Butler, Bunyan, and Milton. If we 
 would understand the forces which created and 
 nurtured Milton the man and poet we must turn 
 to the history of the closing years of Elizabeth and 
 the period of James I. and Charles I. His work 
 previous to the Commonwealth is distinguished for 
 its Renaissance spirit, its charm of childhood and 
 grace of youth, while revealing at the same time a 
 sublime dignity born of early Puritanism; but after 
 the Commonwealth it became militant and is itself 
 a history of the time, yet is still true to the two great 
 articles of Milton's creed, Art and Faith. Carlyle 
 has said that Milton was the child of Shakespeare 
 and John Knox. He may be called the last of the 
 Elizabethans and the first of the moderns. 
 
 Elizabethan England was characterized by marvel- 
 lous expansion in literary, religious, and commercial 
 interests which led to a spirit of independence in the 
 nation as a whole. She was "a noble and puissant 
 nation rousing herself like a strong man after sleep, 
 and shaking her invincible locks as an eagle mewing 
 her mighty youth, and kindling her undazzled eyes at 
 the full midday beam." London was the centre of all 
 these interests, and Elizabeth the object of chivalrous 
 loyalty. When the midday splendor of the literary 
 impulse revealed itself in the Faerie Queene instinct 
 with the vital soul of the age, it became "the de- 
 light of every accomplished gentleman, the model 
 of every poet, the solace of every soldier." In it 
 were embodied those principles of literary, political, 
 and religious activity which were destined to shake 
 
INTRODUCTION Xlll 
 
 the foundations of the Church and the kingship in the 
 moral earnestness which was developing out of the Re- 
 naissance and the Reformation; for it was in the last 
 years of Elizabeth's reign, years of splendor at home 
 and triumph abroad, that England passed through that 
 mighty change due to her becoming a nation of a 
 single book, the Bible. The Bible, clothed in the 
 language of Shakespeare, and enthroned in the home 
 which Puritanism had created, fostered manners, vir- 
 tue, freedom, power, in society, politics, religion, and 
 literature. From it came the new conception of the 
 dignity of the individual, in which humanity redis- 
 covered its patent of nobility ; it revealed the divinity 
 of humanity to u every boy that driveth the plough," 
 as well as to every theologian in his study. 
 
 It is difficult for us in the nineteenth century to 
 realize how complete was the union of the literary, 
 political, and religious spirit under the influence of 
 the teaching of the Bible. From it came that noble 
 enthusiasm for one God, one Law, which meant no 
 divine right for kings which was not a divine right 
 for every man. Every political act affected both liter- 
 ature and religion ; every literary production carried 
 a political and a religious message ; while every ob- 
 servance of religion looked to the creation of a purer 
 political and literary activity. The crowds which 
 nocked to St. Paul's to listen to the reading of Bon- 
 ner's Bibles, and the tenant, the farmer, and the shop- 
 keeper who reverently read a chapter from the "big 
 book" around the family hearth, were being trained 
 in literary and political principles by which of old the 
 poet, the statesman, and the prophet heroes all 
 
 
XIV INTRODUCTION 
 
 had been nurtured. " Legends and annals, war song 
 and psalm, state rolls and biographies, the mighty 
 voices of prophets, the parables of evangelists, 
 stories of mission journeys, of perils by sea and 
 among the heathen, philosophic arguments, apoca- 
 lyptic visions, all were flung broadcast over minds 
 unoccupied, for the most part, by any rival learning." 
 Such was the temper of the Puritan at the accession 
 of James I. 
 
 The natural disposition of James, and the training 
 which he received during the stormy times in Scotland, 
 make it easy to forecast what will be the characteristics 
 of his reign at a time when Episcopacy is established 
 in England, and Presbyterianism in Scotland; when 
 the two antagonistic parties, Catholics and Puritans, 
 each ready for the death struggle, are watching his 
 every movement; and the civilized world interested 
 spectators. Where Elizabeth had been wise, temper- 
 ate, judicious, serious, he was foolish, radical, rash, and 
 trifling. Early in his reign his temper of mind was 
 revealed at the Hampton Court Conference called to 
 consider the petition of Puritans for some changes in 
 the methods of the Episcopacy by which it would be 
 more in harmony with the democratic idea of the 
 Reformers. On that occasion he said, "A Scottish 
 Presbyter as well fitteth with monarchy as God and 
 the Devil," and ordered the ten who presented the 
 petition (signed by more than a thousand of their 
 ministers) to be imprisoned. His next step was to 
 assert the doctrine of Divine Right of Kings by dic- 
 tating to the House of Commons ; the result of which 
 was the reaction of the Commons against the Catholics, 
 
INTE OD UCTION X V 
 
 the exodus of Pilgrims and Puritans to the New World 
 and the beginning of a New England. 
 
 Notwithstanding the political and religious ferment 
 of the time, the principles of the Renaissance and the 
 Reformation, which created Elizabethan England, still 
 remained, although the old enthusiasm for England 
 gradually died out in the strife of parties, and imita- 
 tion took the place of creation. No great work ap- 
 pears in this period of exhaustion and transition which 
 does not owe its inspiration to the atmosphere of the 
 previous period. It is significant that in 1623, the 
 year of the publication of the first folio of Shake- 
 speare, Waller published his earliest couplets and 
 ushered in the era of the Classicists with their brilliant 
 conceits, their servility to foreign models, and their 
 
 learned emptiness. 
 
 "Ye were dead 
 
 To things ye knew not of, were closely wed 
 To musty laws lined out with wretched rule 
 And compass vile ; so that ye taught a school 
 Of dolts to smooth, inlay, and clip, and fit, 
 Till, like the certain wands of Jacob's wit 
 They tallied. Easy was the task : 
 A thousand handicraftsmen wore the mask 
 Of Poesy." 
 
 Charles was heir not only to his father's failings, 
 but to all the mischief which those failings had pro- 
 duced. The breach between King and Parliament 
 grew wider because of the excesses of the Duke of 
 Buckingham and the marriage of Charles with a 
 French Catholic princess. Hampden and Sir John 
 Eliot led the attack upon the king; Parliament re- 
 fused to grant money, and declared that in matters of 
 
xvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 religion and politics it must be consulted, and that if 
 the king refused '' he was a betrayer of the liberty of 
 England and an enemy to the same." Charles soon 
 demonstrated that he was both of these by establishing 
 the Star Chamber, the Court of High Commission, and 
 by attempting to force the prayer-book upon the Scotch 
 Covenanters. We must not forget that at this time, 
 when Charles was at the height of his tyranny and 
 England was tossing upon the wave of civil war, 
 Milton was resting from his first flight and pluming 
 himself for a second, "of highest hope and hardest 
 attempting," in the quietude of classic Italy ; and that 
 on learning the direction affairs were taking, his love 
 of freedom made but one course clear for him, to 
 return and enter the contest for liberty "when the 
 Church of God was at the foot of her insulting 
 enemies." 
 
 After Charles found that he could not scare Parlia- 
 ment into submission, he threw down the gauntlet at 
 the foot of the royal standard at Nottingham, and war 
 began. Edgehill, Marston Moor, and Naseby reveal 
 the course of that struggle which ended on the scaffold, 
 and the Commonwealth began its work with a prohibi- 
 tion against the proclaiming of any person king of 
 England or Ireland, and the abolition of the House of 
 Lords. Government was vested in a Council of State, 
 and Cromwell was head of the army. Milton became 
 Latin Secretary; and here begins that struggle of 
 twenty years for the defence of the one thing he holds 
 dearest, liberty ; " religious liberty against the prel- 
 ates, civil liberty against the crown, the liberty of 
 the press against the executive, liberty of conscience 
 
INTRODUCTION xvii 
 
 against the Presbyterians, and domestic liberty against 
 the tyranny of canon law." The poet becomes phi- 
 losopher and statesman; and the glory of English lit- 
 erature, the champion and martyr of English liberty. 
 As recreation from the severe strain of composing the 
 prose controversial pamphlet, Milton threw off those 
 sonnets so charged with the personal note that they 
 bring us into the passion and the pathos that consti- 
 tuted his deepest life during these memorable years. 
 
 The splendid prophecy of the future of English 
 literature which the Milton of these two periods pre- 
 sents, is that of intellectual and moral earnestness 
 revealed in the highest type of beauty the union of 
 sweetness and light. 
 
 We are wont to give a too great proportion of atten- 
 tion to the Milton of Paradise Lost, and the result is a 
 belief that Milton lacked the finer and sweeter qualities 
 with which we associate Spenser and Shakespeare. 
 The historian has emphasized certain types of the Puri- 
 tan revealed in the political and religious activity of 
 the time, and has given us for the most part the formal, 
 rather than the real, Puritan. Hence he has become a 
 symbol of an austere, harsh and canting reformer, who 
 finds little in the nature of existing politics and re- 
 ligion which is to his mind. And although between 
 Clarendon and Macaulay we have a great variety of 
 types, they severally need supplementing by a careful 
 study of that furnished by the Milton of the Shorter 
 Poems. Here will be found nothing of religious cant, 
 no hatred of art and beauty even when they are misused, 
 no frowning upon wholesome gaiety, but a generous 
 recognition of all those elements that tend to make life 
 
x viii IN TR OD UCTION 
 
 stronger in hope, more perfect in temper, and finer in 
 spirit. 
 
 The love of nature and man, and the pleasures 
 afforded by a life of ease and social converse revealed 
 in L' Allegro; the love of art and philosophy, and the 
 delights of solitude in II Penseroso; the tribute paid 
 to noble men and gentle women in song, action, and all 
 the magnificent appointments of the Masque, with its 
 splendid condemnation of the fanaticism of Prynne; 
 the tender and delicate passion in the poems on Dio- 
 dati ; and the passion for liberty, the prayers for 
 toleration, and the religious rapture set in the strong 
 framework of the political sonnets, present us a truer 
 type in heart and intellect of that real Puritanism 
 which lay beneath the less attractive manifestations. 
 Here is the type of all that was deepest and most per- 
 manent in English life between the luxuriousiiess of 
 the Elizabethan and the licentiousness of the Eestora- 
 tion. 
 
 The highest note of the prose of these periods con- 
 firms the revelation of the verse. " Though all the 
 winds of doctrine were let loose," says he in the 
 Areopagitica, "to play upon the earth, so Truth be in 
 the field, we do injuriously by licensing and prohibit- 
 ing to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood 
 grapple ; who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a 
 free and open encounter ? . . . How many other 
 things might be tolerated in peace, and left to con- 
 science, had we but charity, and were it not the chief 
 stronghold of our hypocrisy to be ever judging one 
 another?" 
 
APPRECIATIONS 
 
 " NOR second He, that rode sublime 
 Upon the seraph-wings of Ecstasy, 
 The secrets of th' Abyss to spy. 
 
 He pass'd the flaming bounds of Place and Time : 
 The living Throne, the sapphire-blaze, 
 Where Angels tremble while they gaze, 
 He saw ; but blasted with excess of light, 
 Closed his eyes in endless night." 
 
 GRAY. 
 
 " MILTON ! thou should'st be living at this hour : 
 England hath need of thee : she is a fen 
 Of stagnant waters : altar, sword, and pen, 
 Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, 
 Have forfeited their ancient English dower 
 Of inward happiness. We are selfish men ; 
 Oh ! raise us up, return to us again ; 
 And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. 
 Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart : 
 Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea : 
 Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, 
 So didst thou travel on life's common way, 
 In cheerful godliness ; and yet thy heart 
 The lowliest duties on herself did lay." 
 
 WORDSWORTH. 
 
 " MIGHTY-MOUTH'D inventor of harmonies, 
 skill' d to sing of Time or Eternity, 
 God-gifted organ-voice of England, 
 Milton, a name to resound for ages ; 
 xix 
 
XX APPRECIATIONS 
 
 Whose Titan angels, Gabriel, Abdiel, 
 Starr'd from Jehovah's gorgeous armouries, 
 Tower, as the deep-domed empyrean 
 
 Rings to the roar of an angel onset 
 Me rather all that bowery loneliness, 
 The brooks of Eden mazily murmuring, 
 And bloom profuse and cedar arches 
 Charm, as a wanderer out in ocean, 
 Where some refulgent sunset of India 
 Streams o'er a rich ambrosial ocean isle, 
 And crimson-hued the stately palm woods 
 Whisper in odorous heights of even." 
 
 TENNYSON. 
 " HE left the upland lawns and serene air 
 
 Wherefrom his soul her noble nurture drew, 
 And reared his helm among the unquiet crew 
 Battling beneath ; the morning radiance rare 
 Of his young brow amid the tumult there 
 
 Grew grim with sulphurous dust and sanguine dew ; 
 Yet through all soilure they who marked him knew 
 The signs of his life's day spring, calm and fair. 
 But when peace came, peace fouler far than war, 
 And mirth more dissonant than battle's tone, 
 He, with a scornful sigh of his clear soul, 
 Back to his mountain cloinb, now bleak and frore, 
 And with the awful night he dwelt alone, 
 In darkness, listening to the thunder's roll." 
 
 ERNEST MYERS. 
 
 "THE egoism with, which all Milton's poetry is im- 
 pregnated is the egoism of a glorious nature. If we 
 were asked who in the eighteen Christian centuries 
 stands before us as the highest approximation to what 
 we conceive as Christian manhood, in which are rarely 
 blended purity and passion, gracefulness and strength, 
 sanctity and manifold fitness for all the worldly duties 
 
A PPEECIA TIONS xxi 
 
 of the man and the citizen, we should scarcely hesitate 
 to answer John Milton." 
 
 REV. F. W. ROBERTSON. 
 
 " THE genius and office of Milton were to ascend by 
 the aids of his learning and his religion by an 
 equal perception, that is, of the past and the future 
 to a higher insight and more lively delineation of the 
 heroic life of man. This was his poem ; whereof all 
 his indignant pamphlets and all his soaring verses are 
 only single cantos or detached stanzas. It was plainly 
 needful that his poetry should be a version of his own 
 life, in order to give weight and solemnity to his 
 thoughts, by which they might penetrate and possess 
 the imagination and the will of mankind. ... His 
 own conviction it is which gives such authority to his 
 strain. Its reality is its force. If out of the heart it 
 
 came, to the heart it must go." 
 
 EMERSON. 
 
 " MILTON'S sublimity is in every man's mouth. Is 
 it felt that his poetry breathes a sensibility and 
 tenderness hardly surpassed by its sublimity? We 
 apprehend that the grandeur of Milton's mind has 
 thrown some shade over his milder beauties ; and this 
 it has done, not only by being more striking and impos- 
 ing, but by the tendency of vast mental energy to give 
 a certain calmness to the expression of tenderness and 
 deep feeling. A great mind is the master of its own 
 enthusiasm, and does not often break out into those 
 tumults which pass with many for the signs of pro- 
 found emotion. Its sensibility, though more intense 
 and enduring, is more self-possessed and less per- 
 
XX11 APPRECIATIONS 
 
 turbed than that of other men, and is therefore less 
 observed and felt, except by those who understand, 
 through their own consciousness, the workings and 
 
 utterance of genuine feeling." 
 
 CHANNING. 
 
 "MILTON'S more elaborate passages have the multi- 
 tudinous roll of thunder, dying away to gather a sul- 
 len force again from its own reverberations, but he 
 knew that the attention is recalled and arrested by 
 those claps that stop short without echo and leave us 
 listening. There are no such vistas and avenues of 
 verse as his. In reading him one has a feeling of 
 spaciousness such as no other poet gives. Milton's 
 respect for himself and for his own mind and its 
 movement rises wellnigh to veneration. He prepares 
 the way for his thought and spreads on the ground 
 before the sacred feet of his verse tapestries inwoven 
 with figures of mythology and romance. There is no 
 
 such unfailing dignity as his." 
 
 LOWELL. 
 
(Moseley's Preface to the first edition of Milton's Poems, 1645.) 
 
 "THE STATIONER TO THE EEADEE. 
 
 "!T is not any private respect of gain, Gentle 
 Reader (for the slightest Pamphlet is nowadays more 
 vendible than the works of learnedest men), but it is 
 the love I have to our own Language, that hath made 
 me delight to collect and set forth such pieces, both 
 in Prose and Verse, as may renew the wonted honour 
 and esteem of our English tongue ; and it's the worth 
 of these both English and Latin Poems, not the nour- 
 ish of any prefixed encomions, that can invite thee to 
 buy them though these are not without the highest 
 commendations and applause of the learnedest Aca- 
 demicks, both domestic and foreign, and, amongst those 
 of our own country, the unparalleled attestation of 
 that renowned Provost of Eton, SIR HENRY WOOT- 
 TON. I know not thy palate, how it relishes such 
 dainties, nor how harmonious thy soul is : perhaps 
 more trivial Airs may please thee better. But, howso- 
 ever thy opinion is spent upon these, that encourage- 
 ment I have already received from the most ingenious 
 men, in their clear and courteous entertainment of 
 Mr. WALLER'S late choice Pieces, hath once more 
 made me adventure into the world, presenting it with 
 these ever-green and not to be blasted laurels. The 
 
XXIV PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 
 
 Author's more peculiar excellency in these studies 
 was too well known to conceal his Papers, or to keep 
 me from attempting to solicit them from him. Let 
 the event guide itself which way it will, I shall 
 deserve of the age by bringing into the light as true 
 a birth as the Muses have brought forth since our 
 famous SPENSER wrote ; whose Poems in these 
 English ones are as rarely imitated as sweetly ex- 
 celled. Reader, if thou art eagle-eyed to censure their 
 worth, I am not fearful to expose them to thy exactest 
 perusal. 
 
 " Thine to command, 
 
 "HUMPH. MOSELEY." 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PREFACE vii 
 
 INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 APPRECIATIONS : . . . . xix 
 
 MOSELEY'S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION OF 
 MILTON'S POEMS, 1645 xxiii 
 
 1624 A Paraphrase on Psalm cxiv . 1 
 
 Psalm cxxxvi 2 
 
 1626 On the Death of a Fair Infant dying of a Cough . 5 
 
 1628 At a Vacation Exercise in the College 8 
 
 1629 On the Morning of Christ's Nativity 12 
 
 1630 Upon the Circumcision 22 
 
 The Passion 23 
 
 On Time 25 
 
 At a Solemn Music 26 
 
 Song on May Morning 27 
 
 On Shakespeare 28 
 
 1631 On the University Carrier 28 
 
 Another on the Same 29 
 
 An Epitaph on the Marchioness of Winchester . . 30 
 
 On his having arrived at the Age of Twenty-three . 33 
 
 1633 To the Nightingale 33 
 
 L' Allegro 34 
 
 II Penseroso 39 
 
 1634 Arcades 45 
 
 Comus : 
 
 Lawes' Dedication to the Edition of 1637 . .49 
 Sir Henry Wotton's Commendatory Letter, 
 
 1638 49 
 
 The Persons 52 
 
 The Text of Comus 53 
 
 1637 Lycidas . 87 
 
 xxv 
 
XX vi CONTENTS 
 
 PAGK 
 
 1642 When the Assault was intended to the City ... 94 
 
 1644 To a Virtuous Young Lady 94 
 
 To the Lady Margaret Ley 95 
 
 1645 On the Detraction which followed upon my writing 
 
 Certain Treatises 95 
 
 On the Same 96 
 
 1646 On the New Forcers of Conscience 97 
 
 To Mr. H. Lawes on his Airs 97 
 
 On the Religious Memory of Mrs. Catherine 
 
 Thomson 98 
 
 1648 On the Lord General Fairfax 99 
 
 1652 To the Lord General Cromwell 99 
 
 To Sir Henry Vane the Younger 100 
 
 1655 On the Late Massacre in Piedmont 101 
 
 On his Blindness 101 
 
 To Mr. Lawrence 102 
 
 To Cyriack Skinner 102 
 
 To the Same 103 
 
 1658 On his Deceased Wife 104 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL 105 
 
 THE CAMBRIDGE MSS 109 
 
 NOTES Ill 
 
 Elegia Frima, Ad Carolum Diodatum 243 
 
 Elegia Sexta, Ad Carolum Diodatum 246 
 
 Diodati (e te '1 dir6, etc.) 249 
 
 Epitaphium Damonis 250 
 
 Cowper's translation of : 
 
 Elegy I. To Charles Deodati 258 
 
 Elegy VI. To Charles Deodati 261 
 
 Sonnet. To Charles Deodati 264 
 
 On the Death of Damon ,265 
 
 NOTES TO POEMS ON DIODATI 276 
 
 INDEX TO FIRST LINES 291 
 
 INDEX TO WORDS AND PHRASES EXPLAINED ix 
 
 NOTES 293 
 
 REFERENCES 298 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 A PARAPHRASE ON PSALM CXIV 
 
 Thin and the following Psalm were done &y the Author at fifteen yeara old 
 
 WHEN the blest seed of Terah's faithful son 
 
 After long toil their liberty had won, 
 
 And passed from Pharian fields to Canaan-land, 
 
 Led by the strength of the Almighty's hand, 
 
 Jehovah's wonders were in Israel shown, 
 
 His praise and glory was in Israel known. 
 
 That saw the troubled sea, and shivering fled, 
 
 And sought to hide his froth-becurled head 
 
 Low in the earth ; Jordan's clear streams recoil, 
 
 As a faint host that hath received the foil. 10 
 
 The high huge-bellied mountains skip like rams 
 
 Amongst their ewes, the little hills like lambs. 
 
 Why fled the ocean ? and why skipped the mountains ? 
 
 Why turned Jordan toward his crystal fountains ? 
 
 Shake, Earth, and at the presence be aghast 
 
 Of Him that ever was and aye shall last, 
 
 That glassy floods from rugged rocks can crush, 
 
 And make soft rills from fiery flint-stones gush. 
 
SH OUTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 PSALM CXXXVI 
 
 LET us with a gladsome mind 
 Praise the Lord for he is kind ; 
 
 For his mercies aye endure, 
 
 Ever faithful, ever sure. 
 
 Let us blaze his name abroad, 
 For of gods he is the God ; 
 For his, &c. 
 
 let us his praises tell, 
 
 Who doth the wrathful tyrants quell ; 10 
 For his, &c. 
 
 Who with his miracles doth make 
 Amazed heaven and earth to shake ; 
 For his, &c. 
 
 Who by his wisdom did create 
 
 The painted heavens so full of state ; 
 
 For his, &c. 19 
 
 Who did the solid earth ordain 
 To rise above the watery plain ; 
 For his, &c. 
 
 Who, by his all-commanding might, 
 Did fill the new-made world with light ; 
 For his, &c. 
 
 And caused the golden-traced sun 
 All the day long his course to run ; 30 
 
 For his, &c. 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 3 
 
 The horned moon to shine by night 
 Amongst her spangled sisters bright ; 
 For his, &c. 
 
 He, with his thunder-clasping hand, 
 Smote the first-born of Egypt land ; 
 
 For his, &c. 39 
 
 And, in despite of Pharao fell, 
 He brought from thence his Israel ; 
 For his, &c. 
 
 The ruddy waves he cleft in twain 
 Of the Erythraean main ; 
 For his, &c. 
 
 The floods stood still, like walls of glass, 
 While the Hebrew bands did pass ; 50 
 
 For his, &c. 
 
 But full soon they did devour 
 The tawny king with all his power ; 
 For his, &c. 
 
 His chosen people he did bless 
 In the wasteful wilderness ; 
 
 For his, &c. 59 
 
 In bloody battle he brought down 
 Kings of prowess and renown; 
 For his, &c. 
 
 He foiled bold Seon and his host, 
 That ruled the Amorrean coast ; 
 For his, &c. 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 And large limbed Og he did subdue, 
 With all his over-hardy crew ; 70 
 
 For his, &c. 
 
 And to his servant Israel 
 He gave their land, therein to dwell ; 
 For his, &c. 
 
 He hath, with a piteous eye, 
 Beheld us in our misery ; 
 
 For his, &c. 79 
 
 And freed us from the slavery 
 Of the invading enemy ; 
 For his, &c. 
 
 All living creatures he doth feed, 
 And with full hand supplies their need ; 
 For his, &c. 
 
 Let us, therefore, warble forth 
 His mighty majesty and worth ; 90 
 
 For his, &c. 
 
 That his mansion hath on high, 
 Above the reach of mortal eye ; 
 
 For his mercies aye endure, 
 
 Ever faithful, ever sure. 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 ON THE DEATH OF A FAIR INFANT 
 DYING OF A COUGH 
 
 Anno cetatis 17 
 
 O FAIREST flower, no sooner blown but blasted, 
 Soft silken primrose fading timelessly, 
 Summer's chief honour, if thou hadst outlasted 
 Bleak Winter's force that made thy blossom dry ; 
 For he, being amorous on that lovely dye 
 
 That did thy cheek envermeil, thought to kiss, 
 But killed, alas ! and then bewailed his fatal bliss. 
 
 ii 
 
 For, since grim Aquilo, his charioteer, 
 
 By boisterous rape the Athenian damsel got, 
 
 He thought it touched his deity full near, 10 
 
 If likewise he some fair one wedded not, 
 
 Thereby to wipe away the infamous blot 
 
 Of long uncoupled bed and childless eld, 
 Which 'mongst the wanton gods a foul reproach was 
 held. 
 
 in 
 
 So, mounting up in icy pearled car, 
 Through middle empire of the freezing air 
 He wandered long, till thee he spied from far ; 
 There ended was his quest, there ceased his care : 
 Down he descended from his snow soft chair, 
 
 But, all unwares, with his cold-kind embrace, 20 
 Unhoused thy virgin soul from her fair biding-place. 
 
b SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 IV 
 
 Yet art thou not inglorious in thy fate ; 
 For so Apollo, with unweeting hand, 
 Whilom did slay his dearly-loved mate, 
 Young Hyacinth, born on Eurotas' strand, 
 Young Hyacinth, the pride of Spartan land ; 
 
 But then transformed him to a purple flower : 
 Alack, that so to change thee Winter had no power ! 
 
 Yet can I not persuade me thou art dead, 
 Or that thy corse corrupts in earth's dark womb, 30 
 Or that thy beauties lie in wormy bed 
 Hid from the world in a low-delved tomb ; 
 Could Heaven, for pity, thee so strictly doom ? 
 Oh no ! for something in thy face did shine 
 Above mortality, that showed thou wast divine. 
 
 VI 
 
 Resolve me, then, O Soul most surely blest 
 
 (If so it be that thou these plaints dost hear) ! 
 
 Tell me, bright Spirit, where'er thou hoverest, 
 
 Whether above that high first-moving sphere, 
 
 Or in the Elysian fields (if such there were), 40 
 
 Oh, say me true if thou wert mortal wight, 
 And why from us so quickly thou didst take thy flight. 
 
 VII 
 
 Wert thou some star, which from the ruined roof 
 Of shaked Olympus by mischance didst fall ; 
 

 
 Which c 
 
 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 Which careful Jove in nature's true behoof 
 
 Took up, and in fit place did reinstal ? 
 
 Or did of late Earth's sons besiege the wall 
 
 Of sheeny Heaven, and thou some goddess fled 
 Amongst us here below to hide thy.nectared head ? 
 
 VIII 
 
 Or wert thou that just Maid who once before 50 
 
 Forsook the hated earth, oh ! tell me sooth, 
 
 And earnest again to visit us once more ? 
 
 Or wert thou [Mercy], that sweet smiling Youth ? 
 
 Or that crowned Matron, sage white-robed Truth ? 
 
 Or any other of that heavenly brood 
 Let down in cloudy throne to do the world some good ? 
 
 IX 
 
 Or wert thou of the golden-winged host, 
 
 Who, having clad thyself in human weed, 
 
 To earth from thy prefixed seat didst post, 
 
 And after short abode fly back with speed, 60 
 
 As if to show what creatures Heaven doth breed ; 
 
 Thereby to set the hearts of men on fire 
 To scorn the sordid world, and unto Heaven aspire ? 
 
 But oh ! why didst thou not stay here below 
 To bless us with thy heaven-loved innocence, 
 To slake his wrath whom sin hath made our foe, 
 To turn swift-rushing black perdition hence, 
 Or drive away the slaughtering pestilence, 
 
 To stand 'twixt us and our deserved smart ? 
 But thou canst best perform that office where thou art. 70 
 
8 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 XI 
 
 Then thou, the mother of so sweet a child, 
 Her false-imagined loss cease to lament, 
 And wisely learn to curb thy sorrows wild ; 
 Think what a present thou to God hast sent, 
 And render him with patience what he lent : 
 
 This if thou do, he will an offspring give 
 That till the world's last end shall make thy name to 
 live. 
 
 AT A VACATION EXERCISE IN THE COL- 
 LEGE, PART LATIN, PAKT ENGLISH 
 
 Anno cetatis 19 
 
 The Latin Speeches ended, the English thus began : 
 
 HAIL, Native Language, that by sinews weak 
 
 Didst move my first endeavouring tongue to speak, 
 
 And mad'st imperfect words with childish trips, 
 
 Half unpronounced, slide through my infant lips, 
 
 Driving dumb Silence from the portal door, 
 
 Where he had mutely sat two years before : 
 
 Here I salute thee, and thy pardon ask 
 
 That now I use thee in. my latter task ! 
 
 Small loss it is that thence can come unto thee ; 
 
 I know my tongue but little grace can do thee. 10 
 
 Thou need'st not be ambitious to be first ; 
 
 Believe me, I have thither packed the worst : 
 
 And, if it happen as I did forecast, 
 
 The daintiest dishes shall be served up last. 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 9 
 
 I pray thee then deny me not thy aid, 
 
 For this same small neglect that I have made ; 
 
 But haste thee straight to do me once a pleasure, 
 
 And from thy wardrobe bring thy chiefest treasure ; 
 
 Not those new-fangled toys, and trimming slight 
 
 Which takes our late fantastics with delight ; 20 
 
 But cull those richest robes and gayest attire, 
 
 Which deepest spirits and choicest wits desire. 
 
 I have some naked thoughts that rove about, 
 
 And loudly knock to have their passage out, 
 
 And, weary of their place, do only stay 
 
 Till thou hast decked them in thy best array ; 
 
 That so they may, without suspect or fears, 
 
 Fly swiftly to this fair assembly's ears. 
 
 Yet I had rather, if I were to choose, 
 
 Thy service in some graver subject use, 30 
 
 Such as may make thee search thy coffers round, 
 
 Before thou clothe my fancy in fit sound : 
 
 Such where the deep transported mind may soar 
 
 Above the wheeling poles, and at Heaven's door 
 
 Look in, and see each blissful deity 
 
 How he before the thunderous throne doth lie, 
 
 Listening to what unshorn Apollo sings 
 
 To the touch of golden wires, while Hebe brings 
 
 Immortal nectar to her kingly sire ; 
 
 Then, passing through the spheres of watchful fire, 40 
 
 And misty regions of wide air next under, 
 
 And hills of snow and lofts of piled thunder, 
 
 May tell at length how green-eyed Neptune raves, 
 
 In heaven's defiance mustering all his waves ; 
 
 Then sing of secret things that came to pass 
 
 When beldam Nature in her cradle was ; 
 
10 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 And last of kings and queens and heroes old, 
 
 Such as the wise Demodocus once told 
 
 In solemn songs at king Alcinous' feast, 
 
 While sad Ulysses' soul and all the rest 50 
 
 Are held, with his melodious harmony, 
 
 In willing chains and sweet captivity. 
 
 But fie, my wandering Muse, how thou dost stray ! 
 
 Expectance calls thee now another way. 
 
 Thou know'st it must be now thy only bent 
 
 To keep in compass of thy Predicament. 
 
 Then quick about thy purposed business come, 
 
 That to the next I may resign my room. 
 
 Then ENS is represented as Father of the Predicaments, 
 his ten Sons; whereof the eldest stood for SUBSTANCE 
 with his Canons; ivhich Exs, thus speaking, explains : 
 
 Good luck befriend thee, Son ; for at thy birth 
 
 The faery ladies danced upon the hearth. 60 
 
 The drowsy nurse hath sworn she did them spy 
 
 Come tripping to the room where thou didst lie, 
 
 And, sweetly singing round about thy bed, 
 
 Strew all their blessings on thy sleeping head. 
 
 She heard them give thee this, that thou shouldst still 
 
 From eyes of mortals walk invisible. 
 
 Yet there is something that doth force my fear ; 
 
 For once it was my dismal hap to hear 
 
 A sibyl old, bow-bent with crooked age, 
 
 That far events full wisely could presage, 70 
 
 And, in Time's long and dark prospective-glass, 
 
 Foresaw what future days should bring to pass. 
 
 " Your son," said she, " (nor can you it prevent,) 
 
 Shall subject be to many an Accident. 
 

 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MlLTON 11 
 
 O'er all his brethren he shall reign as king ; 
 Yet every one shall make him underling, 
 And those that cannot live from him asunder 
 Ungratefully shall strive to keep him under. 
 In worth and excellence he shall outgo them ; 
 Yet, being above them, he shall be below them. 80 
 " From others he shall stand in need of nothing, 
 Yet on his brothers shall depend for clothing. 
 To find a foe it shall not be his hap, 
 And peace shall lull him in her flowery lap ; 
 Yet shall he live in strife, and at his door 
 Devouring war shall never cease to roar ; 
 Yea, it shall be his natural property 
 To harbour those that are at enmity." 
 What power, what force, what mighty spell, if not 
 Your learned hands, can loose this Gordian knot ? 90 
 
 The next, QUANTITY and QUALITY, spake in prose : then 
 RELATION was called by his name. 
 
 Rivers, arise: whether thou be-the son 
 
 Of utmost Tweed, or Ouse, or gulfy Dun, 
 
 Or Trent, who, like some earth-born giant, spreads 
 
 His thirty arms along the indented meads, 
 
 Or sullen Mole, that runneth underneath, 
 
 Or Severn swift, guilty of maiden's death, 
 
 Or rocky Avon, or of sedgy Lea, 
 
 Or coaly Tyne, or ancient hallowed Dee, 
 
 Or Humber loud, that keeps the Scythian's name, 
 
 Or Medway smooth, or royal-towered Thame. 100 
 
 The rest was prose. 
 
12 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST'S NATIVITY 
 
 Composed 1629 
 I 
 
 THIS is the month, and this the happy morn, 
 Wherein the Son of Heaven's eternal King, 
 Of wedded maid and virgin mother born, 
 Our great redemption from above did bring ; 
 For so the holy sages once did sing, 
 
 That he our deadly forfeit should release, 
 And with his Father work us a perpetual peace. 
 
 ii 
 
 That glorious form, that light unsufferable, 
 
 And that far-beaming blaze of majesty, 
 
 Wherewith he wont at Heaven's high council-table 10 
 
 To sit the midst of Trinal Unity, 
 
 He laid aside, and, here with us to be, 
 
 Forsook the courts of everlasting day, 
 And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay. 
 
 in 
 
 Say, Heavenly Muse, shall not thy sacred vein 
 
 Afford a present to the Infant God ? 
 
 Hast thou no verse, no hymn, or solemn strain, 
 
 To welcome him to this his new abode, 
 
 Now while the heaven, by the Sun's team untrod, 
 
 Hath took no print of the approaching light, 20 
 
 And all the spangled host keep watch in squadrons 
 bright ? 
 

 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 13 
 
 IV 
 
 See how from far upon the eastern road 
 
 The star-led wizards haste with odours sweet ! 
 
 Oh ! run ; prevent them with thy humble ode, 
 
 And lay it lowly at his blessed feet ; 
 
 Have thou the honour first thy Lord to greet, 
 
 And join thy voice unto the Angel Quire, 
 From out his secret altar touched with hallowed fire. 
 
 THE HYMN 
 
 It was the winter wild, 
 
 While the heaven-born child 30 
 
 All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies ; 
 Nature, in awe to him, 
 Had doffed her gaudy trim, 
 With her great Master so to sympathize : 
 It was no season then for her 
 To wanton with the Sun, her lusty paramour. 
 
 ii 
 
 Only with speeches fair 
 She woos the gentle air 
 To hide her guilty front with innocent snow, 
 
 And on her naked shame, ! 40 
 
 Pollute with sinful blame, 
 The saintly veil of maiden white to throw ; 
 Confounded, that her Maker's eyes 
 Should look so near upon her foul deformities. 
 
14 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 III 
 
 But he, her fears to cease, 
 Sent down the meek-eyed Peace : 
 She, crowned with olive green, came softly sliding 
 Down through the turning sphere, 
 His ready harbinger, 
 
 With turtle wing the amorous clouds dividing ; so 
 And, waving wide her myrtle wand, 
 She strikes a universal peace through sea and land. 
 
 IV 
 
 No war, or battle's sound, 
 Was heard the world around ; 
 The idle spear and shield were high uphung ; 
 The hooked chariot stood, 
 Unstained with hostile blood ; 
 The trumpet spake not to the armed throng ; 
 And kings sat still with awful eye, 
 As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by. 60 
 
 But peaceful was the night 
 Wherein the Prince of Light 
 His reign of peace upon the earth began. 
 The winds, with wonder whist, 
 Smoothly the waters kissed, 
 Whispering new joys to the mild Ocean, 
 Who now hath quite forgot to rave, 
 While birds of calm sit brooding on the charmed wave. 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 15 
 
 VI 
 
 The stars, with deep amaze, 
 
 Stand fixed in steadfast gaze, 70 
 
 Bending one way their precious influence, 
 And will not take their flight, 
 For all the morning light, 
 Or Lucifer that often warned them thence ; 
 But in their glimmering orbs did glow, 
 Until their Lord himself bespake, and bid them go. 
 
 
 
 VII 
 
 And, though the shady gloom 
 Had given day her room, 
 The Sun himself withheld his wonted speed, 
 
 And hid his head for shame, 80 
 
 As his inferior flame 
 
 The new-enlightened world no more should need : 
 He saw a greater Sun appear 
 Than his bright throne or burning axletree could bear. 
 
 VIII 
 
 The shepherds on the lawn, 
 Or ere the point of dawn, 
 Sat simply chatting in a rustic row;- 
 
 Full little thought they than / 
 
 That the mighty Pan 
 
 Was kindly come to live with them below : 90 
 
 Perhaps their loves, or else their sheep, 
 Was all that did their silly thoughts so busy keep. 
 
16 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 IX 
 
 When such music sweet 
 Their hearts and ears did greet 
 As never was by mortal finger strook, 
 Divinely-warbled voice 
 Answering the stringed noise, 
 As all their souls in blissful rapture took : 
 The air, such pleasure loth to lose, 99 
 
 With thousand echoes still prolongs each heavenly 
 close. 
 
 Nature, that heard such sound 
 Beneath the hollow round 
 Of Cynthia's seat the Airy region thrilling, 
 Now was almost won 
 To think her part was done, 
 And that her reign had here its last fulfilling : 
 She knew such harmony alone 
 Could hold all Heaven and Earth in happier union. 
 
 XI 
 
 At last surrounds their sight 
 A globe of circular light, no 
 
 That with long beams the shamefaced Night arrayed ; 
 The helmed cherubim 
 And sworded seraphim 
 
 Are seen in glittering ranks with wings displayed, 
 Harping in loud and solemn quire, 
 With unexpressive notes, to Heaven's new-born Heir. 
 
:IOETER POEM 8 OF JOHN MILTON 17 
 XII 
 music (as 'tis said) 
 Before was never made, 
 But when of old the Sons of Morning sung, 
 
 While the Creator great 120 
 
 His constellations set, 
 
 And the well-balanced World on hinges hung, 
 And cast the dark foundations deep, 
 And bid the weltering waves their oozy channel keep. 
 
 XIII 
 
 King out, ye crystal spheres ! 
 Once bless our human ears, 
 If ye have power to touch our senses so ; 
 And let your silver chime 
 Move in melodious time ; 
 
 And let the bass of heaven's deep organ blow ; 130 
 And with your ninefold harmony 
 Make up full consort to the angelic symphony. 
 
 XIV 
 
 For, if such holy song 
 Enwrap our fancy long, 
 
 Time will run back and fetch the Age of Gold ; 
 And speckled Vanity 
 Will sicken soon and die, 
 And leprous Sin will melt from earthly mould ; 
 And Hell itself will pass away, 
 
 And leave her dolorous mansions to the peering day. 140 
 c 
 
18 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 XV 
 
 Yea, Truth and Justice then 
 Will down return to men, 
 Orbed in a rainbow ; and, like glories wearing, 
 Mercy will sit between, 
 Throned in celestial sheen, 
 
 With radiant feet the tissued clouds down steering ; 
 And Heaven, as at some festival, 
 Will open wide the gates of her high palace-hall. 
 
 XVI 
 
 But wisest Fate says No, 
 
 This must not yet be so ; 150 
 
 The Babe yet lies in smiling infancy 
 That on the bitter cross 
 Must redeem our loss, 
 So both himself and us to glorify : 
 Yet first, to those ychained in sleep, 
 The wakeful trump of doom must thunder through 
 the deep, 
 
 XVII 
 
 With such a horrid clang 
 As on Mount Sinai rang, 
 
 While the red fire and smouldering clouds outbrake : 
 The aged Earth, aghast 100 
 
 With terror of that blast, 
 Shall from the surface to the centre shake, 
 When, at the world's last session, 
 The dreadful Judge in middle air shall spread his 
 throne. 
 

 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 19 
 
 XVIII 
 
 
 And then at last our bliss 
 Full and perfect is, 
 
 But now begins ; for from this happy day 
 The Old Dragon under ground, 
 In straiter limits bound, 
 
 Not half so far casts his usurped sway, 170 
 
 And, wroth to see his kingdom fail, 
 Swinges the scaly horror of his folded tail. 
 
 XIX 
 
 The Oracles are dumb; 
 No voice or hideous hum 
 
 Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving. 
 Apollo from his shrine 
 Can no more divine, 
 
 With hollow shriek the step of Delphos leaving. 
 No nightly trance, or breathed spell, 179 
 
 Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell. 
 
 xx 
 
 The lonely mountains o'er, 
 And the resounding shore, 
 A voice of weeping heard and loud lament ; 
 From haunted spring, and dale 
 Edged with poplar pale, 
 The parting Genius is with sighing sent ; 
 With flower-inwoven tresses torn 
 The Nymphs in twilight shade of tangled thickets 
 mourn. 
 
20 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 XXI 
 
 In consecrated earth, 
 
 And on the holy hearth, 190 
 
 The Lars and Lemures moan with midnight plaint ; 
 In urns, and altars round, 
 A drear and dying sound 
 Affrights the flamens at their service quaint ; 
 And the chill marble seems to sweat, 
 While each peculiar power forgoes his wonted seat. 
 
 XXII 
 
 Peor and Baalim 
 Forsake their temples dim, 
 With that twice-battered god of Palestine ; 
 
 And mooned Ashtaroth, 200 
 
 Heaven's queen and mother both, 
 Now sits not girt with tapers' holy shine : 
 The Libyc Hammon shrinks his horn ; 
 In vain the Tyrian maids their wounded Thammuz 
 mourn. 
 
 XXIII 
 
 And sullen Moloch, fled, 
 Hath left in shadows dread 
 His burning idol all of blackest hue ; 
 In vain with cymbals' ring 
 They call the grisly king, 
 
 In dismal dance about the furnace blue ; 210 
 
 The brutish gods of Nile as fast, 
 Isis, and Orus, and the dog Anubis, haste. 
 
:HORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 21 
 XXIV 
 is Osiris seen 
 In Memphian grove or green, 
 
 Trampling the unshowered grass with lowings loud ; 
 Nor can he .be at rest 
 Within his sacred chest ; 
 
 Nought but profoundest Hell can be his shroud ; 
 In vain, with timbreled anthems dark, 
 The sable-stoled sorcerers bear his worshiped ark. 220 
 
 xxv 
 
 He feels from Juda's land 
 The dreaded Infant's hand ; 
 The rays of Bethlehem blind his dusky eyn ; 
 Nor all the gods beside 
 Longer dare abide, 
 
 Not Typhon huge ending in snaky twine : 
 Our Babe, to show his Godhead true, 
 Can in his swaddling bands control the damned crew. 
 
 XXVI 
 
 So, when the sun in bed, 
 
 Curtained with cloudy red, 230 
 
 Pillows his chin upon an orient wave, 
 The flocking shadows pale 
 Troop to the infernal jail, 
 Each fettered ghost slips to his several grave, 
 And the yellow-skirted fays 
 
 Fly after the night-steeds, leaving their moon-loved 
 maze. 
 
22 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 XXVII 
 
 But see ! the Virgin blest 
 Hath laid her Babe to rest. 
 
 Time is our tedious song should here have ending: 
 Heaven's youngest-teemed star 240 
 
 Hath fixed her polished car, 
 
 Her sleeping Lord with handmaid lamp attending ; 
 And all about the courtly stable 
 Bright-harnessed Angels sit in order serviceable. 
 
 UPON THE CIRCUMCISION 
 
 YE flaming Powers, and winged Warriors bright, 
 That erst with music, and triumphant song, 
 First heard by happy watchful shepherds' ear, 
 So sweetly sung your joy the clouds along, 
 Through the soft silence of the listening night, 
 Now mourn ; and, if sad share with us to bear 
 Your fiery essence can distil no tear, 
 Burn in your sighs, and borrow 
 Seas wept from our deep sorrow. 
 
 He who with all Heaven's heraldry whilere 10 
 
 Entered the world now bleeds to give us ease. 
 Alas ! how soon our sin 
 Sore doth begin 
 
 His infancy to seize ! 
 
 more exceeding love, or law more just ? 
 Just law, indeed, but more exceeding love ! 
 For we, by rightful doom remediless, 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 23 
 
 Were lost in death, till lie, that dwelt above 
 High-throned in secret bliss, for us frail dust 
 Emptied his glory, even to nakedness ; 20 
 
 And that great covenant which we still transgress 
 Entirely satisfied, 
 And the full wrath beside 
 Of vengeful justice bore for our excess, 
 And seals obedience first with wounding smart 
 This day ; but oh ! ere long, 
 Huge pangs and strong 
 
 Will pierce more near his heart. 
 
 THE PASSION 
 
 i 
 
 EREWHILE of music, and ethereal mirth, 
 Wherewith the stage of Air and Earth did ring, 
 And joyous news of heavenly Infant's birth, 
 My muse with Angels did divide to sing ; 
 But headlong joy is ever on the wing, 
 
 In wintry solstice like the shortened light 
 Soon swallowed up in dark and long outliving night. 
 
 n 
 
 For now to sorrow must I tune my song, 
 
 And set my harp to notes of saddest woe, 
 
 Which on our dearest Lord did seize ere long, 10 
 
 Dangers,, and snares, and wrongs, and worse than so, 
 
 Which he for us did freely undergo : 
 
 Most perfect Hero, tried in heaviest plight 
 Of labours huge and hard, too hard for human wight ! 
 
24 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 III 
 
 He, sovran Priest, stooping his regal head, 
 That dropt with odorous oil down his fair eyes, 
 Poor fleshly tabernacle entered, 
 His starry front low-roofed beneath the skies : 
 Oh, what a mask was there, what a disguise ! 
 
 Yet more : the stroke of death he must abide ; 20 
 Then lies him meekly down fast by his brethren's side. 
 
 IV 
 
 These latest scenes confine my roving verse ; 
 To this horizon is my Phoebus bound. 
 His godlike acts, and his temptations fierce, 
 And former sufferings, otherwhere are found ; 
 Loud o'er the rest Cremona's trump doth sound : 
 
 Me softer airs befit, and softer strings 
 Of lute, or viol still, more apt for mournful things. 
 
 Befriend me, Night, best patroness of grief ! 
 
 Over the pole thy thickest mantle throw, ao 
 
 And work my flattered fancy to belief 
 
 That heaven and earth are coloured with my woe ; 
 
 My sorrows are too dark for day to know : 
 
 The leaves should all be black whereon I write, 
 And letters, where my tears have washed, a wannish 
 white. 
 
 VI 
 
 See, see the chariot, and those rushing wheels, 
 That whirled the prophet up at Chebar flood ; 
 My spirit some transporting cherub feels 
 
, 
 
 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 25 
 
 To bear me where the towers of Salem stood, 
 
 Once glorious towers, now sunk in guiltless blood. 40 
 
 There doth my soul in holy vision sit, 
 In pensive trance, and anguish, and ecstatic fit. 
 
 VII 
 
 Mine eye hath found that sad sepulchral rock 
 That was the casket of Heaven's richest store, 
 And here, though grief my feeble hands up-lock, 
 Yet on the softened quarry would I score 
 My plaining verse as lively as before ; 
 
 For sure so well instructed are my tears 
 That they would fitly fall in ordered characters. 
 
 VIII 
 
 Or, should I thence, hurried on viewless wing, 50 
 
 Take up a weeping on the mountains wild, 
 The gentle neighbourhood of grove and spring 
 Would soon unbosom all their echoes mild ; 
 And I (for grief is easily beguiled) 
 
 Might think the infection of my sorrows loud 
 Had got a race of mourners on some pregnant cloud. 
 
 This Subject the Author finding to be above the years fie had when he wrote 
 it, and nothing satisfied with what was begun, left it unfinished. 
 
 ON TIME 
 
 FLY, envious Time, till thou run out thy race : 
 Call on the lazy leaden-stepping Hours, 
 Whose speed is but the heavy plummet's pace ; 
 And gut thyself with what thy womb devours, 
 
26 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 Which is no more than what is false and vain, 
 
 And merely mortal dross ; 
 
 So little is our loss, 
 
 So little is thy gain ! 
 
 For, whenas each thing bad thou hast entombed, 
 
 And, last of all, thy greedy self consumed, 10 
 
 Then long Eternity shall greet our bliss 
 
 With an individual kiss, 
 
 And Joy shall overtake us as a flood ; 
 
 When every thing that is sincerely good 
 
 And perfectly divine, 
 
 With Truth, and Peace, and Love, shall ever shine 
 
 About the supreme throne 
 
 Of Him, to whose happy-making sight alone 
 
 When once our heavenly-guided soul shall climb, 
 
 Then, all this earthy grossness quit, 20 
 
 Attired with stars we shall for ever sit, 
 
 Triumphing over Death, and Chance, and thee, 
 Time ! 
 
 AT A SOLEMN MUSIC 
 
 BLEST pair o^ Sirens, pledges of Heaven's joy, 
 
 Sphere-born harmonious sisters, Voice and Verse, 
 
 Wed your divine sounds, and mixed power employ, 
 
 Dead things with inbreathed sense able to pierce ; 
 
 And to our high-raised phantasy present 
 
 That undisturbed song of pure concent, 
 
 Aye sung before the sapphire-coloured throne 
 
 To Him that sits thereon, 
 
 With saintly shout and solemn jubilee ; 
 
 Where the bright Seraphim in burning row 10 
 
SHORTER POEM '8 OF JOHN MILTON 21 
 
 Their loud uplifted angel-trumpets blow, 
 
 And the Cherubic host in thousand quires 
 
 Touch their immortal harps of golden wires, 
 
 With those just Spirits that wear victorious palms, 
 
 Hymns devout and holy psalms 
 
 Singing everlastingly : 
 
 That we on Earth, with undiscording voice, 
 
 May rightly answer that melodious noise ; 
 
 As once we did, till disproportioned sin 
 
 Jarred against nature's chime, and with harsh din 20 
 
 Broke the fair music that all creatures made 
 
 To their great Lord, whose love their motion swayed 
 
 In perfect diapason, whilst they stood 
 
 In first obedience, and their state of good. 
 
 O, may we soon again renew that song, 
 
 And keep in tune with Heaven, till God ere long 
 
 To his celestial consort us unite, 
 
 To live with Him, and sing in endless morn of light ! 
 
 SONG ON MAY MORNING 
 
 Now the bright morning-star, Day's harbinger, 
 Comes dancing from the east, and leads with her 
 The flowery May, who from her green lap throws 
 The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose. 
 
 Hail, bounteous May, that dost inspire 
 
 Mirth, and youth, and warm desire ! 
 
 Woods and groves are of thy dressing ; 
 
 Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing. 
 Thus we salute thee with our early song, 
 And welcome thee, and wish thee long. 10 
 
28 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 ON SHAKESPEARE 1630 
 
 WHAT needs my Shakespeare for his honoured bones 
 
 The latibur of an age in piled stones ? 
 
 Or that his hallowed reliques should be hid 
 
 Under a star-ypointing pyramid ? 
 
 Dear son of memory, great heir of fame, 
 
 What need'st thou such weak witness of thy name ? 
 
 Thou in our wonder and astonishment 
 
 Hast built thyself a livelong monument. 
 
 For whilst, to the shame of slow-endeavoring art, 
 
 Thy easy numbers flow, and that each heart 10 
 
 Hath from the leaves of thy unvalued book 
 
 Those Delphic lines with deep impression took, 
 
 Then thou, our fancy of itself bereaving, 
 
 Dost make us marble with too much conceiving, 
 
 And so sepulchred in such pomp dost lie 
 
 That kings for such a tomb would wish to die. 
 
 ON THE UNIVERSITY CARRIER, 
 
 Who sickened in the time of his Vacancy, being forbid to go to London by 
 reason of the Plague 
 
 HERE lies old Hobson. Death hath broke his girt, 
 And here, alas ! hath laid him in the dirt ; 
 Or else, the ways being foul, twenty to one 
 He's here stuck in a slough, and overthrown. 
 'Twas such a shifter that, if truth were known, 
 Death was half glad when he had got him down ; 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 29 
 
 For he had any time this ten years full 
 
 Dodged with him betwixt Cambridge and The Bull. 
 
 And surely Death could never have prevailed, 
 
 Had not his weekly course of carriage failed; 10 
 
 But lately, finding him so long at home, 
 
 And thinking now his journey's end was come, 
 
 And that he had ta'en up his latest inn, 
 
 In the kind office of a chamberlin 
 
 Showed him his room where he must lodge that night, 
 
 Pulled off his boots,^ind took away the light. 
 
 If any ask for him, it shall be said, 
 
 " Hobson has supped, ami's newly gone to bed." 
 
 ANOTHER ON THE SAME 
 
 HERE lieth one who did most truly prove 
 
 That he could never die while he could move; 
 
 So hung his destiny, never to rot 
 
 While he might still jog on and keep his trot; 
 
 Made of sphere-metal, never to decay 
 
 Until his revolution was at stay. 
 
 Time numbers motion, yeb (without a crime 
 
 'Gainst old truth) motion numbered out his time ; 
 
 And, like an engine moved with wheel and weight, 
 
 His principles being ceased, he ended straight. 10 
 
 Rest, that gives all men life, gave him his death, 
 
 And too much breathing put him out of breath ; 
 
 Nor were it contradiction to affirm 
 
 Too long vacation hastened on his term. 
 
30 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 Merely to drive the time away he sickened, 
 
 Fainted, and died, nor would with ale be quickened. 
 
 " Nay," quoth he, on his swooning bed outstretched, 
 
 " If I mayn't carry, sure I'll ne'er be fetched, 
 
 But vow, though the cross doctors all stood hearers, 
 
 For one carrier put down to make six bearers." 20 
 
 Ease was his chief disease ;. and, to judge right, 
 
 He died for heaviness that his cart went light. 
 
 His leisure told him that his time was come, 
 
 And lack of load made his life burdensome, 
 
 That even to his last breath (there be that say't), 
 
 As he were pressed to death, he cried, " More weight ! '' 
 
 But, had his doings lasted as they were, 
 
 He had been an immortal carrier. 
 
 Obedient to the moon he spent his date 
 
 In course reciprocal, and had his fate 30 
 
 Linked to the mutual flowing of the seas ; 
 
 Yet (strange to think) his wain was his increase. 
 
 His letters are delivered all and gone ; 
 
 Only remains this superscription. 
 
 AN EPITAPH ON THE MARCHIONESS OF 
 WINCHESTER 
 
 THIS rich marble doth inter 
 
 The honoured wife of Winchester, 
 
 A Viscount's daughter, an Earl's heir, 
 
 Besides what her virtues fair 
 
 Added to her noble birth, 
 
 More than she could own from Earth. 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 31 
 
 Summers three times eight save one 
 
 She had told ; alas ! too soon, 
 
 After so short time of breath, 
 
 To house with darkness and with death ! 10 
 
 Yet, had the number of her days 
 
 Been as complete as was her praise, 
 
 Nature and Fate had had no strife 
 
 In giving limit to her life. 
 
 Her high birth and her graces sweet 
 
 Quickly found a lover meet ; 
 
 The virgin quire for her request 
 
 The god that sits at marriage-feast ; 
 
 He at their invoking came, 
 
 But with a scarce well-lighted flame ; 20 
 
 And in his garland, as he stood, 
 
 Ye might discern a cypress-bud. 
 
 Once had the early matrons run 
 
 To greet her of a lovely son, 
 
 And now with second hope she goes, 
 
 And calls Lucina to her throes ; 
 
 But, whether by mischance or blame, 
 
 Atropos for Lucina came, 
 
 And with remorseless cruelty 
 
 Spoiled at once both fruit and tree. 30 
 
 The hapless babe before his birth 
 
 Had burial, not yet laid in earth ; 
 
 And the languished mother's womb 
 
 Was not long a living tomb. 
 
 So have I seen some tender slip, 
 
 Saved with care from winter's nip, 
 
 The pride of her carnation train, 
 
 Plucked up by some unheedy swain, 
 
32 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 Who only thought to crop the flower 
 
 New shot up from vernal shower ; 40 
 
 But the fair blossom hangs the head 
 
 Sideways, as on a dying bed, 
 
 And those pearls of dew she wears 
 
 Prove to be pressaging tears 
 
 Which the sad morn had let fall 
 
 On her hastening funeral. 
 
 Gentle Lady, may thy grave 
 
 Peace and quiet ever have ! 
 
 After this thy travail sore, 
 
 Sweet rest seize thee evermore, 50 
 
 That, to give the World increase, 
 
 Shortened hast thy own life's lease ! 
 
 Here, besides the sorrowing 
 
 That thy noble house doth bring, 
 
 Here be tears of perfect moan 
 
 Weept for thee in Helicon ; 
 
 And some flowers and some bays 
 
 For thy hearse, to strew the ways, 
 
 Sent thee from the banks of Came, 
 
 Devoted to thy virtuous name ; 60 
 
 Whilst thou, bright Saint, high sitt'st in glory, 
 
 Next her, much like to thee in story, 
 
 That fair Syrian shepherdess, 
 
 Who, after years of barrenness, 
 
 The highly-favored Joseph bore 
 
 To him that served for her before, 
 
 And at her next birth, much like thee, 
 
 Through pangs fled to felicity, 
 
 Far within the bosom bright 
 
 Of blazing Majesty and Light': 70 
 
mORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 33 
 
 There with thee, new-welcome Saint, 
 Like fortunes may her soul acquaint, 
 With thee there clad in radiant sheen, 
 No Marchioness, but now a Queen. 
 
 ON HIS HAVING ARRIVED AT THE AGE 
 OF TWENTY-THREE 
 
 [ow soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, 
 
 Stolen on his wing my three-and-twentieth year ! 
 
 My hasting days fly on with full career, 
 
 But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th. 
 
 Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth 
 That I to manhood am arrived so near ; 
 And inward 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 10 
 
 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. 
 
 TO THE NIGHTINGALE 
 
 NIGHTINGALE that on yon bloomy spray 
 
 Warble st at eve, when all the woods are still, 
 Thou with fresh hope the lover's heart dost fill, 
 
34 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 While the jolly hours lead on. propitious May. 
 
 Thy liquid notes that close the eye of day, 
 
 First heard before the shallow cuckoo's bill, 
 Portend success in love. 0, if Jove's will 
 Have linked that amorous power to thy soft lay, 
 
 Now timely sing, ere the rude bird of hate 9 
 
 Foretell my hopeless doom, in some grove nigh ; 
 As thou from year to year hast sung too late 
 
 For my relief, yet hadst no reason why. 
 
 Whether the Muse or Love call thee his mate, 
 Both them I serve, and of their train am I. 
 
 L'ALLEGBO 
 
 HENCE, loathed Melancholy, 
 
 Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born 
 In Stygian cave forlorn 
 
 'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights un- 
 holy! 
 Find out some uncouth 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, 
 
 In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell. 10 
 
 But come, thou Goddess fair and free, 
 In heaven yclept Euphrosyne, 
 And by men heart-easing Mirth ; 
 Whom lovely Venus, at a birth, 
 
SHOE TEE POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 35 
 
 With two sister Graces more, 
 
 To ivy -crowned Bacchus bore : 
 
 Or whether (as some sager sing) 
 
 The frolic wind that breathes the spring, 
 
 Zephyr, with Aurora playing, 
 
 As he met her once a-Maying, 20 
 
 There, on beds of violets blue, 
 
 And fresh-blown roses washed in dew, 
 
 Filled her with thee, a daughter fair, 
 
 So buxom, blithe, and debonair. 
 
 Haste thee, Nymph, and bring with thee 
 
 Jest, and youthful Jollity, 
 
 Quips and Cranks and wanton Wiles, 
 
 Nods and Becks and wreathed Smiles, 
 
 Such as hang on Hebe's cheek, 
 
 And love to live in dimple sleek ; 30 
 
 Sport that wrinkled Care derides, 
 
 And Laughter holding both his sides. 
 
 Come, and trip it, as you go, 
 
 On the light fantastic toe ; 
 
 And in thy right hand lead with thee 
 
 The mountain-nymph, sweet Liberty ; 
 
 And, if I give thee honour due, 
 
 Mirth, admit me of thy crew, 
 
 To live with her, and live with thee, 
 
 In unreproved pleasure free ; 40 
 
 To hear the lark begin his flight, 
 
 And, singing, startle the dull night, 
 
 From his watch-tower in the skies, 
 
 Till the dappled dawn doth rise ; 
 
 Then to come, in spite of sorrow, 
 
 And at my window bid good-morrow, 
 
36 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 Through the sweet-briar or the vine, 
 Or the twisted eglantine ; 
 While the cock, with lively din, 
 Scatters the rear of darkness thin ; 50 
 
 And to the stack, or the barn-door, 
 Stoutly struts his dames before : 
 Oft listening how the hounds and horn 
 Cheerly rouse the slumbering morn, 
 From the side of some hoar hill, 
 Through the high wood echoing shrill : 
 Sometime walking, not unseen, 
 By hedgerow elms, on hillocks green, 
 Eight against the eastern gate 
 Where the great Sun begins his state, 60 
 
 Robed in flames and amber light, 
 The clouds in thousand liveries dight ; 
 While the ploughman, near at hand, 
 Whistles o'er the furrowed land, 
 And the milkmaid singeth blithe, 
 And the mower whets his scythe, 
 And every shepherd tells his tale 
 Under the hawthorn in the dale. 
 Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures, 
 Whilst the landskip round it measures : 70 
 
 Russet lawns, and fallows grey, 
 Where the nibbling flocks do stray ; 
 . Mountains on whose barren breast 
 The labouring clouds do often rest ; 
 Meadows trim, with daisies pied ; 
 Shallow brooks, and rivers wide ; 
 Towers and battlements it sees 
 Bosomed high in tufted trees, 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 37 
 
 Where perhaps some beauty lies, 
 
 The cynosure of neighbouring eyes. 80 
 
 Hard by a cottage chimney smokes 
 
 From betwixt two aged oaks, 
 
 Where Corydon and Thyrsis met 
 
 Are at their savoury dinner set 
 
 Of Jierbs and other country messes, 
 
 Which the neat-handed Phillis dresses ; 
 
 And then in haste her bower she leaves, 
 
 With Thestylis to bind the sheaves ; 
 
 Or, if the earlier season lead, ' 
 
 To the tanned haycock in the mead. 90 
 
 Sometimes, with secure delight, 
 
 The upland hamlets will invite, 
 
 When the merry bells ring round, 
 
 And jocund rebecks sound 
 
 To many a youth and many a maid 
 
 Dancing in the chequered shade, 
 
 And young and old come forth to play 
 
 On a sunshine holiday, 
 
 Till the livelong daylight fail : 
 
 Then to the spicy nut-brown ale, 100 
 
 With stories told of many a feat, 
 
 How Faery Mab the junkets eat. 
 
 She was pinched and pulled, she said ; 
 
 And he, by Friar's lantern led, 
 
 Tells how the drudging goblin sweat 
 
 To earn his cream-bowl duly set, 
 
 When in one night, ere glimpse of morn, 
 
 His shadowy flail hath threshed the corn 
 
 That ten day-labourers could not end ; 
 
 Then lies him down, 'the lubber fiend, no 
 
38 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 And, stretched out all the chimney's length, 
 
 Basks at the fire his hairy strength, 
 
 And crop-full out of doors he flings, 
 
 Ere the first cock his matin rings. 
 
 Thus done the tales, to bed they creep, 
 
 By whispering winds soon lulled asleep. 
 
 Towered cities please us then, 
 
 And the busy hum of men, 
 
 Where throngs of knights and barons bold, 
 
 In weeds of peace, high triumphs hold, 120 
 
 With store of ladies, whose bright eyes 
 
 Rain influence, and judge the prize 
 
 Of wit or arms, while both contend 
 
 To win her grace whom all commend. 
 
 There let Hymen oft appear 
 
 In saffron robe, with taper clear, 
 
 And pomp, and feast, and revelry, 
 
 With mask and antique pageantry ; 
 
 Such sights as youthful poets dream 
 
 On summer eves by haunted stream. 130 
 
 Then to the well-trod stage anon, 
 
 If Jonson's learned sock be on, 
 
 Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child, 
 
 Warble his native wood-notes wild, 
 
 And ever, against eating cares, 
 
 Lap me in soft Lydian airs, 
 
 Married to immortal verse, 
 
 Such as the meeting soul may pierce, 
 
 In notes with many a winding bout 
 
 Of linked sweetness long drawn out 140 
 
 With wanton heed and giddy cunning, 
 
 The melting voice "through mazes running, 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 39 
 
 Untwisting all the chains that tie 
 
 The hidden soul of harmony ; 
 
 That Orpheus' self may heave his head 
 
 From golden slumber on a bed 
 
 Of heaped Ely si an flowers, and hear 
 
 Such strains as would have won the ear 
 
 Of Pluto to have quite set free 
 
 His half-regained Eurydice. 150 
 
 These delights if thou canst give, 
 
 Mirth, with thee I mean to live. 
 
 IL PENSEROSO 
 
 HENCE, vain deluding Joys, 
 
 The brood of Folly without father bred ! 
 How little you bested, 
 
 Or fill the fixed mind with all your toys ! 
 Dwell in some idle brain, 
 
 And fancies fond with gaudy shapes possess, 
 As thick and numberless 
 
 As the gay motes that people the sun-beams, 
 Or likest hovering dreams, 
 
 The fickle pensioners of Morpheus' train. 10 
 But, hail ! thou Goddess sage and holy ! 
 Hail, divinest Melancholy ! 
 Whose saintly visage is too bright 
 To hit the sense of human sight, 
 And therefore to our weaker view 
 O'erlaid with black, staid Wisdom's hue ; 
 
40 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 Black, but such as in esteem 
 
 Prince Memnon's sister might beseem, 
 
 Or that starred Ethiop queen that strove 
 
 To set her beauty's praise above 20 
 
 The Sea-Nymphs, and their powers offended. 
 
 Yet thou art higher far descended : 
 
 Thee bright-haired Vesta long of yore 
 
 To solitary Saturn bore ; 
 
 His daughter she ; in Saturn's reign 
 
 Such mixture was not held a stain. 
 
 Oft in glimmering bowers and glades 
 
 He met her, and in secret shades 
 
 Of woody Ida's inmost grove, 
 
 Whilst yet there was no fear of Jove. 30 
 
 Come, pensive Nun, devout and pure, 
 
 Sober, steadfast, and demure, 
 
 All in a robe of darkest grain, 
 
 Flowing with majestic train, 
 
 And sable stole of cypress lawn 
 
 Over thy decent shoulders drawn. 
 
 Come ; but keep thy wonted state, 
 
 With even step, and musing gait, 
 
 And looks commercing with the skies, 
 
 Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes : 40 
 
 There, held in holy passion still, 
 
 Forget thyself to marble, till 
 
 With a sad leaden downward cast 
 
 Thou fix them on the earth as fast. 
 
 And join with thee calm Peace and Quiet, 
 
 Spare Fast, that oft with gods doth diet, 
 
 And hears the Muses in a ring 
 
 Aye round about Jove's altar sing ; 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 41 
 
 And add to these retired Leisure, 
 
 That in trim gardens takes his pleasure ; 50 
 
 But, first and chiefest, with thee bring 
 
 Him that yon soars on golden wing, 
 
 Guiding the fiery-wheeled throne, 
 
 The Cherub Contemplation ; 
 
 And the mute Silence hist along, 
 
 'Less Philomel will deign a song, 
 
 In her sweetest saddest plight, 
 
 Smoothing the rugged brow of Night, 
 
 While Cynthia checks her dragon yoke 
 
 Gently o'er the accustomed oak. 60 
 
 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 ; 
 
 And, missing thee, I walk unseen 
 
 On the dry smooth-shaven green, 
 
 To behold the wandering moon, 
 
 Biding near her highest noon, 
 
 Like one that had been led astray 
 
 Through the heaven's wide pathless way, 70 
 
 And oft, as if her head she bowed, 
 
 Stooping through a fleecy cloud. 
 
 Oft, on a plat of rising ground, 
 
 I hear the far-off curfew sound, 
 
 Over some wide-watered shore, 
 
 Swinging slow with sullen roar ; 
 
 Or, if the air will not permit, 
 
 Some still removed place will fit, 
 
 Where glowing embers through the room 
 
 Teach light to counterfeit a gloom, 80 
 
42 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 Far from all resort of mirth, 
 
 Save the cricket on the hearth, 
 
 Or the bellman's drowsy charm 
 
 To bless the doors from nightly harm. 
 
 Or let my lamp, at midnight hour, 
 
 Be seen in some high lonely tower, 
 
 Where I may oft outwatch the Bear, 
 
 With thrice great Hermes, or unsphere 
 
 The spirit of Plato, to unfold 
 
 What worlds or what vast regions hold 90 
 
 The immortal mind that hath forsook 
 
 Her mansion in this fleshly nook ; 
 
 And of those demons that are found 
 
 In fire, air, flood, or underground, 
 
 Whose power hath a true consent 
 
 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, 100 
 
 Or what (though rare) of later age 
 
 Ennobled hath the buskined stage. 
 
 But, sad Virgin ! that thy power 
 
 Might raise Musaeus 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, no 
 
 Of Camball, and of Algarsife, 
 
 And who had Canace to wife, 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 43 
 
 That owned the virtuous ring and glass, 
 
 And of the wondrous horse of brass 
 
 On which the Tartar king did ride ; 
 
 And if alight else great bards beside 
 
 In sage and solemn tunes have sung, 
 
 Of turneys, and of trophies hung, 
 
 Of forests, and enchantments drear, 
 
 Where more is meant than meets the ear. 120 
 
 Thus, Night, oft see me in thy pale career, 
 
 Till civil-suited Morn appear, 
 
 Not tricked and frounced, as she was wont 
 
 With the Attic boy to hunt, 
 
 But kerchieft in a comely cloud, 
 
 While rocking winds are piping loud, 
 
 Or ushered with a shower still, 
 
 W T hen the gust hath blown his fill, 
 
 Ending on the rustling leaves, 
 
 With minute-drops from off the eaves. 130 
 
 And, when the sun begins to fling 
 
 His flaring beams, me, Goddess, bring 
 
 To arched walks of twilight groves, 
 
 And shadows brown, that Sylvan loves, 
 
 Of pine, or monumental oak, 
 
 Where the rude axe with heaved stroke 
 
 Was never heard the nymphs to daunt, 
 
 Or fright them from their hallowed haunt. 
 
 There, in close covert, by some brook, 
 
 Where no profaner eye may look, 140 
 
 Hide me from day's garish eye, 
 
 While the bee with honeyed thigh, 
 
 That at her flowery work doth sing, 
 
 And the waters murmuring, 
 
44 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 With such consort as they keep, 
 
 Entice the dewy-feathered Sleep. 
 
 And let some strange mysterious dream 
 
 Wave at his wings, in airy stream 
 
 Of lively portraiture displayed, 
 
 Softly on my eyelids laid ; 150 
 
 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, 
 
 And love the high embowed roof, 
 
 With antique pillars massy-proof, 
 
 And storied windows richly dight, 
 
 Casting a dim religious light. 160 
 
 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, 
 
 And bring all Heaven before mine eyes. 
 
 And may at last my weary age 
 
 Find out the peaceful hermitage, 
 
 The hairy gown and mossy cell, 
 
 Where I may sit and rightly spell 170 
 
 Of every star that heaven doth shew, 
 
 And every herb that sips the dew, 
 
 Till old experience do attain 
 
 To something like prophetic strain. 
 
 These pleasures, Melancholy, give ; 
 
 And I with thee will choose to live. 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 45 
 
 ARCADES 
 
 Part of an Entertainment presented to the Countess 
 Dowager of Derby at Harejield by some Noble Per- 
 sons of her Family; who appear on the Scene in 
 pastoral habit, moving toward the seat of state, with 
 this song : 
 
 I. Song 
 
 LOOK, Nymphs and Shepherds, look ! 
 What sudden blaze of majesty 
 Is that which we from hence descry, 
 Too divine to be mistook ? 
 
 This, this is she 
 
 To whom our vows and wishes bend : 
 Here our solemn search hath end. 
 Fame, that her high worth to raise 
 Seemed erst so lavish and profuse, 
 We may justly now accuse 10 
 
 Of detraction from her praise : 
 
 Less than half we find expressed ; 
 
 Envy bid conceal the rest. 
 
 Mark what radiant state she spreads, 
 In circle round her shining throne 
 Shooting her beams like silver threads : 
 This, this is she alone, 
 
 Sitting like a goddess bright 
 
 In the centre of her light. 
 
 Might she the wise Latona be, 20 
 
 Or the towered Cybele, 
 
46 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 Mother of a hundred gods ? 
 Juno dares not give her odds : 
 
 Who had thought this clime had held 
 
 A deity so unparalleled ? 
 
 As they come forward, THE GENIUS OF THE WOOD 
 appears, and, turning toward them, speaks. 
 
 Gen. Stay, gentle Swains, for, though in this disguise, 
 I see bright honour sparkle through your eyes ; 
 Of famous A ready ye are, and sprung 
 Of that renowned flood, so often sung, 
 Divine Alpheus, who, by secret sluice, 30 
 
 Stole under seas to meet his Arethuse ; 
 And ye, the breathing roses of the wood, 
 Fair silver-buskined Nymphs, as great and good. 
 I know this quest of yours and free intent 
 Was all in honour and devotion meant 
 To the great mistress of yon princely shrine, 
 Whom with low reverence I adore as mine, 
 And with all helpful service will comply 
 To further this night's glad solemnity, 
 And lead ye where ye may more near behold 40 
 
 What shallow-searching Fame hath left untold ; 
 Which I full oft, amidst these shades alone, 
 Have sat to wonder at, and gaze upon. 
 For know, by lot from Jove, I am the Power 
 Of this fair wood, and live in oaken bower, 
 To nurse the saplings tall, and curl the grove 
 With ringlets quaint and wanton windings wove ; 
 And all my plants I save from nightly ill 
 Of noisome winds and blasting vapours chill ; 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 47 
 
 And from the boughs brush off the evil dew, 50 
 
 And heal the harms of thwarting thunder blue, 
 
 Or what the cross dire-looking planet smites, 
 
 Or hurtful worm with cankered venom bites. 
 
 When evening grey doth rise, I fetch my round 
 
 Over the mount, and all this hallowed ground ; 
 
 And early, ere the odorous breath of morn 
 
 Awakes the slumbering leaves, or tasselled horn 
 
 Shakes the high thicket, haste I all about, 
 
 Number my ranks, and visit every sprout 
 
 With puissant words and murmurs made to bless. 60 
 
 But else, in deep of night, when drowsiness 
 
 Hath locked up mortal sense, then listen I 
 
 To the celestial Sirens' harmony, 
 
 That sit upon the nine infolded spheres, 
 
 And sing to those that hold the vital shears, 
 
 And turn the adamantine spindle round 
 
 On which the fate of gods and men is wound. 
 
 Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie, 
 
 To lull the daughters of Necessity, 
 
 And keep unsteady Nature to her law, 70 
 
 And the low world in measured motion draw 
 
 After the heavenly tune, which none can hear 
 
 Of human mould with gross unpurged ear. 
 
 And yet such music worthiest were to blaze 
 
 The peerless height of her immortal praise 
 
 Whose lustre leads us, and for her most fit, 
 
 If my inferior hand or voice could hit 
 
 Inimitable sounds. Yet, as we go, 
 
 Wliate'er the skill of lesser gods can show 
 
 I will assay, her worth to celebrate, 80 
 
 And so attend ye toward her glittering state ; 
 
48 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 Where ye may all, that are of noble stem, 
 Approach, and kiss her sacred vesture's hem. 
 
 II. Song 
 
 O'er the smooth enamelled green, 
 Where no print of step hath been, 
 Follow me, as I sing 
 And touch the warbled string : 
 Under the shady roof 
 Of branching elm star-proof 
 
 Follow me. 90 
 
 I will bring you where she sits, 
 Clad in splendor as befits 
 
 Her deity. 
 Such a rural Queen 
 All Arcadia hath not seen. 
 
 III. Song 
 Nymphs and Shepherds, dance no more 
 
 By sandy Ladon's lilied banks ; 
 On old Lycseus, or Cyllene hoar, 
 
 Trip no more in twilight ranks ; 
 Though Erymanth your loss deplore, 100 
 
 A better soil shall give ye thanks. 
 From the stony Msenalus 
 Bring your flocks, and live with us ; 
 Here ye shall have greater grace, 
 To serve the Lady of this place. 
 Though Syrinx your Pan's mistress were, 
 Yet Syrinx well might wait on her. 
 
 Such a rural Queen 
 
 All Arcadia hath not seen. 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 49 
 COMUS 
 
 A MASQUE PRESENTED AT LUDLOW CASTLE, 1634, &C." 
 
 >r the Title-pages of the Editions of 1637 and 1645 see Notes at p. 174 
 and p. 175.) 
 
 DEDICATION OF LAWES' EDITION OF 1637. 
 
 (Reprinted in the Edition of 1645, but omitted in that of 1673.) 
 
 "To the Right Honourable John, Lord Brackley, son and heir- 
 apparent to the Earl of Bridgewater, <c." - 
 "My Lord, 
 
 "This Poem, which received its first occasion of 
 birth from yourself and others of your noble family, and much 
 honour from your own person in the performance, now returns 
 again to make a final dedication of itself to you. Although not 
 openly acknowledged by the Author, yet it is a legitimate off- 
 spring, so lovely and so much desired that the often copying of 
 it -hath tired my pen to give my several friends satisfaction, and 
 brought me to a necessity of producing it to the public view, 
 and now to offer it up, in all rightful devotion, to those fair 
 hopes and rare endowments of your much-promising youth, 
 which give a full assurance to all that know you of a future 
 excellence. Live, sweet Lord, to be the honour of your name ; 
 and receive this as your own from the hands of him who hath 
 by many favours been long obliged to your most honoured 
 Parents, and, as in this representation your attendant lliyrsis, 
 so now in all real expression 
 
 "Your faithful and most humble Servant, 
 
 " H. Lawes." 
 
 "The Copy of a Letter written by Sir Henry Wotton to the 
 Author upon the following poem.' 1 '' 
 
 (In the Edition of 1645 : omitted in that of 1673.) 
 
 " From the College, this 13 of April, 1638. 
 " Sir, 
 
 u It was a special favour when you lately bestowed 
 upon me here the first taste of your acquaintance, though no 
 
50 SHORTEN POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 longer than to make me know that I wanted more time to value 
 it and to enjoy it rightly ; and, in truth, if I could then have 
 imagined your farther stay in these parts, which I understood 
 afterwards by Mr. H., I would have been bold, in our vulgar 
 phrase, to mend my draught (for you left me with an extreme 
 thirst), and to have begged your conversation again, jointly 
 with your said learned friend, over a poor meal or two, that 
 we might have banded together some good Authors of the 
 ancient time ; among which I observed you to have been 
 familiar. 
 
 " Since your going, you have charged me with new obliga- 
 tions, both for a very kind letter from you dated the 6th of this 
 month, and for a dainty piece of entertainment which came 
 therewith. Wherein I should much commend the tragical part, 
 if the lyrical did not ravish me with a certain Doric delicacy 
 in your Songs and Odes, whereunto I must plainly confess to 
 have seen yet nothing parallel in our language : Ipsa mollitics. 
 But I must not omit to tell you that I now only owe you thanks 
 for intimating unto me (how modestly soever) the true arti- 
 ficer. For the work itself I had viewed some good while before 
 with singular delight ; having received it from our common 
 friend Mr. R., in the very close of the late R.'s Poems, printed 
 at Oxford : whereunto it was added (as I now suppose) that 
 the accessory might help out the principal, according to the 
 art of Stationers, and to leave the reader con la bocca dolce. 
 
 " Now, Sir, concerning your travels ; wherein I may challenge 
 a little more privilege of discourse with you. I suppose you 
 will not blanch Paris in your way : therefore I have been bold 
 to trouble you with a few lines to Mr. M. B., whom you shall 
 easily find attending the young Lord S. as his governor ; and 
 you may surely receive from him good directions for the shap- 
 ing of your farther journey into Italy wnere he did reside, by 
 my choice, some time for the King, after mine own recess from 
 Venice. 
 
 " I should think that your best line will be through the whole 
 length of France to Marseilles, and thence by sea to Genoa ; 
 whence the passage into Tuscany is as diurnal as a Gravesend 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 51 
 
 barge. I hasten, as you do, to Florence or Siena, the rather to 
 tell you a short story, from the interest you have given me in 
 your safety. 
 
 "At Siena I was tabled in the house of one Alberto Scipioni, 
 an old Roman courtier in dangerous times ; having been steward 
 to the Duca di Pagliano, who with all his family were strangled, 
 save this only man that escaped by foresight of the tempest. 
 With him I had often much chat of those affairs, into which 
 he took pleasure to look back from his native harbour ; and, 
 at my departure toward Home (which had been the centre of 
 his experience), I had won his confidence enough to beg his 
 advice how J might carry myself there without offence of others 
 or of mine own conscience. 'Signor Arrigo mzo,' says he, ' / 
 pensieri stretti ed il viso sciolto will go safely over the whole 
 world.' Of which Delphian oracle (for so I have found it) 
 your judgment doth need no commentary ; and therefore, Sir, 
 I will commit you, with it, to the best of all securities, God's 
 dear love, remaining 
 
 " Your friend, as much to command as any of longer date, 
 
 "HENRY WOTTON." 
 
 Postscript 
 
 " Sir : I have expressly sent this my footboy to prevent your 
 departure without some acknowledgment from me of the re- 
 ceipt of your obliging letter ; having myself through some busi- 
 ness, I know not how, neglected the ordinary conveyance. In 
 any part where I shall understand you fixed, J shall be glad 
 arid diligent to entertain you with home -novelties, even for 
 some fomentation of our friendship, too soon interrupted in 
 the cradle." 
 
52 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON' 
 
 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. 
 
 [This list of the Persons, &c., appeared in the Edition of 1645, but was omitted 
 in that of 1673.] 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 53 
 
 COMUS 
 TJie first Scene discovers a wild wood 
 
 The ATTENDANT SPIRIT descends or enters 
 
 BEFORE the starry threshold of Jove's court 
 My mansion is, where those immortal shapes 
 Of bright aerial spirits live insphered 
 In regions mild of calm and serene air, 
 Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot 
 Which men call Earth, and, with low-thoughted care, 
 Confined and pestered in this pinfold here, 
 Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being, 
 Unmindful of the crown that Virtue gives, 
 After this mortal change, to her true servants 10 
 
 Amongst the enthroned gods on sainted seats. 
 Yet some there be that by due steps aspire 
 To lay their just hands on that golden key 
 That opes the palace of eternity. 
 To such my errand is ; and, but for such, 
 I would not soil these pure ambrosial weeds 
 With the rank vapours of this sin-worn mould. 
 But to my task. Neptune, besides the sway 
 Of every salt flood and each ebbing stream, 
 Took in, by lot 'twixt high and nether Jove, 20 
 
 Imperial rule of all the sea-girt isles 
 That, like to rich and various gems, inlay 
 The unadorned bosom of the deep ; 
 Which he, to grace his tributary gods, 
 By course commits to several government, 
 
54 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 And gives them leave to wear their sapphire crowns 
 
 And wield their little tridents. But this Isle, 
 
 The greatest and the best of all the main, 
 
 He quarters to his blue-haired deities ; 
 
 And all this tract that fronts the falling sun 30 
 
 A noble Peer of mickle trust and power 
 
 Has in his charge, with tempered awe to guide 
 
 An old and haughty nation, proud in arms : 
 
 Where his fair offspring, nursed in princely lore, 
 
 Are coming to attend their father's state, 
 
 And new-intrusted sceptre. But their way 
 
 Lies through the perplexed paths of this drear wood, 
 
 The nodding horror of whose shady brows 
 
 Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger ; 
 
 And here their tender age might surfer peril, 40 
 
 But that, by quick command from sovran Jove, 
 
 I was despatched for their defence and guard ! 
 
 And listen why ; for I will tell you now 
 
 What never yet was heard in tale or song, 
 
 From old or modern bard, in hall or bower. 
 
 Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape 
 Crushed the sweet poison of misused wine, 
 After the Tuscan mariners transformed, 
 Coasting the Tyrrhene shore, as the winds listed, 
 On Circe's island fell. (Who knows not Circe, 50 
 
 The daughter of the Sun, whose charmed cup 
 Whoever tasted lost his upright shape 
 And downward fell into a grovelling swine ?) 
 This Nymph, that gazed upon his clustering locks 
 With ivy berries wreathed, and his blithe youth, 
 Had by him, ere he parted thence, a son 
 Much like his father, but his mother more, 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 55 
 
 Whom therefore she brought up, and Comus named : 
 
 Who, ripe and frolic of his full-grown age, 
 
 Eoving the Celtic and Iberian fields, 60 
 
 At last betakes him to this ominous wood, 
 
 And, in thick shelter of black shades imbowered, 
 
 Excels his mother at her mighty art ; 
 
 Offering to every weary traveller 
 
 His orient liquor in a crystal glass, 
 
 To quench the drouth of Phoebus ; which as they taste 
 
 (For most do taste through fond intemperate thirst), 
 
 Soon as the potion works, their human countenance, 
 
 The express resemblance of the gods, is changed 
 
 Into some brutish form of wolf or bear, 70 
 
 Or ounce or tiger, hog, or bearded goat, 
 
 All other parts remaining as they were. 
 
 And they, so perfect is their misery, 
 
 Not once perceive their foul disfigurement, 
 
 But boast themselves more comely than before, 
 
 Arid all their friends and native home forget, 
 
 To roll with pleasure in a sensual sty. 
 
 Therefore, when any favoured of high Jove 
 
 Chances to pass through this adventurous glade, 
 
 Swift as the sparkle of a glancing star so 
 
 I shoot from heaven, to give him safe convoy, 
 
 As now I do. But first I must put off 
 
 These my sky-robes spun out of Iris' woof, 
 
 And take the weeds and likeness of a swain 
 
 That to the service of this house belongs, 
 
 Who, with his soft pipe arid smooth-dittied song, 
 
 Well knows to still the wild winds when they roar, 
 
 And hush the waving woods ; nor of less faith, 
 
 And in this office of his mountain watch 
 
56 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 Likeliest, and nearest to the present aid 90 
 
 Of this occasion. But I hear the tread 
 Of hateful steps ; I must be viewless now. 
 
 COMUS enters, with a charming-rod in one hand, his glass in the other ; 
 with him a rout of monsters, headed like sundry sorts of wild beasts, 
 but otherwise like men and women, their apparel glistening. They 
 come in making a riotous and unruly noise, with torches in their 
 hands 
 
 Cotnus. The star that bids the shepherd fold 
 Now the top of heaven doth hold ; 
 And the gilded car of day 
 His glowing axle doth allay 
 In the steep Atlantic stream : 
 And the slope sun his upward beam 
 Shoots against the dusky pole, 
 
 Pacing toward the other goal 100 
 
 Of his chamber in the east. 
 Meanwhile, welcome joy and feast, 
 Midnight shout and revelry, 
 Tipsy dance and jollity. 
 Braid your locks with rosy twine, 
 Dropping odours, dropping wine. 
 Rigour now is gone to bed ; 
 And Advice with scrupulous head, 
 Strict Age, and sour Severity, 
 
 With their grave saws, in slumber lie. 110 
 
 We, that are of purer fire, 
 Imitate the starry quire, 
 Who, in their nightly watchful spheres, 
 Lead in swift round the months and years. 
 The sounds and seas, with all their finny drove, 
 Now to the moon in wavering morrice move ; 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 57 
 
 And on the tawny sands and shelves 
 
 Trip the pert fairies and the dapper elves. 
 
 By dimpled brook and fountain-brim, 
 
 The wood-nymphs, decked with daisies trim, 120 
 
 Their merry wakes and pastimes keep : 
 
 What hath night to do with sleep ? 
 
 Night hath better sweets to prove ; 
 
 Venus now wakes, and wakens Love. 
 
 Come, let us our rites begin ; 
 
 'Tis only daylight that makes sin, 
 
 Which these dun shades will ne'er report. 
 
 Hail, goddess of nocturnal sport, 
 
 Dark-veiled Cotytto, to whom the secret flame 
 
 Of midnight torches burns ! mysterious dame, 130 
 
 That ne'er art called but when the dragon womb 
 
 Of Stygian darkness spets her thickest gloom, 
 
 And makes one blot of all the air ! 
 
 Stay thy cloudy ebon chair, 
 
 Wherein thou ridest with Hecat', and befriend 
 
 Us thy vowed priests, till utmost end 
 
 Of all thy dues be done, and none left out 
 
 Ere the blabbing eastern scout, 
 
 The nice Morn on the Indian steep, 
 
 From her cabined loop-hole peep, HO 
 
 And to the tell-tale Sun descry 
 
 Our concealed solemnity. 
 
 Come, knit hands, and beat the ground 
 
 In a light fantastic round. 
 
 The Measure 
 
 Break off, break off ! I feel the different pace 
 Of some chaste footing near about this ground. 
 
58 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 Run to your shrouds within these brakes and trees ; 
 
 Our number may affright. Some virgin sure 
 
 (For so I can distinguish by mine art) 
 
 Benighted in these woods ! Now to my charms, 150 
 
 And to my wily trains : I shall ere long 
 
 Be well stocked with as fair a herd as grazed 
 
 About my mother Circe. Thus I hurl 
 
 My dazzling spells into the spongy air, 
 
 Of power to cheat the eye with blear illusion, 
 
 And give it false presentments, lest the place 
 
 And my quaint habits breed astonishment, 
 
 And put the damsel to suspicious flight ; 
 
 Which must not be, for that's against my course. 
 
 I, under fair pretence of friendly ends, 160 
 
 And well-placed words of glozing courtesy, 
 
 Baited with reasons not unplausible, 
 
 Wind me into the easy-hearted man, 
 
 And hug him into snares. When once her eye 
 
 Hath met the virtue of this magic dust 
 
 I shall appear some harmless villager, 
 
 Whom thrift keeps up about his country gear. 
 
 But here she comes ; I fairly step aside, 
 
 And hearken, if I may her business hear. 109 
 
 The LADY enters 
 
 Lady. This way the noise was, if mine ear be true, 
 My best guide now. Methought it was the sound 
 Of riot and ill-managed merriment, 
 Such as the jocund flute or gamesome pipe 
 Stirs up among the loose unlettered hinds, 
 When, for their teeming flocks and granges full, 
 In wanton dance they praise the bounteous Pan, 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 59 
 
 And thank the gods amiss. I should be loth 
 
 To meet the rudeness and swilled insolence 
 
 Of such late wassailers ; yet, oh ! where else 
 
 Shall I inform my unacquainted feet 180 
 
 In the blind mazes of this tangled wood ? 
 
 My brothers, when they saw me wearied out 
 
 With this long way, resolving here to lodge 
 
 Under the spreading favour of these pines, 
 
 Stepped, as they said, to the next thicket-side 
 
 To bring me berries, or such cooling fruit 
 
 As the kind hospitable woods provide. 
 
 They left me then when the grey-hooded Even, 
 
 Like a sad votarist in palmer's weed, 
 
 Rose from the hindmost wheels of Phoebus' wain. 190 
 
 But where they are, and why they come not back, 
 
 Is now the labour of my thoughts. 'Tis likeliest 
 
 They had engaged their wandering steps too far ; 
 
 And envious darkness, ere they could return, 
 
 Had stole them from me. Else, O thievish Night, 
 
 Why should'st thou, but for some felonious end, 
 
 In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars 
 
 That Nature hung in heaven, and filled their lamps 
 
 With everlasting oil, to give due light 
 
 To the misled and lonely traveller ? 200 
 
 This is the place, as well as I may guess, 
 
 Whence even now the tumult of loud mirth 
 
 Was rife, and perfect in my listening ear ; 
 
 Yet nought but single darkness do I find. 
 
 What might this be ? A thousand fantasies 
 
 Begin to throng into my memory, 
 
 Of calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire, 
 
 And airy tongues that syllable men's names 
 
60 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 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. 
 
 0, welcome, pure-eyed Faith, white-handed Hope, 
 
 Thou hovering angel girt with golden wings, 
 
 And thou unblemished form of Chastity ! 
 
 I see ye visibly, and now believe 
 
 That He, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill 
 
 Are but as slavish officers of vengeance, 
 
 Would send a glistering guardian, if need were, 
 
 To keep my life and honour unassailed. ... 220 
 
 Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud 
 
 Turn forth her silver lining on the night ? 
 
 I did not err : there does a sable cloud 
 
 Turn forth her silver lining on the night, 
 
 And casts a gleam over this tufted grove. 
 
 I cannot hallo to my brothers, but 
 
 Such noise as I can make to be heard farthest 
 
 I'll venture ; for my new-enlivened spirits 
 
 Prompt me, and they perhaps are not far off. 
 
 Song 
 
 Sweet echo, sweetest nymph, that liv'st unseen 230 
 Within thy airy shell 
 
 By slow Meander's margent green, 
 And in the violet-embroidered vale 
 
 Where the love-lorn nightingale 
 Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well : 
 Canst thou not tell me of a gentle pair 
 
 That likest thy Narcissus are ? 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 61 
 
 0, if thou have 
 Hid them in some flowery cave, 
 
 Tell me but where, 240 
 
 Sweet Queen of Parley, Daughter of the Sphere ! 
 So may'st thou be translated to the skies, 
 And give resounding grace to all Heaven's harmonies ! 
 
 Comus. Can any mortal mixture of earth's mould 
 Breathe such divine enchanting ravishment ? 
 Sure something holy lodges in that breast, 
 And with these raptures moves the vocal air 
 To testify his hidden residence. 
 How sweetly did they float upon the wings 
 Of silence, through the empty-vaulted night, 250 
 
 At every fall smoothing the raven down 
 Of darkness till it smiled ! I have oft heard 
 My mother Circe with the Sirens three, 
 Amidst the flowery-kirtled Naiades, 
 Culling their potent herbs and baleful drugs, 
 Who, as they sung, would take the prisoned soul, 
 And lap it in Elysium : Scylla wept, 
 And chid her barking waves into attention, 
 And fell Charybdis murmured soft applause. 
 Yet they in pleasing slumber lulled the sense, 260 
 
 And in sweet madness robbed it of itself ; 
 But such a sacred and home-felt delight, 
 Such sober certainty of waking bliss, 
 I never heard till now. I'll speak to her, 
 And she shall be my queen. Hail, foreign wonder ! 
 Whom certain these rough shades did never breed, 
 Unless the goddess that in rural shrine 
 Dwell'st here with Pan or Sylvan, by blest song 
 
62 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog 
 
 To touch the prosperous growth of this tall wood. 270 
 
 Lady. Nay, gentle shepherd, ill is lost that praise 
 That is addressed to unattending ears. 
 Not any boast of skill, but extreme shift 
 How to regain my severed company, 
 Compelled me to awake the courteous Echo 
 To give me answer from her mossy couch. 
 
 Comus. What chance, good Lady, hath bereft you 
 
 thus? 
 
 Lady. Dim darkness and this leavy labyrinth. 
 Comus. Could that divide you from near-ushering 
 
 guides ? 
 
 Lady. They left me weary on a grassy turf. 280 
 Comus. By falsehood, or discourtesy, or why ? 
 Lady. To seek i' the valley some cool friendly 
 
 spring. 
 Comus. And left your fair side all unguarded, 
 
 Lady? 
 Lady. They were but twain, and purposed quick 
 
 return. 
 
 Comus. Perhaps forestalling night prevented them. 
 Lady. How easy my misfortune is to hit ! 
 Comus. Imports their loss, beside the present need ? 
 Lady. No less than if I should my brothers lose. 
 Comus. Were they of manly prime, or youthful 
 
 bloom ? 
 
 Lady. As smooth as Hebe's their unrazored lips. 
 Comus. Two such I saw, what time the laboured 
 ox 291 
 
 In his loose traces from the furrow came, 
 And the swinked hedger at his supper sat. 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 63 
 
 I saw them under a green mantling vine. 
 
 That crawls along the side of yon small hill, 
 
 Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots ; 
 
 Their port was more than human, as they stood. 
 
 I took it for a faery vision 
 
 Of some gay creatures of the element, 
 
 That in the colours of the rainbow live, 300 
 
 And play i' the plighted clouds. I was awe-strook, 
 
 And, as I passed, I worshipped. If those you seek, 
 
 It were a journey like the path to Heaven 
 
 To help you find them. 
 
 Lady. Gentle villager, 
 
 What readiest way would bring me to that place ? 
 
 Comus. Due west it rises from this shrubby point. 
 
 Lady. To find out that, good shepherd, I suppose, 
 In such a scant allowance of star-light, 
 Would overtask the best land-pilot's art, 
 Without the sure guess of well-practised feet. 310 
 
 Comus. I know each lane, and every alley green, 
 Dingle, or bushy dell, of this wild wood, 
 And every bosky bourn from side to side, 
 My daily walks and ancient neighbourhood ; 
 And, if your stray attendance be yet lodged, 
 Or shroud within these limits, I shall know 
 Ere morrow wake, or the low-roosted lark 
 From her thatched pallet rouse. If otherwise, 
 I can conduct you, Lady, to a low 
 But loyal cottage, where you may be safe 320 
 
 Till further quest. 
 
 Lady. Shepherd, I take thy word, 
 
 And trust thy honest-offered courtesy, 
 Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds, 
 
64 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 With smoky rafters, than in tapestry halls 
 
 And courts of princes, where it first was named, 
 
 And yet is most pretended. In a place 
 
 Less warranted than this, or less secure, 
 
 I cannot be, that I should fear to change it. 
 
 Eye me, blest Providence, and square my trial 
 
 To my proportioned strength ! Shepherd, lead on. ... 330 
 
 The Two BROTHERS 
 
 Eld. Bro. Unmuffle, ye faint stars ; and thou, fair 
 
 moon, 
 
 That wont'st to love the traveller's benison, 
 Stoop thy pale visage through an amber cloud, 
 And disinherit Chaos, that reigns here 
 In double night of darkness and of shades ; 
 Or, if your influence be quite dammed up 
 With black usurping mists, some gentle taper, 
 Though a rush-candle from the wicker hole 
 Of some clay habitation, visit us 
 
 With thy long levelled rule of streaming light, 340 
 And thou shalt be our star of Arcady, 
 Or Tyrian Cynosure. 
 
 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, 
 Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock 
 Count the night-watches to his feathery dames, 
 ' Twould be some solace yet, some little cheering, 
 In this close dungeon of innumerous boughs. 
 But, oh, that hapless virgin, our lost sister ! 350 
 
 Where may she wander now, whither betake her 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 65 
 
 From the chill dew, amongst rude burs and thistles ? 
 Perhaps some cold bank is her bolster now, 
 Or 'gainst the rugged bark of some broad elm 
 Leans her unpillowed head, fraught with sad fears. 
 What if in wild amazement and affright, 
 Or, while we speak, within the direful grasp 
 Of savage hunger, or of savage heat ! 
 
 Eld. Bro. Peace, brother : be not over-exquisite 
 To cast the fashion of uncertain evils ; 360 
 
 For, grant they be so, while they rest unknown, 
 What need a man forestall his date of grief, 
 And run to meet what he would most avoid ? 
 Or, if they be but false alarms of fear, 
 How bitter is such self-delusion ! 
 I do not think my sister so to seek, 
 Or so unprincipled in virtue's book, 
 And the sweet peace that goodness bosoms ever, 
 As that the single want of light and noise 
 (Not being in danger, as I trust she is not) 370 
 
 Could stir the constant mood of her calm thoughts, 
 And put them into misbecoming plight. 
 Virtue could see to do what Virtue would 
 By her own radiant light, though sun and moon 
 Were in the flat sea sunk. And Wisdom's self 
 Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude, 
 Where, with her best nurse Contemplation, 
 She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings. 
 That, in the various bustle of resort, 
 Were all to-ruffled, and sometimes impaired. 380 
 
 He that has light within his own clear breast 
 May sit i' the centre, and enjoy bright day : 
 But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts 
 
66 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 Benighted walks under the mid-day sun ; 
 Himself is his own dungeon. 
 
 Sec. Bro. 'Tis most true 
 
 That musing Meditation most affects 
 The pensive secrecy of desert cell, 
 Ear from the cheerful haunt of men and herds, 
 And sits as safe as in a senate-house ; 
 For who would rob a hermit of his weeds, 390 
 
 His few books, or his beads, or maple dish, 
 Or do his grey hairs any violence ? 
 But Beauty, like the fair Hesperian tree 
 Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard 
 Of dragon-watch with unenchanted eye 
 To save her blossoms, and defend her fruit, 
 From the rash hand of bold Incontinence. 
 You may as well spread out the unsunned heaps 
 Of miser's treasure by an outlaw's den, 
 And tell me it is safe, as bid me hope 400 
 
 Danger will wink on Opportunity, 
 And let a single helpless maiden pass 
 Uninjured in this wild surrounding waste. 
 Of night or loneliness it recks me not ; 
 I fear the dread events that dog them both, 
 Lest some ill-greeting touch attempt the person 
 Of our unowned sister. 
 
 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. 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 67 
 
 My sister is not so defenceless left 
 
 As you imagine ; she has a hidden strength, 
 
 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 
 
 She that has that is clad in complete steel, 
 And, like a quivered nymph with arrows keen, 
 May trace huge forests, and unharboured heaths, 
 Infamous hills, and sandy perilous wilds ; 
 Where, through the sacred rays of chastity, 
 No savage fierce, bandite, or mountaineer, 
 Will dare to soil her virgin purity. 
 Yea, there where very desolation dwells, 
 By grots and caverns shagged with horrid shades, 
 She may pass on with unblenched majesty, 430 
 
 Be it not done in pride, or in presumption. 
 Some say no evil thing that walks by night, 
 In fog or fire, by lake or moorish fen, 
 Blue meagre hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost, 
 That breaks his magic chains at curfew time, 
 No goblin or swart faery of the mine, 
 Hath hurtful power o'er true virginity. 
 Do ye believe me yet, or shall I call 
 Antiquity from the old schools of Greece 
 To testify the arms of chastity ? 440 
 
 Hence had the huntress Dian her dread bow, 
 Fair silver-shafted queen for ever chaste, 
 Wherewith she tamed the brinded lioness 
 And spotted mountain-pard, but set at nought 
 
68 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 The frivolous bolt of Cupid ; gods and men 
 
 Feared her stern frown, and she was queen o' the woods. 
 
 What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shield 
 
 That wise Minerva wore, unconquered virgin, 
 
 Wherewith she freezed her foes to congealed stone, 
 
 But rigid looks of chaste austerity, 450 
 
 And noble grace that dashed brute violence 
 
 With sudden adoration and blank awe ? 
 
 So dear to Heaven is saintly chastity 
 
 That, when a soul is found sincerely so, 
 
 A thousand liveried angels lackey her, 
 
 Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt, 
 
 And in clear dream and solemn vision 
 
 Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear; 
 
 Till oft converse with heavenly habitants 
 
 Begin to cast a beam on the outward shape, 460 
 
 The unpolluted temple of the mind, 
 
 And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence, 
 
 Till all be made immortal. But, when lust, 
 
 By unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk, 
 
 But most by lewd and lavish act of sin, 
 
 Lets in defilement to the inward parts, 
 
 The soul grows clotted by contagion, 
 
 Imbodies, and imbrutes, till she quite lose 
 
 The divine property of her first being. 
 
 Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp 470 
 
 Oft seen in charnel-vaults and sepulchres, 
 
 Lingering and sitting by a new-made grave, 
 
 As loth to leave the body that it loved, 
 
 And linked itself by carnal sensualty 
 
 To a degenerate and degraded state. 
 
 Sec. Bro. How charming is divine Philosophy! 
 
Not har 
 
 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 69 
 
 Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose, 
 
 But musical as is Apollo's lute, 
 
 And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets, 479 
 
 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, 
 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 ! 489 
 
 The ATTENDANT SPIRIT, habited like a shepherd 
 
 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 * 
 
 The huddling brook to hear his madrigal, 
 And sweetened every musk-rose of the dale. 
 How earnest thou here, good swain ? Hath any ram 
 Slipped from the fold, or young kid lost his dam, 
 Or straggling wether the pent flock forsook ? 
 How couldst thou find this dark sequestered nook ? 5CO 
 
70 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 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 
 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. 510 
 
 Spir. Ay me unhappy ! then my fears are 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 Muse, 
 Storied of old in high immortal verse 
 Of dire Chimeras and enchanted isles, 
 And rifted rocks whose entrance leads to Hell ; 
 For such there be, but unbelief is blind. 
 
 Within the navel of this hideous wood, 520 
 
 Immured in cypress shades, a sorcerer dwells, 
 Of Bacchus and of Circe born, great Comus, 
 Deep skilled in all his mother's witcheries, 
 And here to every thirsty wanderer 
 By sly enticement gives his baneful cup, 
 With many murmurs mixed, whose pleasing poison 
 The visage quite transforms of him that drinks, 
 And the inglorious likeness of a beast 
 Fixes instead, unmoulding reason's mintage 
 Charactered in the face. This have I learnt 530 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 71 
 
 Tending my flocks hard by i' the hilly crofts 
 
 That brow this bottom glade ; whence night by night 
 
 He and his monstrous rout are heard to howl 
 
 Like stabled wolves, or tigers at their prey, 
 
 Doing abhorred rites to Hecate 
 
 In their obscured haunts of inmost bowers. 
 
 Yet have they many baits and guileful spells 
 
 To inveigle and invite the unwary sense 
 
 Of them that pass unweeting by the way. 
 
 This evening late, by then the chewing flocks 540 
 
 Had ta'en their supper on the savoury herb 
 
 Of knot-grass dew-besprent, and were in fold, 
 
 I sat me down to watch upon a bank 
 
 With ivy canopied, and interwove 
 
 With flaunting honeysuckle, and began, 
 
 Wrapt in a pleasing fit of melancholy, 
 
 To meditate my rural minstrelsy, 
 
 Till fancy had her fill. But ere a close 
 
 The wonted roar was up amidst the woods, 
 
 And filled the air with barbarous dissonance ; 550 
 
 At which I ceased, and listened them awhile, 
 
 Till an unusual stop of sudden silence 
 
 Gave respite to the drowsy-flighted steeds 
 
 That draw the litter of close-curtained Sleep. 
 
 At last a soft and solemn-breathing sound 
 
 Rose like a steam of rich distilled perfumes, 
 
 And stole upon the air, that even Silence 
 
 Was took ere she was ware, and wished she might 
 
 Deny her nature, and be never more, 
 
 Still to be so displaced. I was all ear, 560 
 
 And took in strains that might create a soul 
 
 Under the ribs of Death. But, oh ! ere long 
 
72 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 Too well I did perceive it was the voice 
 
 Of my most honoured Lady, your dear sister. 
 
 Amazed I stood, harrowed with grief and fear ; 
 
 And ' poor hapless nightingale/ thought I, 
 
 ' How sweet thou sing'st, how near the deadly snare ! ' 
 
 Then down the lawns I ran with headlong haste, 
 
 Through paths and turnings often trod by day, 
 
 Till, guided by mine ear, I found the place 570 
 
 Where that damned wizard, hid in sly disguise 
 
 (For so by certain signs I knew), had met 
 
 Already, ere my best speed could prevent, 
 
 The aidless innocent lady, his wished prey ; 
 
 Who gently asked if he had seen such two, 
 
 Supposing him some neighbour villager. 
 
 Longer I durst not stay, but soon I guessed 
 
 Ye were the two she meant ; with that I sprung 
 
 Into swift flight, till I had found you here ; 
 
 But further know I not. 
 
 Sec. Bro. night and shades, 580 
 
 How are ye joined with hell in triple knot 
 Against the unarmed weakness of one virgin, 
 Alone and helpless ! Is this the confidence 
 You gave me, brother ? 
 
 Eld. Bro. Yes, and keep it still ; 
 
 Lean on it safely ; not a period 
 Shall be unsaid for me. Against the threats 
 Of malice or of sorcery, or that power 
 Which erring men call Chance, this I hold firm : 
 Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt, 
 Surprised by unjust force, but not enthralled ; 590 
 
 Yea, even that which Mischief meant most harm 
 Shall in the happy trial prove most glory. 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 73 
 
 ut evil on itself sliall back recoil, 
 And mix no more with goodness, when at last, 
 Gathered like scum, and settled to itself, 
 It shall be in eternal restless change 
 Self-fed and self-consumed. If this fail, 
 The pillared firmament is rottenness, 
 And earth's base built on stubble. But come, let's on ! 
 Against the opposing will and arm of Heaven 600 
 
 May never this just sword be lifted up ; 
 But, for that damned magician, let him be girt 
 With all the griesly legions that troop 
 Under the sooty flag of Acheron, 
 Harpies and Hydras, or all the monstrous forms 
 'Twixt Africa and Ind, I'll find him out, 
 And force him to return his purchase back, 
 Or drag him by the curls to a foul death, 
 Cursed as his life. 
 
 Spir. Alas ! good venturous youth, 
 
 I love thy courage yet, and bold emprise ; 610 
 
 But here thy sword can do thee little stead. 
 Far other arms and other weapons must 
 Be those that quell the might of hellish charms. 
 He with his bare wand can unthread thy joints, 
 And crumble all thy sinews. 
 
 Eld. Bro. Why, prithee, Shepherd, 
 
 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 620 
 
 In every virtuous plant and healing herb 
 
74 SHOETER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 That spreads her verdant leaf to the morning ray. 
 
 He loved me well, and oft would beg me sing ; 
 
 Which when I did, he on the tender grass 
 
 Wonld sit, and hearken even to ecstasy, 
 
 And in requital ope his leathern scrip, 
 
 And show me simples of a thousand names, 
 
 Telling their strange and vigorous faculties. 
 
 Amongst the rest a small unsightly root, 
 
 But of divine effect, he culled me out. 630 
 
 The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it, 
 
 But in another country, as he said, 
 
 Bore a bright golden flower, but not in this soil : 
 
 Unknown, and like esteemed, and the dull swain 
 
 Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon ; 
 
 And yet more med'cinal is it than that Moly 
 
 That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave. 
 
 He called it Haemony, and gave it me, 
 
 And bade me keep it as of sovran use 
 
 'Gainst all enchantments, mildew blast, or damp, 640 
 
 Or ghastly Furies' apparition. 
 
 I pursed it up, but little reckoning made, 
 
 Till now that this extremity compelled. 
 
 But now I find it true ; for by this means 
 
 I knew the foul enchanter, though disguised, 
 
 Entered the very lime-twigs of his spells, 
 
 And yet carne off. If you have this about you 
 
 (As I will give you when we go) you may 
 
 Boldly assault the necromancer's hall ; 
 
 Where if he be, with dauntless hardihood 650 
 
 And brandished blade rush on him : break his glass, 
 
 And shed the luscious liquor on the ground ; 
 
 But seize his wand. Though he and his curst crew 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 75 
 
 Fierce sign of battle make, and menace high, 
 Or, like the sons of Vulcan, vomit smoke, 
 Yet will they soon retire, if he but shrink. 
 
 Eld. Bro. Thyrsis, lead on apace ; I'll follow thee ; 
 And some good angel bear a shield before us ! 
 
 The Scene changes to a stately palace, set out with all manner of deli- 
 cAousness : soft music, tables spread with all dainties. COMUS appears 
 with his rabble, and THE LADY set in an enchanted Chair : to whom he 
 offers his glass ; which she puts by, and goes about to rise. 
 
 Comus. Nay, Lady, sit. If I but wave this wand, 
 Your nerves are all chained up in alabaster, 660 
 
 And you a statue, or as Daphne was, 
 Root-bound, that fled Apollo. 
 
 Lady. Fool, do not boast. 
 
 Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind 
 With all thy charms, although this corporal rind 
 Thou hast immanacled while Heaven sees good. 
 
 Comus. Why are you vexed, Lady ? why do you 
 
 frown ? 
 
 Here dwell no frowns, nor anger ; from these gates 
 Sorrow flies far. See, here be all the pleasures 
 That fancy can beget on youthful thoughts, 
 When the fresh blood grows lively, and returns 670 
 Brisk as the April buds in primrose season. 
 And first behold this cordial julep here, 
 That flames and dances in his crystal bounds, 
 With spirits of balm and fragrant syrups mixed. 
 Not that Nepenthes, which the wife of Thone 
 In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena 
 Is of such power to stir up joy as this, 
 To life so friendly, or so cool to thirst. 
 Why should you be so cruel to yourself, 
 
76 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 And to those dainty limbs, which Nature lent 680 
 
 For gentle usage and soft delicacy ? 
 
 But you invert the covenants of her trust, 
 
 And harshly deal, like an ill borrower, 
 
 With that which you received on other terms, 
 
 Scorning the unexempt condition 
 
 By which all mortal frailty must subsist, 
 
 Kefreshment after toil, ease after pain, 
 
 That have been tired all day without repast, 
 
 And timely rest have wanted. But, fair virgin, 
 
 This will restore all soon. 
 
 Lady. 'Twill not, false traitor ! 690 
 
 'Twill not restore the truth and honesty 
 That thou hast banished from thy tongue with lies. 
 Was this the cottage and the safe abode 
 Thou told'st me of ? What grim aspects are these, 
 These oughly-headed monsters ? Mercy guard me ! 
 Hence with thy brewed enchantments, foul deceiver ! 
 Hast thou betrayed my credulous innocence 
 With vizored falsehood and base forgery ? 
 And wouldst thou seek again to trap me here 
 With liquorish baits, fit to ensnare a brute ? 700 
 
 Were it a draught for Juno when she banquets, 
 I would not taste thy treasonous offer. None 
 But such as are good men can give good things ; 
 And that which is not good is not delicious 
 To a well-governed and wise appetite. 
 
 Comus. foolishness of men ! that lend their ears 
 To those budge doctors of the Stoic fur, 
 And fetch their precepts from the Cynic tub, 
 Praising the lean and sallow Abstinence ! 
 Wherefore did Nature pour her bounties forth 7io 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 77 
 
 r ith such a full and unwithdrawing hand, 
 Covering the earth with odours, fruits, and flocks, 
 Thronging the seas with spawn innumerable, 
 But all to please and sate the curious taste ? 
 And set to work millions of spinning worms, 
 That in their green shops weave the smooth-haired silk, 
 To deck her sons ; and, that no corner might 
 Be vacant of her plenty, in her own loins 
 She hutched the all-worshipped ore and precious gems, 
 To store her children with. If all the world 720 
 
 Should, in a pet of temperance, feed on pulse, 
 Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but frieze, 
 The All-giver would be unthanked, would be unpraised, 
 Not half his riches known, and yet despised ; 
 And we should serve him as a grudging master, 
 As a penurious niggard of his wealth, 
 And live like Nature's bastards, not her sons, 
 Who would be quite surcharged with her own weight, 
 And strangled with her waste fertility : 
 The earth cumbered, and the winged air darked with 
 
 plumes, 730 
 
 The herds would over-multitude their lords ; 
 The sea o'erfraught would swell, and the unsought 
 
 diamonds 
 
 Would so emblaze the forehead of the deep, 
 And so bestud with stars, that they below 
 Would grow inured to light, and come at last 
 To gaze upon the sun with shameless brows. 
 List, Lady ; be not coy, and be not cozened 
 With that same vaunted name, Virginity. 
 Beauty is Nature's coin ; must not be hoarded, 
 But must be current ; and the good thereof 740 
 
78 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 Consists in mutual and partaken bliss, 
 
 Unsavoury in the enjoyment of itself. 
 
 If you let slip time, like a neglected rose 
 
 It withers on the stalk with languished head. 
 
 Beauty is Nature's brag, and must be shown 
 
 In courts, at feasts, and high solemnities, 
 
 Where most may wonder at the workmanship. 
 
 It is for homely features to keep home ; 
 
 They had their name thence : coarse complexions 
 
 And cheeks of sorry grain will serve to ply 750 
 
 The sampler, and to tease the huswife's wool. 
 
 What need a vermeil-tinctured lip for that, 
 
 Love-darting eyes, or tresses like the morn ? 
 
 There was another meaning in these gifts ; 
 
 Think what, and be advised ; you are but young yet. 
 
 Lady. I had not thought to have unlocked my lips 
 In this unhallowed air, but that this juggler 
 Would think to charm my judgment, as mine eyes, 
 Obtruding false rules pranked in reason's garb. 
 I hate when vice can bolt her arguments 760 
 
 And virtue has no tongue to check her pride. 
 Impostor ! do not charge most innocent Nature, 
 As if she would her children should be riotous 
 With her abundance. She, good cateress, 
 Means her provision only to the good, 
 That live according to her sober laws, 
 And holy dictate of spare Temperance. 
 If every just man that now pines with want 
 Had but a moderate and beseeming share 
 Of that which lewdly-pampered Luxury 770 
 
 Now heaps upon some few with vast excess, 
 Nature's full blessings would be well-dispensed 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 79 
 
 In unsuperfluous even proportion, 
 
 And she no with encumbered with her store ; 
 
 And then the Giver would be better thanked, 
 
 His praise due paid : for swinish gluttony 
 
 Ne'er looks to Heaven amidst his gorgeous feast, 
 
 But with besotted base ingratitude 
 
 Crams, and blasphemes his Feeder. Shall I go on ? 
 
 Or have I said enow ? To him that dares 780 
 
 Arm his profane tongue with contemptuous words 
 
 Against the sun-clad power of chastity 
 
 Fain would I something say ; yet to what end ? 
 
 Thou hast nor ear, nor soul, to apprehend 
 
 The sublime notion and high mystery 
 
 That must be uttered to unfold the sage 
 
 And serious doctrine of Virginity ; 
 
 And thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know 
 
 More happiness than this thy present lot. 
 
 Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric, 790 
 
 That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence; 
 
 Thou art riot fit to hear thyself convinced. 
 
 Yet, should I try, the uncontrolled worth 
 
 Of this pure cause would kindle my rapt spirits 
 
 To such a flame of sacred vehemence 
 
 That dumb things would be moved to 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. 
 
 Comus. She fables not. I feel that I do fear 800 
 Her words set off by some superior power ; 
 And, though not mortal, yet a cold shuddering dew 
 Dips me all o'er, as when the wrath of Jove 
 Speaks thunder and the chains of Erebus 
 
80 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 To some of Saturn's crew. I must dissemble, 
 
 And try her yet more strongly. Come, no more ! 
 
 This is mere moral babble, and direct 
 
 Against the canon laws of our foundation. 
 
 I must not suffer this ; yet 'tis but the lees 
 
 And settlings of a melancholy blood. 810 
 
 But this will cure all straight ; one sip of this 
 
 Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight 
 
 Beyond the bliss of dreams. Be wise, and taste . . . 
 
 The BROTHERS rush in with swords drawn, wrest Ms glass out of his hand, 
 and break it against the ground : Jiis rout make sign of resistance, 
 but are all driven in. The ATTENDANT SPIRIT comes in 
 
 Spir. What ! have you let the false enchanter scape ? 
 ye mistook ; ye should have snatched his wand, 
 And bound him fast. Without his rod reversed, 
 And backward mutters of dissevering power, 
 We cannot free the Lady that sits here 
 In stony fetters fixed and motionless. 
 Yet stay : be not disturbed ; now I bethink me, 820 
 Some other means I have which may be used, 
 Which once of Meliboeus old I learnt, 
 The soothest shepherd that e'er piped on plains. 
 
 There is a gentle Nymph not far from hence, 
 That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn stream: 
 Sabrina is her name : a virgin pure ; 
 Whilom she was the daughter of Locrine. 
 That had the sceptre from his father Brute. 
 She, guiltless damsel, flying the mad pursuit 
 Of her enraged stepdame, Guendolen, 830 
 
 Commended her fair innocence to the flood 
 That stayed her flight with his cross-flowing course. 
 The water-nymphs, that in the bottom played, 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 81 
 
 Held up their pearled wrists, and took her in, 
 
 Bearing her straight to aged Nereus' hall ; 
 
 Who, piteous of her woes, reared her lank head, 
 
 And gave her to his daughters to imbathe 
 
 In nectared lavers strewed with asphodil, 
 
 And through the porch and inlet of each sense 
 
 Dropt in ambrosial oils, till she revived, 840 
 
 And underwent a quick immortal change, 
 
 Made Goddess of the river. Still she retains 
 
 Her maiden gentleness, and oft at eve 
 
 Visits the herds along the twilight meadows, 
 
 Helping all urchin blasts, and ill-luck signs 
 
 That the shrewd meddling elf delights to make, 
 
 Which she with precious vialed liquors heals: 
 
 For which the shepherds, at their festivals, 
 
 Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays, 
 
 And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream 850 
 
 Of pansies, pinks, and gaudy daffodils. 
 
 And, as the old swain said, she can unlock 
 
 The clasping charm, arid thaw the numbing spell, 
 
 If she be right invoked in warbled song ; 
 
 For maidenhood she loves, and will be swift 
 
 To aid a virgin, such as was herself, 
 
 In hard-besetting need. This will I try, 
 
 And add the power of some adjuring verse. 
 
 Song 
 Sabrina fair, 
 
 Listen where thou art sitting 860 
 
 Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave, 
 
 In twisted braids of lilies knitting 
 The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair ; 
 
82 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 Listen for dear honour's sake, 
 Goddess of the silver lake, 
 Listen and save ! 
 
 Listen, and appear to us, 
 In name of great Oceanus, 
 By the earth-shaking Neptune's mace, 
 And Tethys' grave majestic pace ; 870 
 
 By hoary Nereus' wrinkled look, 
 And the Carpathian wizard's hook ; 
 By scaly Triton's winding shell, 
 And old soothsaying Glaucus' spell ; 
 By Leucothea's lovely hands, 
 And her son that rules the strands ; 
 By Thetis' tinsel-slippered feet, 
 And the songs of Sirens sweet ; 
 By dead Parthenope's dear tomb, 
 And fair Ligea's golden comb, 880 
 
 Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks 
 Sleeking her soft alluring locks ; 
 By all the nymphs that nightly dance 
 Upon thy streams with wily glance ; 
 Rise, rise, and heave thy rosy head 
 From thy coral-paven bed, 
 And bridle in thy headlong wave, 
 Till thou our summons answered have. 
 Listen and save ! 
 
 SABRINA rises, attended by Water-nymphs, and sings 
 
 By the rushy-fringed bank, 890 
 
 Where grows the willow and the osier dank, 
 
 My sliding chariot stays, 
 Thick set with agate, and the azurn sheen 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 83 
 
 Of turkis blue, and emerald green, 
 
 That in the channel strays : 
 Whilst from off the waters fleet 
 Thus I set my printless feet 
 O'er the cowslip's velvet head, 
 
 That bends not as I tread. 
 
 Gentle swain, at thy request 900 
 
 I am here ! 
 
 Spir. Goddess dear, 
 We implore thy powerful hand 
 To undo the charmed band 
 Of true virgin here distressed 
 Through the force and through the wile 
 Of unblessed enchanter vile. 
 
 Sabr. Shepherd, 'tis my office best 
 To help ensnared chastity. 
 
 Brightest Lady, look on me. 910 
 
 Thus I sprinkle on thy breast 
 Drops that from my fountain pure 
 I have kept of precious cure ; 
 Thrice upon thy finger's tip, 
 Thrice upon thy rubied lip : 
 Next this marbled 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. 
 
 SABKINA descends, and THE LADY rises out of her seat 
 
 Spir. Virgin, daughter of Locrine, 
 Sprung of old Anchises' line, 
 
84 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 May thy brimmed waves for this 
 
 Their full tribute never miss 
 
 From a thousand petty rills, 
 
 That tumble down the snowy hills : 
 
 Summer drouth or singed air 
 
 Never scorch thy tresses fair, 
 
 Nor wet October's torrent flood 930 
 
 Thy molten crystal fill with mud ; 
 
 May thy billows roll ashore 
 
 The beryl and the golden ore ; 
 
 May thy lofty head be crowned 
 
 With many a tower and terrace round, 
 
 And here and there thy banks upon 
 
 With groves of myrrh and cinnamon. 
 
 Come, Lady ; while Heaven lends us grace, 
 Let us fly this cursed place, 
 
 Lest the sorcerer us entice 940 
 
 With some other new device. 
 Not a waste or needless sound 
 Till we come to holier ground. 
 I shall be your faithful guide 
 Through this gloomy covert wide ; 
 And not many furlongs thence 
 Is your Father's residence, 
 Where this night are met in state 
 Many a friend to gratulate 
 
 His wished presence, and beside 950 
 
 All the swains that there abide 
 With jigs and rural dance resort. 
 We shall catch them at their sport, 
 And our sudden coming there 
 Will double all their mirth and cheer. 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 85 
 
 Come, let us haste ; the stars grow high. 
 But Night sits monarch yet in the mid sky. 
 
 The Scene changes, presenting Ludlow Town, and tlie 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. 
 Here be, without duck or nod, 960 
 
 Other trippings to be trod 
 Of lighter toes, and such court guise 
 As Mercury did first devise 
 With the mincing Dryades 
 On the lawns and on the leas. 
 
 This second Song presents them to their father and Mother 
 
 Noble Lord and Lady bright, 
 I have brought ye new delight. 
 Here behold so goodly grown 
 Three fair branches of your own. 
 Heaven hath timely tried their youth, 970 
 
 Their faith, their patience, and their truth, 
 And sent them here through hard assays 
 With a crown of deathless praise, 
 To triumph in victorious dance 
 O'er sensual folly and intemperance. 
 
 The dances ended, the SPIRIT epiloguises 
 
 Spir. To the ocean now I fly, 
 And those happy climes that lie 
 
86 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 Where day never shuts his eye, 
 
 Up in the broad fields of the sky. 
 
 There I suck the liquid air, 980 
 
 All amidst the gardens fair 
 
 Of Hesperus, and his daughters three 
 
 That sing about the golden tree. 
 
 Along the crisped shades and bowers 
 
 Kevels the spruce and jocund Spring ; 
 
 The Graces and the rosy-bosomed Hours 
 
 Thither all their bounties bring. 
 
 There eternal Summer dwells, 
 
 And west winds with musky wing 
 
 About the cedarn alleys fling 990 
 
 Nard and cassia's balmy smells. 
 
 Iris there with humid bow 
 
 Waters the odorous banks, that blow 
 
 Flowers of more mingled hue 
 
 Than her purfled scarf can shew, 
 
 And drenches with Elysian dew 
 
 (List, mortals, if your ears be true) 
 
 Beds of hyacinth and roses, 
 
 Where young Adonis oft reposes, 
 
 Waxing well of his deep wound, 1000 
 
 In slumber soft, and on the ground 
 
 Sadly sits the Assyrian queen. 
 
 But far above, in spangled sheen, 
 
 Celestial Cupid, her famed son, advanced, 
 
 Holds his dear Psyche, sweet entranced 
 
 After her wandering labours long, 
 
 Till free consent the gods among 
 
 Make her his eternal bride, 
 
 And from her fair unspotted side 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 87 
 
 Two blissful twins are to be born, 1010 
 
 Youth and Joy ; so Jove hath- sworn. 
 
 But now my task is smoothly done ; 
 I can fly, or I can run 
 Quickly to the green earth's end, 
 Where the bowed welkin slow doth bend, 
 And from thence can soar as soon 
 To the corners of the moon. 
 Mortals, that would follow me, 
 Love Virtue ; she alone is free. 
 She can teach ye how to climb 1020 
 
 Higher than the sphery chime ; 
 Or, if Virtue feeble were, 
 Heaven itself would stoop to her. 
 
 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, fore- 
 tells the ruin of our corrupted Clergy, then in their height. 
 
 YET once more, ye laurels, and once more, 
 
 Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere, 
 
 I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude, 
 
 And with forced fingers rude 
 
 Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year. 
 
 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. 
 
88 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 Who would not sing for Lycidas ? he knew 10 
 
 Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme. 
 He must not float upon his watery bier 
 Unwept, and welter to the parching wind, 
 Without the meed of some melodious tear. 
 
 Begin, then, Sisters of the sacred well 
 That from beneath the seat of Jove doth spring ; 
 Begin, and somewhat loudly sweep the string. 
 Hence with denial vain and coy excuse : 
 So may some gentle Muse 
 
 With lucky words favour my destined urn, 20 
 
 And as he passes turn, 
 And bid fair peace be to my sable shroud ! 
 
 For we were nursed upon the self-same hill, 
 Fed the same flock, by fountain, shade, and rill ; 
 Together both, ere the high lawns appeared 
 Under the opening eyelids of the Morn, 
 We drove a-field, and both together heard 
 What 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 30 
 
 Toward heaven's descent had sloped his westering 
 
 wheel. 
 
 Meanwhile the rural ditties were not mute ; 
 Tempered to the oaten flute 
 
 Eough Satyrs danced, and Fauns with cloven heel 
 From the glad sound would not be absent long ; 
 And old Damcetus 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 
 

 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 89 
 
 And all their echoes, mourn. 
 
 The willows, and the hazel copses green, 
 
 Shall now no more be seen 
 
 Fanning their joyous leaves to thy soft lays. 
 
 As killing as the canker to the rose, 
 
 Or taint-worm to the weanling herds that graze, 
 
 Or frost to flowers, that their gay wardrobe wear, 
 
 When first the white-thorn blows ; 
 
 Such, Lycidas, thy loss to shepherd's ear. 
 
 Where were ye, Nymphs, when the remorseless 
 deep 50 
 
 Closed o'er the head of your loved Lycidas ? 
 For neither were ye playing on the steep 
 Where your old bards, the famous Druids, lie, 
 Nor on the shaggy top of Mona high, 
 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, 
 Whom universal nature did lament, 60 
 
 When, by the rout that made the hideous roar, 
 His gory visage down the stream was sent, 
 Down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore ? 
 
 Alas ! what boots it with uncessant care 
 To tend the homely, slighted, shepherd's trade, 
 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 Neaera's hair ? 
 Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise 70 
 
90 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 (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, 
 
 Conies the blind Fury with the abhorred shears, 
 
 And slits the thin-spun life. " But not the praise," 
 
 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, 80 
 
 But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes 
 
 And perfect witness of all-judging Jove ; 
 
 As he pronounces lastly on each deed, 
 
 Of so much fame in heaven expect thy meed." 
 
 fountain Arethuse, and thou honoured flood, 
 Smooth-sliding Hindus, 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 ; 
 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, 100 
 
 Built in the eclipse, and rigged with curses dark, 
 That sunk so low that sacred head of thine. 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 91 
 
 Next, Camus, reverend sire, went footing slow, 
 His mantle hairy, and his bonnet sedge, 
 Inwrought with figures dim, and on the edge 
 Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe. 
 "Ah! who hath reft," quoth he, "my dearest pledge ? " 
 Last came, and last did go, 
 The Pilot of the Galilean Lake ; 
 
 Two massy keys he bore of metals twain 110 
 
 (The golden opes, the iron shuts amain). 
 He shook his mitred locks, and stern bespake : 
 " How well could I have spared for thee, young swain, 
 Enow of such as, for their bellies' sake, 
 Creep, and intrude, and climb into the fold ! 
 Of other care they little reckoning make 
 Than how to scramble at the shearers' feast, 
 And shove away the worthy bidden guest. 
 Blind mouths i that scarce themselves know how to 
 
 hold 
 
 A sheep-hook, or have learnt aught else the least 120 
 That to the faithful herdman's art belongs ! 
 What recks it them ? What need they ? They are sped ; 
 And, when they list, their lean and flashy songs 
 Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw; 
 The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed, 
 But, swoln with wind and the rank mist they draw, 
 Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread ; 
 Besides what the grim wolf with privy paw 
 Daily devours apace, and nothing said. 
 But that two-handed engine at the door 130 
 
 Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more." 
 
 Return, Alpheus ; the dread voice is past 
 That shrunk thy streams j return, Sicilian Muse, 
 
92 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 And call the vales, and bid them hither cast 
 
 Their bells and flowerets of a thousand hues. 
 
 Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers use 
 
 Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks, 
 
 On whose fresh lap the swart star sparely looks, 
 
 Throw hither all your quaint enamelled eyes, 
 
 That on the green turf suck the honeyed showers, 140 
 
 And purple all the ground with vernal flowers. 
 
 Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies, 
 
 The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine, 
 
 The white pink, and the pansy freaked with jet, 
 
 The glowing violet, 
 
 The musk-rose, and 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, 150 
 
 To strew the laureate hearse where Lycid lies. 
 
 For so, to interpose a little ease, 
 
 Let our frail thoughts dally with false surmise. 
 
 Ay me ! whilst thee the shores and sounding seas 
 
 Wash far away, where'er thy bones are hurled ; 
 
 Whether beyond the stormy Hebrides, 
 
 Where thou perhaps under the whelming tide 
 
 Visit'st the bottom of the monstrous world ; 
 
 Or whether thou, to our moist vows denied, 
 
 Sleep'st by the fable of Bellerus old, 160 
 
 Where the great Vision of the guarded mount 
 
 Looks toward Namancos and Bayona's hold. 
 
 Look homeward, Angel, now, and melt with ruth : 
 
 And, ye dolphins, waft the hapless youth. 
 
 Weep no more, woeful shepherds, weep no more, 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 93 
 
 For Lycidas, your sorrow, is not dead, 
 
 Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor. 
 
 So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed, 
 
 And yet anon repairs his drooping head, 
 
 And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore 170 
 
 Flames in 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, 
 
 With nectar pure his oozy 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, 
 
 That sing, and singing in their glory move, 180 
 
 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 
 
 To all that wander in that perilous flood. 
 
 Thus sang the uncouth swain to the oaks and rills, 
 While the still morn went out with sandals grey : 
 He touched the tender stops of various quills, 
 With eager thought warbling his Doric lay : 
 And now the sun had stretched out all the hills, 190 
 And now was dropt into the western bay. 
 At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blue : 
 To-morrow to fresh woods, and pastures new. 
 
94 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 WHEN THE ASSAULT WAS INTENDED TO 
 THE CITY 
 
 CAPTAIN or Colonel, or Knight in Arms, 
 
 Whose chance on these defenceless doors may seize, 
 
 If deed of honour did thee ever please, 
 
 Guard them, and him within protect from harms. 
 
 He can requite thee ; for he knows the charms 
 That call fame on such gentle acts as these, 
 And he can spread thy name o'er lands and seas, 
 Whatever clime the sun's bright circle warms. 
 
 Lift not thy spear against the Muses' bower : 
 The great Emathian conqueror bid spare 
 The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower 
 
 Went to the ground ; and the repeated air 
 Of sad Electra's poet had the power 
 To save the Athenian walls from ruin bare. 
 
 TO A VIRTUOUS YOUNG LADY 
 
 LADY, that in the prime of earliest youth 
 
 Wisely hast shunned the broad way and the green, 
 And with those few art eminently seen 
 That labour up the hill of heavenly Truth, 
 
 The better part with Mary and with Ruth 
 
 Chosen thou hast ; and they that overween, 
 And at thy growing virtues fret their spleen, 
 No anger find in thee, but pity and ruth. 
 
 Thy care is fixed, and zealously attends 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 95 
 
 To fill thy odorous lamp with deeds of light, 
 And hope that reaps not shame. Therefore be sure 
 Thou, when the Bridegroom with his feastful friends 
 Passes to bliss at the mid-hour of night, 
 Hast gained thy entrance, Virgin wise and pure. 
 
 TO THE LADY MARGARET LEY 
 
 DAUGHTER to that good Earl, once President 
 Of England's Council and her Treasury, 
 Who lived in both unstained with gold or fee, 
 And left them both, more in himself content, 
 
 Till the sad breaking of that Parliament 
 Broke him, as that dishonest victory 
 At Chseronea, fatal to liberty, 
 Killed with report that old man eloquent, 
 
 Though later born than to have known the days 
 Wherein your father flourished, yet by you, 
 Madam, methinks I see him living yet : 
 
 So well your words his noble virtues praise 
 
 That all both judge you to relate them true 
 And to possess them, honoured Margaret. 
 
 ON THE DETRACTION WHICH FOLLOWED 
 UPON MY WRITING CERTAIN TREATISES 
 
 A BOOK was writ of late called Tetrachordon, 
 
 And woven close, both matter, form, and style ; 
 The subject new : it walked the town a while, 
 Numbering good intellects ; now seldom poured on. 
 
96 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 Cries the stall-reader, " Bless us ! what a word on 
 A title-page is this ! " ; and some in file 
 Stand spelling false, while one might walk to 
 Mile-End Green. Why, is it harder, sirs, 
 than Gordon, 
 Colkitto, or Macdonnel, or Galasp ? 
 
 Those rugged names to our like mouths grow sleek 
 That would have made Quintilian stare and gasp. 
 Thy age, like ours, soul of Sir John Cheek, 
 Hated not learning worse than toad or asp, 
 When thou taught 'st Cambridge and King Edward 
 Greek. 
 
 ON THE SAME 
 
 I DID but prompt the age to quit their clogs 
 By the known rules of ancient liberty, 
 When straight a barbarous noise environs me 
 Of owls and cuckoos, asses, apes, and dogs ; 
 
 As when those hinds that were transformed to frogs 
 Railed at Latona's twin-born progeny, 
 Which after held the Sun and Moon in fee. 
 But this is got by casting pearl to hogs, 
 
 That bawl for freedom in their senseless mood, 
 
 And still revolt when Truth would set them 
 
 free. 
 Licence they mean when they cry Liberty ; 
 
 For who loves that must first be wise and good : 
 But from that mark how far they rove we see, 
 For all this waste of wealth and loss of blood. 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 97 
 
 ON THE NEW FORCERS OF CONSCIENCE 
 UNDER THE LONG PARLIAMENT 
 
 BECAUSE you have thrown off your Prelate Lord, 
 And with stiff vows renounced his Liturgy, 
 To seize the widowed whore Plurality 
 From them whose sin ye envied, not abhorred, 
 
 Dare ye for this adjure the civil sword 
 
 To force our consciences that Christ set free, 
 And ride us with a Classic Hierarchy, 
 Taught ye by mere A. S. and Rutherford ? 
 
 Men whose life, learning, faith, and pure intent, 
 
 Would have been held in high esteem with Paul 
 Must now be named and printed heretics 
 
 By shallow Edwards and Scotch What-d'ye-call ! 
 But we do hope to find out all your tricks, 
 Your plots and packing, worse than those of Trent, 
 That so the Parliament 
 
 May with their wholesome and preventive shears 
 
 Clip your phylacteries, though baulk your ears, 
 And succour our just fears, 
 
 When they shall read this clearly in your charge : 
 
 New Presbyter is but old Priest writ large. 
 
 TO MR. H. LAWES ON HIS AIRS 
 
 HARRY, whose tuneful and well-measured song 
 First taught our English music how to span 
 Words with just note and accent, not to scan 
 With Midas' ears, committing short and long, 
 
98 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 Thy worth and skill exempts thee from the throng, 
 With praise enough for Envy to look wan ; 
 To after age thou shalt be writ the man 
 That with smooth air couldst humour best our 
 tongue. 
 
 Thou honour'st Verse, and Verse must send her wing- 
 To honour thee, the priest of Phoebus' quire, 
 That tunest their happiest lines in hymn or story. 
 
 Dante shall give Fame leave to set thee higher 
 Than his Casella, whom he wooed to sing, 
 Met in the milder shades of Purgatory. 
 
 ON THE RELIGIOUS MEMORY OF MRS. 
 CATHERINE THOMSON, MY CHRISTIAN 
 FRIEND, DECEASED DEC. 16, 1646 
 
 WHEX Faith and Love, which parted from thee never, 
 Had ripened thy just soul to dwell with God, 
 Meekly thou didst resign this earthy load 
 Of death, called life, which us from life doth sever. 
 
 Thy works, and alms, and all thy good endeavour, 
 Stayed not behind, nor in the grave were trod ; 
 But, as Faith pointed with her golden rod, 
 Followed thee up to joy and bliss forever. 
 
 Love led them on ; and Faith, who knew them best 
 Thy handmaids, clad them o'er with purple beams 
 And azure wings, that up they flew so drest, 
 
 And speak the truth of thee on glorious themes 
 
 Before the Judge ; who thenceforth bid thee rest, 
 And drink thy fill of pure immortal streams. 
 

 
 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 99 
 
 ON THE LORD GENERAL FAIRFAX, AT THE 
 SIEGE OF COLCHESTER 
 
 FAIRFAX, whose name in arms through Europe rings, 
 Filling each mouth with envy or with praise, 
 And all her jealous monarchs with amaze, 
 And rumours loud that daunt remotest kings, 
 
 Thy firm unshaken virtue ever brings 
 
 Victory home, though new rebellions raise 
 Their Hydra heads, and the false North displays 
 Her broken league to imp their serpent wings. 
 
 yet a nobler task awaits thy hand 
 
 (For what can war but endless war still breed ?) 
 Till truth and right from violence be freed, 
 
 And public faith cleared from the shameful brand 
 Of public fraud. In vain doth Valour bleed, 
 While Avarice and Rapine share the land. 
 
 TO THE LORD GENERAL CROMWELL, 
 MAY, 1652, 
 
 ON THE PROPOSALS OF CERTAIN MINISTERS AT THE 
 COMMITTEE FOR PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL 
 
 CROMWELL, our chief of men, who through a cloud 
 Not of war only, but detractions rude, 
 Guided by faith and matchless fortitude, 
 To peace and truth thy glorious way hast ploughed, 
 
 And on the neck of crowned Fortune proud 
 
100 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 Hast reared God's trophies, and his work pursued, 
 While Darwen stream, with blood of Scots im- 
 brued, 
 And Dunbar field, resounds thy praises loud, 
 
 And Worcester's laureate wreath : yet much remains 
 To conquer still ; Peace hath her victories 
 No less renowned than War : new foes arise, 
 
 Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains. 
 Help us to save free conscience from the paw 
 Of hireling wolves, whose Gospel is their maw. 
 
 TO SIR HENRY VANE THE YOUNGER 
 
 VANE, young in years, but in sage counsel old, 
 Than whom a better senator ne'er held 
 The helm of Rome, when gowns, not arms, repelled 
 The fierce Epirot and the African bold. 
 
 Whether to settle peace, or to unfold 
 
 The drift of hollow states hard to be spelled ; 
 Then to advise how war may best, upheld, 
 Move by her two main nerves, iron and gold, 
 
 In all her equipage ; besides, to know 
 
 Both spiritual power and civil, what each means, 
 What severs each, thou hast learned, which few 
 have done. 
 
 The bounds of either sword to thee we owe : 
 Therefore on thy firm hand Religion leans 
 In peace, and reckons thee her eldest son. 
 
SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 101 
 
 ON THE LATE MASSACEE IN PIEDMONT 
 
 AVENGE, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones 
 Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold ; 
 Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old, 
 When all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones, 
 
 Forget not : in thy book record their groanS 
 
 Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold 
 Slain by the bloody Piemontese, that rolled 
 Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans 
 
 The vales redoubled to the hills, and they 
 
 To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow 
 O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway 
 
 The triple Tyrant ; that from these may grow 
 A hundredfold, who, having learnt thy way, 
 Early may fly the Babylonian woe. 
 
 ON HIS BLINDNESS 
 
 WHEX I consider how my light is spent 
 
 Ere half my days in this dark world and wide, 
 And that one talent which is death to hide 
 Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent 
 
 To serve therewith my Maker, and present 
 My true account, lest He returning chide, 
 " Doth God exact day-labour, light denied ? " 
 I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent 
 
 That murmur, soon replies, " God doth not need 
 
102 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 Either man's work or his own gifts. Who best 
 Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state 
 Is kingly : thousands at his bidding speed, 
 
 And post o'er land and ocean without rest ; 
 They also serve who only stand and wait." 
 
 TO ME. LAWKENCE 
 
 LAWRENCE, of virtuous father virtuous son, 
 
 Now that the fields are dank, and ways are mire, 
 Where shall we sometimes meet, and by the fire 
 Help waste a sullen day, what may be won 
 
 From the hard season gaining ? Time will run 
 On smoother, till Favonius reinspire 
 The frozen earth, and clothe in fresh attire 
 The lily and rose, that neither sowed nor spun. 
 
 What" neat repast shall feast us, light and choice, 
 Of Attic taste, with wine, whence we may rise 
 To hear the lute well touched, or artful voice 
 
 Warble immortal notes and Tuscan air ? 
 
 He who of those delights can judge, and spare 
 To interpose them oft, is not unwise. 
 
 TO CYRIACK SKINNEE 
 
 CYBIACK, whose grandsire on the royal bench 
 Of British Themis, with no mean applause, 
 
Sfi 
 
 Prom 
 
 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 103 
 
 Pronounced, and in his volumes taught, our laws, 
 Which others at their bar so often wrench, 
 
 To-day deep thoughts resolve with me to drench 
 In mirth that after no repenting draws ; 
 Let Euclid rest, and Archimedes pause, 
 And what the Swede intend, and what the French. 
 
 To measure life learn thou betimes, and know 
 
 Toward solid good what leads the nearest way ; 
 For other things mild Heaven a time ordains, 
 
 And disapproves that care, though wise in show, 
 That with superfluous burden loads the day, 
 And, when God sends a cheerful hour, refrains. 
 
 TO THE SAME 
 
 CYRIACK, this three years' day these eyes, though clear ; 
 
 To outward view, of blemish or of spot, 
 
 Bereft of light, their seeing have forgot ; 
 
 Nor to their idle orbs doth sight appear 
 Of sun, or moon, or star, throughout the year, 
 
 Or man, or woman. Yet I argue not 
 
 Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot 
 
 Of heart or hope, but still bear up and steer 
 Right onward. What supports me, dost thou ask ? 
 
 The conscience, friend, to have lost them overplied 
 
 In Liberty's defence, my noble task, 
 Of which all Europe rings from side to side. 
 
 This thought might lead me through the world's 
 vain mask 
 
 Content, though blind, had I no better guide. 
 
104 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 
 
 ON HIS DECEASED WIFE 
 
 METHOUGHT I saw my late espoused saint 
 
 Brought to me like Alcestis from the grave, 
 Whom Jove's great son to her glad husband gave, 
 Rescued from Death by force, though pale and faint. 
 
 Mine, as whom washed from spot of child-bed taint 
 Purification in the Old Law did save, 
 And such as yet once more I trust to have 
 Full sight of her in Heaven without restraint, 
 
 Came vested all in white, pure as her mind. 
 
 Her face was veiled ; yet to my fancied sight 
 Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shined 
 
 So clear as in no face with more delight. 
 
 But, oh ! as to embrace me she inclined, 
 
 I waked, she fled, and day brought back my night. 
 
1 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL 
 
 1608-1639. First Period: Education and Early Poems 
 
 1608 Born at the Spread Eagle, Bread Street, Cheapside, 
 London, December 9. 
 
 Early education at home. 
 1620-25 At St. Paul's School. Friendship with Diodati. 
 
 Paraphrase on Psalms cxiv. and cxxxvi. 
 
 1625 Enters Christ College, Cambridge. 
 
 1626 On the Death of a Fair Infant dying of a Cough. 
 Elegia Prima, Ad Carolum Diodatum. 
 
 1628 At a Vacation Exercise in the College. 
 629 Degree of Bachelor of Arts. 
 
 On the Morning of Christ's Nativity. 
 Elegia Sexta, Ad Carolum Diodatum. 
 
 1630 Upon the Circumcision. The Passion. On Time. 
 
 At a Solemn Music. Song on May Morning. On 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 1631 On the University Carrier. Another on the Same. 
 
 An Epitaph on the Marchioness of Winchester. On 
 his having arrived at the Age of Twenty-three. 
 
 1632 Leaves Cambridge. 
 1632-38 At Horton, Buckinghamshire. 
 
 1633 To the Nightingale. L' Allegro. II Penseroso. 
 
 1634 Arcades. Comus. 
 
 1637 Death of his mother. Lycidas. 
 
 1638-39 Journey to the Continent. Italian Sonnets. 
 
 Returns to St. Bride's, Fleet Street, London. 
 
 Epitaphium Damonis. 
 
 105 
 
106 CHRONOLOGICAL 
 
 1640-1660. Second Period: Prose Works and Sonnets 
 
 1640 At Aldersgate Street. Becomes tutor to his nephews. 
 First plan of Paradise Lost. 
 
 1641 First of a series of pamphlets on social and political 
 
 questions. Of Reformation touching Church Dis- 
 cipline in England. 
 
 1642 When the Assault was intended to the City. 
 
 1643 Marriage to Mary Powell. She deserts him and he 
 
 writes The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce. 
 
 1644 To a Virtuous Young Lady. To the Lady Margaret 
 
 Ley. On Education. Judgment of Martin Bucer. 
 Areopagitica. Colasterion. Tetrachordon. 
 
 1645 At Barbican. First edition of his poems. His wife 
 
 returns. On the Detraction which followed upon my 
 writing Certain Treatises. On the Same. 
 
 1646 Death of his father. On the New Forcers of Con- 
 
 science. To Mr. H. Lawes on his Airs. On the Re- 
 ligious Memory of Mrs. Catherine Thomson. 
 
 1647 At High Holborn, Lincoln's Inn Fields. 
 
 1648 On the Lord General Fairfax. 
 
 1649 Tenure of Kings and Magistrates. 
 Becomes Latin Secretary to Cromwell. 
 Eikonoklastes. 
 
 1651 Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio. 
 
 1652 At Petty France, Westminster. 
 
 Loss of sight. To the Lord General Cromwell. 
 To Sir. Henry Vane the Younger. 
 Death of his wife. 
 
 1653 The Protectorate. 
 
 1654 Defensio Secunda. 
 
 1655 On the Late Massacre in Piedmont. 
 On his Blindness. To Mr. Lawrence. 
 To Cyriack Skinner. To the Same. 
 
 1656 Marriage to Catherine Woodcock. 
 1658 Death of Catherine Milton. 
 
 On his Deceased Wife. 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL 
 
 107 
 
 1659-60 Last pamphlets. 
 
 1660 The Kestoration. Milton in hiding and in custody. 
 
 1660-1674. Third Period : The Great Epics 
 
 1660 At High Holborn and Jewin Street. 
 
 1663 Marriage to Elizabeth Minshul. 
 Friendship of Thomas Ellwood. 
 
 1664 At Artillery Walk, Bunhill-fields. 
 
 1665 Paradise Lost completed. 
 1667 Paradise Lost published. 
 
 1671 Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes published. 
 1674 Death. 
 
THE CAMBRIDGE MSS. 
 
 THE most interesting of the personal relics of Milton 
 is the collection of Mss. now in possession of the 
 Library of Trinity College, Cambridge. 
 
 From the last years of Milton's student life at Cam- 
 bridge he kept a note-book or folio sheets in which he 
 kept first drafts of his English pieces or copies of them. 
 These drafts, or emendations of them, and others of his 
 Latin pieces were the basis of the first edition of his 
 poems "printed by his true copies." The original 
 Mss. remained in Milton's possession until 1658. The 
 latest work is not in his own hand but in that of an 
 amanuensis who assisted him during his blindness. 
 These and other Mss. after his death in 1674 descended 
 to his wife, but became dispersed about the time of 
 her return to her native place in Cheshire. A portion 
 of these Mss. came into the possession of Sir Henry 
 jSTewton Puckering. 
 
 " It is just possible," says Masson, " that he may 
 have known Milton," as his uncle and aunt were 
 neighbors of Milton in Aldersgate Street. He was 
 educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and was a 
 lover of books. At the age of eighty he returned to 
 Trinity, had rooms assigned, and spent some time there. 
 At his death in 1700 he left his library of 4000 
 volumes to his old college. In this collection were 
 109 
 
110 THE CAMBRIDGE MSS. 
 
 many Mss. of Milton's poems. They were neglected 
 for a long time until Charles Mason, a Fellow of the 
 College, sorted and arranged them. In 1736 Thomas 
 Clarke, another Fellow of the College, had them 
 handsomely bound in morocco; making a volume of 
 fifty-four pages, folio size. On the inside of one of the 
 covers was the following inscription: "Membra haec 
 eruditissimi et poene divini Poetae, olim inisere dis- 
 jecta et passim sparsa, postea vero fortuito inventa, et 
 in unum denuo collecta a Carlo Mason, ejusdem Collegii 
 socio, et inter Miscellanea reposita, deinceps ea qua 
 decuit religione servari voluit Thomas Clarke, nuper- 
 rime hujusce Collegii, nunc vero Medii Templi Londini, 
 Socius, 1736." ("These relics of a most learned and 
 almost divine poet, formerly miserably separated and 
 scattered, but afterwards by chance found, and lately 
 arranged by Charles Mason, Fellow of the same College, 
 and placed among the Miscellanies, are at last to be 
 preserved with becoming piety by the desire of Thomas 
 Clarke, very recently of this College, now of the Middle 
 Temple, London, 1736.") This sacred volume is shown 
 to visitors at Trinity College Library in a glass case. 
 It cannot be removed from the case for examination 
 except by permission of the Master and Fellows, and 
 in presence of one of the Fellows. 
 
NOTES 
 
 1624-1645 
 PARAPHRASES ox PSALMS cxiv. AND cxxxvi. 
 
 LITTLE is known of Milton's remote genealogy beyond the 
 fact that Mylton, or Milton, was a distinct surname in the four- 
 teenth century. In the reign of Elizabeth there were various 
 branches of this family in Oxfordshire and adjoining counties. 
 It was from the Oxfordshire Miltons, of the village of Great 
 Milton in the Hundred of Thame, eight miles from Oxford, 
 that the poet derived his pedigree. His grandfather, Richard 
 Milton, was a substantial yeoman of Stanton St. John, about 
 live miles from Oxford, within the forests of Shotover, of which 
 he was under-ranger. He was a firm Catholic, although it is 
 said he sent his son John to Christ Church, Oxford. John 
 had strong tendencies toward the Established Church, and, as 
 Aubrey says, "because he was found reading a Bible in English 
 in his room," he was disinherited by his father. He then went 
 up to London, where by the assistance of friends he established 
 himself in the business of a scrivener, attorney and law sta- 
 tioner, whose chief business was the execution of deeds, leases, 
 wills, etc. 
 
 His shop was in Bread Street, Cheapside, and bore the sign 
 of the Spread Eagle, which was either the family crest or the 
 insignia of the Scriveners Company. Being a man of industry 
 and integrity in the conduct of his affairs, he was soon in the 
 way of substantial, even of a plentiful fortune. He became 
 possessor of the Spread Eagle, and, according to Aubrey, " of 
 another house in that street, called the Rose, and other houses 
 in other places." In 1600, when he was about thirty-seven 
 years of age, he married Sarah Jeffrey, a woman who proved 'to 
 be in every way worthy of her husband. Milton speaks of her 
 
 111 
 
112 NOTES 
 
 as " a most excellent mother, and particularly known for her 
 charities in the neighborhood." They lived over the shop, and 
 there six children were born to them, of whom only three lived 
 beyond infancy, Anne, John, and Christopher. The poet was 
 the third child. According to the Register of the parish of 
 Allhallows, "The 20th daye of December 1608 was baptized 
 John, the Sonne of John Mylton Scrivenor." The young Milton 
 was educated at home by a tutor, Thomas Young, a Scotchman 
 and a Puritan, and was also a day scholar at St. Paul's. It is 
 in this home, in this old Classical school, and in the sights and 
 sounds of the London of Shakespeare and Jonson, that the 
 young poet is being nurtured. 
 
 It is an interesting fact that the Revival of Learning which 
 came into England from Italy stimulated not only the love of 
 art and literature but quickened the conscience as well. Colet 
 had placed over the master's desk in St. Paul's school the 
 inscription: "Hear ye Him." Tyndale affirmed, "Ere many 
 years I will cause that the boy that driveth the plow shall 
 know the Scriptures." This was being realized in the century 
 in which Milton was born, for it has been called a century of 
 Bibles, there having been published between 1611 and 1711 no 
 less than five hundred and twenty-five editions. Alluding to 
 the influence of the Bible at this time Taine says: "Hence 
 have sprung much of the English language, and half of the 
 English manners ; it was these big books that had transformed 
 Shakespeare's England. To understand this great change (from 
 * Pagan to Christian Renaissance '), try to picture these yeomen, 
 these shopkeepers, who in the evening placed this Bible on 
 their table, and bareheaded with veneration heard or read one 
 of its chapters, . . . not for amusement but to discover in it 
 their doom of life and .death.' . . . They understand it with 
 the imagination and the heart." Breathing the atmosphere of 
 a Puritan home where life was deep and rich, where music was 
 heard daily, and where the Bible was the chief textbook in 
 morals, and Sylvester's translation of Du Bartas' Divine Weekes 
 and Workes was the chief collection of poems, it is no wonder 
 that his genius was kindled at the altar of Hebrew psalmody, 
 
NOTES 113 
 
 and shone through the medium of English undefined. "He 
 was of a family in which courage, moral nobility, the love of 
 art, were present to whisper the most beautiful and eloquent 
 words about his cradle." It may be, as Johnson said, that 
 these paraphrases raise no great expectations, and yet they 
 form no inconsiderable evidence that a " mighty-mouth' d in- 
 ventor of harmonies" was being trained in the humble home 
 over the shop in Bread Street. 
 
 Lowell has said that in no other English author is the man so 
 large a part of his work. The earliest revelation of this most 
 interesting of the sons of the Muses is to be found in these 
 paraphrases. Here is the first gleam of the poet's mind shining 
 through his art. They are probably relics from many early 
 performances at home and at St. Paul's. The fact that Milton 
 included them in the first edition of his poems is sufficient 
 reason for giving them here. 
 
 No study is more interesting or profitable than that which 
 reveals the forces of heredity and early environment which have 
 contributed to the forming of the mind and the fashioning of 
 the art of those who have made our literature fresh and strong. 
 Especially rewarding is such study in the life and work of 
 Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton, and those who 
 have given such lustre to the literature of this century, Burns, 
 Carlyle, and Scott, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Tennyson. 
 Such study of the great writers would relieve much of the 
 tedium in the reading at home, in the school, and in the uni- 
 versity, because it would reveal the great truth, "That he who 
 would not be frustrate of his hope to write well hereafter in laud- 
 able things ought himself to be a true poem, that is, a composi- 
 tion and pattern of the best arid honorablest things." MILTON. 
 
 " The child is father of the man." WORDSWORTH, 
 
 " Take warning ! he that will not sing 
 While yon sun prospers in the blue, 
 Shall sing for want, ere leaves are new, 
 Caught in the frozen palms of Spring." 
 
 TENNYSON. 
 
114 NOTES 
 
 " These first years are the most impressionable (nothing that 
 happens after we are twelve matters very much): they are also the 
 most vivid years when we look back, until at the end what lies 
 between bends like a hoop, and the extremes meet." BARRIE. 
 
 Perhaps the chief interest which these paraphrases have for 
 us is that they reveal how carefully Milton had read Sylvester 
 and the older poets. "Apart from the imitative faculty, these 
 paraphrases," says Masson, "have real poetic merit; they are 
 clear, finely-worded, and harmonious." 
 
 PSALM cxiv. 
 
 1. Terah's faithful son. Cf. Gen. xi. 24-27. 
 
 3. Pharian. Egyptian : from Pharos, the island in the bay 
 of Alexandria. 
 
 8. froth-becurld. It will be well to note carefully the 
 Homeric double words in Milton's verse, as they constitute a 
 singularly beautiful and effective element. Cf. H. Van Dyke, 
 The Poetry of Milton (Milton and Tennyson). 
 
 The rhymes in 9 and 10, 17 and 18 Masson says are among 
 Sylvester's stereotyped rhymes, while lines 13 and 14 " look as 
 if Sylvester had written them." Cf. Walton's Compleat Angler, 
 Chap. I., for interesting allusions to Sylvester's translation of 
 Du Bartas. 
 
 PSALM cxxxvi. 
 
 10. Who. The initial pronoun here and in the four follow- 
 ing stanzas was " That " in first edition in 1645. (M.) 
 
 45, 46. ruddy waves ... of the Erythraean main. Both 
 phrases are from Sylvester : 
 
 " Where th' Erythraean ruddy billows roar." (M.) 
 
 Erythraean, Gr. for red. 
 49. walls of glass. From Sylvester. 
 65, 66. Seon . . . Ammorean. 
 
 " Sihon King of the Amorites." 
 
 Authorised and Revised Versions. 
 
NOTES 115 
 
 69. Og. Cf. Numbers xxi. 33. 
 89. warble forth. Cf. Sylvester : 
 
 " Father, grant I sweetly warble forth," etc. (M.) 
 
 1626-1673. 
 ON THE DEATH OP A FAIR INFANT. 
 
 Aubrey says, " Milton was a poet at eleven," and Milton him- 
 self writes that under the guidance of his tutor, Thomas Young, 
 he "penetrated into the recesses of the Muses, saw the sacred 
 and green places on Parnassus, and drank the Pierian cups." 
 In 1625 he entered Cambridge, but before that time he had 
 studied Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French and Italian. His know- 
 ledge of Italian was due to his friendship with Charles Diodati, 
 .son of an Italian father and English mother, who was his school- 
 mate at St. Paul's. Diodati entered Oxford shortly before Milton 
 entered Cambridge. At Cambridge Milton continued hard at 
 work, " tied night and day to his books" in studious and select 
 reading. He had no great admiration for the University which 
 acted the part of "Decency and Custom starving Truth, and 
 blind Authority beating with his staff the child that might have 
 led him." Because of a quarrel with his tutor he was sent to 
 London for a time. Writing to his friend Diodati of this expe- 
 rience he says: "If this be exile gladly do I enjoy my state 
 of banishment." It was during this visit that his first English 
 poem was written, on the death of his niece who died during the 
 Plague in London. In this poem we find the wholesome beauty 
 of the Greek, and the nobly reverent earnestness of the Hebrew, 
 revealed in the verse of Spenser, " whose poems in these English 
 ones are as rarely imitated as sweetly excelled." Taine says : 
 " Milton was not born for the drama, but for the ode," In this 
 and the following poems "the broad river of lyric poetry 
 streams from him, impetuous, with even flow, splendid as a 
 cloth of gold." 
 
 In a pamphlet published in 1642, where Milton defends his 
 Cambridge career against the imputations of those who had 
 insinuated that it was " inordinate and violent," we have some 
 
116 NOTES 
 
 very interesting biographical material. He says that his early 
 and favorite authors were the elegiac poets, but that on finding 
 they were not always chaste he turned to the "two famous 
 renowners of Beatrice and Laura (Dante and Petrarch), who 
 never write but honour of them to whom they devote their 
 verse.' 1 Not long after, he was " confirmed in the opinion, that 
 he who would not be frustrate of his hope to write well here- 
 after in laudable things, ought himself to be a true poem. . . . 
 Next, for hear me out now, readers, that I may tell ye whither 
 my younger feet wandered, I betook me among those lofty 
 fables and romances which recount in solemn cantos the deeds 
 of knighthood founded by our victorious kings. ... I read in 
 the oath of every knight, that he should defend to the expense of 
 his best blood, or of his life, if it so befel him, the honour and 
 chastity of virgin or matron. From whence even then I learned 
 what a noble virtue chastity ever must be." The divine volumes 
 of Plato taught him that " Love begins and ends in the soul, and 
 produces those happy twins of her divine generation Know- 
 ledge and Virtue." It is to reveal this divine Love, Knowledge 
 and Virtue that the college poems were written. 
 
 Cf. Sonnet, On his having arrived at the age of Twenty- 
 three, p. 33. 
 
 Milton never swerved from this lofty ideal of what a poet 
 should be. His instinct for knowledge and his instinct for con- 
 duct and beauty kept him true. Believing that truth is beauty, 
 beauty truth, he felt that it was enough, and so 
 
 " Set his eye upon the goal, 
 Not on the prize." 
 
 "The nearest poet to Milton in this respect," wrote Masson, 
 in 1851, "has undoubtedly been Wordsworth." We are now 
 adding to the followers of Milton in this respect another great 
 name, and are associating Wordsworth and Tennyson as he did 
 Milton and Wordsworth. 
 
 " Perhaps there are few clearer signs of a strong character than 
 the wisdom to perceive, and the determination to follow, that 
 course by which the individual may best reach the ideal that he 
 
NOTES 117 
 
 is intended to reach. Wordsworth is another great example of 
 this ; he had the strength to give up a career and to live on a 
 pittance in solitude that he might brood over and bring to per- 
 fect expression the thoughts which have made him immortal." 
 ROBERTSON NICOLL, Heview of Tennyson's Memoir. 
 
 "Poetic numbers came 
 Spontaneously to clothe in priestly robe 
 A renovated spirit singled out, 
 Such hope was mine, for holy services." 
 
 WORDSWORTH, Prelude, i. 51-54. 
 
 "Ah ! need I say, dear friend ! that to the brim 
 My heart was full ; I made no vows, but vows 
 Were then made for me ; bond unknown to me 
 Was given, that I should be, else sinning greatly, 
 A dedicated spirit." 
 
 Prelude, iv. 333-337. 
 
 " I agree with Wordsworth that art is selection. The higher 
 moral imagination enslaved to sense is like an eagle caught by 
 the feet in a snare baited with carrion, so that it cannot use its 
 wings to soar." TENNYSON (Memoir}. 
 
 Cf. TENNYSON, The Poet, The Poet's Mind, The Poet's Song, 
 Poets and Critics. 
 
 As one who has some conception of the fundamental laws of 
 music will be all the more likely to enjoy the work of great 
 composers, so one who knows some of the principles of English 
 verse will be more likely to enjoy the marshalling of melodious 
 words as revealed in Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, 
 Wordsworth and Tennyson. While a consideration of the 
 means should never be allowed to obscure the great end of the 
 study of poetry enjoyment, it may be wisely allowed as an 
 important adjunct. 
 
 A very simple method of indicating the grouping of syllables 
 in the verse is to let x stand for the unaccented, and a for the 
 accented syllables. A verse like that of this poem is composed 
 
118 NOTES 
 
 of five groups of xa syllables. The stanza is modified Spenserian 
 six 5 xa verses and an Alexandrine, 6 xa. The rhyme-scheme 
 is ab, ab, bcc. The normal Spenserian stanza is eight 5 xa 
 verses and an Alexandrine. With this key it will require but 
 little effort to master the verse of this " Godgifted organ-voice 
 of England." 
 
 A study of the verse of a few poems, together with careful 
 oral reading, will do much toward creating a quick perception 
 by eye and ear. 
 
 1. fairest flower, etc. Cf. Shakespeare, Passionate Pil- 
 grim, x. : 
 
 " Sweet rose, fair flower, untimely plucked, soon vaded. 
 Plucked in the bud, and vaded in the spring ! 
 Bright orient pearl, alack, too timely vaded ! 
 Fair creature, killed too soon by death's sharp sting." 
 
 " Milton's taste had now outgrown Sylvester," says Masson. 
 
 5. amorous on. Cf. Much Ado, ii. 1. "Amorous on Hero." 
 
 6. envermeil. To make red as with vermilion. Cf. Comus, 
 752. 
 
 6, 7. thought to kiss, etc. " He thought to kiss him, and 
 hath kill'd him so." Venus and Adonis, 1110. 
 
 8-10. grim Aquilo, etc. Boreas (Aquilo) carried off Oreith- 
 yia, daughter of Erechtheus the Athenian king. 
 
 13. eld. Old age. 
 
 15. icy-pearldd. Lowell says, " Milton loved phrases of 
 towering port, in which every member dilated stands like 
 Teneriffe or Atlas." 
 
 23-27. For so Apollo, etc. Hyacinthus of Sparta was acci- 
 dentally killed by Apollo, and from his blood grew the flower 
 that bears his name. 
 
 36. Resolve me. Inform me. "Resolve me whether you 
 will or no," Richard III. iv. 2. 
 
 39. that high first-moving sphere. The primum mobile or 
 outermost sphere in the Ptolemaic cosmogony. Cf. Paradise 
 Lost, iii. 481-483. 
 
NOTES 119 
 
 " They pass the planets seven, and pass the fixed, 
 And that crystalline sphere whose balance weighs 
 The trepidation talked, and that first moved." 
 43-46. Wert thou, etc. An allusion to the war of the Titans 
 against Jove. 
 
 47. Earth's sons. The Titans. 
 
 50. just Maid. Astraea, daughter of Zeus and Themis, 
 lived on earth in the golden age, but forsook it at last for her 
 home among the stars. 
 
 53. Mercy. In the original this line is two syllables short, so 
 this word was inserted at the suggestion of Mr. John Heskin, 
 Christ Church, Oxford. (M.) Cf. Ode on the Nativity, 141-148. 
 55. heavenly brood. The personified virtues. (K.) 
 
 58. weed. Apparel. Cf. L' Allegro, 120. 
 
 59. prefixed. Ordained. 
 
 68. pestilence. The Plague. 
 
 " When, first, arose the image in my breast 
 Of England's suffering by that scourge, the Pest." 
 
 Elegy iii. 
 
 1628-1673 
 AT A VACATION EXERCISE IN THE COLLEGE 
 
 Milton was not long absent from the University. On his 
 return another tutor was assigned him, and "pervaded with 
 pleasure " he continued his work. 
 
 This fragment was a part of his Prolusiones Oratoriae 
 (Rhetorical Essays) in Latin, which were first published in 
 1674, and was itself first printed in the edition of 1673. The 
 essays were seven in number and were upon scholastic and 
 philosophical subjects, such as, Whether Day or. Night is More 
 Excellent, Of the Music of the Spheres, etc. The sixth, in 
 which this fragment in English is found, was a speech delivered 
 by Milton In the hall of Christ's College, Cambridge, on the 
 occasion of a periodical revel after the close of the Easter term 
 on July 4th. The translation of the Latin title is : "In the 
 Summer Vacation of the College, but in the presence, as usual, 
 
120 NOTES 
 
 of a concourse of nearly the whole youth of the University, an 
 Oration to this effect: That occasional sportive exercises are 
 not inconsistent with philosophical studies." Milton had been 
 elected Master or Father of the revel. It was the custom of 
 this Father to make a speech full of humor and personalities. 
 He called those in the audience his sons, and gave them such 
 suggestive names as Beef, Pork and Mutton ; Head, Neck and 
 Breast; Sack, Rhenish and Sherris. But Milton broke this 
 custom. He divided his speech into three parts, first a serio- 
 comic discourse on the theme "that sportive exercises on occa- 
 sion are not inconsistent with the studies of Philosophy"; 
 secondly, the harangue in which he assumes the character of 
 Father ; and thirdly, the conclusion in English prose and verse. 
 In the first part he thanks them for the honor they have con- 
 ferred upon him ; in the second he assigns names to his sons, 
 but they are names taken from Aristotle's Predicaments, heads 
 under which all things thinkable must fall. Ens or Being was 
 father to Substance, Quality, Quantity, Relation, etc. Thus 
 we see how distinctly autobiographical this poem with its Latin 
 introductions is. Here we have those inward springs of his 
 character revealed : the love of sportive exercises on the one 
 hand, and the joy of thoughtfulness on the other. These 
 unfolded in all their beauty will give us IS Allegro and II 
 Penseroso. 
 
 llev. F. D. Maurice says: "It is only a boyish effort, with 
 much of boyish redundancy in style and thought ; but I know 
 few more striking proofs that the boy is father of the man." 
 
 It is worth noting here that in using the English Milton 
 defied a law of the University which required that only Latin 
 should be used on such occasions. 
 
 1-10. Hail, Native Language, etc. Emerson says : " He pre- 
 ferred his own English, so manlike he was, to the Latin, which 
 contained all the treasures of his memory. ' My mother bore 
 me,' he said, ' a speaker of what God made mine own, and not 
 a translator.' He told the Parliament that, 'the imprimaturs 
 of Lambert House had been writ in Latin ; for that our English, 
 the language of men ever famous and foremost in the achieve- 
 
NOTES 121 
 
 merits of liberty, will not easily find servile letters enow to spell 
 such a dictatory presumption.' " 
 
 12. thither. In the Latin part of the exercise. 
 
 20. our late fantastics. An allusion to the Poetical Euphu- 
 ists who followed John Lyly. 
 
 " He draweth out the thread of his verbosity finer than the 
 staple of his argument. I abhor such fanatical phantasms, such 
 insociable and point-devise companions." Loves Labours Lost, 
 v. 1. 
 
 " Such antic lisping, affecting fantasticoes, these new tuners 
 of accents." Borneo and Juliet, ii. 4. 
 
 " Easy was the task : 
 
 A thousand handicraftsmen wore the mask 
 Of Poesy." KEATS, Sleep and Poetry. 
 
 29-46. Yet I had rather, etc. This very noble passage, in 
 form and content, suggests Paradise Lost. In Milton's cos- 
 mogony (Ptolemaic) the earth was surrounded by ten spheres 
 representing the orbits of seven Planets : Moon, Mercury, 
 Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn ; the orbit of fixed 
 stars ; the crystalline sphere ; and the primum mobile, the 
 outer rim or shell which separated the universe from empty 
 space. Heaven lies outside of these spheres, above the "wheel- 
 ing poles." After looking into this Homeric Pantheon, he 
 returns through the "watchful fire," or fixed stars, and the 
 spheres of the seven planets to the "misty regions" of our 
 atmosphere, to sea and earth. Cf. Tennyson, In Memoriam, 
 LXXVI. : 
 
 " Take wings of fancy, and ascend, 
 And in a moment set thy face 
 Where all the starry heavens of space 
 Are sharpen'd to a needle's end." 
 
 31. coffers. Chests. 
 
 42. piled thunder. Thunder clouds. 
 
 47-52. And last of kings, etc. An allusion to Odyssey, viii., 
 where King Alcinotis entertains Ulysses at a feast at which the 
 blind bard Demodocus sings the story of the Trojan war : 
 
122 NOTES 
 
 " So sang renouned Demodocus ; the strain 
 Melted to tears Ulysses, from whose lids 
 They dropped and wet his cheeks. As when a wife 
 Weeps her beloved husband, slain before 
 His town and people." 
 
 52. In willing chains. Cf. Sylvester, " The willing chains of 
 my captivity." (M.) 
 
 56. keep in compass. Keep to the assigned part. 
 
 59. Good luck, etc. Masson says : " The reader must dis- 
 tinctly fancy Milton in person turning at this point to some 
 book of a student." 
 
 66. walk invisible. According to Aristotle mortals knew 
 not substance or existence, only phenomena. 
 
 74-88. Shall subject be to many an Accident. A play upon 
 the theory of Aristotle that Ens, or Being, was divided into Ens 
 per se, or Substance, and Ens per accidens, or Accident. Acci- 
 dent is thus the condition which reveals Being as phenomenon. 
 The idea is that Being, or Substance, cannot be revealed without 
 the aid of his brothers, Quantity, Quality, etc., and that they 
 are useless without him. 
 
 91-100. Rivers arise. The name of the youth who took the 
 part of Relation is thus associated with the rivers of England. 
 Masson tells us that until 1859 it was not known that a youth 
 of this name took part, and hence the passage disturbed the 
 critics. Tweed, the river dividing England from Scotland ; 
 Ouse and Don, Yorkshire rivers. Drayton in his Polyolbion 
 alludes to the " thirty streams " of Trent. Severn in Surry, cf. 
 Comus, 824, note. Avon, in Bristol ; Lea, near London ; Dee, 
 near Chester ; Humber, in north of England. 
 
 Milton's fondness for the pun is obvious in all his works. 
 Perhaps the best illustration of it is in Paradise Lost, vi. 610 
 fol. Alluding to their victory, due to the invention of guns and 
 gunpowder, Satan says : 
 
 " To entertain them fair with open front 
 And breast (what could we more ?) propounded terms 
 Of composition,' 1 ' 1 etc. 
 
NOTES 123 
 
 Again : 
 
 ' ' The terms we sent were terms of weight 
 Of hard contents and full of force urged home 
 Such as we might perceive amused them all 
 And stumbled many," etc. 
 
 Cf. Faerie Queene, IV. xi. 20 : 
 
 "And after him the famous rivers came, 
 Which doe the earth enrich and butifie." 
 
 95. Mole that runneth underneath. Cf. Faerie Queene, IV. 
 
 "And mole that like a nousling mole doth make 
 His way still underground." 
 
 " Camden tells us of a river in Surrey, it is called the Mole, 
 that after it has run several miles, being opposed by hills, finds 
 or makes itself a way underground, and breaks out again so far 
 off, that the inhabitants thereof boast, as the Spaniards do of 
 their river Anus, that they feed divers flocks of sheep upon a 
 bridge." WALTON, Compleat Angler, Chap. I. 
 
 1629-1645 
 
 ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST'S NATIVITY 
 
 Milton sent this poem with a letter to his friend Diodati. " It 
 is a gift," he says, " I have presented to the natal day of Christ. 
 At daybreak of that very morning it was conceived." 
 
 In Latin, Elegy vi., To Charles Diodati, we find the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 " Wouldst thou (perhaps 'tis hardly worth thine ear), 
 Wouldst thou be told my occupation here ? 
 The promised King of peace employs my pen, 
 The eternal covenant made for guilty men, 
 The new-born Deity with infant cries 
 Filling the sordid hovel, where he lies ; 
 
124 NOTES 
 
 The hymning Angels, and the herald star, 
 That led the Wise who sought him from afar, 
 And idols on their own unhallowed shore 
 Dashed, at his birth, to be revered no more." 
 
 That Milton was early a dedicated spirit, set apart for holy 
 services, is revealed in this poem. Masson in his delightful 
 essay Miltoii's Youth says: "As nature had endowed him in 
 no ordinary degree with that most exquisite of her gifts, the ear 
 and the passion for melody, he had studied music as an art, and 
 had taught himself not only to sing in the society of others, but 
 also to touch the keys for his solitary pleasure." 
 
 In the mingling of Hebraism and Hellenism with Christianity 
 and the emphasis put upon the blight of the Fall as revealed in 
 Nature as well as in Man, we have the elements of Paradise 
 
 Lost : 
 
 " All my mind was set 
 
 Serious to learn and know, and thence to do, 
 What might be public good ; myself I thought 
 Born to that end, born to promote all truth, 
 All righteous things." 
 
 Paradise Regained, i. 202-206. 
 
 " In spite of his classical culture and his Renaissance sense of 
 beauty, Milton saw as the prime fact of the world, Diabolus at 
 odds with Immanuel." DOWDEN. 
 
 The influence of Spenser and Shakespeare may be seen in the 
 poems of this period of Milton's work, but it is the influence of 
 teachers, not masters. The one great gift a vital soul, " cer- 
 tain vital marks" is everywhere present in this poem, al- 
 though at the same time there is excess of ornament and lack of 
 artistic proportion characteristic of youth. 
 
 ' Mr. Saintsbury says : " Nowhere even in Milton does the mas- 
 tery of harmonies appear better than in the exquisite rhythmical 
 arrangement of the piece, in the almost unearthly beauty of the 
 exordium, and in the famous stanzas beginning, ' The oracles 
 are dumb.' It must be remembered that at this time the Eng- 
 lish lyric was in a very rudimentary and ill-organized condition." 
 
NOTES 125 
 
 Rev. F. D. Maurice cites this poem as an illustration of 
 Milton's habit of making " all the stories of Heathen Mythology 
 unfold and illustrate the truth ; which we are apt to use only for 
 the exposure and confutation of their absurdity. I think Spenser 
 and Milton have done more both to counteract the mischief of 
 paganism and to vindicate the use of the treasures which it has 
 bequeathed to us than all the Apologists." 
 
 Mr. Richard Garnett alluding to the last stanza says : "By 
 an exquisite turn the poet sinks back into his original key, and 
 finally harmonizes his strain by the divine repose of a concluding 
 picture worthy of Correggio." 
 
 1. This the happy morn, etc. : 
 
 "That happy morn 
 When angels spake to men aloud, 
 And Thou and peace to earth were born." 
 
 TENNYSON. 
 
 5. holy sages. Prophets. 
 14. darksome house. Cf. II Penseroso, 9. 
 
 23. wizards. Wise men. Cf. Faerie Queene, I. iv. 12 : 
 
 " The antique wizards well invented 
 That Venus of the foamy sea was bred." 
 
 24. Oh ! run, etc. Cf. Drummond of Hawthornden's Flowers 
 of Sion : 
 
 " Run, Shepherds, run where Bethlem blest appears." (M.) 
 prevent. To get before them. Cf. Merchant of Venice, i. 1 : 
 
 " I had stayed till I had made you merry 
 If worthier friends had not prevented me." 
 
 27. Angel Quire. Luke ii. 13, 14. 
 
 28. secret altar. Isaiah vi. 6. 
 
 36. wanton with the Sun, etc. Cf. Elegy v. : 
 
 " Earth now desires thee, Phoebus ! and to engage 
 Thy warm embrace, casts off the guise of age." 
 
 39. guilty front. The Mediaeval idea that nature was evil. 
 
126 NOTES 
 
 For contrast to this see Wordsworth or Coleridge, who do not 
 degrade nature even to extol God. 
 
 48. turning sphere. Here Milton views the ten spheres as 
 one universe. 
 
 50. turtle. Turtle-dove. Cf. Winter's Tale, v. 3 : 
 
 "I, an old turtle, 
 Will wing me to some wither'd bough." 
 
 53-60. No war, etc. The world in contrast to this Babe. 
 hookdd. Scythe-bearing. 
 
 64, 65. The winds with wonder whist, etc. Hushed. Cf. 
 "Ariel's Song" : 
 
 " Curtsied when you have, and kiss'd 
 The wild waves whist." 
 
 Tempest, i. 2. 
 
 66. Ocean. Pronounced in three syllables. 
 68. birds of calm. Halcyons. Sea is calm at time of their 
 incubation in winter solstice. 
 71. precious influence. Allusion to astrology. 
 73. For all, etc. Cf. Macbeth, iv. 2 : 
 
 " My father is not dead for all your saying." 
 
 77-84. And, though the shady gloom, etc. Cf. Spenser, 
 Shepheards Calendar (April) : 
 
 " He blushed to see another Sun below, 
 Ne durst again his fiery face outshow. 
 
 Let him if he dare, 
 
 His brightness compare 
 With hers, to have the overthrow." 
 
 85. lawn. Clear place in the forest. 
 
 86. Or ere. Cf. Hamlet, i. 2 : 
 
 " Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven 
 Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio." 
 
 88. than. Old form of then. 
 
NOTES 127 
 
 89. mighty Pan. The real being so long dreamt of as Pan, 
 
 the god of shepherds.. (M.) Cf. Shepheards Calendar (May): 
 
 " When great Pan accent of shepherdes shall aske." 
 95. strook. Old form for struck. Cf . Paradise Lost, vi. 863 : 
 
 "The monstrous sight 
 Strook them with horror backward." 
 
 Cf. Paradise Regained : 
 " So strook with dread and anguish fell the Fiend." iv. 576. 
 
 "And thou were the kindest man that ever strake with 
 sword." MALORY, Morte D" 1 Arthur. 
 
 97. noise. Cf . Ancient Mariner : 
 
 " Yet still the sails made on 
 A pleasant noise till noon." 
 
 98. As all. Suppose "such" of line 93 repeated before 
 "divinely warbled." (M.) 
 
 100. close. Cadence. 
 
 106. its. Used by Milton only three times. Paradise Lost : 
 
 " The mind is its own place," etc. i. 254. 
 
 "returns 
 Of force to its own likeness." iv. 813. 
 
 116. unexpressive. Unexpressible. Cf . As You Like It, iii. 3 : 
 
 "The fair, the chaste, the unexpressive she." 
 117-124. Such music, etc. Cf. Job xxxviii. 4-12 : 
 
 " Whereupon were the foundations thereof fastened ? 
 Or who laid the corner stone thereof ; 
 When the morning stars sang together ? " etc. 
 
 Cf. Paradise Lost, vii. 561, 562 : 
 
 " The heavens and all the constellations rung, 
 The planets in their stations listening stood," etc. 
 
128 NOTES 
 
 125-132. Ring out, etc. Masson tells us that about the time 
 of writing this poem, Milton wrote a prose piece, De Sphaera- 
 ntm Concentu, in which he held that celestial music might be 
 perceived by minds duly prepared. 
 
 130. And let the bass, etc. " The instruments which Milton 
 preferred as a musician were the organ and the bass viol." (M.) 
 132. consort. Fellowship. Cf. Faerie Queene, III. i. 46: 
 " Wonder was to hear their trim consort." 
 136. speckled. Covered with plague spots. 
 141, 142. Truth and Justice, etc. As Astraea was to return to 
 earth, according to the old myth, when the Golden Age should 
 come again. 
 
 147, 148. And Heaven, etc. Cf. Tennyson, In Memoriam, 
 Ixxxv. : 
 
 " The great Intelligences fair 
 
 That range above our mortal state, 
 In circle round the blessed gate, 
 Received and gave him welcome there." 
 
 168. The Old Dragon. Cf. Eev. xx. 1-3. 
 
 172. Swinges. Lashes. 
 
 173. The Oracles are dumb. The gods of the heathen are 
 extinct. 
 
 185. poplar pale. White poplar. 
 
 191. Lars and Lemures. God of the family; and spirits, 
 ghosts and goblins. 
 
 194. flamens. Priests. 
 
 195. chill marble, etc. A prodigy common among the 
 ancients. 
 
 197-220. Peor and Baalim, etc. Cf. Paradise Lost, i. 392- 
 489, for these Phoenician, Assyrian and Egyptian gods. 
 
 201. queen and mother both. In Selden's De Diis Sijris, 
 Ashtaroth is alluded to as regina coeli and mater deum. (M.) 
 
 223. eyn or eyne. Old plural of eye. Common in Chaucer, 
 Spenser and Shakespeare. 
 
 Milton and Tennyson were fond of phonetic spelling where it 
 would aid the music, 
 
NOTES 129 
 
 226. Typhon huge. Greek name for Egyptian god Set, or 
 Suti, one of the brothers of Osiris. (M.) 
 
 232-234. The flocking shadows, etc. Cf. Midsummer NigM s 
 Dream, Hi. 2 : 
 
 " And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger ; 
 At whose approach ghosts wandering here and there 
 Troop home to churchyards." 
 
 Cf. also Hamlet, i. 4 : 
 
 " Fare thee well at once ! 
 The glow worm shows the matin to be near." 
 
 235, 236. the yellow-skirted fays, etc. The fairies haste 
 away at morn, following the nightmares or nighthags. (M.) 
 Cf . Paradise Lost, ii. 662, 663 : 
 
 " Nor uglier fellow, the nighthag, when, called 
 In secret, riding through the air she comes." 
 
 240. youngest teeme'd. Latest born, Star of Bethlehem. Cf. 
 Macbeth, iv. 3 : 
 
 " Each minute teems a new one." 
 
 244. Bright-harnessed. Bright armored. Cf. Macbeth, v. 5 : 
 " We'll die with harness on." 
 
 1630-1645 
 
 UPON THE CIRCUMCISION 
 (In Milton's own hand in the Cambridge MSS.) 
 
 The year 1630 gives us this and the following five poems 
 which are sufficient to establish the Miltonic tone, because of 
 their richness of epithet, originality of diction, and suggestive- 
 ness of phrase. 
 
 The first stanza of the poem reveals the fact that- it was 
 intended as a sequel to the previous poem in the Nativity. 
 Masson assigns it to the Feast of Circumcision (January 1) fol- 
 lowing the Christmas of 1(529. 
 
 The reader should study what Mr. Stopford Brooke has called 
 
130 NOTES 
 
 "the abrupt and powerful rhythm which suits so well the quick 
 rush and quick closing of condensed thought." 
 
 M. Edmond Scherer, the French critic, says : " There is 
 nothing (in the Milton of the early poems) repulsive or morose. 
 He is pure without too much severity, grave without fanaticism ; 
 full of original dainties, of gracious strength. He is a son of 
 the North who has felt the Italian influence : an aftergrowth of 
 the Renaissance, but a growth full of strange and novel flavor." 
 
 1. Ye flaming Powers and winged Warriors bright. Sera- 
 phim and Cherubim. 
 
 2-6. That erst with music, etc. Milton thus connects this 
 poem with the preceding. 
 
 7-9. Your fiery essence, etc. If it is impossible for your 
 angelic constitutions, formed as they are of fire, to yield tears, 
 yet by burning as you sigh, you may borrow the water of our 
 tears turned into vapor. (M.) 
 
 10. whilere. A while since. 
 
 " Will you troll the catch 
 You taught me but while-ere ? " 
 
 Tempest, in. 2. 
 
 15-20. more exceeding love, etc. Cf. Browning, Saul : 
 
 " All's love yet all's law." 
 24. excess. Transgression. 
 
 1630-1645 
 THE PASSIOX 
 
 The opening stanza of this poem reveals its relation to the 
 poem on the Nativity. Masson says this was probably written 
 for Easter. Perhaps the fact that the Plague ravaged Cambridge 
 during the Easter-term may have lent color to the poem. 
 
 It is naturally very difficult to eliminate from these poems 
 impressions brought from associating with the Milton of Para- 
 dise Lost, but it must be done if we are to read the poems in 
 the atmosphere which produced them. Masson says that the 
 habitual seriousness of Milton at this time was not that of u the 
 
NOTES 131 
 
 noble party of Puritans, but a constitutional seriousness ratified 
 and nourished by rational reflection." 
 
 It seems that Milton early planned a series of poems in cele- 
 bration of each division of the Christian Year, but that (as the 
 note appended to this reveals) he found the task too great for 
 him. 
 
 1. Erewhile. Allusion to the Ode on the Nativity. 
 4. divide to sing. To share the song. 
 
 13. Most perfect Hero. Hebrews ii. 10. 
 
 19. mask. Masque or drama, thus carrying out the idea of 
 line 2. 
 
 23. my Phoebus. My song. 
 
 25, 26. otherwhere are found, etc. By Marco Girolamo 
 Vida of Cremona in his Latin Poem The Christiad. (M.) 
 
 84, 35. The leaves should all be black, etc. " In old elegies 
 the pages were black and the letters white." (M.) 
 
 36-39. See, see the chariot, etc. Ezekiel i. 
 
 43. sepulchral rock. The Holy Sepulchre. 
 
 51. Take up a weeping, etc. Jeremiah ix. 10. 
 
 56. Had got a race of mourners. Ixion-like. 
 
 1630-1645 
 ON TIME 
 
 (In Milton's own hand in the Cambridge MSS.) 
 
 The title of this poem in the Cambridge Mss. of Milton is : 
 On Time To be set on a Clock Case. This explains the 
 " plummet's pace" in the third line. 
 
 Compare the movement of this poem with that of The Cir- 
 cumcision. Which is the more powerful ? 
 
 3. heavy plummet's pace. Cf. Shakespeare, Sonnet Ixxvii. 
 
 "Thou by thy dial's shady stealth mayst know 
 Time's thievish progress to eternity." 
 
 12. individual. Here and elsewhere in Milton in the sense 
 of not to be separated from. Cf . Paradise Lost : 
 
 " Henceforth an individual solace dear." iv. 480. 
 
132 NOTES 
 
 " With thousand lesser lights dividual holds." vii. 382. 
 "And from her hath no dividual being." xii. 85. 
 
 18. happy-making sight. " Beatific vision." Cf. Paradise 
 Lost, iii. 62 : 
 
 " And from his sight receiv'd 
 Beatitude past utterance." 
 
 1630-1645 
 
 AT A SOLEMN Music 
 (Three drafts in Milton's own hand in the Cambridge MSS.) 
 
 The title might well be At a Symphony. Milton was nurt- 
 ured in an atmosphere of song. His father was a musician 
 and composer of some reputation. His compositions have 
 found a place in collections of the best music. He composed 
 the tunes of York and Norwich so universal now. He contrib- 
 uted to a volume of Madrigals known as The Triumphes of 
 Oriana, sung before Queen Elizabeth ; and his music appears 
 in many other collections. 
 
 " Thyself 
 
 Art skilled to associate verse with airs 
 Harmonious, and give the human voice 
 A thousand modulations, heir by right 
 Indisputable of Arion's fame. 
 Now say, what wonder is it if a son 
 Of thine delight in verse, if so conjoined 
 In close affinity, we sympathise 
 In social arts, and kindred studies sweet." 
 
 Ad Patrem. 
 
 In his Tractate on Education Milton said of the interim be- 
 tween exercise and meat: "It may, both with profit and de- 
 light, be taken up in recreating and composing their (the pupils) 
 travailed spirits with the solemn and divine harmonies of music, 
 heard or learned ; either while the skilful organist plies his 
 grave and fancied descant in lofty fugues, or the whole sym- 
 phony with artful and unimaginable touches adorn and grace 
 
NOTES . 133 
 
 the well-studied chords of some choice composer; sometimes 
 the lute or soft organ-stop waiting on elegant voices, either to 
 religious, martial, or civil ditties ; which, if wise men and 
 prophets do not extremely err, have a great power over disposi- 
 tions and manners to smooth and make them gentle." 
 
 Masson says : " Often must Milton as a child have bent over 
 his father while composing, or listened to him as he played. 
 Not unfrequently of an evening, if one or two of his father's 
 musical acquaintances dropt in there would be voices enough in 
 the Spread Eagle for a little household concert. Then might 
 the well printed and well kept set of Orianas be brought out ; 
 and each one present taking a suitable part, the child might 
 hear, and always with fresh delight his father's own madrigal : 
 
 ' Then sang those shepherds and nymphs of Diana, 
 Long live fair Oriana, long live fair Oriana.' 
 
 Nor would the opening words of the 27th Psalm, doubtless often 
 sung in the family to York tune, be without a deeper significance : 
 
 ' The Lord is both my health and light ; 
 Shall men make me dismayed ? ' etc. 
 
 Joining with his young voice in these exercises of the family 
 the boy became a singer as soon as he could speak. We see 
 him going to the organ for his own amusement, picking out 
 little melodies by the ear, and stretching his tiny fingers in 
 search of pleasing chords." 
 
 Green says: "Milton's youth shows us how much of the 
 gayety, the poetic ease, the intellectual culture of the renas- 
 cence lingered in the Puritan home." 
 
 De Quincey was the first to compare the Miltonic movement 
 to the qualities of an organ voluntary, and Tennyson in his 
 magnificent tribute has elaborated the figure. 
 
 Mr. Richard Garnett says : " This is perhaps the most perfect 
 expression of Milton's ideal of song." 
 
 Mr. Stopford Brooke says: "The spirit and power of this 
 poem may be best expressed by saying that Milton 
 
 ' His loud uplifted angel trumpet blew.' " 
 
134 NOTES 
 
 ' ' In the Abbey Church of Te wksbury are still heard the 
 tones of the very organ on which Milton played before Crom- 
 well at Hampden Court ; and the picture thus evoked from the 
 past symbolizes the true influence of poets such as Dante and 
 Milton on the conduct of a commonwealth." ERNEST MYERS. 
 Wordsworth in his sonnet on the Sonnet uses this expression 
 referring to Milton : 
 
 "In his hand 
 
 The thing became a trumpet ; whence he blew 
 Soul-animating strains alas, too few." 
 
 It is not unlikely that Milton had in mind the music of 
 King's College Chapel to which Wordsworth alludes : 
 
 '-'List! O list! 
 
 The music bursteth into second life ; 
 The notes luxuriate, every stone is kissed 
 With sound, or ghost of sound, in mazy strife ; 
 Heart-thrilling strains, that cast before the eye 
 Of the devout, a veil of ecstasy." 
 
 Inside King's College Chapel. 
 
 Tennyson on revisiting Cambridge says : 
 
 "And heard once more in College fanes, 
 The storm their high-built organs make, 
 And thunder-music, rolling, shake 
 The prophets blazon" d on the panes." 
 
 In Memoriam, LXXXVII. 
 
 Cf. Washington Irving's description of music in Sketch Book 
 (Westminster Abbey). Cf. Gray, Ode for Music. 
 
 By comparing the three drafts of this poem in the Cambridge 
 Mss. we get a good idea of Milton's care in recasting. 
 
 3. This line originally was : ' ' Mix your choice words, and 
 happiest sounds employ." 
 
 4, 5. Between these lines there was in the first draft the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 " And whilst your equal raptures, temper' d sweet, 
 In high mysterious spousal meet, 
 
NOTES 135 
 
 Snatch us from earth a while, 
 
 Us of ourselves and native woes beguile." 
 
 0. concent. Latin concentus, harmony. 
 
 10. burning. This was "princely " in first, and " trifled " in 
 second draft. 
 
 11. This line has three forms : 
 
 (1) "Their loud immortal trumpets blow." 
 
 (2) "Loud symphony of silver trumpets blow." 
 
 (3) " High-lifted, loud, and angel-trumpets blow." 
 
 12. Originally : 
 
 " And Cherubim, sweet winged squires," 
 
 14. victorious. Originally "the blooming." 
 10. holy. Originally " sacred. " 
 
 7-10. sapphire-coloured throne, etc. Cf. Ezekiel i. 20 ; 
 Revelation v., xi. 
 After line 16 in the first draft was a couplet now omitted : 
 
 " While all the starry rounds and arches blue 
 Resound and echo Hallelu." 
 
 18. After this line in first draft there were three lines, now 
 omitted, in place of the seven we now have : 
 
 " By leaving out those harsh ill-sounding jars 
 Of clamorous sin that all our music mars : 
 And in our lives and in our song 
 May keep in tune with Heaven," etc. 
 
 In the second draft, the first two lines here are : 
 
 " By leaving out those harsh chromatic jars 
 Of sin that all our music mars." 
 
 19. did, originally "could." This line reminds us of the first 
 in Paradise Lost: 
 
 " Of man's first disobedience," etc. 
 
 "27. consort. Society. 
 28. Originally: 
 
 "To live and sing with Him in ever-endless light." 
 
136 NOTES 
 
 Other variations are : 
 
 " To live and sing with Him in ever-glorious light." 
 
 " To live and sing with Him in uneclipsed light." 
 
 "To live and sing with Him where Day dwells without Night." 
 
 " To live and sing with Him in endless morn of light." 
 
 " To live and sing with Him in cloudless birth of light." 
 
 " To live and sing with Him in never-parting light." (M.) 
 
 1630-1645 
 SONG ON MAY MORNING 
 
 This little poem reminds us of those exquisite snatches in the 
 Elizabethan dramatists, and suggests the charm of L 1 Allegro. 
 
 " And fresscher than the May with floures newe, 
 
 For May wole han no sloggardye anight. 
 The sesoun priketh every gentil herte, 
 And maketh him out of his sleep to sterte, 
 And seith, ' Arys, and do thin observaunce,' 
 To don honour to May." 
 
 CHAUCER, Knight's Tale. 
 
 Mr. Augustine Birrell says : " A study of these minor poems 
 will enable us half sadly to realize how much went and how 
 much was sacrificed to make the author of Paradise Lost." 
 
 1630-1632-1645 
 
 ON SHAKESPEARE 
 
 This perfect little poem first appeared printed anonymously 
 in the Second Folio of Shakespeare's Works, 1632, with the title, 
 An Epitaph on the Admirable Dramatick Poet, W. Shakespeare. 
 The First Folio was published in 1623, two years before Milton 
 entered Cambridge, and we must believe that he would not be 
 long without one of these in his possession. How carefully he 
 read it, and how completely he was in sympathy with the mind 
 of the great dramatist is revealed in this poem, perhaps the 
 greatest of all great tributes paid to this child of Fancy. Masson 
 
NOTES 137 
 
 has given a suggestive hint as to the origin of the poem . He thinks 
 that it was probably written in Milton's copy of the First Folio. 
 In the original editions of Milton's poems it bears the date 1630. 
 It is but natural to compare this poem with Ben Jorison's 
 prefixed to the First Folio : 
 
 2To tjje iflemorg of mg fcelofceti, 
 THE AUTHOK, 
 
 MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE; 
 
 AND 
 WHAT HE HATH LEFT US. 
 
 "Soule of the Age ! 
 The applaufe ! delight ! the wonder of our Stage ! 
 
 My Shakespeare, rife : I will not lodge thee by 
 Chaucer, or Spenfer, or bid Beaumont lye 
 
 A little further, to make thee a roome : 
 Thou art a Moniment, without a tombe, 
 
 And art alive ftill, while thy Booke doth live, 
 And we have wits to read, and praise to give. 
 
 Sweet Swan of Avon ! what a fight it were 
 To fee thee in our waters yet appeare, 
 
 And make those flights upon the bankes of Thames, 
 That fo did take Eliza, and our James ! 
 
 But ftay, I fee thee in the Hemisphere 
 Advanc'd, and made a conftellation there ! 
 
 Shine forth ! thou Starre of Poets, and with rage, 
 Or influence, chide, or cheere the drooping Stage ; 
 
 Which, fince thy flight fro hence, hath mourn' d like night, 
 And defpaires day, but for thy Volumes light." 
 
 It would be interesting to know the occasion of this poem. 
 Was it that about this time a monument to Shakespeare was 
 being proposed? The Stratford monument was erected as 
 early as 1623, for, in the First Folio, we have the lines of 
 Leonard Digges : 
 
138 NOTES 
 
 ' Shakespeare, at length thy pious fellowes give 
 The world thy Workes ; thy VVorkes, by which outlive 
 Thy Tombe thy name must : when that stone is rent 
 And Time dissolves thy Stratford Moniment, 
 H.ere we alive shall view thee still. This Book, 
 When Brass and Marble fade, shall make thee look 
 Fresh to all Ages." 
 
 4. star-ypointing. This is of Milton's coining, as the prefix 
 y belongs only to past passive participle. Cf. L 1 Allegro, 12 : 
 
 "In heaven yclept Euphrosyne." 
 
 8. livelong. In the print of Second Folio this is lasting. (M.) 
 
 9, 10. to the shame of slow-endeavoring art, etc. Does this 
 imply that Milton wrought with slowness ? 
 
 Heminge and Condell, the editors of the First Folio of Shake- 
 speare's works, said: "His mind and hand went together; 
 and what he thought he uttered with that easiness that we have 
 scarce received from him a blot on his papers." Ben Jonson 
 says : " He was indeed honest, of an open and free nature ; had 
 an excellent phantasy, brave notions, and gentle expressions; 
 wherein he flowed with that facility that sometimes it was 
 necessary he should be stopped." 
 
 11. unvalued. Invaluable. 
 
 12. Delphic. Inspired. 
 
 14. Dost make us marble, etc. Masson says : " ' Dost turn 
 MS into marble by the effort of thought to which thou compellest 
 us,' a very exact description of Shakespeare's effect on his 
 readers. The sense being that we, Shakespeare's readers, are 
 the true marble of his tomb, or monument." 
 
 1631-1645 
 ON THE UNIVERSITY CARRIER 
 
 These two pieces are interesting more from their subject, than 
 from any real merit which they possess. 
 
 Thomas Hobson was an important character in the life of the 
 University for more than sixty years. During that time he had 
 

 NOTES 139 
 
 made weekly trips to Bull Inn, Bishopgate Street, as carrier of 
 parcels, letters and passengers. Such a man was likely to get 
 very close to the students, for he kept a stable and let horses. 
 When a student was riding too fast, Hobson would cry out, 
 " You will get there sooner if you don't ride too fast." 
 
 It is recorded that he required every student to take the horse 
 nearest the door of the stable, "so that every customer was 
 alike well served according to his chance, and every horse ridden 
 with the same justice." Hence the common saying, " Hobson's 
 choice." 
 
 He continued his trips until he was eighty-six, and then the 
 Plague broke out in Cambridge ; the colleges were closed and 
 the town quarantined. He escaped the Plague, but, according 
 to Milton, enforced idleness caused his death, Jan. 1, 1631. 
 He left quite a fortune, and provided that a town conduit be 
 perpetually maintained, and this, known as Hobson's Conduit, 
 can be seen at the present time. 
 
 Milton was not very successful in his attempts to be humorous, 
 but amends are made for this in the fact that he reveals his love 
 for the old man. Cf. Wordsworth's Waggoner, and Cowper's 
 "Post-boy" in The Task. 
 
 5. 'Twas. He was. 
 
 8. Dodged with him. Followed him. 
 
 11-18. But lately, finding, etc. Death is of course the 
 omitted subject here. 
 
 ANOTHER ON THE SAME 
 
 5. Sphere-metal. As enduring as the spheres. 
 
 14. Too long vacation hastened on his term. A play upon 
 the contrast of Long Vacation in college and Term time. 
 
 20. six bearers : of the coffin containing the University 
 Carrier. 
 
 29, 30. Obedient to the moon. Hobson made four journeys 
 a month, two round trips. (M. ) 
 
 32. wain. Waggon. The play is on the sound of wain and 
 wane. 
 
140 NOTES 
 
 1631-1645 
 AN EPITAPH ON THE MARCHIONESS or WINCHESTER 
 
 Masson tells us that in an old Ms. volume of poems tran- 
 scribed for private use by some lover of poetry early in the 
 sixteenth century, now in the Ayscough collection in the British 
 Museum, is this poem with the inscription, " On the Marchioness 
 of Winchester, who died in childbedd, April 15, 1631. Jo. 
 Milton, ofChr. Coll Cambr." 
 
 The beautiful and accomplished lady was the daughter of 
 Thomas, Viscount Savage, and Elizabeth, daughter of the Earl 
 of Rivers. Her husband was John Paulet, fifth Marquis of 
 Winchester. Paulet was a Roman Catholic and took a promi- 
 nent part in the civil wars. The fact that Milton wrote this 
 poem shows conclusively that he had no strong antipathy to 
 Catholics at this time. Ben Jonson, then poet-laureate, wrote 
 an elegy upon the same occasion, which appears as the one 
 hundredth in his collection entitled Underwoods : 
 
 ' ' What gentle ghost, besprent with April dew, 
 Hails me so solemnly to yonder yew ? 
 And beckoning woos me from the fatal tree 
 To pluck a garland for herself and me ? 
 I do obey you, beauty, for in death 
 You seem a fair one. 
 
 Her sweetness, softness, her fair courtesy, 
 Her wary guards, her wise simplicity, 
 Were like a ring of Virtues 'bout her set, 
 And Piety the centre where all met. 
 A reverend state she had, an awful eye, 
 A dazzling, yet inviting majesty. 
 
 Let angels sing her glories, who did call 
 Her spirit home to her original ; 
 Who saw the way was, made it, and were sent 
 To carry and conduct the compliment 
 

 NOTES 141 
 
 'Twixt death and life, where her mortality 
 Became her birthday to eternity." 
 
 Mr. Stopford Brooke, speaking of Milton's poem, says : " The 
 metre, the seven-syllabled trochaic, the trick of which as used 
 with wonderful sweetness by Shakespeare and the Elizabethans 
 we seem to have lost, was never, even by Milton himself, more 
 exquisitely used than in this little lyric." 
 
 Throughout these poems we notice the foundation laid in 
 religion pure and undefiled. The superstructure is of the en- 
 during quality of Greek and Latin, while the decorations are of 
 the Renaissance. 
 
 7, 8. Summers three times eight, etc. She died when but 
 twenty-three years of age. 
 
 13. had had no strife. She would have lived to old age. 
 14-24. In the original Ms. instead of these lines the following 
 are found : 
 
 . . . "to her life 
 Seven times had the yearly starre 
 Of everie signe sett upp his carr 
 Since for her they did request 
 The god that sitts at marriage feasts, 
 When first the earlie matrons runne 
 To greet her of her lovelie sonne. 
 And now," etc. (M.) 
 
 17. The virgin quire. Bridesmaids. 
 
 22. cypress-bud. Cypress, the symbol of mourning. Cf. In 
 Memoriam, LXXXIV. : 
 
 " But that remorseless iron hour 
 Made cypress of her orange-flower." 
 
 24. lovely son. He became sixth Marquis of Winchester. 
 
 26. Lucina. Goddess of childbirth. 
 
 28. Atropos. The three Fates were Clotho, who spun 
 the thread of life ; Lachesis, who decided its length ; and 
 Atropos, who cut it off. ("slits the thin-spun life." Lycidas, 
 76.) 
 
142 NOTES 
 
 35. slip. Plant. 
 
 50. seize. In the legal sense of possess. 
 
 56. Helicon. Mountain of the Muses. 
 
 58. hearse. Tomb. 
 
 59. Came. Cambridge. Masson suggests that this may have 
 been but one of many elegies written on this occasion at Cam- 
 bridge. 
 
 63-70. That fair Syrian shepherdess. Rachel. Cf. Gen. 
 xxix., xxx., xxxv. 
 
 1631-1645 
 
 ON His HAVING ARRIVED AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-THREE 
 (In Milton's own hand in the Cambridge MSS.) 
 
 Among the Italians there originated a form of verse combina- 
 tion in which a special rhyme arrangement prevailed ; to this the 
 name " sonnet " was given. It was a short poem limited to the 
 expression of a single idea ; soon fourteen lines became the fixed 
 length, and later these lines were combined according to intri- 
 cate rules. Following these rules the ideal sonnet should con- 
 form to the following conditions: It must consist of fourteen 
 5 xa verses divided into two systems the major system, con- 
 sisting of the first eight lines, complete in themselves ; and then 
 the minor system, with six concluding lines. The major system 
 should contain but two rhymes: 1, 4, 5, 8, and 2, 3, 6, 7, con- 
 cluding with a pause in the sense. In the minor system there 
 should be only two rhymes: 9, 11, 13, and 10, 12, 14. Other 
 rules were laid down, many of which were merely capricious, 
 but these were insisted upon. 
 
 The earliest forms of the sonnet belong to the thirteenth cen- 
 tury. Era Guittone d'Arrezzo furnished the model for Dante 
 and Petrarch, who perfected this form of writing, the one giving 
 it strength, the other beauty. That period of English literature 
 which was the prelude to the age of Spenser and Shakespeare 
 received its main impulse from Italy. The influence of Chaucer 
 had declined, and intellectual life disappeared with religious 
 liberty. 
 
 Toward the end of the fifteenth century the nobility, possibly 
 

 NOTES 143 
 
 shamed by the contrast to the Scottish court, began to give 
 some thought to the education of their children. The literary 
 centre of Europe was at the brilliant court of Lorenzo de Medici, 
 and hither flocked the scholars of all countries. When English- 
 men returned filled with enthusiasm, and became tutors, they 
 stimulated their pupils with a desire to visit Italy, the land of 
 promise. 
 
 It was to this secondary influence of the Revival of Learning 
 that the new movement in literature was due. The heralds of 
 the dawn were Sir Thomas Wyatt, and Henry Howard, Earl of 
 Surrey, " who had tasted the sweet and stately measures and 
 style of Italian poesy." To them belongs the honor of reform- 
 ing the literature and introducing the sonnet into our language. 
 Petrarch was their model, and love their theme. Wyatt fol- 
 lowed the Italian model very closely, and his work is character- 
 ized by strength and dignity. Surrey introduced some changes 
 into the form of the sonnet : he divided it into three independent 
 quatrains, and closed with a couplet. His work was distinguished 
 for grace and beauty. 
 
 During the last ten years of the sixteenth century and the 
 first ten of the seventeenth there was a most remarkable pro- 
 duction of sonnets. The list, headed by Sidney, contains the 
 names of Daniel, Constable, Lodge, Watson, Drayton, Spenser, 
 and Shakespeare. 
 
 It was the Renaissance which gave charm and refreshment to 
 English poetry, and Spenser is a child of the Renaissance. His 
 sonnets the story of his "patient wooing and happy winning 
 of the lady of his love" are characterized by ardor, grace 
 and tenderness. The following is a dedication of all his "leaves, 
 lines, and rymes" bearing the message of love : 
 " Happy, ye leaves ! when as those lilly hands, 
 Which hold my life in their dead-doing might, 
 Shall handle you, and hold in love's soft hands, 
 Lyke captives trembling at the victor's sight. 
 And happy lines ! on which, with starry light, 
 Those lamping eyes will deigne sometimes to look, 
 And reade the sorrowes of my dying spright, 
 
144 NOTES 
 
 Written with teares in harts close-bleeding booke. 
 
 And happy rymes ! bath'd in the sacred brooke 
 
 Of Helicon, whence she derived is ; 
 
 When ye behold that Angels blessed looke, 
 
 My soules long-lacked foode, my heaven's bliss, 
 
 Leaves, lines, and rymes, seeke her to please alone, 
 Whom if ye please, I care for other none ! " 
 
 Spenser often devoted the three quatrains of a sonnet to a 
 single figure, as in this : 
 
 " Lyke as a huntsman after weary chace, 
 Seeing the game from him escapt away, 
 Sits downe to rest him in some shady place, 
 With panting hounds beguiled of their pray : 
 So, after long pursuit and vaine assay, 
 When I all weary had the chace forsooke, 
 The gentle deare returned the selfe same way, 
 Thinking to quench her thirst at the next brooke. 
 There she, beholding me with mylder looke, 
 Sought not to fly, but fearlesse did bide, 
 Till I in hand her yet halfe trembling tooke, 
 And with her own goode-will her fyrmely tied. 
 Strange thing, me seemd, to see a beast so wyld, 
 So goodly wonne, with her own will beguyld." 
 
 These sonnets consist of three quatrains and a couplet. 
 The quatrains are linked together by a peculiar rhyme scheme, 
 ab a&, be &c, cd cd, ee. 
 
 Shakespeare used the sonnet as a great sculptor might use the 
 precious stone upon which to cut the cameo. In it he half 
 revealed and half concealed his attachment for the darkhaired, 
 dark eyed Master, mistress of his passion. 
 
 " When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, 
 I all alone beweep my outcast state, 
 And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, 
 And look upon myself and curse my fate, 
 Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, 
 Featured like him, like him with friends possessed, 
 

 NOTES 145 
 
 Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope, 
 With what I most enjoy contented least ; 
 Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, 
 Haply I think on thee, and then my state, 
 Like to the lark at break of day arising 
 From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate : 
 For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings 
 That then I scorn to change my state with kings." 
 
 " Thine eyes I love, and they as pitying me, 
 Knowing thy heart torments me with disdain, 
 Have put on black and loving mourners be, 
 Looking with pretty ruth upon my pain. 
 And truly not the morning sun of heaven 
 Better becomes the gay cheeks of the east, 
 Nor that full star that ushers in the even 
 Doth half that glory to the sober west, 
 As those two mourning eyes become thy face : 
 O, let it then as well beseem thy heart 
 To mourn for me, since mourning doth thee grace, 
 And suit thy pity, like in every part. 
 Then will I swear beauty herself is black, 
 And all they foul that thy complexion lack." 
 
 In these sonnets we have three quatrains, each with its own 
 system of rhyme, and a couplet. This is a striking departure 
 from the sonnet proper, and yet it produces the greatest artistic 
 effect. The rhyme scheme is ab ab, c.d cd, ef ef, gg. With 
 Shakespeare the use of the fourfold division of the sonnet 
 ceases. 
 
 Milton's sonnets, although few in number, are of the finest 
 quality. In structure they follow the Petrarchian model, which 
 divides the sonnet into two unequal parts, the major and the 
 minor. This is the second form of the English sonnet, 
 1, 4, 5, 8, 2, 3, 6, 7, || 9, 11, 13, 10, 12, 14. 
 
 abba, abba \\ cd.cd.cd, or 
 Rhyme scheme : abba, abba \\ cde, cde. 
 abba, abba \\ cde, dee. 
 
146 NOTES 
 
 We are not surprised that Milton should choose the sonnet as 
 a means of revealing his mind and art. He was a learned and 
 elegant classical scholar ; he was acquainted with Rabbinical 
 literature ; he knew every language of modern Europe; and 
 whenever reason seemed to justify it he appropriated such forms 
 as would serve his purpose. Pattison says : "He had put his 
 poetical genius to school to the Italians, Dante, Petrarch and 
 the rest. The tradition of the sonnet, coining from what had 
 not ceased to be regarded as the home of learning, appealed to 
 his classical feelings." 
 
 Macaulay says: "Traces, indeed, of the peculiar character 
 of Milton may be found in all his works ; but it is most strongly 
 displayed in the sonnets. Those remarkable forms have been 
 undervalued by critics who have not understood their nature. 
 They are simple but majestic records of the feelings of the poet, 
 as little tricked out for the public eye as his diary would have 
 been. The unity of sentiment and severity of style which char- 
 acterize these little pieces remind us of the Greek Anthology, 
 or perhaps still more of the collects of the English Liturgy." 
 
 Hitherto the sonnet had been confined to a single theme 
 love, but in Milton's hands it was made to reveal the personal, 
 the national, and the universal, as these ideas shaped themselves 
 in his mind. 
 
 The title of this sonnet reveals the date of composition, Dec. 9, 
 1631, while the contents reveal the experience through which 
 the university student was passing as he approached the end of 
 his course and must choose his profession. That there were 
 those of his friends who believed his duty was to enter the 
 Church or some of the active professions ; who considered a 
 studious life somewhat aimless, is revealed very clearly in a letter 
 written by him upon the subject. .In the Cambridge Mss. there 
 is a letter of which this sonnet was a part. He says: "That 
 you may see that I am something suspicious of myself, and do 
 take notice of a certain belatedness in me, I am the bolder to 
 send you some of my nightward thoughts some little while ago, 
 because they came in not altogether unfitly, made up in a Pe~ 
 trarchian stanza which I told you of." Alluding to choice of 
 
NOTES 147 
 
 a profession, he says that a " Sacred reverence and religious ad- 
 visement, not taking thought of being late so it gave advantage 
 to be more fit," had held him back. " Coming to some maturity 
 of years, and perceiving what tyranny had invaded in the Church, 
 that he who would take orders must subscribe slave, and take 
 an oath withal, which unless he took with a conscience that 
 would retch, he must either straight perjure or split his faith, I 
 thought it better to prefer a blameless silence before the sacred 
 office of speaking, bought and begun with servitude and for- 
 swearing. ' ' 
 
 ' ' Nurse 
 
 My heart in genuine freedom all pure thoughts 
 Be with me ; so shall thy unfailing love 
 Guide and support and cheer me to the end." 
 
 WORDSWORTH, Excursion, Introduction. 
 
 Something has already been said regarding the moral quality 
 of the creator of high art, and in these days when we hear so 
 much of the moral indifference of art, it is refreshing and reas- 
 suring to turn to the revelations which such artists as Milton, 
 Wordsworth, Ruskin and Tennyson are giving us. Masson says 
 that he who does not know and lay stress upon the moral ear- 
 nestness of Milton the youth, "the outward manifestation of 
 which was a life of pure and devout observance, knows not and 
 loves not Milton. Fancy, ye to whom the moral frailty of genius 
 is a consolation, or to whom the association of virtue with youth 
 and Cambridge is a jest fancy Milton at the age of twenty-three 
 returning to his father's house from the University, full of its 
 accomplishments and its honors, an auburn-haired youth, beauti- 
 ful as the Apollo of a northern clime, and that beautiful body 
 the temple of a soul pure and unsoiled. Truly, a son for a 
 mother to take to her arms with joy and pride." 
 
 Wordsworth alludes to the young Milton in his Cambridge 
 days thus : 
 
 "His rosy cheeks 
 
 Angelical, keen eye, courageous look, 
 And conscious step of purity and pride." 
 
148 NOTES 
 
 It is of no little significance, it seems to me, that the poet of 
 serene and blessed moods, who a century and a half later was a 
 student of Christ's College, Cambridge, should have had a 
 similar experience at the same time in his life. At the age 
 of twenty-three Wordsworth was urged to take orders, or to 
 enter the law, by those who were anxious about his future 
 worldly maintenance. For neither of these professions did he 
 have any natural taste. While he was correcting and revising 
 some of his early poems in order to demonstrate that he could 
 do something, an event happened by which he was enabled to 
 continue a life of plain living and high thinking with his 
 noble sister 
 
 " She, in the midst of all, preserved me still 
 A Poet, made me seek beneath that name, 
 And that alone, my office upon earth." 
 
 The event was the death of his young friend and admirer, Ralsley 
 Calvert, who left him 900. 
 
 Calvert ! it must not be unheard by them 
 
 Who may respect my name, that I to thee 
 
 Owed many years of early liberty. 
 
 This care was thine when sickness did condemn 
 
 Thy youth to hopeless wasting, root arid stem 
 
 That I, if frugal and severe, might stray 
 
 Where'er I liked ; and finally array 
 
 My temples with the Muse's diadem. 
 
 Hence, if in freedom I have loved the truth ; 
 
 If there be aught of pure, or good, or great, 
 
 In my past verse ; or shall be, in the lays 
 
 Of higher mood which now I meditate, 
 
 It gladdens me, worthy, short-lived Youth ! 
 
 To think how much of this will be thy praise. 
 
 After Milton we see no more of the sonnet in its power until 
 we come to Cowper ; following him is that illustrious company 
 of singers contemporary with the French Revolution, Words- 
 worth, Coleridge, Shelley, Byron, and Keats, each of whom 
 

 NOTES 149 
 
 made substantial contributions to sonnet literature. Among 
 these Wordsworth's work is by far the most significant, not 
 only in the nature and variety of the subjects treated, but also 
 in the manner of composition. He restored the sonnet to the 
 place it held in Milton's time. 
 
 At a time when the spirit of revolution had penetrated all 
 ranks of society and all forms of art, we find the chief of the 
 revolutionary brotherhood asserting the principles of a true 
 conservatism, respect for that which was beautiful and useful 
 in life and art. Wordsworth, who " saw with unerring instinct 
 into the great moral forces which determine the currents of 
 history," saw with the same instinct into the great moral forces 
 which make for noble art. At a time when the new thought of 
 man and nature was asserting itself and looking askance at 
 everything old as unsuited to its nature, he taught a noble rev- 
 erence for the old which had been consecrated by use at the 
 hands of the masters. The most striking illustration of this 
 element in Wordsworth's nature was his defence of a literary 
 form which, although associated with the glory of Spenser, 
 Shakespeare and Milton, was likely to suffer undeserved slight 
 at the hands of the reformers. He accordingly wrote those 
 two masterpieces of literary art in defence of the Sonnet: 
 
 Nuns fret not at their convent's narrow room ; 
 And hermits are contented with their cells ; 
 And students with their pensive citadels ; 
 Maids at the wheel, the weaver at his loom, 
 Sit blithe and happy ; bees that soar for bloom 
 High as the highest Peak of Furness-fells, 
 Will murmur by the hour in foxglove bells : 
 In truth the prison, unto which we doom 
 Ourselves, no prison is : and hence for me, 
 In sundry moods, 'twas pastime to be bound 
 Within the Sonnet's scanty plot of ground ; 
 Pleased if some Souls (for such there needs must be) 
 Who have felt the weight of too much liberty, 
 Should find brief solace there, as I have found. 
 
150 NOTES 
 
 "Scorn not the Sonnet ; Critic, you have frowned, 
 Mindless of its just honors ; with this key 
 Shakspeare unlocked his heart ; the melody 
 Of this small lute gave ease to Petrarch's wound ; 
 A thousand times this pipe did Tasso sound ; 
 With it Camoens soothed an exile's grief ; 
 The Sonnet glittered a gay myrtle leaf 
 Amid the cypress with which Dante crowned 
 His visionary brow ; .a glow-worm lamp, 
 It cheered mild Spenser, called from Faery -land, 
 To struggle through dark ways ; and, when a damp 
 Fell round the path of Milton, in his hand 
 The Thing became a trumpet ; whence he blew 
 Soul-animating strains alas, too few ! " 
 
 Each of these, sonnets runs the major part over into the first 
 verse of the minor. 
 
 The rhyme scheme of the first is abba, abba, cdd, ccd; while 
 that of the second is abba, abba, cd, cd, ee. 
 
 The birthday of the Wordsworthian sonnet was May 21, 1802. 
 While his sister read to him some of Milton's sonnets his genius 
 kindled and he at once composed three sonnets, the beginning 
 of a series unsurpassed for practical wisdom, dignity and beauty 
 of conception, grave and lofty harmony. 
 
 1633-1645 
 To THE NIGHTINGALE 
 
 Milton took his degree of M.A. in 1632 but he did not return 
 to the city of his birth. The sights and sounds with which he 
 was now to be conversant were those of the beautiful English 
 Midlands. His father had retired to the rural village of Horton, 
 seventeen miles from London, in that part of Buckinghamshire 
 known as Chiltern Hundreds. "Here," says Milton, " I, with 
 every advantage of leisure, spent a complete holiday in turning 
 over the Greek and Latin writers ; not but that sometimes I 
 exchanged the country for the town, either for the purpose of 
 
NOTES 
 
 151 
 
 buying books, or for that of learning something new in Mathe- 
 matics or in Music." Here this sonnet was probably written. 
 It is pervaded with the atmosphere of thoughtful youth. It has 
 the passion of Keats and the contemplation of Wordsworth. 
 
 " Now came still Evening on, and Twilight gray 
 Had in her sober livery all things clad ; 
 Silence accompanied ; for beast and bird, 
 They to their grassy couch, these to their nests 
 Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale. 
 She all night long her amorous descant sung." 
 
 Paradise Lost, vi. 598-603. 
 
 " From branch to branch the smaller birds with song 
 Solaced the woods, and spread their painted wings, 
 Till even ; nor then the solemn nightingale 
 Ceased warbling, but all night tuned her soft lays." 
 
 Paradise Lost, vii. 433-436. 
 
 Cf. II Penseroso, 61-64. Comus, 234, 235 ; 566, 567. 
 
 The following from Walton's Compleat Angler is worthy of a 
 place here : 
 
 " But the nightingale, another of my airy creatures, breathes 
 such sweet loud music out of her little instrumental throat, that 
 it might make mankind to think miracles are not ceased. He 
 that at midnight, when the very laborer sleeps securely, should 
 hear, as I have very often, the clear airs, the sweet descants, 
 the natural rising and falling, the doubling and redoubling of 
 her voice, might well be lifted above earth, and say, Lord, what 
 music hast Thou provided for the saints in heaven, when Thou 
 affordest bad men such music on earth." 
 
 The Skylark and the Nightingale are favorites with the poets ; 
 the one symbolic of the song that " like a cloud of fire " spring- 
 eth from the earth into the blue deep of the heavens ; the other, 
 a type of the lover's passion : 
 
 " A song in mockery and despite 
 Of shades, and dews and silent night." 
 
152 NOTES 
 
 Cf. Wordsworth : 
 
 " 0, Nightingale ! thou surely art 
 A creature of a " fiery heart" : 
 These notes of thine they pierce and pierce ; 
 Tumultuous harmony and fierce ! " 
 
 Cf. Coleridge : 
 
 "And hark ! the Nightingale begins its song, 
 * Most musical, most melancholy ' bird ! 
 A melancholy bird ? Oh idle thought ! 
 In nature there is nothing melancholy. 
 But some night-wandering man whose heart was pierced 
 With the remembrance of a grievous wrong, 
 Or slow distemper, or neglected love, 
 (And so, poor wretch ! fill'd all things with himself, 
 And made all gentle sounds tell back the tale 
 Of his own sorrow) he, and such as he, 
 First named these notes a melancholy strain." 
 
 The Nightingale. 
 Cf . Shelley : 
 
 " One nightingale in an interfluous wood 
 Satiate the hungry dark with melody." 
 
 The Woodman and the Nightingale. 
 Cf. Keats : 
 
 "Thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees, 
 
 In some melodious plot 
 Of beechen green, and shadows numberless, 
 Singest of Summer in full-throated ease." 
 
 Ode to a Nightingale. 
 Cf . Tennyson : 
 
 " And all about us peal'd the nightingale, 
 Rapt in her song, and careless of the snare." 
 
 The Princess, i. 217-218. 
 
 Mrs. Anne Thackeray Ritchie says : " As Tennyson was 
 walking at night in a friend's garden, he heard a nightingale 
 
NOTES 153 
 
 singing with such a frenzy of passion that it was unconscious of 
 everything else, and not frightened though he came and stood 
 quite close beside it ; he could see its eye flashing, and feel the 
 air bubble in his ear through the vibration." 
 
 3. Thou with fresh hope, etc. To hear the nightingale before 
 the cuckoo was considered to "portend success in love." Cf. 
 Chaucer, The Cuckoo and the Nightingale. 
 
 4. jolly. Joyful. Cf. Faerie Queene, I. i. 1 : 
 
 " Full jolly knight he seemed." 
 9. bird of hate. Cuckoo. 
 
 1633-1645 
 
 L' ALLEGRO 
 
 The situation of Horton is beautiful for prospect. The eye 
 ranges over dewy meadows, rich tillage land and green pasture, 
 with abundant beech, elm, poplar and cedar ; numerous stream- 
 lets hurry to lose themselves in the Colne, while the Thames, 
 Eton and Windsor are not far away. The beautiful old church 
 of the 12th century stands in the centre of the little village, and 
 near it is the site of the poet's home. 
 
 In this poetic springtime we fancy our Scholar Gipsy such 
 heart was in him to be abroad in the primal burst of day's 
 bloom ; as the lark sings at heaven's gate, he wanders wherever 
 nature leads, drinking in with pure organic pleasure the beaute- 
 ous forms and colors in earth and sky, while his ear catches the 
 sounds of bellowing kine and bleating sheep, as the herd drives 
 them afield, and the whistle of the plowboy and the song of the 
 milkmaid is in the air. When the sun is shining high he seeks 
 some retired spot where the laborer leaves 
 
 " His coat, his basket and his earthen cruise." 
 
 And as the troop of hunters jovial, talking, saunter by, he 
 escapes to yonder lawn where young and old keep holiday with 
 dance and song and hoodman blind. Thus through 
 
 "All the live murmur of a summer's day " 
 
154 NOTES 
 
 he is gathering 
 
 " Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health, 
 Truth breathed by cheerfulness." 
 
 Such a day we have revealed to us in I? Allegro, a day of joyous 
 mirth. 
 
 The slow and stately introduction, the rushing, joyous music 
 of the body of the poem, the vividness of picture, the playful 
 humor and the master melody, reveal the best of Shakespeare and 
 Spenser and yet they are not of either master, but truly Miltonic. 
 
 The modern visitor at Horton feels the atmosphere of that- 
 olden time. 
 
 "Here cam'st thou in thy jocund youthful time, 
 Here was thine height of strength, thy golden prime ! 
 And still the haunt beloved a virtue yields." 
 
 1-3. Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born, etc. This fig- 
 ure is partly classical, and partly the creation of later poets. In 
 classical mythology Nyx, or Night, is made the mother of Thana- 
 tos, or Death, Hypnos, or Sleep, and other children. Spenser, in 
 Tears of the Muses, included Ignorance among the children. 
 
 " Ignorance, 
 
 Born in the bosom of the black Abysse, 
 And fed with Furies milk for sustenance 
 Of his weake infancie, begot amisse 
 By yawning Sloth on his own mother Night." 
 
 In the old mythology Darkness son of Chaos is husband of 
 Night. In Milton's lurid picture of Hell-Gate and the region 
 beyond, Paradise Lost, book ii., we have : 
 
 "Where eldest Night 
 And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold 
 Eternal anarchy," etc. (894-896.) 
 
 ' ' behold the throne 
 
 Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread 
 Wide in the wasteful Deep. With him enthroned 
 Sat sable-vested Night." (959-962.) 
 
NOTES 155 
 
 3. Stygian. Cf . Paradise Lost, ii. 574-577 : 
 
 "Along the banks 
 
 Of four infernal rivers, that disgorge 
 Into the burning lake their baleful streams 
 Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate." 
 
 6. jealous wings. "The watch which fowls keep when 
 they are sitting." WARBURTON. 
 
 7. the night-raven sings. The bird of ill-omen. Cf. Mac- 
 beth, I 5. 
 
 " The raven himself is hoarse 
 That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan 
 Under my battlements." . 
 
 8. 9. As ragged as thy locks. The term ragged applied to 
 rocks is common in Shakespeare. 
 
 " ragged prison walls." Richard II. v. 5. 
 " on the ragged stones break forth." Titus Andronicus, v. 3. 
 
 10. dark Cimmerian desert. In the Odyssey, xi., 14, the 
 Cimmerians are dwellers "beyond the ocean" in perpetual 
 darkness. 
 
 " There lies the land, and there the people dwell 
 Of the Cimmerians, in eternal cloud 
 And darkness." 
 
 12. yclept. The old past participle of verb clepen, to call. 
 " They clepe us drunkards." Hamlet, i. 4. 
 
 Euphrosyne. Mirth, one of the Graces. 
 14-23. Whom lovely Venus, etc. Milton creates these 
 figures. In the old mythology Euphrosyne is daughter of Zeus. 
 22. fresh-blown roses, etc. 
 
 "Morning roses newly washed with dew." 
 
 Taming of the Shrew, ii. 1. 
 24. debonair. De bonne air. 
 25-32. Haste thee, Nymph, etc. An allusion to the merry- 
 
156 NOTES 
 
 making of Elizabethan England. Cf. Ben Jonson's masque, 
 Pan's Anniversary. 
 
 Nym. ' ' Thus, thus begin the yearly rites 
 
 Are due to Pan on these bright nights ; 
 His morn now riseth and invites 
 To sports, to dances, and delights : 
 All envious and profane, away, 
 This is the shepherds' holy day. 11 
 
 27. Quips and Cranks. Smart and odd sayings. 
 33, 34. Come, and trip it, etc. 
 
 " Before you can say ' Come ' and ' Go,' 
 And breathe twice, and say 'so, so,' 
 Each one tripping on his toe 
 Will be here with mop and mow.' 1 Tempest, i. 1. 
 
 40. unreproved. Not to be found fault with, innocent. 
 
 41. To hear the lark, etc. Compare this and the following 
 lines in respect of direct and musical description with Tenny 
 son's Ode to Memory. 
 
 "The seven elms, the poplars four, 
 That stand beside my father's door, 11 etc. 
 
 Cf. Cymbeline, ii. 2. 
 
 " Hark, hark ! the lark at Heaven's gate sings, 
 
 And Phoebus 'gins arise, 
 His steeds to water at those springs 
 
 On chaliced flowers that lies ; 
 And winking Mary-buds begin 
 
 To ope their golden eyes." 
 
 44. dappled dawn. 
 
 "and look the gentle day, 
 Before the wheels of Phoebus round about 
 Dapples the drowsy east with spots of gray." 
 
 Much Ado About Nothing, v. 8. 
 59. eastern gate. 
 
 " Even till the Eastern gate, all fiery-red." 
 
 Midsummer Night" 1 s Dream, iii. 2. 
 
NOTES 157 
 
 62. dight. Set in order, arrayed. 
 
 07. tells his tale. Warton suggests that this means " makes 
 his reckoning," counts his sheep, rather than the commonly 
 understood, tells his story. This seems plausible from the fact 
 that the morning was not the time for story-telling. 
 
 69. Straight. At once, suddenly. Common in Shakespeare. 
 
 " About your business straight." Richard III. i. 2. 
 " Straight to stop the rumour." Henry VIII. ii. 1. 
 " We'll have a speech straight." Hamlet, ii. 2. 
 
 70. landskip. Old form. Cf. Tennyson, Merlin and the 
 
 Gleam. 
 
 "The landskip darken'd." 
 
 76. daisies pied. 
 
 " When daisies pied and violets blue 
 And lady-smocks all silver- white," etc. 
 
 Loves Labours Lostj v. 2. 
 
 77-80. Towers and battlements. While the descriptions are 
 not true to Horton in every detail it is not unnatural that we 
 should understand this to be an allusion to Windsor Castle. 
 
 83-88. Corydon and Thyrsis . . . Phillis . . . Thestylis. 
 Familiar names for shepherds. 
 
 91. secure. Untroubled. 
 
 94. rebecks. Stringed instrument like a fiddle. 
 
 96. chequered shade. 
 
 "The green leaves quiver with the cooling wind 
 And make a chequered shadow on the ground." 
 
 Titus Andronicus, ii. 3. 
 98. sunshine holiday. 
 
 " Many years of sunshine days." - Richard II. iv. 1. 
 
 100. spicy, nut-brown ale. Wassail bowl of sweet, warm, 
 spiced ale with roasted crab-apples in it. 
 102. How Faery Mab the junkets eat. 
 
 " She is the fairy midwife, and she comes 
 In shape no bigger than an agate-stone 
 
158 NOTES 
 
 On the forefinger of an alderman, 
 Drawn with a team of little atomies," etc. 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, i. 4. 
 
 " This is Mab, the mistress Fairy, 
 That doth nightly rob the dairy, 
 She that pinches country wenches." 
 
 BEN JONSON, The Satyr. 
 junkets. Cream cheese. 
 
 103. 104. She . . . And he. The two shepherds who are tell- 
 ing the story. 
 
 104. Friar's lantern. Jack-o'-the-Lantern, Will-o'-the-Wisp. 
 
 105. drudging goblin. Robin Goodfellow, a favorite with 
 Elizabethan story-tellers. 
 
 The fairy speaking to Puck says : 
 
 " Either I mistake your shape and making quite, 
 Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite 
 Call'd Robin Goodfellow ; are you not he 
 That frights the maidens of the villagery : " etc. 
 
 Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 1. 
 
 110. the lubber fiend. The fairy in Midsummer Night's 
 Dream, ii. 1, addresses Puck as " thou lob of spirits." 
 
 117. Towered cities please us then. The youth now retires 
 to his country cottage and amuses himself with stories of a life 
 quite in contrast to that of the rustics with whom he has been 
 associating. 
 
 120. weeds . . . triumphs. The old meaning of weeds, 
 clothing. Triumphs, one of the forms of entertainment where 
 are tournaments, etc. 
 
 12. Rain influence. Cf. Ode on the Nativity, 71. 
 
 125. let Hymen oft appear. As in Masques in honor of 
 marriage. Cf. Ben. Jonson's Hymencei. 
 
 126. In saffron robe. In Ben Jonson's Hymencei we have : 
 "Entered Hymen the God of Marriage in a saffron-coloured 
 
 robe." 
 
 132-134. If Jonson's learned sock be on, etc. Sock was a 
 low-heeled shoe worn in comedy. 
 
NOTES 159 
 
 " I visit, or to smile, or weep, 
 The winding theatre's majestic sweep, 
 The grave or gay colloquial scene recruits 
 My spirits, spent in learning's long pursuits." 
 
 Elegy i. 
 
 If poets may be divided into two exhaustive but not exclu- 
 sive classes the gods of harmony and creation, the giants of 
 energy and invention the supremacy of Shakespeare among 
 the gods of English verse is not more unquestionable than the 
 supremacy of Jonson among the giants." A. C. SWINBURNE. 
 
 136. Lydian airs. Soft and light as compared with the 
 Dorian, which are more suited to revealing contemplation. 
 
 139. bout. Turn. 
 
 145-150. That Orpheus' self, etc. According to the myth 
 which reveals Orpheus as the master musician who, on the 
 death of his wife Eurydice, went to the lower world to recover 
 her. His music charmed even Pluto, who released Eurydice 
 on the condition that Orpheus would not look upon her until 
 they had reached the earth. Orpheus turned to see if she were 
 following him and she was lost to him. 
 
 151, 152. These lines remind one of the last lines of Mar- 
 lowe's The Passionate Shepherd to his Love : 
 
 " If these delights thy mind may move, 
 Then live with me and be my love." 
 
 1633-1645 
 IL PENSEROSO 
 When the merry-making was over, and the sun, 
 
 " which doth glorify 
 The orange and pale violet evening sky," 
 
 sank to rest, and the ' mellow lin-lan-lone of evening bells ' ceased, 
 
 " No chair remained before the door ; the bench 
 And threshold steps were empty; fast asleep 
 The laborer, and the old man who had sate 
 A later lingerer. ' ' 
 
160 NOTES 
 
 The new day now begins, the clay which is characterized by wise 
 activity, as the other had been by wise passiveness ; for nature 
 and books are the joys of the poet, and by these a healthy 
 activity is secured between What Does, What Knows, What Is. 
 The mood here is that of joy in though tfulness, when the world 
 is shut out and the mind shut in upon itself. Each experience 
 here has its complement in those of the previous poem ; and as 
 a result the movement is slow and measured where the other 
 was rapid and careless. One hardly knows where to look for a 
 happier union of natural magic and moral profundity, of child- 
 like mirth and the joy of mature manhood. 
 
 The treatment of nature in these poems is not that of Chaucer 
 with its freshness of the early world, nor that of Wordsworth 
 with its spiritual revelation ; but it is pure description of things 
 seen by the poet in a special mood. 
 
 M. Scherer says: "For rendering things Milton has the 
 unique word, the word which is a discovery : he has not only 
 the image and the word, he has the period also, the large musical 
 phrase ... an unfailing level of style, power indomitable." 
 
 These are the elements which make the poems a delight to 
 young and old alike. 
 
 Mr. Henry Van Dyke says : " I do not think that IS Allegro, 
 II Penseroso, and Comus have any lower place in the world, or 
 any less enduring life, than Paradise Lost. We have thought 
 so much of Milton's strength and sublimity that we have ceased 
 to recognize what is also true, that he, of all English poets, is 
 by nature the supreme lover of beauty." 
 
 " Never were ideas of such dignity embodied in verse so easy 
 and familiar, and with such apparent absence of effort." 
 
 R. GARNETT. 
 
 Mr. F. T. Palgrave says: " IS Allegro and II Penseroso, the 
 earliest great lyrics of the landscape in our language, despite 
 all later competition, still remain supreme for range, variety, 
 lucidity and melodious charm within their style." 
 
 1-30. Hence, vain deluding Joys, etc. These lines should be 
 compared in detail with the first twenty-four of IS Allegro. 
 We must remember that these are complementary moods, but 
 
NOTES 161 
 
 not contrary, not inconsistent with the nature of a true man. 
 It is usually assumed that Milton is the Milton of II Penseroso 
 and Paradise Lost, but a careful study of the shorter poems 
 will reveal how wholesome and holy was the nature of the 
 young poet. Cf. Masson, Milton's Youth. 
 3. bested. Stand by, satisfy. 
 
 " I never saw a fellow worse bestead 
 Or more afraid to fight." 
 
 2 Henry VI. ii. 3. 
 7-10. And fancies fond, etc. 
 
 " Confusedly about the silent bed 
 Fantastick swarms of dreams were hovered, 
 
 Som sacred, som profane, som false, som true. 
 
 They make no noise, but right resemble may 
 
 Th' unnumbered moats which in the sun do play." 
 
 SYLVESTER'S Du Bartas (The Vacation). 
 
 6. fond. In old sense of foolish. 
 
 10. pensioners. Living upon the bounty of others, retinue. 
 Possibly alluding to the famous body-guard of Elizabeth. 
 
 " And I serve the Fairy Queen, 
 To dew her orbs upon the green. 
 The cowslips tall her pensioners be." 
 
 Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 1. 
 
 12. Divinest Melancholy. We must keep to the Miltonic 
 idea here : Though tfulness. 
 14. To hit the sense. 
 
 " Delicate odour as ever hit my nostril." Pericles, iii. 2. 
 
 " From the barge 
 
 A strange invisible perfume hits the sense 
 Of the adjacent wharves." 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra, ii. 2. 
 
 18. Prince Memnon's sister. Memnon was the beautiful 
 
162 NOTES 
 
 prince of the Ethiopians who came to help Priam. Milton 
 makes the sister as beautiful. Homer alludes to Eurypylus as, 
 
 "The noblest 
 
 Of men, in form, whom I have ever seen, 
 Save Memnon." Odyssey, xi. 
 
 19-21. that starred Ethiop, etc. Cassiope challenged the 
 Nereids in a contest for beauty. They in anger induced 
 Poseidon to send a ravenous monster into her country. An- 
 dromeda her daughter was about to be sacrificed to the monster 
 when she was rescued by her lover Perseus. Cassiope was 
 raised to heaven and turned into the constellation Cassiopoeia. 
 
 23-30. bright-haired Vesta, etc. Milton here creates the 
 genealogy of Melancholy as he has done for Mirth in the pre- 
 vious poem. The emphasis upon the word solitary would seem 
 to reveal the fact that Milton desired to reveal that Melancholy 
 was the daughter of Solitude and the Vestal-affection or Do- 
 mestic happiness. 
 
 33. grain. Color. 
 
 35. stole. Scarf. 
 
 cypress lawn. In early editions Milton printed this with a 
 capital, indicating that the lawn was from Cyprus. In Winter's 
 Tale Autolycus sings of his wares : 
 
 "Lawn as white as driven snow, 
 Cyprus black as e'er was crow." 
 
 39. commercing. Communing. 
 
 42. Forget thyself to marble. Cf. On Shakespeare, 14 and 
 note. 
 
 43. leaden. The star Saturn has a leaden or dispiriting in- 
 fluence on shepherds, or sons of the Muses. Cf. Epitapliium 
 Damonis, 79, 80, and translation. (M.) 
 
 46. Spare Fast. Cf. Sonnet To Mr. Lawrence. 
 
 51-54. But first and chiefest, etc. Cf. Ezekiel x. Milton 
 names one of the four cherubs of Ezekiel's vision, Contempla- 
 tion. By Contemplation one reached the heights of vision. 
 (M.) 
 
NOTES 163 
 
 55,56. hist along. . . . 'Less Philomel, etc. Telling the Silence 
 to continue unless the Nightingale shall choose to break it. (M.) 
 
 "Thou veiled in opening foliage, lead'st the throng 
 Of feathered minstrels, Philomel ! in song." 
 
 Elegy v. 
 
 59, 60. While Cynthia, etc. While the moon, entranced 
 with the song, is seen to check her pace over a particular oak- 
 tree. (M.) Milton has transferred the idea, " Dragon yoke," 
 drawn by dragons, from the old Mythology of Demeter. The 
 accustomed oak, seems to imply some particular oak in which 
 the poet had seen the moon couched. 
 
 61-64. Sweet bird, etc. Masson cites : 
 
 " And yet, methinks in a thick thorn I hear 
 A nightingale to warble sweetly clear." 
 
 SYLVESTER'S Du Bartas (First Week). 
 
 Cf. sonnet To the Nightingale, and note. 
 73-76. Oft, on a plat of rising ground, etc. The figure in the 
 first couplet might have direct application to Horton, but that 
 in the second could not ; but we need not make literal identifica- 
 tion of every allusion in a poem so rich in imagination. Masson 
 says: "The sound of the eight o'clock bell from Christ Church 
 is still one of the characteristics of Oxford, and is heard afar." 
 77. air. Weather. 
 
 83, 84. the bellman's drowsy charm, etc. Charm, cry. The 
 bellman was policeman and fireman in one, and at times shouted 
 the state of the weather, as, " Half-past nine and a fine cloudy 
 evening"; or he blessed the sleepers, as in Herrick's The 
 Bellman : 
 
 " From noise and scare-fires rest ye free, 
 From murder, Benedicite ! 
 From all mischances that may fright 
 Your pleasing slumbers in the night." (M.) 
 
 85, 86. Or let my lamp, etc. A beautiful figure of Contem- 
 plation. Milton believed in the necessity of shade in which to 
 grow ripe, and leisure in which to grow wise. He writes to 
 
164 NOTES 
 
 Diodati : "I am letting my wings grow, and preparing to fly, 
 but my Pegasus has not yet feathers enough to soar aloft in the 
 fields of air." 
 
 " When Contemplation, like the night-calm felt 
 Through earth and sky, spreads widely, and sends deep 
 Into the soul its tranquilizing power." 
 
 WORDSWORTH, Prelude, v. 
 
 87. outwatch the Bear. Studying until the stars are put to 
 flight. 
 
 88. thrice great Hermes. Hermes Trismegistus, a Greek ap- 
 pellation given to the Egyptian philosopher Thot. 
 
 88, 89. unsphere the spirit of Plato. Return Plato to the 
 earth by understanding his works. 
 
 91, 92. The immortal mind, etc. An allusion to the Phcedo, 
 where the doctrine of immortality is discussed. 
 
 93-96. And of those demons, etc. The Mediaeval doctrine of 
 the four elements, Earth, Air, Fire and Water. 
 
 97-100. let gorgeous Tragedy, etc. With Platonic Philoso- 
 phy and Mediaeval Alchemy we have the great truths of the 
 Classic drama. 
 
 101, 102. of later age, etc. Shakespeare. Cf. IS Allegro, 
 131-134. 
 
 104-108. Might raise Musasus. Recover the equally great 
 works which are lost. Cf. L 1 Allegro, 145-150. 
 
 109-115. Or call up him, etc. Chaucer, whose Squire's Tale 
 is unfinished. 
 
 " At Sarra, in the lond of Tartarie, 
 Ther dwelt a king that werreied Russie, 
 Thurgh which ther died many a doughty man : 
 This noble king was cleped Cambuscan." 
 
 Cf. Tennyson : 
 
 " Dan Chaucer, the first warbler, whose sweet breath 
 
 Preluded those melodious bursts that fill 
 The spacious times of great Elizabeth 
 With sounds that echo still." 
 
NOTES r 165 
 
 In the Palace of Art Tennyson has portraits hung above the 
 throne of Contemplation : 
 
 " For there was Milton like a seraph strong, 
 
 Beside him Shakespeare bland and mild ; 
 And there the world-worn Dante grasped his song 
 And somewhat grimly smiled." 
 
 116-120. great bards, etc. Spenser and the Faerie Queene. 
 
 " Descend, prophetic Spirit ! that inspir'st 
 The human Soul of universal Earth 
 Dreaming on things to come ; and dost possess 
 A metropolitan temple in the hearts of mighty poets." 
 WORDSWORTH, Excursion, Introduction. 
 
 122. civil-suited. Plainly attired, not in court costume. 
 124. Attic boy. Cephalus, who was in love with Eos, 
 Morning. 
 
 134. Sylvan. Sylvanus, god of the woodlands. 
 lo-">. monumental. Old. 
 142. honeyed thigh. 
 
 " Each bee with honey laden to the thigh." DRAYTON, Owl. 
 
 146. dewy-feathered. "Feathers steeped in Lethean dew.*' 
 (K.) 
 
 147-150. And let some strange, etc. Let some strange 
 mysterious dream move to and fro at Sleep's wings, in airy 
 stream. (M.) 
 
 156-166. To walk, etc. This should be read with At a 
 Solemn Music. Milton is in admiration of the symbols of 
 spiritual contemplation. Here is nothing of the Puritan. 
 
 158. massy-proof. The idea here is not quite clear. It may 
 mean, sufficient to sustain the mass of roof, etc. Cf. Words- 
 worth, Sonnets, Inside King's College Chapel. 
 
 159. storied. Illustrating Scripture story in stained glass. 
 167-176. And may at last my weary age, etc. 
 
 " blest seclusion ! when the mind admits 
 The law of duty ; and can therefore move 
 
166 NOTES 
 
 Through each vicissitude of loss or gain 
 Link'd in entire complacence with her choice ; 
 When youth's presumptuousness is mellow'd down, 
 And manhood's vain anxiety dismissed ; 
 When wisdom shows her seasonable fruit, 
 Upon the boughs of sheltering leisure hung." 
 
 WORDSWORTH, Excursion, iv. 
 
 " If age had tamed the passions' strife, 
 And fate had cut my ties of life, 
 Here, have I thought, 'twere sweet to dwell, 
 And rear again the chaplain's cell, 
 Like that same peaceful hermitage, 
 Where Milton long'd to spend his age." 
 
 SCOTT, Marmion, Introduction to Canto ii. 
 
 Mr. F. T. Palgrave, alluding to Keats' poem Fancy, says : 
 ; 'I know no other poem which so closely rivals the richness 
 and melody, and that in this very difficult and rarely at- 
 tempted metre, of Milton's Allegro and Penseroso.' 1 ' 1 
 
 1634-1645 
 
 ARCADES 
 
 (In Milton's own hand in the Cambridge MSS.) 
 
 The history of the Masque, its form and function in English 
 literature, is varied and interesting. The men we most natu- 
 rally associate with the Masque are, that incomparable Master of 
 Revels Ben Jonson its inventor, Inigo Jones its scene painter, 
 and Henry Lawes the composer of its music. Early in the reign 
 of Elizabeth, when the Miracle Plays and Mysteries were evolv- 
 ing into the Pageant and the drama of Shakespeare, there was 
 also evolved a ceremonial in which actors represented allegorical 
 characters and accompanied Lords and Ladies 011 great occa- 
 sions for the purpose of lending interest by action, dialogue, 
 music and dance. In the reigns of James I and Charles I these 
 entertainments were frequent and magnificently apportioned. 
 Artists, musicians, poets and managers were commissioned to 
 
 
NOTES 167 
 
 prepare the pageant for a marriage, a birthday, a royal visitor, 
 or the reception of distinguished foreigners, and the pastoral 
 or idyl of Spenser appeared as a pastoral drama or masque. 
 Jonson created no less than thirty masques between 1600 and 
 1635. 
 
 The Masque has its own laws as clearly defined as those 
 of the drama itself. As in the Greek drama the central idea 
 the occasion was familiar to the average spectator, so here 
 the occasion with all its attendant incidents must be a familiar 
 one. The poetry, music and decorations must be used to in- 
 tensify this occasion. The result is, as Taine says: "A true 
 eye feast, like a procession of Titian." 
 
 In 1632 Puritanism gave a new impetus to such pageants by 
 the publication of the famous Histrio-Mastix : The Player' s- 
 Sconrge, in which the stage aiid all its associations were de- 
 nounced as " the very pomp of the Divell." The result was a 
 singular demonstration on the part of the lovers of good cheer, 
 and the most gorgeous of all the royal masques was prepared by 
 the Society of the Four Inns of Court, and presented in the 
 Banqueting House at Whitehall, February, 1634. The masque 
 was entitled The Triumph of Peace. In this masque, costing 
 21,000, Mr. Henry Lawes acted as master of music. We have 
 already seen that while Milton was at Horton he was studying 
 music in London ; now this Mr. Lawes was his teacher, and it is 
 probable that Milton took no little interest in this distinguished 
 performance. Soon after this, another masque, Ccelum Britan- 
 nicutn, was given at the same place. Lawes arranged the music, 
 and Inigo Jones had charge of the decorations. In it two sons 
 of the Earl of Bridgewater acted, and it is through them that 
 Lawes and Milton became associated in Arcades. 
 
 In Spenser's Colin Clout's Come Home Again, we have the 
 following : 
 
 " Ne less praise worth ie are the sisters three, 
 The honor of the noble familie 
 Of which I meanest boast myself to be 
 And most that unto them I am so nie 
 Phyllis, Charillis and Sweet Amaryllis." 
 
168 NOTES 
 
 These sisters are the three married daughters of Sir John 
 Spencer. In Elizabeth's time the poet, then young, had dedi- 
 cated to each, one of his early poems, Muiopotmos, Mother 
 HubbarcVs Tale, and The Teares of the Muses. The "sweet 
 Amaryllis" was Alice, who married Ferdinando, Lord Strange. 
 In the dedication of his Teares of the Muses Spenser says : " The 
 things that make ye so much honoured are your excellent beauty, 
 your virtuous behavior and your noble match with the very 
 pattern of right nobility." 
 
 Lord Strange was a patron of literature and somewhat of a 
 poet. He succeeded to the earldom of Derby, and on his death 
 in 1594 his wife became known as Countess-Dowager of Derby. 
 Spenser thus alludes to his death : 
 
 " Amyntas quite has gone, and lies full low, 
 Having his Amaryllis left to mone. 
 Helpe, O ye shepheards, helpe ye all in this, 
 Helpe Amaryllis this her losse to mourne ; 
 Her losse is yours, your losse Amyntas is, 
 Amyntas, floure of shepheards pride forlorne : 
 He whilest he lived was the noblest swaine, 
 That ever piped on an oaten quill." 
 
 Colin Clout's Come Home Again. 
 
 In 1600 she married Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Keeper of the 
 Great Seal to Elizabeth. They purchased the beautiful estate 
 of Harefield in Middlesex on the river Colne. In 1602 the 
 Queen paid them a visit of four days, when masques of various 
 kinds were given in her honor, and Burbidge's players acted 
 for the first time Shakespeare's Othello. Masson says, " Shake- 
 speare himself probably present and taking part." The avenue 
 of elms where the pageant met the Queen was afterwards known 
 as the " Queen's Walk." 
 
 In the reign of James I Sir Thomas was made Lord Chan- 
 cellor, and Lord and Lady Egerton were even more closely 
 identified with literature. Warton says: "The peerage book 
 of the Countess is the poetry of her times." In 1617 his Lord- 
 ship died. The Countess remained at Harefield and gave her- 
 
NOTES 169 
 
 self to deeds of charity and hospitality. The Countess' first 
 husband had been married twice prior to his marriage to her, 
 and her second husband had been married once before ; their 
 children had intermarried, and at the date of this masque she 
 (at seventy) had numerous children and grandchildren. It was 
 they who planned this entertainment in memory of the many 
 which the venerable lady had witnessed. The two sons of the 
 Earl of Bridgewater already mentioned as taking part in Ccelum 
 Britannicum, now the Countess' step-sons, were pupils of Lawes, 
 and it was therefore natural that they should want him to take 
 charge of the music ; it was also natural that he should ask 
 Milton to furnish the text, speeches and songs being a part of 
 the extensive pageant, Arcades. 
 
 4. mistook. Milton is fond of those old forms. Cf . Nativity, 
 20 ; Comus, 558. 
 
 8-13. Fame that . . . erst, etc. An allusion to the tributes 
 to the Countess by Spenser and those who had written masques 
 in her honor. 
 
 14-19. Mark what radiant state, etc. An allusion to the 
 actual surroundings of the Countess in the masque. (M.) 
 
 20. Latona. The mother of Apollo and Diana. 
 
 21. the towered Cybele. Cybele, the wife of Saturn and 
 "the mother of the gods," wore a diadem of three towers. 
 Cf. ^fineid, vi. 784-786 : 
 
 "The Berycinthian mother rides tower-crowned through the 
 towns of Phrygia, proud of the gods that have sprung from her." 
 Cf. Faerie Queene, IV. xi. 28 : 
 
 " Old Cybele, array d with pompous pride, 
 Wearing a Diademe embattild wide 
 With hundred turrets," etc. 
 
 23. Juno dares not give her odds. Could not afford to give 
 her any advantage in a contest for beauty. Masson gives an 
 interesting interpretation of this passage. He says it should 
 be read with the picture of the venerable lady before us as 
 she appeared on that evening of the masque, throned, and sur- 
 rounded by two generations of her descendants. " Does it not 
 
170 NOTES 
 
 then mean, even now, the handsomest of her daughters must do 
 her best to keep up with her ? " 
 
 26. gentle. Of gentle blood. Masson assumes that Lawes 
 took the part of Genius of the Wood. 
 
 27. honour. Nobility of birth. 
 
 30, 31. Divine Alpheus, etc. Alpheus was the name of a 
 river in Arcadia which ran underground for some distance. 
 The legend was that Alpheus, a young hunter, was in love with 
 a nymph Arethusa, and when she fled from him to Ortygia in 
 Sicily, he was turned into a river and followed her under the 
 sea, rising again in Ortygia where the waters blended with those 
 of a fountain called after her, Arethusa. Cf. Lycidas, 85, 132, 
 and ^Eneid, iii. 694-696 : 
 
 "Alpheus the river of Elis made himself a secret passage 
 under the sea ; and he now, through thy mouth, Arethusa, 
 blends with the waters of Sicily." 
 
 33. silver-buskined Nymphs. The ladies of the masque 
 wearing buskins, as did Diana and her nymphs. Cf. ^Eneid, 
 i. 336, 337 : 
 
 " Tyrian maidens like me are wont to carry the quiver and 
 tie the purple buskin high up the calf." 
 
 34. free, noble or generous. 
 
 46. curl. Drayton, in his Polyolbion, alluding to a grove 
 says, "Where she her curled head unto the eye may 
 show." 
 
 47. wanton windings wove. Cf. Faerie Queene, I. ii. 13, for 
 alliteration : 
 
 " Whose bridle rung with golden bels and bosses brave." (M.) 
 
 51. thwarting. Athwart or zigzag. (M.) 
 
 52. cross dire-looking planet. Alluding to the malignant 
 influence of planets. Cf. Hamlet, i. 1 : 
 
 " Then no planets strike," etc. 
 
 53. hurtful worm. Cf. Lycidas, 46. 
 
 57. tasselled horn. Cf. Faerie Queene, I. viii. 3: 
 
NOTES 171 
 
 "Then tooke that Squire an home of bugle small, 
 Which hong adowne his side in twisted gold 
 And tasselles gay." 
 
 60. murmurs. Charms. Cf. Comus, 526. 
 
 63-73. the celestial Sirens' harmony, etc. Milton's idea of 
 the music of the spheres is that each of the nine spheres is 
 presided over by a Muse. As the spheres revolve, the Muses 
 sing in harmony, while the Fates are turning the spindle of 
 Necessity (adamantine) on which the threads of human and 
 divine lives are wound. Cf. Plato, Republic, x. Chap. 14. 
 
 70. unsteady Nature. Such Nature seemed until the law of 
 the whole was understood. 
 
 72, 73. which none can hear, etc. Cf. Merchant of Venice, 
 v. 1: 
 
 " But whilst this muddy vesture of decay 
 Doth grossly close us in, we cannot hear it." 
 
 Cf. Tennyson, Higher Pantheism : 
 
 " And the ear of man cannot hear, and the eye of man cannot 
 
 see ; 
 But if we could see and hear, this Vision were it not He ? " 
 
 81. state. Throne. 
 
 88, 89. shady roof, etc. Cf. Faerie Queene, I. i. 7 : 
 
 "Whose loftie trees, yclad with sommer's pride', 
 Did spred so broad, that heaven's light did hide, 
 Not perceable with power of any starr." 
 
 97-109. Ladon's,etc. Ladon was a river in Arcadia. Lycceus, 
 Cyllene and Mcenalus, mountains of Arcadia. Syrinx, a nymph 
 who, being pursued by Pan, was changed into a reed of which 
 Pan made his pipe. 
 
 Massoii thinks the allusion here is to the masque of Ben Jon- 
 son's, which the Countess may have seen many years before at 
 her home, Althorpe. 
 
 " And the dame hath Syrinx' grace ; 
 O that Pan were now in place." 
 
172 NOTES 
 
 TEXTUAL 
 
 The more important readings in the Cambridge Mss. are as 
 follows : 
 
 1, 2. Milton originally used a different metre : 
 
 " Look, Nymphs and Shepherds, look ! here ends our quest, 
 Since at last our eyes are blest." 
 
 These lines were dashed out with a cross line to begin as now. 
 10-14. These four lines were : 
 
 ' ' Now seems guilty of abuse 
 And detraction from her praise : 
 Less than half she hath expressed ; 
 Envy bid her hide the rest." 
 
 " Her hide " is erased and " conceal " written over it. 
 18. Sitting, was "seated." 
 
 23. Juno. This was erased and "Ceres" substituted, and 
 again "Ceres" erased and "Juno" restored. 
 
 24. had, was "would have." 
 
 41. What shallow-searching, was ' * Those virtues which dull. ' ' 
 
 44. am, was "have." 
 
 47. With, was "In." 
 
 49. and, was "or." 
 
 50. boughs, was " leaves. " 
 52. Or, was "that." 
 
 59. This line was, " And number all my ranks and every 
 sprout. " 
 
 62. locked up mortal sense, was " chained mortality." 
 81. ye, was "you." 
 91. you, was "ye." 
 
 1634-1637-1645 
 
 COMUS 
 
 (Two copies, one, Lawes' stage-copy ; and the other in Milton's 
 own hand in the Cambridge MSS.) 
 
 Green says : " The historic interest of Milton's Comus lies in 
 its forming part of a protest made by the more cultured Puritans 
 
at this tin 
 
 fnst.prino- 
 
 NOTES 173 
 
 at this time against the gloomier bigotry which persecution was 
 fostering in the party at large." 
 
 In respect of the time, nature of the occasion, and the charac- 
 ters involved, Comus and Arcades are closely connected. Sir 
 John Egerton, first Earl of Bridgewater, was the son of the 
 Countess-Dowager's second husband, Sir Thomas Egerton, by a 
 previous marriage ; he married Frances, daughter of the Countess 
 by her first husband, Lord Strange. Their children were the 
 two sons who acted in the masque Ccelum Britannicum, and 
 who were concerned in the previous masque Arcades ; two mar- 
 ried daughters, and the beautiful Lady Alice, unmarried. Sir 
 John was appointed Lord President of the Council in the prin- 
 cipality of VVales in June, 1631. The official seat was at Ludlow 
 Castle in Shropshire, built by the descendants of the Conqueror. 
 The site of the castle, on the rocky heights above the green valley 
 where two rivers meet, is beautiful and commands a magnificent 
 outlook over the surrounding country. Its associations are those 
 of the old wars of Welsh and Norman, the Wars of the Roses, 
 and the history of the Prince of Wales. 
 
 " Child of loud-throated War ! the mountain stream 
 Roars in thy hearing ; but thy hour of rest 
 Is come, and thou art silent in thy age." 
 
 The Earl did not assume the duties of office until 1634. The 
 festivities of inauguration were enlivened by the performance of 
 a masque in the great hall of the castle by members of the Earl's 
 family, in the presence of a distinguished assembly of guests, on 
 Michaelmas Night, September 29. 
 
 The association of the two young rons of the Earl with Lawes 
 in the Cesium Britannicum, and with Lawes and Milton in Ar- 
 cades, is sufficient to account for their respective parts in this 
 distinguished pageant. Lady Alice took the part of The Lady, 
 the two brothers the parts of first and second Brother respec- 
 tively, and Lawes himself that of the Attendant Spirit. 
 
 The name Comus was not applied to the masque during Mil- 
 ton's life. In the Cambridge Ms. it is " A Masque Presented 
 at Ludlow Castle, 1634, before the Earl of Bridgewater, Lord 
 
174 NOTES 
 
 President of Wales." In the Bridge-water Ms., which probably 
 Lawes used as a stage-copy, the masque begins with a song of 
 twenty lines, which in Milton's arrangement occupies lines 976- 
 999 ; he made it a song of arrival by changing To the Ocean 
 into From the heavens, and Where young Adonis oft reposes 
 into Where a cherub soft reposes. It is evident from this that 
 Lawes thought it would be more effective for the Attendant 
 Spirit to descend into the wood with a song than with a speech. 
 On his departure he sang the song as it is now in the epilogue. 
 
 We can never know whether or not Milton was present at 
 this splendid performance, but we know that if he were it was 
 not as the known author of the masque, for the authorship was 
 a secret known only to Lawes and the Earl's family. But the 
 author of such a success could not long be concealed. Inquiries 
 were made in regard to the production ; copies of the songs 
 were asked for, and then of the entire masque. At last in 1637 
 Lawes published it with this title-page : 
 
 " A Maske presented at Ludlow Castle 1634, on Michaelmas 
 Night, before the Right Honourable John, Earl of Bridgewater, 
 Viscount Brackley, Lord President of Wales, and one of His 
 Majesties' Most honourable Privy Counsell. 
 
 " ' Eheu quid volui misero mihi ! floribus Austrum Perditus." 1 
 
 " London : Printed for Humphrey Robinson, at the signe of 
 the Three Pidgeons in Paul's Churchyard, 1637." 
 
 Masson thinks that the Latin motto on the title-page was sup- 
 plied by Milton, and that in it he expressed a fear that he may 
 have been foolish in letting the masque bs published. 
 
 The volume was dedicated to the Earl's son, young Viscount 
 Brackley, who took the part of First Brother (cf . p. 52). The music 
 which Lawes composed for the songs in Comus exists in the Mss. 
 of the British Museum, written in his own hand, with the heading : 
 
 " Five Songs set for a Mask presented at Ludlo Castle be- 
 fore the Earl of Bridgewater, Lord President of the Marches: 
 October 1634." 
 
 Cf. sonnet, To Mr. H. Lawe-s on his Airs. 
 
 Milton first published the masque in the edition of 1645, with 
 this title-page : A Masque of the Same Author, presented at 
 

 NOTES 175 
 
 Ludlow Castle, 1634, before the Earl of Bridgewater, then 
 President of Wales: Anno Dom., 1645. Lawes' dedication and 
 the letter from Sir Henry Wotton were included (cf. p. 49). 
 
 Those who show "how to make careful literal identification 
 of stories somewhere told ill and without art, with the same 
 stories told over again by the masters, well and with the trans- 
 figuring effect of genius," tell us that this most original poem 
 of its kind in English literature, owes much to Peele's Old 
 Wives' 1 Tale, Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess, Ben Jonson's 
 Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue, and Hendrik van der Puttens' 
 Latin extravaganza Comus. What Tennyson said of this class 
 of critics is to the point : 
 
 ' ' There is, I fear, a prosaic set growing up among us, editors 
 of booklets, book-worms, index-hunters, or men of great mem- 
 ories and no imagination, who impute themselves to the poet, 
 and so believe that he, too, has no imagination, but is forever 
 poking his nose between the pages of some old volume in order 
 to see what he can appropriate." 
 
 On the whole, Time treats great things greatly. This reveals 
 how close to the great world's heart noble poetry lies. It has 
 been said that we are all poets when we read a poem well. 
 This poem has been well read and worthily praised. Here is a 
 great subject so penetrated by the imagination as to reveal its 
 soul, its inward harmony with those "primal sympathies which 
 having been, must ever be." It is perhaps the finest illustration 
 in English literature of what Carlyle calls "Musical Thought." 
 
 "All we see before us passing, 
 Sign and symbol is alone ; 
 Here, what thought can never reach to, 
 Is by semblances made known ; 
 What man's word may never utter 
 Done in act in symbol shown." 
 
 GOETHE, Faust. 
 
 Mr. Stopford Brooke says : " It is in the full-weighted dignity 
 of the blank verse that the poem was then unparalleled. It 
 was marked by a greater grandeur of style and thought, by a 
 
176 NOTES 
 
 graver beauty, and a more exercised and self-conscious art than 
 any poem of its character which England had as yet known. It 
 belonged to the Elizabethan spirit, but it went beyond it, and 
 made a new departure for English poetry. 
 
 All the kinds of poetry which Milton touched he touched 
 with the ease of great strength, and with so much energy that 
 they became new in his hands. He put a fresh life into the 
 masque, the sonnet, the elegy, the descriptive lyric, the song, 
 the choral drama ; and he created the epic in England." 
 
 Professor George Saintsbury says : " The versification is the 
 versification of Paradise Lost and has a spring, a variety, a 
 sweep and rush of genius which are but rarely present later. 
 If poetry could be taught by the reading of it, then indeed the 
 critic's advice to a poet might be limited to this : 'Give your 
 days and nights to the reading of Comus.'' " 
 
 Sir Henry Wotton, Provost of Eton College, was perhaps the 
 first to express to Milton his appreciation of the poem (cf. p. 49). 
 
 " Comus," says Hallam, " was sufficient to convince any one of 
 taste and feeling that a great poet had arisen in England and one 
 partly formed in a different school from his contemporaries." 
 
 Emerson says : " Milton is rightly dear to mankind, because 
 in him among so many perverse and partial men of genius 
 humanity rights itself : the old eternal goodness finds a home in 
 his breast, >r and for once shows itself beautiful. Among so 
 many contrivances to make holiness ugly, in Milton at least it 
 was so pure a flame that the foremost impression his characters 
 make is that of elegance. He said, 'Every free and gentle 
 spirit, without the oath of chastity, ought to be born a knight : 
 nor needed to expect the gilt spur, or the laying a sword upon 
 his shoulder, to stir him up, by his counsel and his arms, to 
 secure and protect innocence.' This native honor never for- 
 sook him. It is the spirit of Comus, the loftiest song in praise 
 of chastity that is in any language." 
 
 Mr. Henry Van Dyke says: "The Lady in Comus is the 
 sweet embodiment of Milton's youthful ideal of virtue clothed 
 with the fairness of opening womanhood, armed with the sun- 
 clad power of chastity." 
 

 NOTES 111 
 
 "No courtier of Charles I," says F. D. Maurice, "felt the 
 attraction of the masques and entertainments in which the 
 monarch and his wife delighted, more than the young Puritan. 
 In the masque of ' Comus ' the object was to exhibit in richer and 
 more glorious verse than had ever been consecrated to courtly 
 tastes and courtly indulgences, the battle of virtue with its 
 tempters, and the Divine help which is sustaining it against 
 them." 
 
 3. insphered. Cf. II Penseroso, 88, and Arcades, 63-73. 
 
 4. serene. Some critics think this should be accented on 
 the first syllable, but Masson prefers the usual pronunciation of 
 the word. 
 
 7. pestered. From in and pastorium, a clog upon a horse 
 at pasture, hence to encumber. 
 
 pinfold. Anglo-Saxon pyndan, to shut in; hence a pound in 
 which stray beasts are put. 
 
 11. enthroned. A dissyllable. 
 
 13. golden key. Cf. Lycidas, 111. 
 
 16. ambrosial weeds. Celestial garments. Cf. L" 1 Allegro, 
 120, and note. 
 
 20. high and nether Jove. Jupiter and Pluto. Cf. Homer, 
 Iliad, ix. 457, Zeus re Karax^ovios, Subterranean Jove, i.e. Pluto. 
 
 " The air is Zeus, Zeus earth, and Zeus the heaven, 
 Zeus all that is, and what transcends them all." 
 
 ^ESCHYLOS, Fragment, 293, Plumptre. 
 
 23. unadorndd. Supply before this, "otherwise." 
 25. several. Separate. 
 
 27. this Isle, etc. Great Britain. Cf. Richard II. ii. 1 : 
 " This royal throne of kings," etc. 
 
 29. quarters. Divides. 
 
 blue-haired. An epithet relating to them as of the sea. 
 
 "The blue-haired ocean." Mansus. 
 
 30. this tract, etc. Western Britain or Wales. 
 
 31. noble Peer, etc. The Earl of Bridgewater. 
 mickle. Much. 
 
 N 
 
178 NOTES 
 
 33. old and haughty. The Welsh, proud of being descend- 
 ants of the Celts. 
 
 34. nursed. Educated. 
 
 43-45. for I will tell, etc. Cf. A Midsummer Night's Dream, 
 v. 1: 
 
 "Come now; what masques, what dances shall we have, 
 To wear away this long age of three hours 
 Between our after-supper and bed-time ? 
 Where is our usual manager of mirth ? 
 What revels are in hand ? Is there no play, 
 To ease the anguish of a torturing hour ? 
 
 What masque, what music ? How shall we beguile 
 The lazy time, if not with some delight ? " 
 
 45. hall or bower. Large public room and private apartments. 
 46-50. Bacchus, etc. 
 
 " Think not that wine against good verse offends ; 
 The Muse and Bacchus have been always friends." 
 
 Elegy vi. 
 
 48. After the Tuscan mariners transformed. After the 
 transformation of the Tuscan mariners. Alluding to the seizure 
 of Bacchus by pirates and their transformation into dolphins as 
 given in Homer's Hymn to Bacchus. 
 
 50. Circe's island. Cf. Odyssey, x. 
 
 54-58. This genealogy of Comus is a creation of Milton. 
 
 60. Celtic and Iberian. France and Spain. 
 
 65. orient. Shining. 
 
 67. fond. Foolish. 
 
 74. Not once perceive, etc. This is a variation from the 
 Homeric account, where the companions of Ulysses are con- 
 scious of their state. 
 
 83. spun out of Iris' woof. Cf. Paradise Lost, xi. 244 : 
 
 " Iris had dipt the woof." 
 
 84-91. a swain, etc. A compliment to Henry Lawes, who 
 was the actor of the part. 
 

 NOTES 179 
 
 88. of less faith. Not less trustworthy than he is skilled in 
 music. (M.) 
 92. viewless. Cf. Paradise Lost, iii. 516-518 : 
 
 " Each stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood 
 There always, but drawn up to Heaven sometimes 
 Viewless." 
 
 95-97. the gilded car of day, etc. Alluding to the ancient 
 idea that the ocean hissed when the setting sun dropped into it. 
 98. slope. Declining, aslope. 
 105. rosy twine. Wreaths of roses. 
 110. saws. Maxims. 
 
 " I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, 
 All saws of books," etc. Hamlet, i. 5. 
 
 113. spheres. Cf. Arcades, 63-73, II Penseroso, 88, 89, and 
 notes. 
 
 116. morrice. A dance introduced by the Moors. 
 
 129. Cotytto. A Thracian divinity whose rites were asso- 
 ciated with impurity. 
 
 132. spets. Old form of spits. 
 
 135. Hecat'. Hecate. Presiding genius of witchcraft, sor- 
 cery, etc. Cf. Macbeth, ii. 1 : 
 
 " witchcraft celebrates 
 Pale Hecate's offerings." 
 
 144. fantastic round. Cf. V Allegro, 34, note. 
 
 151. trains. Allurements. 
 
 154. dazzling spells, etc. Some device is here resorted to 
 for producing brilliant scintillations which the air (spongy) 
 sucks up. 
 
 167. Whom thrift, etc. This line is omitted in ed. of 1673 
 and the next two are transposed. 
 
 175. granges. Granaries. 
 
 188. grey-hooded Even. Cf. Wordsworth, Sonnet : 
 
 " It is a beauteous evening calm and free : 
 The holy time is quiet as a nun." 
 
180 NOTES 
 
 204, single. Pure, unmixed. 
 
 207. calling shapes. Cf. Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess 
 (Newton) : 
 
 " Or voices calling me in dead of night 
 To make me follow." 
 
 215. Chastity. Substituted by Milton for Charity. 
 
 232. Meander. A river of Asia Minor full of windings. 
 
 234. nightingale. Cf. To the Nightingale, note. 
 
 237. Narcissus. The beautiful youth in love for whom Echo 
 pined away till only her voice was left, and who was changed 
 into a flower. 
 
 253. with the Sirens. This is invented by Milton. 
 
 254. flowery-kirtled. Wreathed in flowers. 
 
 257-259. Scylla . . . Charybdis. Cf. JEneM, iii. 551-560. 
 
 267. Unless. Supply after this, "thou be." 
 
 289. Hebe. Goddess of youth. 
 
 293. swinked. Fatigued. 
 
 299. element. Air or sky. 
 
 301. plighted. Pleated, folded. 
 
 313. bosky. Woody. 
 
 315. attendance. For attendants. 
 
 317. low-roosted. The lark's nest is on the ground. That 
 dear old poet, Izaak Walton, says: "At first the Lark, when 
 she means to rejoice, to cheer herself and those that hear, she 
 then quits the earth and sings as she ascends higher into the 
 air ; and having ended her heavenly employment grows mute 
 and sad to think she must descend to the dull earth which she 
 would not touch but for necessity." 
 
 334. disinherit. Dispossess. 
 
 341, 342. star of Arcady, etc. Alluding to the Great Bear 
 being as Tyrian Cynosure to the pole-star in it ; Callisto, 
 daughter of the King of Arcady, was changed into the Great 
 Bear. The Tyrian sailors steered by Cynosure the pole-star. 
 
 360. To cast the fashion. To anticipate the form. 
 
 366. so to seek. So helpless. 
 
 367. unprincipled. Unlearned. 
 
NOTES 181 
 
 380. all to-ruffled. Ruffled very much, completely. 
 382. i' the centre. Of the earth. Cf. Hamlet, ii. 2 ; 
 
 "I will find 
 
 Where truth is hid, even though it were hid indeed 
 Within the centre." 
 
 385. Himself is his own dungeon. Cf. Samson Agonistes : 
 
 " Thou art become (0 worse imprisonment !) 
 The dungeon of thyself." 
 
 393. Hesperian tree. That bore the golden apples in the 
 garden of the Hesperides watched by the dragon which Her- 
 cules slew. 
 
 395. unenchanted. Not to be enchanted. 
 
 398. unsunned. Hidden. 
 
 401. wink on. Fail to see. 
 
 407. unowned. Unprotected. 
 
 408. Infer. Argue. 
 
 413. squint suspicion. Spenser in Faerie Queene, III. xii. 15, 
 says of Suspicion : 
 
 " His rolling eies did never rest in place." 
 
 423. trace. Traverse. 
 
 unharboured. Not affording shelter. 
 
 432. Some say no evil thing. Cf. Hamlet, i. 1 : 
 
 ' Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes 
 Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, 
 The bird of dawning singeth all night long : 
 And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad." 
 
 434, 435. unlaid ghost, etc. Cf. Tempest, v. 1 : 
 
 "whose pastime 
 
 Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice 
 To hear the solemn curfew." 
 
 430. swart. Black. 
 
182 NOTES 
 
 439. Antiquity. Up to this time allusion had been made 
 only to Mediaeval legend. 
 
 453. So dear to Heaven. Now the speaker passes into Pla- 
 tonic philosophy with a touch of Christianity. (M. ) 
 
 459-469. Till oft, etc. Platonism. Cf. Byron, Prisoner of 
 Chilian : 
 
 ' ' So much a long communion tends 
 To make us what we are." 
 
 Cf. Tennyson, By an Evolutionist, and Browning, Rabbi Ben 
 Ezra. 
 
 476-479. How charming, etc. An allusion to Plato, whom 
 Milton admired. 
 
 491. you fall on iron stakes else. A caution to those who 
 may be friendly. (M.) 
 
 494, 495. Thyrsis, etc. A compliment to Henry Lawes. 
 
 495-512. Note the rhyme scheme here. The purpose is to 
 prolong to feeling of pastoralism by calling up the cadence of 
 known English pastorals. (M.) 
 
 515-518. What the sage poets, etc. An allusion to the 
 stories of Homer and Virgil. 
 
 520. navel. Centre. 
 
 526. murmurs. Spells. 
 
 529. unmoulding. Destroying. 
 
 531. hilly crofts. Upland pastures. 
 
 534. stabled wolves. Wolves in pens. 
 
 552-554. Till an unusual stop. Alluding to line 145. 
 
 drowsy-flighted. Startled from their drowse. 
 
 555-562. At last, etc. A beautiful compliment to the singing 
 of Lady Alice. 
 
 604. Acheron. The infernal river, here used for Hell. Cf. 
 Phineas Fletcher's Locusts : 
 
 "All hell run out, and sooty flags display." (M.) 
 
 605. Harpies. Cf. JSneid, iii. 216-218: 
 
 " Birds with maidens' faces, a foul discharge, crooked talons, 
 and on their cheeks the pallor of eternal famine." 
 
 606. Ind. India : the region of black enchantments. (M.) 
 
i 
 
 NOTES 183 
 
 curls. Comus the voluptuary god wore curls. (K.) 
 619-628. shepherd lad. An allusion to Milton's friend Dio- 
 dati. Cf. Epitapliium Damonis and Elegies i., vi. 
 627. simples. Medicinal herbs. 
 
 635. clouted shoon. Mended shoes. 
 
 636. Moly. Cf. Odyssey, x. By this plant Ulysses is made 
 proof from the charms of Circe. 
 
 "The root is black, 
 
 The blossom white as milk. Among the gods 
 It's name is Moly." 
 
 638. Haemony. Milton invents this. It may be from Ha>- 
 monia, the old name for Thessaly, the land of magic. (M.) 
 
 646. lime-twigs. Snares smeared with bird lime. 
 
 655. like the sons of Vulcan, vomit smoke. Cf. JEneid, viii. 
 251-253, where the giant Cacus, son of Vulcan, is alluded to : 
 
 " Cacus, half man, half brute. 
 
 This monster's father was Vulcan. Vulcan's 
 
 Were the murky fires that he disgorged from his mouth." 
 
 661. Daphne. Who when Apollo pursued her was turned 
 into a laurel tree. 
 
 672. julep. Rose-water, here a cordial. 
 
 675. Nepenthes. A drug which Helen gave to Menelaus. 
 Cf . Odyssey, iv. 220 : 
 
 " Helen, Jove-born dame, 
 With the wine they drank mingled a drug, 
 An antidote to grief and anger." 
 
 I wife of Thone. Polydamna an Egyptian. 
 698. vizored. Disguised. 
 707. those budge doctors of the Stoic fur. Budge was an 
 old name for lamb's fur, as worn on scholastic gowns. 
 Stoic. Who despised the pleasures of the senses. 
 708. Cynic tub. Of Diogenes. 
 711. unwithdrawing. Liberal. 
 
184 NOTES 
 
 719. hutched. Put in a chest. 
 
 721. pulse. Beans, pease, etc. 
 
 739-755. Beauty is Nature's coin, etc. Cf. Shakespeare's 
 Sonnets, i.-vi. 
 
 750. sorry grain. Poor color. 
 
 ply the sampler. Make needle work for samples. Cf. Mid- 
 summer Night's Dream, iii. 2 : 
 
 "We, Hermia, like two artificial gods, 
 Have with our needles created both one flower, 
 Both on one sampler." 
 
 756-761. These lines are an Aside. 
 
 760. bolt. Refine. 
 
 791. fence. Thrusts. The figure is from fencing. 
 
 800-806. These lines are an Aside. 
 
 803. wrath of Jove. In the war of the Titans. 
 
 804. Erebus. Infernal regions. 
 
 809, 810. 'tis but the lees, etc. An allusion to the old idea 
 that the gases of the stomach rose and affected the brain. 
 
 816. rod reversed. According to the old customs of undoing 
 the spell by reversing the rod and pronouncing the words of 
 the charm backwards. (M.) 
 
 822. Melibceus. Common name for shepherds. Here for 
 Geoffrey of Monmouth. 
 
 823. soothest. Truest. 
 
 824-827. There is a gentle Nymph, etc. Milton at one time 
 meditated a poem on the settlement of Britain. He wrote a 
 history of Britain as far as the Conquest. He here alludes to 
 the old legend in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the 
 Britons, which makes Brutus the second founder of Britain. 
 One of his sons, Locrine, although he was engaged to Guen- 
 dolen of Cornwall, fell in love with Estrildis, a German princess. 
 Guendolen's father forced him to marry her, but Estrildis lived 
 in his palace and bore him a daughter, Sabre, or Sabrina. 
 He divorced Guendolen and acknowledged Estrildis and her 
 daughter, but Guendolen rallied the Cornish people to her sup- 
 port, defeated Locrine and commanded Estrildis and her daugh- 
 

 NOTES 185 
 
 ter to be drowned in the river, now called Severn from the 
 daughter's name. Cf. Faerie Qneene, II. x. 14-19 : 
 
 ' The one she slew upon the present floure ; 
 But the sad virgin, innocent of all, 
 Adowne the rolling river she did poure, 
 Which of her name now Severne men do call." (19.) 
 
 It was a very effective compliment to the people of Wales. 
 Milton varies the legend a little in the interest of Sabrina. 
 
 835. aged Nereus' hall. Milton blends classic mythology 
 with the British legend. Nereus was father of the sea nymphs, 
 Nereids. 
 
 838. asphodil. A flower which grew in the Elysian fields. 
 
 845. Helping all urchin blasts. The urchin or hedgehog was 
 the form often assumed by mischievous elves. Helping is cur- 
 ing. Cf. Tempest, ii. 2. Caliban alluding to Prospero's Spirits 
 says: 
 
 " Sometimes like apes they mow and chatter at me, 
 And after bite me ; then like hedgehogs which 
 Lie tumbling in my barefoot way," etc. 
 
 846. meddling elf. One of the followers of Robin Goodfellow. 
 Cf. V Allegro, 105, and note. 
 
 852. old swain. Meliboeus. 
 
 858. After praising the speeches, Macaulay says: "The in- 
 terruptions of the dialogue impose a constraint upon the writer, 
 and break the illusion of the reader. The finest passages are 
 those which are lyric in form as well as in spirit. . . . When 
 he is at liberty to indulge his choral raptures without reserve, 
 he rises even above himself. ... He stands forth in celestial 
 freedom and beauty." 
 
 863. amber-dropping. Amber-colored and dripping with wet. 
 
 867-889. Listen and appear to us, etc. Allusions to the clas- 
 sical mythology here are : Oceanus, god of the great stream 
 which encircled the habitable world; Neptune is a later sea 
 king. Tethys is the wife of Oceanus and mother of the river 
 gods. Nereus, see note to line 835. Carpathian Wizard is 
 
186 NOTES 
 
 Proteus, who could change into any shape ; he lived in a cave in 
 Carpathus in the Mediterranean. He was a sea shepherd and 
 his flock was of sea calves. Cf. Virgil, Georgics, iv. : 
 
 "In the sea gods' Carpathian gulf there lives a seer, Proteus, 
 of the sea's own hue, who takes the measure of the mighty deep 
 with his fishes, even with his harnessed two-legged steeds." 
 
 Triton, son of Neptune, rode on sea horses, blowing his 
 " wreathed horn." 
 
 Glaucus was a fisherman who, having eaten a certain herb, 
 was changed into a sea god, and roved about islands uttering 
 oracles for sailors. Leucothea (white goddess) was Ino, daugh- 
 ter of Cadmus. She threw herself and her son into the sea 
 and was changed into a sea deity. Cf. Paradise Lost, xi. 135 : 
 
 " Leucothea waked and with fresh dews embalmed the Earth." 
 
 Her son was god of ports and harbors. Thetis, one of the 
 daughters of Nereus, was mother of Achilles ; Homer calls her 
 silverfooted. Parthenope and Ligea were Sirens ; the tomb of 
 the former was at Naples. The golden comb seems to suggest 
 the mermaids of northern mythology seen " combing their 
 golden hair." (M.) 
 
 " With a comb of pearl I would comb my hair." 
 
 TENNYSON, The Mermaid. 
 
 893. azurn. Azure. 
 
 894. turkis. Turquoise. 
 
 895. strays. Moved along by tide. 
 897. printless feet. Cf. Tempest, v. 1 : 
 
 Arid ye that on the sands with printless foot 
 Do chase the ebbing Neptune." 
 
 921. Amphitrite's bower. Chamber of Amphitrite, the wife 
 of Neptune. 
 
 923. Anchises' line. Anchises was the founder of the line 
 through ^Eneas, Brutus, etc. 
 
 929. tresses. Foliage on thy banks. 
 
 934. lofty head. Source of the river, and possibly put for 
 the river itself. 
 
NOTES 187 
 
 958. Back, shepherds. The country dancers are interrupted 
 by the arrival of this party. 
 
 959. sun- shine holiday. Compare this merrymaking with that 
 in V Allegro, 92-98. 
 
 900. without duck or nod. They are now to lay aside their 
 country ways and assume the manners of the courtly dancers. 
 976-979. To the ocean, etc. Cf. Ariel's song in Tempest, 
 
 v. 1 : 
 
 " Where the bee sucks, there suck I ; 
 In a cowslip's bell I lie ; 
 There I couch when owls do cry. 
 On the bat's back I do fly," etc. 
 
 Compare these closing lines of Comus with "Thence through 
 the gardens," etc. Cf. Tennyson's Recollections of the Arabian 
 Nights. 
 
 981. the gardens, etc. Cf. 393, note. 
 
 990. cedarn. Of cedar. 
 
 998. Beds of hyacinths. Cf. Faerie Queene, iii. vi. 46. 
 Adonis lies 
 
 "Lapped in flowres and pretious spy eery." 
 
 1002. Assyrian queen. Astarte, identified with Venus here. 
 1004. Cupid, etc. Cf. Faerie Queene, iii. vi. 50 : 
 
 " And his trew love faire Psyche with him playes," etc. 
 
 1009. side. Cf. Tennyson's Eizpah : 
 
 " They are mine not 
 Theirs they had moved in my side." 
 
 1010. blissful twins. Spenser gives but one child to Psyche : 
 " Pleasure, the daughter of Cupid and Psyche late." 
 
 1017. corners of the moon. Cf. Macbeth, iii. 5 : 
 
 " Upon the corner of the moon 
 There hangs a vaporous drop profound." 
 
 1022. Or, if Virtue feeble were. Masson gives an interest- 
 ing anecdote in connection with the last two lines of Comus. 
 
188 NOTES 
 
 When Milton was returning home from his continental travel in 
 1639, he met in Geneva a teacher of Italian, Cerdogni or Car- 
 douin, a Neapolitan by birth, and probably a Protestant. 
 Cardouin asked Milton to write in his album. He complied and 
 
 wrote 
 
 " If Virtue feeble were 
 Heaven itselfe would stoope to her. 
 
 " Ccelum non animum muto dum trans mare curro. 
 
 "JOANNES MlLTONIUS. 
 
 " Junii 10, 1630. Anglus." 
 
 Masson says, "If we combine the English lines with the 
 Latin addition, it is as if he said: "The closing words of my 
 Comus are a permanent maxim with me." 
 
 The album was sold in Geneva in 1834 for a few shillings, 
 and after passing through several hands came into the posses- 
 sion of Hon. Charles Summer. It is now in the Sumner collec- 
 tion, Harvard College Library. 
 
 VARIATIONS IN STAGE-DIRECTIONS 
 
 Stage-directions in the Cambridge Ms., afterwards changed by 
 Milton, are: Instead of the opening stage-direction, "The At- 
 tendant Spirit descends or enters,'" we have 
 
 A Guardian Spirit or Daemon. 
 
 After line 92: Goes out. Comus enters, with a charming- 
 rod and glass of liquor, with his rout all headed like some wild 
 beasts, their garments some like men's and some like women's. 
 They come in a wild and antic fashion. Intrant Kw/idfoj/res. 
 
 After 144 : Tlie Measure, in a ivild, rude, and wanton Antic. 
 
 After 147, where there is no stage-direction now, we have : 
 They all scatter. 
 
 After 243, where there is no stage-direction now, we have : 
 Comus looks in and enters. 
 
 After 330 : Exeunt. The Two Brothers enter. 
 
 After 489: He hallos: the Guardian Daemon hallos again 
 and enters in the habit of a shepherd. 
 

 NOTES 189 
 
 After 658. The present reading is the same as in the Cam- 
 bridge Mss., with the exception that Soft music is omitted from 
 first sentence ; and the second reads : Comus is discovered with 
 his rabble, and The Lady set in an enchanted chair: she offers 
 to rise. 
 
 After 813 : The Brothers rush in, strike his glass down; the 
 Shapes make as though they would resist, but are all driven in. 
 Daemon enters with them. 
 
 After 866, where there is no stage-direction now, we have : 
 To be said, and after 937 there is, Song ends. 
 
 After 957 : Exeunt. The Scene changes, and then is pre- 
 sented Ludlow town, and the President's Castle; then enter 
 Country Dances and such like gambols, etc. At these sports 
 the Daemon, with the Two Brothers and The Lady enter. The 
 Daemon sings. 
 
 After 965, we have merely, 2 Song. 
 
 TEXTUAL 
 
 
 
 The following readings are found in the Cambridge Mss. : 
 After 4, the Cambridge draft has, crossed out : 
 
 " Amidst the Hesperian gardens, on whose banks, 
 Bedewed with nectar and celestial songs, 
 Eternal roses grow, and hyacinths, 
 And fruits of golden rind, on whose fair tree 
 The scaley-harnessed dragon ever keeps 
 His unenchanted eye, around the verge 
 And sacred limits of this blissful Isle 
 The jealous Ocean, that old river, winds 
 His far-extended arms, till with steep fall 
 Half his waste flood the wild Atlantic fills, 
 And half the slow unfathomed Stygian pool. 
 But soft ! I was not sent to court your wonder 
 With distant worlds and strange removed climes. 
 Yet thence I come, and oft from thence behold." 
 
 5. " The smoke and stir of this dim narrow spot." 
 After 7 : " Beyond the written date of mortal change." 
 
190 NOTES 
 
 21. " The rule and title of each sea-girt isle." 
 
 28. main, was "his empire." 
 
 58. " Which therefore she brought up and Comus named." 
 
 90. " Nearest and likeliest to give present aid." 
 
 97. Atlantic, was "Tartarian." 
 
 99. dusky, was "Northern." 
 
 108. Advice with, was " quick Law with her." 
 
 123. hath, was "has." 
 
 133. This line has two forms : 
 
 (1) " And makes a blot of nature." 
 
 (2) " And throws a blot o'er all the air." 
 
 134-137 was : 
 
 " Stay thy polished ebon chair 
 Wherein thou rid'st with Hecate, 
 And favour our close jocondry, 
 Till all thy dues," etc. 
 
 144. With a light and frolic rouiW. 
 
 150. charms, was "trains." 
 
 151. my wily trains, was "my mother's charms." 
 154. dazzling, was "powdered." 
 
 164. snares, was "nets." 
 
 170. mine, was "my." 
 
 175. granges, was "garners." 
 
 181. mazes, was "alleys," and tangled, was "arched." 
 
 190. wain, was " chair. " 
 
 194. To the soon-parting light and envious Darkness. 
 
 195. stole, was "stolne." 
 
 208. that syllable men's names, was "that lure night- wan- 
 derers. ' ' 
 
 214. hovering, was "flittering." 
 
 215. unblemished, was "unspotted." 
 
 216. For this line there was : 
 
 " I see ye visibly ; and, while I see ye, 
 This dusky hollow is a Paradise, 
 And Heaven gates o'er my head : now I believe." 
 
NOTES 191 
 
 219. guardian, was "cherub." 
 
 231. shell, was "cell." 
 
 243. give resounding grace, was " hold a counterpoint." 
 
 252. it, was "she." 
 
 257. wept, was "would weep." 
 
 258. And chid, was "Chiding." 
 270. prosperous, was "prospering." 
 
 279. Near-ushering guides, was " their ushering hands." 
 
 310. the sure guess, was " sure steerage." 
 
 316. Or shroud within these limits, was "within these 
 shroudy limits." 
 
 326. And yet most pretended, was " And is pretended yet." 
 
 352. Amongst rude burs and thistles, was " in this dead soli- 
 tude." 
 
 355-366 was : 
 
 " She leans her thoughtful head, musing at our unkindness ; 
 Or, lost in wild amazement and affright, 
 So fares as did forsaken Proserpine, 
 When the big rolling flakes of pitchy clouds 
 And darkness wound her in. 
 
 1 Br. Peace, brother, peace ! 
 I do not think my sister," etc. 
 
 376. sweet retired solitude, was " solitary sweet retire." 
 384, 385 : 
 
 " Walks in black vapours, though noon-tide brand 
 Blaze in the summer solstice." 
 
 390. weeds, was " beads. " 
 
 391. His few books, or his beads, was "His books, or his 
 hair gown." 
 
 403. wild surrounding waste, was (1) "wide surrounding 
 waste," and (2) "vast and hideous wild." 
 409, 410. For these lines there was the following : 
 
 " Secure without all doubt or question. No : 
 I could be willing, though now i' the dark, to try 
 A tough encounter with the shaggiest ruffian 
 
192 NOTES 
 
 That lurks by hedge or lane of this dead circuit, 
 To have her by my side, though I were sure 
 She might be free from peril where she is ; 
 But, where an equal poise," etc. 
 
 422, 423. For these lines we have : 
 
 "And may, on every needful accident, 
 Be it not done in pride or wilful tempting, 
 Walk through huge forests," etc. 
 
 425. rays was ' ' awe. ' ' 
 After 429 was the following : 
 
 "And yawning dens, where glaring monsters house." 
 
 432. Some say, was "Nay more." 
 
 434. meagre, was " wrinkled. " 
 
 465. lewd and lavish, was " the lascivious." 
 
 471. sepulchres, was "monuments." 
 
 472. Lingering, was " Hovering." 
 
 485. roving robber, was (1) "curled man of the sword," 
 and (2) "hedger." 
 
 490. " Had best look to his forehead : here be brambles." 
 
 491. iron, was "pointed." 
 
 496. dale, was "valley." 
 
 497. swain, was " shepherd. " 
 
 498. Slipped from the fold, was " Leap't o'er the pen." 
 513. ye, was "you." 
 
 531. hilly crofts, was "pastured lawns." 
 555, 556 : 
 
 " At last a soft [still, sweet] and solemn breathing sound 
 Rose like the soft steam of distilled perfumes." 
 
 605. monstrous forms, was "monstrous bugs." 
 607-609 : 
 
 ' ' And force him to release his new-got prey, 
 
 Or drag him by the curls and cleave his scalp 
 
 Down to the hips." 
 614. unthread, was "unquilt." 
 
NOTES 193 
 
 627. names, was " hues. " 
 
 636. That Hermes once, was " Which Mercury." 
 
 650. dauntless hardihood, was "sudden violence." 
 
 658. " And good Heaven cast his best regard upon us." 
 
 661. or as Daphne, was " fixed as Daphne." 
 
 After 678 there was : 
 
 " Poor Lady, thou hast need of some refreshing." 
 
 707. fur, was "gown." 
 
 713. Thronging, was "Cramming." 
 
 After 713 there was : 
 
 "The fields with cattle, and the air with fowl." 
 732-734. For these there were five lines : 
 
 " The sea o'erfraught would heave her waters up 
 Above the stars, and the unsought diamonds 
 Would so bestud the centre with their star-light 
 And so emblaze the forehead of the deep, 
 Were they not taken thence, that they below." 
 
 744. with languished head, was " and fades away." 
 749. complexions, was "beetle brows." 
 806. Come, no more, " Come, y'are too moral." 
 807-809. Here we have only two lines : 
 
 " This is mere moral stuff, the very lees 
 And settlings." 
 
 816. rod, was "art." 
 
 821. Some other means I have, was "There is another way 
 that." 
 
 834. pearled, was " white," and took, was "received." 
 
 After 846 was: "And often takes our cattle with strange 
 pinches." 
 
 851. " Of pansies and of bonnie daffodils." 
 
 853. " Each clasping charm and secret holding spell." 
 
 860. Art sitting, was "sit'st." 
 
 895. That in the channel stays, was "That my rich wheels 
 inlays." 
 
194 NOTES 
 
 910. Brightest, was "Virtuous." 
 
 921. " To wait on Amphitrite in her bower." 
 
 957. sits, was " reigns. " 
 
 962, 963 : 
 
 " Of nimbler toes, and courtly guise, 
 Such as Hermes did devise." 
 
 979. broad, was "plain." 
 983. There was first here : 
 
 " Where grows the high-borne gold upon his native tree," 
 
 but it was struck out. 
 990, 991 : 
 
 " About the myrtle alleys fling 
 Balm and cassia's fragrant smells." 
 
 After 995 is the following, crossed for erasure : 
 " Yellow, watchet, green, and blue." 
 
 996. Elysian, was " Sabeean." 
 
 999. young Adonis oft, was " many a cherub soft." 
 
 1012. Task is smoothly, was " message well is." 
 
 1014. green Earth's end, was " Earth's green end." 
 
 1015. Slow, was (1) "low," (2) "clear." 
 1023. stoop, was "bow." 
 
 1637-1638-1645 
 LYCIDAS 
 
 (In Milton's hand in the Cambridge MSS.) 
 
 For three years after the composition of C omits Milton lived 
 a quiet life at Horton with books and Nature, but the year 1637 
 brought him his first great grief. His mother, who had been 
 an embodiment of woman nobly planned, passed away on the 
 third of April. She was of sweet and tender disposition, of 
 gracious household ways, and we must believe that she had 
 much to do in opening the mind of her son to beautiful thoughts. 
 We believe he had her in mind when he wrote the following : 
 
NOTES 195 
 
 " Yet when I approach 
 Her loveliness, so absolute she seems 
 And in herself complete, so well to know 
 Her own, that what she wills to do or say 
 Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best. 
 All higher knowledge in her presence falls 
 Degraded ; Wisdom in discourse with her 
 Loses discountenanced, and like Folly shows ; 
 Authority and Reason on her wait, 
 As one intended first, not after made 
 Occasionally ; and to consummate all, 
 Greatness of mind and nobleness their seats 
 Build in her loveliest, and create an army 
 About her, as a guard angelic, placed." 
 
 Paradise Lost, viii. 546-559. 
 
 She was buried in the Parish Church of Horton. On the plain 
 slab in the floor of the chancel may be read " Heare lyeth the 
 Body of Sara Milton, the wife of John Milton, icho died the 3rd 
 of April, 1637." 
 
 It is worth while here to refer to those other noble tributes to 
 mothers in the works of Wordsworth and Tennyson : 
 
 " Early died my honoured mother, she who was the heart 
 And hinge of all our learnings and our lives : 
 
 She, not falsely taught, 
 
 Fetching her goodness rather from times past, 
 Than shaping novelties for times to come, 
 Had no presumption, no such jealousy, 
 Nor did by habit of her thoughts mistrust 
 Our nature, but had virtual faith that He 
 Who fills the mother's breast with innocent milk, 
 Doth also for our nobler part provide 
 Under His great correction and control, 
 As innocent instincts, and as innocent food : 
 
196 - NOTES 
 
 This was her creed, and therefore she was pure 
 From anxious fear of error or mishap 
 And evil overweeningly so called. 
 
 Such was she. Not from faculties" more strong 
 Than others have, but from the times, perhaps, 
 And spot in which she lived, and through a grace 
 Of modest meekness, simple-mindedness, 
 A heart that found benignity and hope, 
 Being itself benign." 
 
 Prelude, v. 
 
 " 'Alone,' I said, 'from earlier than I know, 
 Immersed in rich foreshadowings of the world, 
 I loved the woman : he, that doth not, lives 
 A drowning life, besotted in sweet self, 
 Or pines in sad experience worse than death, 
 Or keeps his wing'd affections clipt with crime : 
 Yet was there one thro' whom I loved her, one 
 Not learned, save in gracious household ways, 
 Not perfect, nay, but full of tender wants, 
 No Angel, but a dearer being, all dipt 
 In Angel instincts, breathing Paradise, 
 Interpreter between the Gods and men, 
 Who look'd all native to her place, and yet 
 On tiptoe seem'd to touch upon a sphere 
 Too gross to tread, and all male minds perforce 
 Sway'd to her from their orbits as they moved, 
 And girdled her with music. Happy he 
 With such a mother ! faith in womankind 
 Beats with his blood, and trust in all things high 
 Comes easy to him, and tho' he trip and fall 
 He shall not blind his soul with clay.' " 
 
 The Princess, vii. 
 
 Hardly had Milton gathered himself from the shock of this 
 affliction when he was called to face another in the death of his 
 college friend Edward King. In the association of Milton and 
 

 NOTES 197 
 
 King we have an illustration of those significantly touching 
 attachments of man to man which have so often quickened, 
 the pulse and chastened the spirit of English poetry ; as in the 
 case of Spenser and Sidney, Shakespeare and " W. H., the only 
 begetter of the Sonnets," Shelley and Keats, Tennyson and 
 Hallam, Arnold and Clough, Wordsworth and Coleridge. 
 
 King was one of the students of Milton's time of whom much 
 was to be expected. He had written some respectable Latin 
 verse, and was appointed to a Fellowship in Christ's College. 
 In the long vacation of 1637 he started on a visit to his family 
 and friends in Ireland, and while passing from Chester to Dub- 
 lin the vessel struck on the rocks, and he, with other passengers, 
 was drowned. A volume of memorial verses was proposed at 
 the reassembling of the College in October, and early in 1638 
 was published in two sections, one in Latin and Greek, and the 
 other in English ; the title of the latter was " Obsequies to the 
 Memorie of Mr. Edward King, Anno Dom., 2638. ," In this 
 collection Milton's poem stands last. 
 
 Among the Sicilian and Alexandrian Greeks there arose a 
 form of poetry which idealized country life, in which the beauty 
 and freshness of simple primary affections and passions were 
 the centre of interest. Theocritus the Syracusan was the most 
 important of the creators of this poetry. 
 
 "Nay, but, Galatea, come ! 
 
 Come thence, and having come, forget henceforth, 
 As I, (who tarry here) to seek thy home ! 
 And may'st thou love with me to feed the flocks 
 And milk them and to press the cheese with me, 
 Curdling their milk with rennet." 
 
 THEOCRITUS. 
 
 They gave the name Eclogues (Eklogai), Goatherd's Tales, 
 to these simple productions. 
 
 Virgil copied from the Greeks and gave the name Bucolic or 
 Pastoral to his work. He says : " Muses of Sicily, let us strike 
 a somewhat loftier strain ... at length a new generation is 
 descending from heaven." And again : " First of all, my muse 
 
198 NOTES 
 
 deigned to disport herself in the strains of pastoral Syracuse, 
 and disdained not to make her home in the woods, goddess 
 as she was." 
 
 Eclogues iv. and vi. 
 
 " Cruel Alexis ! have you no care for my songs ? no pity for 
 me ? You will drive me to death at last. It is the hour when 
 even cattle are seeking the shade and its coolness the hour 
 when even green lizards are sheltering themselves in the brakes, 
 and Thestylis is preparing for the reapers, as they come back 
 spent with the vehement heat, her savory mess of garlic and 
 wild thyme." 
 
 Eclogue ii. 
 
 As Virgil copied from the Greeks, so the Italians of the 
 Renaissance imitated Virgil, but added an element of moralizing 
 verging on satire. With the Renaissance the pastoral entered 
 England, with Sydney and Spenser it reached its finest type in 
 the Arcadia, The Shepheards Calendar, and The Faerie Queene. 
 
 " Shepheards, that wont, on pipes of oaten reed, 
 Oft times to plaine your loves concealed smart ; 
 And with your piteous layes have learnd to breed 
 Compassion in a countrey lasses hart 
 Hearken, ye gentle shepheards, to my song, 
 And place my dolefull plaint your plaints emong." 
 
 Astrophel. 
 
 Writing to a friend at this time, Milton says : " What God 
 has resolved concerning me I know not, but this I know at 
 least He has instilled into me a vehement love of the beauti- 
 ful. . . . You ask what I am thinking of ? So may the Good 
 Deity help me ; of immortality I am pluming my wings and 
 meditating flight." He may have been meditating upon his 
 epic when the death of his friend called him away for a time. 
 The poem is pastoral in form, with prologue and epilogue, and 
 a body of monody by a shepherd mourning. That Milton's 
 feelings tended to cause him to violate this form we are sure, as 
 twice he checks himself for passing beyond the limits of a pastoral. 
 
NOTES 199 
 
 Alluding to the mingling of national and social philosophy 
 with the pastoral mourning, Mr. Stopford Brooke says : "One 
 of its strange charms is its solemn undertone rising like a 
 religious chant through the elegiac music. . . . the sense of 
 Christian religion pervading the classical imagery." The tone 
 of religious earnestness, which is manifest as a subordinate ele- 
 ment in the early poems, becomes primary in the poems of the 
 Horton period. It is in the V Allegro and II Penseroso as a plea 
 for a "reasonable life" ; in Comus as a condemnation of the 
 license of the court, and a hymn in praise of temperance and 
 chastity ; in the Lycidas as a fierce denunciation of the cor- 
 ruptions of the church that " grim wolf with privy paw." 
 
 Lowell says: "The strain heard in the 'Nativity Ode,' in 
 the 'Solemn music,' and in 'Lycidas' is of a higher mood, as 
 regards metrical construction, than anything that had thrilled 
 the English ear before, giving no uncertain augury of him who 
 was to show what sonorous metal lay silent till he touched the 
 keys in the epical organ-pipes of our various languages." 
 
 Emerson says: "No individual writer has been an equal 
 benefactor of the English language by showing its capabili- 
 ties." 
 
 1. Yet once more, etc. Three years had elapsed since Milton 
 had written Comus. He had written nothing in the interim. 
 
 3-5. I come to pluck, etc. The symbolism here evidently is 
 that he is compelled to write when but for the sad event he 
 would be gathering himself for work which would merit the 
 laurel wreath in due season. 
 
 8-9. Lycidas is dead . . . young Lycidas. The name Lyci- 
 das is taken from classic pastorals by Ovid and Virgil. The 
 reflection here is common. Cf . Spenser, Astrophel : 
 
 "Young Astrophel, the pride of shepheard's praise, 
 Young Astrophel, the rusticke lasses love." 
 
 10, 11. he knew, etc. Cf. supra. 
 
 15. Begin then. Cf . Spenser, Teares of the Muses : 
 
 " Rehearse to me, ye sacred Sisters nine," etc. 
 
200 NOTES 
 
 sacred well. The Pierian Spring at the foot of Olympus, the 
 seat of the Homeric Pantheon. 
 
 19-22. So may some gentle muse, etc. The prayer here 
 expressed by Milton that lie himself would merit some memorial 
 has been generously answered. 
 
 23-36. For we were nursed, etc. A beautiful setting of their 
 life at Cambridge. 
 
 28. grey-fly. Cleg, or horse-fly. 
 
 34-36. Rough Satyrs, etc. Masson thinks there may be an 
 allusion here to some of Milton's undergraduate associates, and 
 that old Damoetus may refer to some Fellow or tutor. 
 
 40. gadding. Wandering, straggling. 
 
 46. taint-worm. The name tainct was once given to a small 
 red spider, deadly to cattle. (M.) 
 
 49. Such, Lycidas, thy loss to shepherd's ear. Cf. Mids. 
 N. Dream, i. 1 : 
 
 "More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear, 
 When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear." 
 
 50-55. Where were ye, etc. Cf. Virgil, Eclogue x. : 
 
 " What forests, what lawns were your abode, virgin nymphs 
 of the fountains, when Gallus was wasting under an unworthy 
 passion ? What, indeed ? for it was not any spot in the ridges 
 of Parnassus or of Pindus that kept you there ; no, nor Aonian 
 Aganippe." 
 
 Virgil imitated the first idyl of Theocritus, but Masson 
 agrees with Keightley that Milton excels Virgil in imitation. 
 
 52. The steep, etc. This is an allusion to some particular 
 mountain in Wales. 
 
 54. Mona. The fastness of the Druids in Anglesey. 
 
 55. Deva. The Dee. The old boundary between England 
 and Wales. Cf. Faerie Queeue, I. ix. 4: 
 
 " From whence the river Dee, as silver cleene, 
 His tombling billowes rolls with gentle rore." 
 
 Chester, the port from which King sailed, is on the Dee. 
 68-63. What could the Muse, etc. Orpheus, the son of Cal- 
 
NOTES 201 
 
 Hope, because he continued to grieve for Eurydice (cf. note 
 L" 1 Allegro, 145), was torn to pieces by the offended Thracian 
 women in their Bacchanalian orgies. The Muses buried frag- 
 ments of the body at the foot of Mount Olympus, but his head 
 was thrown into the river Hebrus, which carried it to the 
 island of Lesbos, where it was buried. Cf . Paradise Lost, vii. 
 32-39 : 
 
 u But drive far off the barbarous dissonance 
 Of Bacchus, and his revellers, the race 
 Of that wild rout that tore the Thracian bard 
 In Rhodope, where woods and rocks had ears 
 To rapture, till the savage clamour drown' d 
 Both harp and voice ; nor could the Muse 
 Defend her son." 
 
 67-69. Were it not better, etc. To lead a life of ease and 
 pleasure. Amaryllis and Necera are names of shepherds' sweet- 
 hearts in the old pastorals. 
 
 70. clear. Aspiring. 
 
 75. blind Fury. Atropos. 
 
 77. touched my trembling ears. The idea here seems to be 
 that Milton was over-anxious for fame. Cf. Virgil, Eclogue vi. 
 ' ' Cum canerem reges et proelia, Cynthius aurem vellit, et 
 admonuit," which Conington translates, "When I was ventur- 
 ing to sing of kings and battles, the Cynthian god touched my 
 ear and appealed to my memory." Here touching the ear is 
 symbolic of quickening the memory. 
 
 79. glistering foil. Temporary reputation, which might like 
 the shining tinsel wrap a very cheap article. 
 
 81, 82. But lives, etc. Compare this alliance of Heaven with 
 true fame, with the idea in the last two lines of Comus. 
 
 85, 86. fountain Arethuse. The nymph of the fountain of 
 Arethusa in Sicily was the Muse of pastoral poetry as revealed 
 in Theocritus : Mincius was a river of Italy near which Virgil, 
 the type of Latin pastoral poet, was born. Cf. Virgil, Eclogue 
 vii. : 
 
 u Mincius fringing his green banks with a border of vocal reeds." 
 
202 NOTES 
 
 87, 88. That strain, etc. The words of Apollo were more 
 profound than the simple pastoral. 
 
 89, 90. the Herald of the sea, etc. In the judicial inquiry 
 in regard to the death of Lycidas Triton canie as representative 
 of Neptune. 
 
 93. rugged. Ragged. Cf. L 1 Allegro, 9. 
 
 96. Hippotades. JEolus, the god of the winds, was son of 
 Hippotes. 
 
 99. Panope. One of the Nereids. 
 
 101. Built in the eclipse. Cf. Macbeth, iv. 1 : 
 
 "Slips of yew 
 Slivered in the moon's eclipse " 
 
 are one of the ingredients of the witches' hell-broth. 
 
 103-107. Next, Camus, etc. The genius of the river Cam 
 and of Cambridge University. Masson gives the note in 
 Plumptre's Greek translation of Comus in explanation of the 
 garb of Camus : 
 
 " The mantle is as if made of the plant ' river spruce ' which 
 floats copiously on the Cam : the bonnet of the river-sedge, dis- 
 tinguished by vague marks traced somehow over the middle of 
 the leaves and serrated at the edge of the leaves, after the 
 fashion of the A?, At of the hyacinth. ' ' The hyacinth was the 
 flower in whose petals the Greeks saw the At', at. Alas ! Alas ! 
 
 Inwrought. In the Ms. this is "scrawled o'er." 
 
 107. pledge. Hope, an allusion to the expectation of what 
 King would have done had he lived. Cf. In Memoriam, LXXII. : 
 
 " The fame is quench'd that I foresaw, 
 
 The head hath miss'd an earthly wreath," etc. 
 
 108-131. Last came, etc. Cf. Matthew iv. 18-20. The 
 reader should consult lluskin's comment on this passage in 
 "King's Treasures" (Sesame and Lilies'). Masson says, "St. 
 Peter, here called by name suggesting his original occupation as 
 fisherman and with occult reference to the fact that Lycidas 
 had perished at sea." The tradition of the Church as to the 
 office of St. Peter is symbolized by the possession of the two 
 
NOTES 203 
 
 keys, one for opening and the other for shutting. "Though 
 not a lover of false bishops, Milton was a lover of true ones." 
 RUSKIN. " And were the punishment and misery of being a 
 prelate-bishop terminated only in the person, and did not ex- 
 tend to the affliction of the whole diocese, if I would wish any- 
 thing in the bitterness of soul to mine enemy, I would wish him 
 the biggest and fattest bishopric." Apology for Smectymnuus. 
 
 112. mitred locks. Milton here allows St. Peter to speak 
 with episcopal authority. "The Lake-Pilot is here in Mil- 
 ton's thoughts the type and head of true episcopal power." 
 RUSKIN. 
 
 113. How well could I have spared, etc. This passage con- 
 cluding in line 129 is in many respects the most significant in 
 the poem. A more graphic picture of the incapacity of the 
 hireling church can hardly be conceived. It reveals how surely 
 though quietly the bow was being strung which only the sinews 
 of Ulysses could draw, and which would send the arrow to 
 the mark when the time came. We wonder how it could 
 have escaped the condemnation of those against whom it was 
 directed. Emerson says : " Questions that involve all social 
 and personal rights were hasting to be decided by the sword, 
 and were searched by eyes to which the love of freedom, civil 
 and religious, lent new illumination." 
 
 115. Creep, and intrude, and climb. Ruskin says : "Do not 
 think Milton uses these three words to fill up his verse. He 
 needs all the three ; specially those three, and no more than 
 those. 'Creep,' and 'intrude,' and ' climb,' no other 
 words would or could serve the turn, and no more could be 
 added." There are three classes here: First, the cunning; 
 second, the insolently bold ; and third, those who are ambitious 
 to gain high dignities. 
 
 119. Blind mouths. "Those two monosyllables express the 
 precisely accurate contraries of right character ; in the two 
 great offices of the Church those of bishop and pastor. A 
 Bishop means one who sees. A Pastor means one who feeds. 
 The most unbishoply character a man can have is therefore to 
 be Blind. The most unpastoral is, instead of feeding, to want 
 
204 NOTES 
 
 to be fed to be a Mouth." RUSKIN. Cf. Wordsworth, 
 Prelude, i. 210, 211 : 
 
 "ballad tunes 
 Food for the hungry ears of little ones." 
 
 124. scrannel. Screeching. Coined by Milton. (M.) 
 
 125. The hungry sheep look up, etc. Cf. Spenser, Shep- 
 heard's Calendar (Maye): 
 
 Piers. " Those faytours little regarden their charge, 
 
 While they letting their sheepe runne at large, 
 
 Passen their time that should be sparely spent, 
 
 In lustihede and wanton meryment. 
 
 Thilke same bene shepeheardes for the Devil's stedde, 
 
 That play en while their flockes be unfedde." 
 
 Cf. Ben Jonson, Paw's Anniversary : 
 
 Shep. "Now each return unto his charge, 
 
 And though today you've lived at large, 
 And well your flocks have fed their fill, 
 Yet do not trust your hireling still. 
 See yond' they go, and timely do 
 The office you have put them to ; 
 But if you often give this leave, 
 Your sheep and you they will deceive." 
 
 Cowper must have had these lines in mind when he wrote : 
 
 " When nations are to perish in their sins, 
 'Tis in the church the leprosy begins ; 
 The priest, whose office is, with zeal sincere, 
 To watch the fountain and preserve it clear, 
 Carelessly nods and sleeps upon the brink, 
 While others poison what the flock must drink." 
 
 Expostulation. 
 
 126. wind and rank mist. Unsubstantial and unwholesome 
 doctrines. "This is to meet the vulgar answer that 'if the 
 
NOTES 205 
 
 poor are not looked after in their bodies, they are in their souls ; 
 they have spiritual food.' " RUSKIN. 
 
 128. grim wolf. The Church of Rome was growing by the 
 converts it made and there was little opposition. 
 
 130. that two-handed engine. This passage has puzzled 
 the critics. Some think it refers to the axe to be laid at the 
 root of the trees, or the sword which Michael the Archangel 
 "brandished with huge two-handed sway" in the war in 
 Heaven, while others think it alludes to the sword of the 
 Apocalypse. It evidently has a Biblical origin. Masson 
 thinks it may mean the Two Houses of Parliament, from the 
 fact that not for eight years had Charles summoned a Parlia- 
 ment. When we consider what an "engine" the Parlia- 
 ment of 1640 was, we may not consider this interpretation 
 far-fetched. 
 
 132. Return, Alpheus, etc. After the digression the pastoral 
 note is resumed by calling upon the lover of Arethusa. Cf. 
 line 85. 
 
 136. use. Stay. 
 
 138. swart star. The malignant Dog-star Sirius. 
 
 sparely. Rarely. 
 
 142-151. Bring the rathe primrose, etc. Ruskin in Modern 
 Painters, Vol. II. "Of Imagination Penetrative," page 168, has 
 a somewhat singular comment on the first seven lines of this 
 beautiful passage. It seems to contradict the teaching of Vol. 
 I. He says : " Compare Milton's flowers in Lycidas with 
 Perdita's. In Milton it happens, I think generally, and in the 
 case before us most certainly, that the imagination is mixed 
 and broken with fancy, and so the strength of the imagery is 
 part of iron and part of clay." He then marks the lines as 
 follows : 
 
 142. (Imagination.) 
 
 143. (Nugatory.) Unimaginative. 
 
 144. (Fancy.) 
 
 145. (Imagination. ) 
 
 146. (Fancy, vulgar.) 
 
 147. (Imagination.) 
 
148. (Mixed.) 
 
 u Then hear Perdita : 
 
 ' 0, Proserpina, 
 
 For the flowers now, that frighted thou let'st fall 
 From Dis's wagon. Daffodils 
 That come before the swallow dares, and take 
 The winds of March with beauty. Violets dim, 
 But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes 
 Or Cytherea's breath ; pale primroses 
 That die unmarried, ere they can behold 
 Bright Phoabus in his strength, a malady 
 Most incident in maids.' " Winter's Tale. 
 
 Observe how the imagination in these last lines goes into the 
 very inmost soul of the flower . . . and never stops on their 
 spots, or their bodily shape, while Milton sticks in the stains 
 upon them and puts us off with that unhappy freak of jet in 
 the very flower that without this bit of paper-staining would 
 have been the most precious to us of all." 
 Cf. Spenser, Shepherd's Calendar (April) : 
 
 " Bring hither the pincke and purple cullainbine, 
 
 With gelliflowres ; 
 Bring coronations, and sops-in-wine, 
 
 Worn of paramoures : 
 
 Strowe me the ground with daffadowndillies, 
 And cowslips, and kingcups, and loved lillies ; 
 
 The pretie pawnee, 
 
 And the chevisaunce, 
 Shall match with the fayre flower-delice. " 
 
 Cf. Keats, Endymion, book ii. 412-418 : 
 
 " the ivy mesh, 
 
 Shading its Ethiop berries ; and the woodbine, 
 Of velvet leaves and bugle-blooms divine ; 
 Convolvulus in streaked vases flush ; 
 The creeper, mellowing for an autumn blush ; 
 And virgins bower, trailing airily ; 
 With others of the sisterhood." 
 
Cf. Tennyson, In Memoriam, LXXXIII : 
 
 " Bring orchis, bring the fox-glove spire, 
 The little speedwell's darling blue, 
 Deep tulips dash'd with fiery dew, 
 Laburnums, dropping-wells of fire." 
 
 142. rathe. Early. Our word rather is the comparative of 
 this adjective. 
 
 143. crow-toe. Crowfoot violet. 
 
 151. laureate hearse. Laurelled tomb. 
 
 153. dally with false surmise. Think that the body is en- 
 tombed, though really it is washed about by the sea. 
 
 156-162. beyond the stormy Hebrides, etc. King was ship- 
 wrecked on the Irish coast. Milton sketches the wanderings of 
 the body to the Scottish coast to Land's End, Cornwall the 
 fabled abode of Bellerus, where the "guarded mount," St. 
 Michael's, looks toward Cape Finistere and the castle (hold) of 
 Bayona on the south. 
 
 163. Look homeward. Here Michael, who has been looking 
 toward Naumancos and Bayona's hold, is asked to direct his gaze 
 toward England. 
 
 164. ye dolphins, etc. An allusion to the rescuing of Arion, 
 whom the sailors had thrown overboard. 
 
 165-181. Weep no more, etc. Compare these lines with 198- 
 219 of Epitapliium Damonis, pp. 256, 257. 
 
 169. repairs. Raises again. 
 
 170. new-spangled ore. Renewed golden splendor. 
 
 173. Through the dear might of Him, etc. Note the appo- 
 siteness to the whole subject of the poem in this reference to 
 Christ's power over the waves. (M.) 
 
 176. unexpressive. Inexpressibly sweet, (M.) 
 
 181. And wipe the tears, etc. Cf. Rev. vii. 17, xxi. 4. 
 
 183. thou art the Genius, etc. Cf. Epitaphium Damonis, 
 207-211. 
 
 186. uncouth. Unknown, rather than rude, seems to be the 
 idea here. 
 
208 NOTES 
 
 188. stops of various quills. Alluding to the changing 
 moods of the poem. 
 
 189. Doric. The Greek pastoral poets used the Doric dialect. 
 
 TEXTUAL 
 
 The following were the readings of the Cambridge Mss. : 
 10. he knew, was " he well knew." 
 22. And bid, was " To bid." 
 26. opening, was "glimmering." 
 
 30. star that rose at evening bright, was " even-star bright." 
 
 31. westering, was " burnished. " 
 47. wardrobe, was "buttons." 
 58-63. These lines were : 
 
 " What could the golden-haired Calliope 
 For her enchanting son, 
 When she beheld (the gods far-sighted be) 
 His gory scalp roll down the Thracian lea ? " 
 
 In the margin after "enchanting son" these lines were substi- 
 tuted for the two lines that follow : 
 
 " Whom universal Nature might lament, 
 And Heaven and Hell deplore, 
 When his divine head down the stream was sent, 
 Down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore." 
 
 69. Or with, was " Hid in." 
 
 85. honoured, was "smooth." 
 
 86. smooth-sliding, was "soft-sliding." 
 
 105. Inwrought, was "Scrawled o'er," with "Inwrought" 
 in margin. 
 
 129. nothing, was "little." 
 
 138. sparely, was "stintly," though "sparely" had been 
 first written. 
 
 139. Throw, was "Bring." 
 
 142-151. For these lines there were the following : 
 
 " Bring the rathe primrose that unwedded dies, 
 Colouring the pale cheek of unen joyed love 
 
NOTES 209 
 
 And that sad flower that strove 
 
 To write his own woes on the vermeil grain : 
 
 Next add Narcissus that still weeps in vain, 
 
 The woodbine, and the pansy freakt with jet, 
 
 The glowing violet, 
 
 The cowslip wan that hangs his pensive head, 
 
 And every bud that Sorrow's livery wears ; 
 
 Let daffadillies fill their cups with tears ; 
 
 Bid amaranthus all his beauty shed, 
 
 To strew," etc. 
 
 " Sorrow's livery " is changed into " sad escutcheon," and that 
 into the present reading. 
 
 153. frail, was "sad." 
 
 154. shores, was " floods. " 
 160. Bellerus, was " Corineus. " 
 
 176. And hears, was " Listening. " (T.) 
 
 1642-1645 
 WHEN THE ASSAULT WAS INTENDED TO THE CITY 
 
 (Copy in the hand of an amanuensis, but title in Milton's own hand 
 in the Cambridge MSS.) 
 
 In spite of the fact that the breach between Royalist and 
 Puritan was daily becoming wider, Milton having gained the 
 approval of his father prepared to carry out a long-cherished 
 plan of visiting Italy. His passport was furnished by Sir Henry 
 Wotton, Provost of Eton, and early in May he crossed the 
 Channel, "to fresh woods and pastures new." "A more im- 
 pressive Englishman never left our shores," says Augustine 
 Birrell. " Sir Philip Sidney perhaps approaches him nearest. 
 Beautiful beyond praise, and just sufficiently conscious of it to 
 be careful not to appear at a disadvantage a gentleman, a 
 scholar, a poet, a musician, and a Christian." In Paris he was 
 presented to the English Ambassador of Charles, and by him 
 was introduced to "that most learned man," Hugo Grotius, 
 Ambassador from the Queen of Sweden. He remained in Paris 
 but a short time, for his dreams of classic Italy lured him on. 
 
210 NOTES 
 
 In August we find him in Florence. Here he was received with 
 the .kindest hospitality by many of the young men in the fa- 
 mous literary circles, and was praised with a true Italian fervor. 
 He met the famous Galileo old, feeble, and blind at his 
 villa in Arcetri. This was the most impressive of all his expe- 
 riences in Italy. From Florence he went to Rome, where he 
 refreshed his memory of Horace, Livy, and Virgil by visiting 
 places associated with their life and work. He heard Leonora 
 Baroni, the first singer of the world at that time, and expressed 
 his enthusiasm for her art in Latin epigrams. In five sonnets 
 written in Italian we have another illustration of Milton's wor- 
 ship at the shrine of Italian beauty. He was captivated by the 
 "magnetic movements and love-darting dark brow" of some 
 daughter of this land of art and beauty. What a lover he was 
 is splendidly illustrated in the sonnet which Masson has trans- 
 lated : 
 
 " Young, gentlenatured, and a simple wooer, 
 
 Since in myself I stand in doubt to fly, 
 
 Lady, to thee my heart's poor gift would I 
 
 Offer devoutly ; and by tokens sure 
 I know it faithful, fearless, constant, pure, 
 
 In its conceptions graceful, good, and high. 
 
 When the world roars and flames the startled sky ; 
 
 In its own adamant it rests secure ; 
 As free from chance and malice ever found, 
 
 And fears and hopes that vulgar minds confuse, 
 
 As it is loyal to each manly thing 
 And to the sounding lyre and to the muse, 
 
 Only in that part is it not so sound 
 
 Where Love hath set in it his cureless sting." 
 
 He writes to his friend Diodati and confides in him the secret 
 of the passionate love. On returning home he learned at 
 Geneva that soon after he left England Diodati had died. This 
 sadness, together with the feeling that it was unpatriotic for 
 him to be in pleasure when his friends at home were struggling 
 for freedom, hurried him to England. He revealed his sense of 
 
NOTES 211 
 
 loss at the death of his friend in a Latin elegy, Eptiaphium 
 Damonis. 
 
 Mr. Richard Garnett says: "Four times has a great English 
 poet taken up his abode in 'the paradise of exiles,' and re- 
 mained there until deeply imbued with the spirit of the land. 
 The Italian residence of Byron and Shelley, of Landor and 
 Browning, has infused into English literature, a new element 
 which has mingled with its inmost essence." 
 
 On returning to England in August, 1639, Milton did not 
 take active part in the controversies of the time, but settled in 
 studious life. After a short visit to Horton he took lodgings in 
 St. Bride's, Fleet Street. He soon found these too small, and 
 the next year he removed to Aldersgate Street, outside the city 
 walls, near Islington, a quiet and restful quarter. Here he 
 planned a poem which should be a monument to the English 
 language the first attempts at Paradise Lost. Here, too, he 
 became tutor to his nephews and a few other boys. What his 
 ideas of education were may be found in his Tractate on Edu- 
 cation, written in 1644. In it occurs his famous definition : " I 
 call therefore a complete and generous education that which 
 fits a man to perform justly, skilfully, and magnanimously all 
 offices, both private and public, of peace and war." 
 
 In 1641 he began a series of pamphlets on social and political 
 questions, the first of which was Of Reformation Touching 
 Church Discipline in England. 
 
 The Civil War had begun, and Milton decided that he could 
 be of more assistance to the Parliamentarians with the pen than 
 in other ways. The battle at Edgehill had been fought Octo- 
 ber 23, 1642, and the Cavaliers were advancing toward London. 
 All was confusion and excitement in the city when news came 
 that the enemy had been checked at Brentford. Milton had 
 reason to think the Cavaliers would seek him out, and half in 
 jest, half in earnest, he wrote this sonnet to the commander. 
 The title given in the Cambridge Mss. is significant : " On his 
 dore when ye citty expected an assault." This was afterwards 
 changed by Milton himself to the present title. 
 
 Masson finds " a mood of jest or semi-jest in the whole affair," 
 
212 NOTES 
 
 but Lowell prefers to see in it evidence of Milton's quiet assump- 
 tion of equality with Pindar and Euripides, whose memory, by 
 the chance singing of the chorus of Euripides, secured immu- 
 nity for other walls. 
 
 Mr. Richard Garnett says: "It should seem that if Milton 
 detested the enemy's principles, he respected his pikes and 
 guns. If this strain seems deficient in the fierceness befitting a 
 besieged patriot, let it be remembered that Milton's doors were 
 literally defenceless, being outside the rampart of the city." 
 
 Mr. Henry Van Dyke in comparing Milton and Tennyson 
 says : " To Milton came the outward conflict ; to Tennyson the 
 inward grief. And as we follow them beyond the charmed 
 circle of their early years, we must trace the parallel between 
 them, if indeed we can find it at all, far below the surface ; 
 although even yet we shall see some external resemblances 
 amid many and strong contrasts." 
 
 1. Colonel. A trisyllable. The word was formerly coronel, 
 Captain coronel, chief captain. Cf. Spenser, State of Ireland, 
 "their Coronell, named Don Sebastian." 
 
 3. In edition of 1645 this was : " If ever deed of honour did 
 thee please." (M.) 
 
 5. charms. Magic verses. 
 
 10. Emathian conqueror. Alexander the Great, so called 
 from Einathia, a part of Macedonia. 
 
 11. house of Pindarus. When Alexander sacked Thebes he 
 spared the house of the poet Pindar. 
 
 12. repeated air. Lysander when he was about to destroy 
 Athens was deterred by the chance singing of the chorus of 
 Euripides. 
 
 1644-1645 
 
 To A VIRTUOUS YOUNG LADY 
 
 (In Milton's own hand in the Cambridge MSS.) 
 
 In the summer of 1643 Milton made a journey into the 
 
 country, and after a month returned with a wife. The event 
 
 was attended with appropriate entertainment in the home in 
 
 Aldersgate Street. The bride was Mary Powell of Forest Hill, 
 
 which was within the forest of Shotover, in which Milton's 
 
NOTES 213 
 
 grandfather had been under-ranger. It seems that the Powells 
 and the Miltons had been together in business transactions, the 
 estate at Forest Hill being mortgaged to the scrivener. 
 
 It soon became evident that the marriage was an ill-considered 
 one, for the Powells were Royalists. The bride, used to the 
 gaieties of Cavalier society, soon tired of the sober life with the 
 Roundhead schoolmaster in London. The two became mutually 
 repugnant to each other, as was natural in such a union of 
 frivolity with thoughtfulness. We are not called upon to fix 
 the responsibility here, but we are not to forget that with all his 
 love of a studious life Milton had no little susceptibility to the 
 charm of feminine beauty. A month after the marriage the 
 wife begged permission to visit her old home. She went to 
 Forest Hill in July, and as she showed no disposition to return 
 to Aldersgate Street, Milton at first wrote, but getting no reply, 
 despatched a messenger, who returned, " having been dismissed 
 with some sort of contempt." The result of this act on the 
 part of the wife was to turn Milton's attention to the institution 
 of marriage, and he published anonymously the pamphlet The 
 Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce. Emerson says: "It is to 
 be regarded as a poem on one of the griefs of man's condition, 
 unfit marriage. It should receive that charity which an angelic 
 soul suffering more keenly than others from the unavoidable 
 evils of human life is entitled to." In this he makes 110 mention 
 of his personal case, but considers the principle as it were in 
 the abstract. Pattison says : " His argument throughout glows 
 with a white heat of concealed emotion." The stir occasioned 
 by this pamphlet was widespread ; the Church party was glad 
 that such a scandal had arisen in the Presbyterian family, and 
 Milton went out from his own fold. Here is the beginning 
 of the party known as Independents. Milton now reedited the 
 pamphlet on Divorce, to which he signed his name, although it 
 contained a daring address to Parliament. 
 
 With this trying period in Milton's career is the sonnet To a 
 Lady connected, if we accept the statements of Phillips, Mil- 
 ton's nephew. The date of composition of this sonnet leads us 
 naturally enough to the belief that Milton found consolation 
 
214 NOTES 
 
 in the society of some noble' women. The subject of the poem is, 
 according to Phillips, a Miss Davis, " a very handsome and witty 
 gentlewoman." 
 
 5. with Mary and with Ruth. Cf. Luke x. 47, and Ruth 
 i. 14. 
 
 7. growing. The first reading of the MS. was " blooming." 
 
 11. hope that reaps not shame. Cf. Romans v. 5. 
 
 12. when the Bridegroom, etc. Cf. Matthew xxv. 1. 
 
 13. Passes to bliss. Heading of first Ms. was: "Opens the 
 door of bliss that hour of night. ' ' 
 
 14. Virgin wise and pure. Cf. next sonnet, last lines. 
 
 1644-1645 
 To THE LADY MARGARET LEY 
 
 (In Milton's own hand in the Cambridge MSS.) 
 
 This sonnet belongs to the same period as the preceding and 
 is equally rich in biographical and political interest. The lady 
 here honored is another of those at whose home Milton was a wel- 
 come guest. She was the daughter of James Ley, first Earl of 
 Maiiborough. She married a Captain Hobson, who was a fol- 
 lower of the Parliamentarians. Phillips says: "Milton made 
 it his chief diversion now and then of an evening to visit the 
 Lady Margaret Ley, a woman of great wit and ingenuity, who 
 had a particular honor for him, and took much delight in his 
 company, as likewise Captain Hobson, her husband, a very 
 accomplished gentleman." 
 
 This was the last sonnet in the first edition of his poems pub- 
 lished this year. It bore the motto, " Baccare frontem Cingite, 
 ne vati noceat mala lingua futuro," " Gird my brow with nard, 
 lest an evil tongue hurt the poet yet to be." 
 
 5. Till the sad breaking, etc. Parliament was dissolved 
 March 10, 1629. The Earl died four years later. 
 
 6. dishonest victory. The Athenian orator Lsocrates is said 
 to have died from the shock of the defeat of the Athenians and 
 Thebans at Chseronea. 
 
 9. later born. Milton here refers to the early years of the 
 

 NOTES 215 
 
 Earl's career, as he was twenty years old when the Earl died. 
 
 1645-1673 
 
 ON THE DETRACTION WHICH FOLLOWED UPON MY WRITING 
 CERTAIN TREATISES 
 
 (In Milton's own hand and copies in another hand in the Cambridge 
 
 MSS.) 
 
 The list of pamphlets was now increased by the tract On 
 Education, Areopagitica, and three more on Divorce : The 
 Judgement of Martin Bucer, Tetrachordon and Colasterion. 
 The last three were called forth by the attacks of his enemies. 
 The first of these was a challenge to the Westminster Assembly 
 which had assailed him as "Divorcer"; the second was a 
 review of the four chief places in Scripture where the subject 
 of marriage is treated, and the third was a stinging reply to his 
 assailants who were determined to suppress all of his sect. 
 
 In the meantime the fortunes of the Royalists were waning, 
 until at Naseby in June, 1645, defeat and ruin came at the 
 hands of the new army of the Independents. By this defeat 
 the Powells were made bankrupt, and in their distress they 
 turned to Milton, whose star was in the ascendant. Some 
 friends of both parties arranged by conspiracy a meeting of 
 Milton and Mary Powell at a house where he often visited in 
 St. Martins-le-Grand. When he entered she emerged from an 
 adjoining room, threw herself at his feet and begged for recon- 
 ciliation : 
 
 " With tears that ceas'd not flowing 
 And tresses all disorder' d, at his feet 
 Fell humble, and embracing them, besought 
 
 His peace 
 
 Soon his heart relented 
 Tow'rds her, his life so late and sole delight 
 Now at his feet submissive in distress ! 
 Creature so fair his reconcilement seeking, 
 
 At once disarmed, his anger all he lost." 
 
 Paradise Lost, x. 937. 
 
216 NOTES 
 
 He received not only her but the family of Powells as well, 
 including the mother-in-law who probably encouraged the de- 
 sertion. The house in Aldersgate Street had proved too small 
 for his classes and he received the addition to his family in the 
 house at Barbican. It was here that the sonnets On the De- 
 traction were written. They continued the controversy raised 
 by the pamphlets on Divorce. The fact that they were written 
 after his wife had returned, and when he had lost some interest 
 in the question, accounts for the fact that they are less violent 
 than the retorts in prose. 
 
 Lowell says: "Gentle as Milton's earlier portraits would 
 seem to show him, he had in him by nature, or bred into him 
 by fate, something of the haughty and defiant self-assertion of 
 Dante and Michael Angelo." 
 
 Emerson says: "Truly he was the apostle of freedom: of 
 freedom in the home, in the state, in the church ; freedom of 
 speech, freedom of the press, yet in his own mind discrimi- 
 nated from savage license, because that which he desired 
 was the liberty of the wise containing itself in the limits of 
 virtue." 
 
 Mr. John Fiske says : "It was the ideas of Locke and Milton, 
 of Vane and Sidney, that, when transplanted into French soil, 
 produced that violent but salutary ^Revolution which has given 
 fresh life to the European world." 
 
 1. In the Ms. this is " I writ a book," etc. 
 
 4. Numbering. Attracting as readers. This line was in the 
 Ms. : " Good wits, but now is seldom." 
 
 5. stall-reader. Chance reader at book stalls. 
 
 6. title page. "Have you seen Tet-Tetra-Tetra-whats its 
 name?" (It) 
 
 7. Mile-End Green. In Whitechapel, about a mile from the 
 centre of Old London. 
 
 8. Gordon, etc. Milton intends to ridicule the barbarism of 
 Scottish names in general. Masson says that more was in- 
 tended ; that he hit the Scottish Presbyterians well known in 
 London. Colkitto is Sir Alexander M'Donnel, knighted by 
 Montrose. 
 
NOTES 217 
 
 Galasp, was probably Gillespie, a member of the Westminster 
 Assembly. 
 
 10. rugged. In the Ms. "rough hewn." 
 
 11. Quintilian. A Latin rhetorician. 
 
 12. 13. Thy age, etc. Thy age did not hate learning as does 
 ours. 
 
 John Cheek. Teacher of Greek at Cambridge. He met with 
 opposition from many of the unlearned. 
 
 ON THE SAME 
 
 Where the preceding sonnet is playful, this is severe in indig- 
 nation. 
 
 4. cuckoos. In first draft this was " buzzards." 
 
 5. those hinds, etc. Lycian rustics who, when Latona with 
 her children Apollo and Diana in her arms fled from Juno, re- 
 fused to let her drink of the water in a certain lake, and pud- 
 dled the water, were turned into frogs and doomed to live in 
 the muddy water. Cf. Ovid, Met. vi. 337-381. Faerie Queene, 
 II. xii. 13 : 
 
 ' ' Till that Latona tra veiling that way, 
 Flying from Junoes wrath and hard assay, 
 Of her fayre twins was there delivered, 
 Which afterward did rule the night and day." 
 
 7. in fee. Ownership. 
 
 8. pearl to hogs. Cf. Matthew vii. 6. 
 
 10. And still revolt, etc. This originally was, "And hate 
 the truth whereby he should be free." Cf. John viii. 32. 
 
 11, 12. Licence they mean, etc. Cf. Eikonoclastes, 1649: 
 ' ' None can love Freedom heartily but good men : the rest love 
 not Freedom, but License." 
 
 13. rove. Shoot wide of. Cf. Faerie Queene, I., Introd. 2 : 
 
 " Fair Venus sonne, that with thy cruell dart 
 At thy good knight so cunningly didst rove." 
 
 14. for. Notwithstanding. 
 
218 NOTES 
 
 1646-1673 
 
 ON THE NEW FORCERS or CONSCIENCE 
 (Copy in the hand of an amanuensis in the Cambridge MSS.) 
 
 Milton's father died in March of this year and was buried in 
 St. Giles', Cripplegate. As is the case with Burns, Carlyle, 
 Wordsworth, and Tennyson, Milton owed as much to the 
 father's influence as to the mother's. He has acknowledged 
 his gratitude to him in prose and verse. In prose he praises 
 "the ceaseless diligence and care of a father whom God recom- 
 pense"; and in a Latin poem, Ad Patrem, written at Horton, 
 there is a warmth of genuine piety and noble regard. 
 
 The Independents were now a powerful party and determined 
 to espouse freedom of conscience against the system of Pres- 
 byterian Church Government which represented " No Tolera- 
 tion," and the suppression of all sects not in uniformity. 
 Against this intolerance Milton raised his voice in this poem. 
 Masson says: "He intended it to be what may be called an 
 Anti-Presbyterian and Pro-Toleration sonnet. But when he 
 had reached the fourteenth line, Milton had not packed in it all 
 he meant to say ; and so added six lines more of jagged verse, 
 converting the piece into a kind of sonnet with a scorpion's tail 
 to it. Although not published till 1673 it was probably in pri- 
 vate circulation doing service for Independency and Liberty of 
 Conscience from 1646 onwards." 
 
 Greene says : " There was one thing dearer to England than 
 free speech in Parliament, than security of property, or even 
 personal liberty ; and that one thing was, in the phrase of the 
 day, the Gospel." 
 
 1. thrown off, etc. Alluding to the throwing off of Episco- 
 pacy by the Long Parliament. 
 
 3. To seize, etc. To imitate the Episcopal Prelates in holding 
 plurality of livings, such as parochial revenues and University 
 Posts, etc. 
 
 5. Dare ye adjure, etc. The Presbyterians had demanded 
 that Episcopacy be abolished, that the Presbytery be established, 
 
NOTES 219 
 
 and that violations of the latter should be punished by the 
 state. 
 
 6. our consciences. Ms. has "the" for "our." 
 
 7. Classic Hierarchy. The Presbyterian church courts. 
 
 8. A. S. Adam Stewart, a Scottish defender of the Presby- 
 tery against the Independents. 
 
 Rutherford (Samuel). The well-known Scottish divine. 
 
 12. shallow Edwards. Thomas Edwards, a London preacher 
 who opposed the Independents. In the original, "shallow " was 
 "haire-brain'd." 
 
 Scotch What-d'ye-call. Rev. Robert Baillie of the University 
 of Oxford. 
 
 14. packings, etc. By which the Assembly was unduly con- 
 stituted. 
 
 17. clip your phylacteries, etc. Parliament was the only 
 hope of the Independents and those seeking freedom in matters 
 of religion. 
 
 baulk. Stop at. That is, "cut away the badge of sanctity, 
 yet not mutilate as you would do to us heretics if you could." 
 Milton first wrote for this line : ' ' Crop ye as close as marginal 
 
 P 's eares." Alluding to Prynne, whose ears were cut off 
 
 (for his Anti-Prelatic writings) by order of Laud, and who was 
 wont to fill the margins of his books with quotations. 
 
 20. Presbyter is but old Priest, etc. Priest is a contraction 
 of the Greek word Presbyteros, an Elder. 
 
 1646-1648-1673 
 To MR. H. LAWES ON HIS AIRS 
 
 (Two copies in Milton's own hand and one in another's in the 
 Cambridge MSS.) 
 
 We have already seen something of Mr. Lawes in our study 
 of Arcades and Comus. What interests us here is that we have 
 evidence of the continued friendship of Milton and Lawes, 
 although one was an Independent and the other a Royalist. 
 This sonnet, written in February, 104G, was first printed in a 
 volume entitled Choice Psalmes, put into Musick for three 
 
220 NOTES 
 
 voices : composed by Henry and William Lawes, Brothers and 
 Servants to His Majestie, published in 1648. The poem was 
 probably given to Lawes at the time it was written, as a pledge 
 of friendship in return for the use of his name in connection 
 with Arcades and Comus. As Lawes had set to music many 
 songs which became very popular, Milton associated his name 
 with the first publication of his poems, 1645, and the title-page 
 bore the following: "The Songs were set in Musick by Mr. 
 Henry Lawes, Gentleman of the King's Chappel and one of His 
 Magesties private Musick." The allusion was of course to the 
 songs in Arcades and Comus. 
 
 Lawes lived until after the Restoration. He was returned to 
 his royal position and composed the Ode for the Coronation of 
 Charles II. at the time when Milton was blind and in hiding. 
 He died in 1662 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 3. Words with just note, etc. This line has two earlier 
 forms : " Words with just notes which till then used to scan," 
 and, " Words with just notes when most were wont to scan." 
 
 4. Midas' ears. Alluding to the ass's ears which Apollo 
 gave Midas for his lack of sense in awarding the palm to Pan 
 against Apollo in the contest of music. Cf. Ovid, Met. xi. 174. 
 
 committing. Confounding. At first the word was "mis- 
 joining." 
 
 5. exempts. Precludes your being of that class who mistake 
 "short for long." 
 
 6-8. These lines originally were : 
 
 " And gives thee praise above the pipe of Pan : 
 In after age thou shalt be writ a man 
 That didst reform thy art, the chief among." 
 
 11. or story. This is explained by a marginal note to the 
 sonnet as it was prefixed to Lawes' Choice Psalmes : "The 
 story of Ariadne set by him to musick." (M.) 
 
 12, 13. These lines in first form were : 
 
 " Fame, by the Tuscan's leave, shall set thee higher 
 Than old Casell, whom Dante wooed to sing." 
 
NOTES 221 
 
 Cf. Dante, Puryatorio, ii. Dante meets his old friend Casella, 
 the musician, and asks him to sing. 
 
 " If new law taketh not from thee 
 Memory or custom of love-turned song, 
 That whilom all my cares had power to 'swage ; 
 Please thee therewith a little to console 
 My spirit, that encumber' d with its fame, 
 Traveling so far, of pain is overcome," etc. 
 
 milder. That is, than those of Purgatory. 
 
 1646-1673 
 
 ON THE RELIGIOUS MEMORY OF MRS. CATHERINE THOMSON 
 (Two copies in Milton's own hand in the Cambridge MSS.) 
 
 Notwithstanding the bitterness of controversy Milton found 
 opportunity to indulge in the most delightful personal friend- 
 ships, of one of which this sonnet is a memorial. Pattison says : 
 " Now, out of all the clamour and the bitterness of sects, he can 
 retire and be alone with his heavenly aspirations which have 
 lost none of their ardour by having laid aside all their sectari- 
 anism." 
 
 3. earthy. Some editions have the corrupted form ' ' earthly. " 
 load. Originally " clod. " 
 
 4. Of death, etc. The original rendering was : 
 
 " Of flesh and sin, which man from heaven doth sever." 
 
 5. Thy works. Cf. Acts x. 4, and Rev. xiv. 13. 
 
 6-10. Stayed not behind, etc. Originally these lines were : 
 
 " Straight followed thee the path that saints have trod ; 
 Still as they journeyed from this dark abode 
 Up to the realms of peace and joy for ever, 
 Faith showed the way, and she, who saw them best 
 Thy handmaids," etc. 
 
222 NOTES 
 
 1648-1693-1713 
 
 Ox THE LORD GENERAL FAIRFAX 
 (In Milton's own hand in the Cambridge MSS.) 
 
 About Michaelmas, 1647, Milton gave up taking pupils and 
 moved to a smaller house in High Holborn, opening into Lin- 
 coln's Inn Fields. Cromwell and Fairfax had marched through 
 London, and the flight of Charles I. from Hampton Court to the 
 Isle of Wight soon followed. Milton was studiously employed 
 in literary work, planning a Latin Dictionary, a Complete His- 
 tory of England and a Digest of Christian Doctrine: so much 
 did his love of letters precede his Republicanism. He also 
 translated nine Psalms, Ixxx.-lxxxviii. 
 
 The English and Scottish Royalists rose in behalf of Charles, 
 now a prisoner at the Isle of Wight. This uprising was the 
 Second Civil War. Cromwell met and defeated the northern 
 Royalists (Scots) at Preston, and Fairfax laid siege to Col- 
 chester, a town which had been seized by the Royalists. It 
 surrendered after three months and the fame of Fairfax seemed 
 complete. It was in celebration of this great victory that Mil- 
 ton wrote this sonnet. 
 
 It should be remembered that Fairfax would not approve of 
 the execution of Charles, which took place January 30, 1649, 
 and the following year he resigned his office and retired to 
 private life. Although Milton defended the execution, yet he 
 did not forget to pay Fairfax his tribute as late as 1654, for in 
 his Defensio Secunda he alluded to him as "a man in whom 
 nature and the divine favour have joined with the greatest forti- 
 tude a modesty and a purity of life equally great." Besides 
 being a great general, Fairfax was a man of taste and learning. 
 It was by his care that the great Bodleian library was saved at 
 the surrender of Oxford, 1646. His retirement from office 
 was largely due to his desire to live in the quiet of delightful 
 studies, and he became a competitor of Milton in the paraphrase 
 of the Psalms. 
 
 The sonnet was first printed (and badly printed) in Phillips' 
 
NOTES 223 
 
 ife of Milton. It is not in the edition of 1673 because of its 
 " pre-Restoration " ideas. It was first printed in Milton's 
 works in 1713. 
 
 2. Filling. Phillips has "and fills." 
 
 4. that. Phillips has "which." 
 
 5. virtue. Phillips has " valour. " 
 
 6. though. Phillips has "while." 
 
 7. the false North. Parliament considered the work of the 
 Scotch army in the North as a breach of the Solemn League and 
 Covenant. 
 
 8. imp. To piece out, mend. Cf. Richard II. ii. 1: "Imp 
 out our drooping country's broken wing." 
 
 their. Phillips has " her. " 
 
 10. endless war. Phillips has " acts of war." 
 
 11. truth and right. Phillips has " injured truth." 
 
 12. cleared from, etc. Phillips has "be rescued from the 
 brand." 
 
 14. share. Phillips has " shares. " 
 
 How Phillips' copy came to differ so much from the origi- 
 nal Ms. is not known. It went unchallenged until 1752, when 
 Newton went back to the Ms. 
 
 1652-1694-1713 
 
 To THE LORD GENERAL CROMWELL 
 (In the hand of an amanuensis in the Cambridge MSS.) 
 
 After the execution of the King in January, 1649, the power 
 was centred in the Council of State. This Council needed for 
 Secretary one who could translate the State papers, and it is 
 not surprising that they turned to Milton, who had lately de- 
 fended their action in the pamphlet, Tenure of Kings and 
 Magistrates. Here a new world opened to him. He would be 
 a companion of the great men whom he admired of Fairfax, 
 Cromwell, and Vane. On March 15, 1649, he was inducted 
 into office. As High Holborn was inconveniently distant from 
 his desk, he moved to Petty France in Westminster, opening 
 into St. James Park, where he lived until the Restoration. 
 
224 NOTES 
 
 Besides translating despatches he was the censor of the official 
 organ, the Mercurius Politicus, and he was expected to reply to 
 any attacks made upon the government. He returned the fire 
 of Gauden's Eikon Basilike, in Eikonoklastes, and of Salma- 
 sius' Defensio Regia, in Pro Popnlo Anglicano Defensio. In 
 this close application he injured his eyesight. 
 
 The latest acts of Cromwell's career before he was made Pro- 
 tector were his conduct of the campaign in Ireland and Scotland, 
 and his victory at Worcester, when the cause of Charles II. was 
 ruined in Scotland. He was in London when this sonnet was 
 written. Religious sects were clamoring for the enactment of 
 their narrow conceptions of Church Government ; a new Estab- 
 lished Church was desired, and Milton in this sonnet called upon 
 Cromwell to resist the movement. 
 
 The question naturally arises, What was Cromwell's opinion 
 of Milton ? Mr. Augustine Birrell says : " There is nothing to 
 prove that Cromwell and Milton, the body and soul of English 
 Republicanism, were ever in the same room together, or ex- 
 changed words with one another." Naturally there could be 
 but little in common between the two men, except the question 
 of the Commonwealth, and even here there was not entire har- 
 mony of feeling. Milton must have felt there was some cause 
 for fear that Cromwell would not be tolerant, or he would not 
 have written this sonnet. That his fears were well grounded is 
 proved by subsequent events and the estrangement of Vane. 
 This sonnet and that to Vane are singularly beautiful illustra- 
 tions of the catholicity of Milton the poet, as some of his prose 
 pamphlets are equally revelations of Milton the partisan. 
 
 " We must be free or die, who speak the tongue 
 That Shakespeare spoke, the faith arid morals hold 
 That Milton held." WORD.WO.TH. 
 
 Of the various estimates of the character of Cromwell, those 
 representing the farthest extremes are by Clarendon and Carlyle. 
 Clarendon believed that posterity would look upon Cromwell 
 as a "brave bad man" ; while Carlyle thought it would con- 
 sider him in the character of "a prophetic man ; a man with 
 
NOTES 225 
 
 his whole soul seeing and struggling to see." The golden mean 
 between these opinions has not yet been reached. 
 
 This sonnet was first printed by Phillips in 1694, in his Life 
 of Milton, and varies much from the copy in Ms. by the hand 
 of an amanuensis. 
 
 1, 2. cloud not of war only, etc. "Nubem belli." Cf. 
 ^Eneid, x. 809. NEWTON. 
 
 detractions. Phillips has "distractions." 
 
 5. crowned Fortune. An allusion to King Charles and his 
 family, and the battle of Worcester. (K.) 
 
 This line was omitted from Phillips' copy. 
 
 6. Hast reared, etc. Phillips has 
 
 " And fought God's battles, and his work pursued." 
 
 7. Darwen. A river in Lancashire, near which the battle of 
 Preston was fought. 
 
 8. Dunbar field. Where Cromwell fought the famous battle 
 of Dunbar, beating the Scots, and joined Scotland to the Eng- 
 lish Commonwealth. (M.) 
 
 9. Worcester's laureate wreath. Cromwell's crowning vic- 
 tory of Sept. 3, 1651. The Ms. reads 
 
 " And twenty battles more : yet much remains." 
 
 The change was made by Phillips, but from what is not known. 
 
 12. secular chains. Milton feared these chains of the Pres- 
 byterians as much as he did the ecclesiastical chains of the 
 Royalists. 
 
 14. hireling wolves. Nothing better illustrates Milton's in- 
 dependence than does this charge and the similar one in Lycidas 
 against the Episcopalians. 
 
 1652-1694-1713 
 To SIR HENRY VANE THE YOUNGER 
 
 (Copy from Milton's dictation in the Cambridge MSS.) 
 The dramatic career of Sir Henry Vane falls into four acts : 
 First, the period of youth ; second, his service in New Eng- 
 Q 
 
226 NOTES 
 
 land; third, his association with Cromwell in the Civil War; 
 and fourth, his revolt against the usurpation of Cromwell. 
 
 No English statesman had a clearer insight into what consti- 
 tutes civil and religious liberty, a more unselfish purpose to de- 
 fend the right as God had given him power to see it, a greater 
 Christian fortitude to bear the pain of tyrannical and cruel 
 death. 
 
 At the time Milton wrote this sonnet Vane was a distinguished 
 member of the Council of State. The breach between Crom- 
 well and Vane, caused by Vane's refusal to approve of the exe- 
 cution of the King, and his noble stand for toleration of all sects, 
 even the Catholics, was growing wider and wider. 
 
 Vane had said in Parliament: " Why should the labours of 
 any be suppressed, if sober, though never so different ? We 
 now profess to seek God, we desire to see light." Roger 
 Williams, who had spent some weeks with Vane at his country 
 house in Lincolnshire consulting him upon the Puritan persecu- 
 tion of the Friends in New England, called this a ' ' heavenly 
 speech." 
 
 The army was devoted to Cromwell ; by its aid Parliament 
 was to be dissolved, and in the election of a new Parliament 
 none who fought on the losing side, whether Royalist or Presby- 
 terian, should have any part. Vane stood for the rule of Par- 
 liament, that it should dissolve itself, or that Cromwell should 
 act as the servant of Parliament. Conferences were held, but 
 Cromwell grew more and more determined in his disposition to 
 rule by the sword. On the 20th of April, 1653, when Vane was 
 speaking in the House upon the bill for dissolution, Cromwell 
 entered with a body of soldiers. When the question was about 
 to be put he rose and poured out a torrent of invective, " speak- 
 ing," says Ludlow, "with so much passion and discomposure, 
 as if he had been distracted." Vane and others attempted to 
 reply, but were met with a prompt command from Cromwell : 
 "Come, come, I'll put an end to your prating. You are no 
 Parliament. I'll put an end to your sitting. Begone!" As 
 Vane left the House he passed Cromwell and said, " This is not 
 honest ! Yea, it is against morality and common honesty ! ' ' 
 
NOTES 227 
 
 To this Cromwell shouted, " Sir Harry Vane ! Sir Harry Vane ! 
 The Lord deliver me from Sir Harry Vane ! " 
 
 Vane retired to his estate at Raby Castle and lived with his 
 family and those studies so dear to him, waiting for the next 
 call to defend the Cause. He wrote a treatise entitled A Heal- 
 ing Question, " in which he proposed," says John Forster, " for 
 the first time in the records of history that expedient of organ- 
 izing a government in certain fundamentals not to be dispensed 
 with, which was thought visionary and impracticable until the 
 world learned to venerate the name of Washington." Crom- 
 well ordered his arrest, and imprisoned him at the Isle of Wight 
 for about four months. After the death of Cromwell in 1658 he 
 was returned to Parliament. At the Restoration he was arrested, 
 and on June 14, 1662, was beheaded for the very act which he 
 never approved the execution of Charles I. His last words 
 were : " I bless the Lord who has accounted me worthy to suffer 
 for his name." Milton did not dare print this and the preced- 
 ing sonnet in his edition of 1673. 
 
 Whittier, in his poem The King's Missive, alluded to the. 
 treatment of the Friends at the hands of New England Puritans. 
 Rev. George E. Ellis criticised the ballad in that (as he thought) 
 it was not historically accurate. In Whittier 's reply to this 
 criticism he says : ' ' With the single exception of the Friends, 
 every sect in Christendom believed in the right of the magistrate 
 to punish heresy. There were indeed individuals, and among 
 the noblest of the age, who sympathized with the persecuted 
 Friends, and exerted themselves for their relief such men as 
 Sydney and Vane, Milton and Marvel. . . . But these were 
 solitary exceptions." Life and Letters of John Greenleaf 
 Whittier, Vol. II., Appendix. 
 
 Mr. John Fiske says: "It is pleasant to remember that one 
 of the greatest Puritan statesmen of that heroic age, the man 
 who dared even to withstand Cromwell at the height of his 
 power when his measures became too violent, that this admir- 
 able man was once the chief magistrate of an American Common- 
 wealth. Thorough republican and enthusiastic lover of liberty, 
 he was spiritually akin to Jefferson and to Samuel Adams." 
 
228 NOTES 
 
 John Forster says : " During the progress of Vane's brilliant 
 administration of the government, Milton addressed to him his 
 famous sonnet ; and at the same time, as if with the view of 
 composing these fatal differences between them, which threat- 
 ened the state with calamity, by showing how the glories of 
 each might be celebrated by the same impartial pen, the divine 
 poet forwarded another, not less famous sonnet, to Cromwell." 
 
 Cf. The Statesmen of the Commonwealth, John Forster ; 
 Chief Actors in the Puritan Revolution, Peter Bayne. 
 
 The sonnet was first printed by Phillips, but with few varia- 
 tions from the Ms. 
 
 1. counsel. Phillips has " councels. " 
 
 3, 4. when gowns, etc. Alluding to the fact that it was the 
 wisdom of statesmen, not skill of generals, that saved Rome 
 from Pyrrhus and Hannibal. 
 
 " It is the authors more than the diplomats, who make nations 
 love one another." TENNYSON (Memoir^). 
 
 6. hollow states. The States of Holland, the relations of 
 which to the Commonwealth were not explicit. (M.) 
 
 7-14. Then to advise, etc. Phillips has for these lines : 
 
 " Then to advise how war may best be upheld, 
 Mann'd by her own main nerves, iron and gold, 
 
 In all her equipage : besides, to know, 
 Both spiritual and civil, what each means, 
 What serves each, thou hast learn' d, what few have done. 
 
 The bounds of either sword to thee we owe ; 
 Therefore on thy right hand Religion leans, 
 And reckons thee in chief her eldest son." 
 
 The Cambridge copy as dictated by Milton has several correc- 
 tions. For "Then to advise" in line 7 there had been first 
 dictated "And to advise"; for "Move by" in line 8, "Move 
 on " ; instead of the present lines 10-11, the following : 
 
 . " What power the Church and what the Civil means 
 Thou teachest best, which few have ever done. 
 
NOTES 229 
 
 Altered later to : 
 
 
 " Both spiritual power and civil, what each means 
 Thou hast learned well, a praise which few have won." 
 
 And for " firm hand," line 13, " right hand." (M.) 
 
 1655-1673 
 ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN PIEDMONT 
 
 At the close of the year 1652, and soon after Cromwell had 
 decided to dissolve Parliament, a book was published anony- 
 mously at Hague entitled Regii Sanguinis Clamor, "Cry 
 of the King's blood to Heaven against the English Parricides." 
 It was dedicated to Charles II., and in the dedication Milton is 
 alluded to as that "monster, ugly, hideous, huge, bereft of 
 sight." The author of this scurrilous volume was supposed to 
 be one Morus, but later it was revealed that he was only an 
 agent and that the author was Peter Du Moulin, an ex-rector 
 in Yorkshire. 
 
 Milton at this time was totally blind. 
 
 " So thick a drop serene hath quench'd these orbs, 
 Or dim suffusion veil'd." 
 
 He was in ill health and mourning for the loss of his wife and 
 little boy, dolor unutterable. He did not reply to Clamor 
 until 1654, when he published Defensio Secunda. It was a 
 pitiless attack on his old enemy Salmasius, Morus, and Ulac the 
 printer of Clamor. 
 
 Mr. Stopford Brooke says: "Again and again, like an un- 
 sated shark, Milton returns to the charge to draw fresh blood 
 from his dead and living foes ; it is the most merciless thing in 
 our literature. ' ' 
 
 It was after this controversy had subsided that Milton com- 
 posed this noble sonnet and the four which follow it. All are 
 revelations of a lofty spirit ; they have the charm of majestic 
 music and solemn beauty. 
 
 Mr. Richard Garnett says : " This sonnet is the most memo- 
 
230 NOTES 
 
 rable example in our language of the fire and passion which 
 may inspire a poetical form which some have deemed only fit to 
 celebrate a ' mistress' eyebrow.' " 
 
 In January, 1655, the Turin Government decided to make the 
 Protestant inhabitants of certain Piedmontese valleys conform 
 to the Catholic religion. They were ordered to quit the country 
 in three days under pain of death unless they chose to change 
 their religion. They remonstrated, but to no purpose. On the 
 17th of April the brutal soldiery was let loose upon the unarmed 
 and defenceless people. They revelled in lust, murder and 
 plunder. When the news reached England a cry of horror 
 went up ; a day of humiliation was appointed ; collections were 
 called for, 40,000 was raised, and an envoy sent to remon- 
 strate with the Duke of Savoy. Cromwell was in earnest, and 
 the result was a treaty by which the survivors were to be pro- 
 tected and accorded the right to worship as they desired. 
 
 Mr. John Fiske says: "Everywhere else the Roman idea 
 seemed to have conquered or to be conquering ; while they (the 
 Puritans) seemed to be left as the forlorn hope of the human 
 race. But from the very day when Oliver Cromwell reached 
 forth his mighty arm to stop the persecutions in Savoy, the vic- 
 torious English idea began to change the face of things. . . . 
 It has come to rule, it has come to stay." 
 
 Masson says: "This sonnet is Milton's private and more 
 tremendous expression in verse of the feeling he expressed 
 publicly, in Cromwell's name in his Latin State Letters. Every 
 line labors with wrath." 
 
 Macaulay says : " The noble poem on the massacres of Pied- 
 mont is strictly a collect in verse." 
 
 "It recalls," says Mr. C. D. Deshler, " the style of the Lesser 
 Prophets, which it rivals in the magnificence of its imprecations. 
 Like them it burns with holy wrath and unforgiving zeal. It 
 pulsates vehemently with the old Hebrew spirit of retributive 
 vindictiveness." 
 
 In many of Wordsworth's sonnets dedicated to Liberty we 
 have strains as solemn and magnificent, of which the following 
 is a type : 
 
NOTES 231 
 
 ON THE SUBJUGATION OF SWITZERLAND 
 
 Two Voices are there ; one is of the sea, 
 
 One of the mountains ; each a mighty Voice : 
 
 In both from age to age thou didst rejoice, 
 
 They were thy chosen music, Liberty ! 
 
 There came a Tyrant, and with holy glee 
 
 Thou fought'st against him ; but hast vainly striven : 
 
 Thou from thy Alpine holds at length art driven, 
 
 Where not a torrent murmurs heard by thee. 
 
 Of one deep bliss thine ear hath been bereft : 
 
 Then cleave, O cleave to that which still is left ; 
 
 For, high-souled Maid, what sorrow would it be 
 
 That Mountain floods should thunder as before, 
 
 And Ocean bellow from his rocky shore, 
 
 And neither awful Voice be heard by thee ! 
 
 Archbishop Trench says : " Wordsworth's sonnets to Liberty 
 are filled with trumpet-notes, for in his hands also, as in Milton's 
 before him, 
 
 'the thing became a trumpet.' " 
 
 5. in thy book, etc. Cf. Psalms Ivi. 
 
 7. that rolled, etc. Warton alludes to an account of the 
 massacre by Sir W. Moreland, where there is a print showing 
 this cruelty. (M.) 
 
 10. martyred blood, etc. An adaptation of Tertullian's 
 " Sanguis martyrum semen est Ecclesise." 
 
 12. triple Tyrant. The Pope with his triple crown. Milton 
 in his Latin poem In Quintum Novembris called the crown 
 ' ' Tri-coronif er. ' ' 
 
 14. the Babylonian woe. The Puritans regarded the Church 
 of Rome as the mystical Babylon of the Apocalypse. Cf. Rev. 
 xvii., xviii. 
 
 1655-1673 
 ON HIS BLINDNESS 
 
 That Milton became totally blind in 1652 is evident from the 
 fact that the sonnets of that year to Cromwell and Vane are not 
 
232 NOTES 
 
 in his own hand. The reason that the sonnet on his blindness 
 was not written earlier may be due to the fact that he had been 
 devoting all his powers to the replies to Clamor. He had now 
 completed the last of these the Pro se Defensio. He had 
 been made a subject of scorn and coarse jest in the Clamor, 
 and his enemies at home taunted him with suffering the just 
 judgment of God for his conduct in the affairs of Church and 
 State. We must believe that these things at times caused him 
 to be depressed. Masson says : " Again and again in Milton's 
 later writings in prose and verse there are passages of the most 
 touching sorrow over his darkened and desolate condition." 
 When we consider how intense was Milton's nature: how bitter 
 was his disposition when attacked ; how proud he was, and 
 with what impatience he bore some of the domestic infelicities 
 for which he alone was responsible, we are amazed at the lofty 
 serenity and the holy resignation which this poem reveals." 
 
 Mr. Stopford Brooke says: "Having done with personal 
 wars, he looked forward always to the time when he might 
 let himself loose, and, leaving the disputes and passions of 
 earth, soar into the poetic air in which alone he breathed 
 with ease and pleasure and triumph. He loved the solemn 
 beauty of lofty thought more than any man in England has 
 ever loved it. " 
 
 Lowell says : " There is hardly a more stately figure in liter- 
 ary history than Milton's, no life in some of its aspects more 
 tragical, except Dante's. In both these great poets, more than 
 in any others, the character of the man makes part of the sin- 
 gular impressiveness of what they wrote, and of its vitality in 
 after times." 
 
 In the Tractate on Education Milton had said that the read- 
 ing of the masters would reveal to pupils "what religious, what 
 glorious and magnificent use might be made of Poetry, both in 
 divine and human things." When he wrote this he little 
 thought that his own "glorious and magnificent" poetry would 
 be the highest revelation of the divine and the human ; that it 
 would inspire the same calm and steady heroism in others when 
 facing the pitiless storm. Cf. Paradise Lost, iii. 41-44 : 
 
NOTES 233 
 
 " Seasons return ; but not to me returns 
 Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn 
 Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose, 
 Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine." 
 
 It was this magnificent spectacle which perhaps more than 
 any other fortified Wordsworth against malignant truth or lie, 
 and enabled him to be strong in himself and powerful to give 
 strength. In the following, which Wordsworth wished prefixed 
 to every edition of his works, we have the keynote of his spirit. 
 
 "If thou indeed derive thy light from Heaven, 
 Then to the measure of that heaven-born light, 
 Shine, Poet, in thy place, and be content. 
 The stars pre-eminent in magnitude, 
 And they that from the zenith dart their beams, 
 (Visible though they be to half the earth, 
 Though half a sphere be conscious of their brightness) , 
 Are yet of no diviner origin, 
 No purer essence, than the one that burns, 
 Like an untended watch-fire on the ridge 
 Of some dark mountain ; or than those which seem 
 Humbly to hang, like twinkling winter lamps, 
 Among the branches of the leafless trees. 
 Then to the measure of the light vouchsafed, 
 Shine, Poet, in thy place, and be content." 
 
 2. Ere half my days. Milton's eyesight began to fail several 
 years before he became totally blind in 1652. 
 
 3. one talent. Cf. Matthew xxv. 14. 
 
 "That first great gift, the vital soul." 
 
 WORDSWORTH, Prelude, 1. 
 8. fondly. Foolishly. 
 12. thousands, etc. Cf. Spenser, Hymn of Heavenly Love : 
 
 " There they in their trinal triplicities 
 About him wait and on his will depend," etc. 
 
234 NOTES 
 
 1655-1673 
 To MR. LAWRENCE 
 
 We must not forget that Milton was not on intimate terms 
 with the scholars of his time. He had no political friendships ; 
 and as he was not connected with any place of worship he had 
 no spiritual adviser. By reason of his physical infirmity and 
 by the character of his mind and heart he was solitary. "No 
 grander figure," says Mr. Stopford Brooke, "stands forth in 
 the whole of English literature, scarcely any grander in English 
 history, than the figure of this blind, resolute, eloquent man. " 
 He possessed those independent solaces 
 
 " To mitigate the injurious sway of place 
 Or circumstance how far-soever changed, 
 Or to be changed in after years." 
 
 As the tumult and bitterness of personal strife dies away 
 there come instead those revelations of tender sympathy and 
 loving regard which are full of the deepest interest. "His 
 house in Petty France was sought by distinguished foreigners 
 and Londoners of rank," says Masson, "but most assiduous of 
 all were former pupils and other enthusiastic young men, who 
 accounted it a privilege to read to him, or act as his amanuenses, 
 and to hear him talk." 
 
 Phillips says that among the particular friends who visited 
 him thus was "Young Lawrence, to whom there is a sonnet 
 among the rest of his printed poems." He was a son of Henry 
 Lawrence of St. Ives, Westmoreland, President of Cromwell's 
 Council. 
 
 The glimpse into the life of Milton at this time is altogether 
 delightful. What treasures were placed within the reach of 
 these young men ! 
 
 " Of knowledge graced 
 By Fancy, what a rich repast ! " 
 
 Mr. Richard Garnett says: "This sonnet gives a pleasing 
 picture of the British Homer in his Horatian hour." 
 6. Favonius. Zephyrus, the west wind. 
 
NOTES 235 
 
 8. that neither sowed nor spun. Cf. Matthew vi. 26-29. 
 10. Of Attic taste. Cf. Horace, Book IV. Ode xii., To Virgil : 
 
 "Virgil, haste, 
 
 Comrade of noble youths, and taste 
 Choice wines of Cales : my reward 
 One little shell of Syrian nard." 
 
 13, 14. and spare to interpose, etc. Refrain from interpos- 
 ing them oft. (M. ) Cf . Horace, Epode ii. , Beatus ille : 
 
 " What man would change the sober joys 
 For cares that fret or love that cloys." 
 
 1655-1673-1713 
 
 To CYRIACK SKINNER 
 
 (Last ten lines in the hand of an amanuensis in the Cambridge MSS.) 
 
 The subject of this and the following sonnet was the son of a 
 Lincolnshire squire. He was "an ingenious young gentleman 
 and pupil of Jo: Milton," says Wood. Masson gives other evi- 
 dences of Milton's intimacy with him, and reveals the fact that 
 probably a relative of Cyriack's became Milton's amanuensis in 
 the last years of his life, and that he was intrusted with certain 
 State papers and the De Doctrina Christiana for publication. 
 As the latter could not be published in England, "being mis- 
 chievous to the Church or the State," it was sent to Amsterdam. 
 Skinner, who was a member of Trinity College, Cambridge, was 
 ordered not to allow it published on pain of expulsion. It was 
 finally returned to the Secretary of State and deposited in the 
 State Papers Office, where it remained until 1823. It was pub- 
 lished in 1825. The Treatise in the original Ms. is partly in Skin- 
 ner's hand and partly in others corrected by him, and is still in 
 the State Papers Office. 
 
 Ten lines of this sonnet are in the Cambridge Mss. and are 
 upon a leaf torn from some other volume ; the paper is the same 
 quality and size as that used for the Treatise. (M.) 
 
 Emerson, in his Essay, John Milton, written in 1838, says : 
 " The discovery of the last work of John Milton in 1823 drew a 
 
236 NOTES 
 
 sudden attention to his name. For a short time the literary 
 journals were filled with disquisitions on his genius ; new 
 editions of his works and new compilations of his life were 
 published." 
 
 It should not be forgotten that Macaulay's famous essay on 
 Milton in the Edinburgh Review, 1825, was occasioned by the 
 discovery of this Treatise. As to the reason for making it the 
 occasion of the essay he says : 
 
 " The dextrous Capuchins never choose to preach on the life 
 and miracles of a saint, till they have awakened the devotional 
 feelings of their auditors by exhibiting some relic of him, a 
 thread of his garment, a lock of his hair, or a drop of his blood. 
 On the same principle we intend to take advantage of the late 
 interesting discovery, and, while this memorial of a great and 
 good man is in the hands of all, to say something of his moral 
 and intellectual qualities." 
 
 2. Themis. Goddess of law. 
 
 7. Euclid, etc. Skinner was interested in mathematics and 
 physical science. 
 
 8. what the Swede intend, etc. An allusion to the wars of 
 Charles XII. of Sweden against Russia, Poland and Denmark, 
 and the wars of Louis XIV. in the Netherlands. 
 
 12-14. disapproves that care, etc. Cf. Horace, Book II. 
 Ode xviii. : 
 
 Non ebur neque aureum. 
 
 " Simple and true I share with all 
 The treasures of a kindly mind ; 
 And in my cottage, poor and small, 
 The great a welcome find." 
 
 1655-1694-1713 
 
 To THE SAME 
 
 (Copy in the hand of an amanuensis in the Cambridge MSS.) 
 
 This was first printed by Phillips in his Life of Milton, 1694. 
 "In the Cambridge Ms. this sonnet is on the same leaf as 
 the copy of the last, but in a different hand," says Masson. 
 
NOTES 237 
 
 Professor Edward Dowden says: "Milton's inner life, of 
 which his poetry is an expression, as his prose is an expression 
 of his outer, public life, was an unceasing tending from evil to 
 good, from base or common to noble, a perpetual aspiration to 
 moral greatness." If we are familiar with the course of Mil- 
 ton'slife since 1632, when he wrote his first sonnet, we cannot 
 fail to realize what a struggle it was. In the sonnet on his 
 blindness we have his willingness to serve by waiting ; here is 
 his determination to serve by working. 
 
 Lowell says : " Milton never was fairly in his element till he 
 got off the soundings of prose and felt the long swell of his verse 
 under him like a steed that knows his rider. ... In those 
 poems and passages that stamp him great, the verses do not 
 dance interweaving to soft Lydian airs, but inarch rather with 
 resounding tread and clang of martial music." 
 
 This sonnet was not printed in edition of 1673 because of its 
 political ideas. 
 
 1. this three years' day. Cf. note to On his Blindness. 
 
 3. light. Phillips gives * ' sight. ' ' 
 
 4. sight. Phillips gives "day." 
 
 5. Of. Phillips gives "or." 
 
 7. Heaven's hand. Milton first had " God's hand." 
 
 8. bear up and. Milton first had " attend to." 
 
 9. Right onward. Milton first had " Uphillward." 
 
 10. conscience. Feeling. 
 
 12. rings. Milton has "talks," corrected by Phillips to 
 "rings." 
 
 1658-1673 
 
 ON HIS DECEASED WIFE 
 (In the hand of an amanuensis in the Cambridge MSS.) 
 
 In November, 1656, Milton married Catherine Woodcock, 
 daughter of Captain Woodcock of Hackney, and the house in 
 Petty France was lighted up with the presence of a genial and 
 sympathetic woman. 
 
 His labors as Secretary were now somewhat relieved by the 
 appointment of Andrew Marvel as assistant. It seems that 
 
238 NOTES 
 
 Milton's fame as champion of liberty had spread abroad, for Au- 
 brey says that he was urged to come to France and Italy, where 
 he was offered "great preferments." Many foreigners visited 
 England "to see the house and chamber where he was born." 
 It was a time of quiet and he was meditating his flight "above 
 the Aeonian Mount" in Paradise Lost. He writes to a Mend: 
 " I am glad to know that you are assured of my tranquil spirit 
 in this great affliction of the loss of sight, and also of the 
 pleasure I have in being civil and attentive in the reception of 
 visitors from abroad. Why, in truth, should I not gently bear 
 the loss of sight when I may hope that it is not so much lost as 
 retracted inwards for the sharpening rather than the blunting 
 of my mental edge." But the blessing of sympathetic and 
 tender attentions from a partner in his joys and sorrows was 
 not long to be his, for early in 1G58 his wife died in childbirth, 
 and the infant daughter lived but a month. Left with his three 
 young daughters, the eldest only twelve, in his despondency he 
 would wander from room to room and recall the pleasant hours 
 spent with her in whose person shone that 'love, sweetness 
 and goodness' which for one year had made him strangely 
 happy. We may fancy him stopping at the doors where his 
 heart was used to beat so quickly, and 
 
 " Waiting for a hand, 
 A hand that can be clasp'd no more, 
 Behold him, for he cannot sleep." 
 
 In his dreams he sees her whom in his waking hours he was 
 not permitted to gaze upon. 
 
 In the In Memoriam Tennyson reveals a similar experience 
 during his day dreams : 
 
 ' ' So word by word, and line by line, 
 
 The dead man touch'd me from the past, 
 And all at once it seem'd at last 
 His living soul was flash'd on mine." 
 
 She was buried in St. Margaret's, Westminster. 
 
 In 1887 Mr. George W. Childs of Philadelphia, whose bene- 
 
NOTES 239 
 
 3tions were so noble, "every one a testimony of peace and 
 goodwill," offered to defray the expense of a Milton memorial 
 window in St. Margaret's Church, and Archdeacon F. W. 
 Farrar, who was asked to take the matter in charge, wrote the 
 following to Mr. Childs : " Mr. Lowell wrote me a quatrain for 
 the Raleigh window. 1 can think of no one so suitable as Mr. 
 J. G. AVhittier to write four lines for the Milton window. Mr. 
 Whittier would feel the fullest sympathy for the great Puritan 
 poet, whose spirit was so completely ' that of the Pilgrim 
 Fathers." Mr. Childs forwarded the letter to Mr. Whittier, 
 who accepted the invitation and composed the following : 
 
 " The new world honors him whose lofty plea 
 
 For England's freedom made her own more sure, 
 Whose song, immortal as its theme, shall be 
 Their common freehold while both worlds endure." 
 
 Dr. Farrar on receiving these lines wrote to Mr. Whittier as 
 follows: "Let me thank you for the four lines on Milton. 
 They are all that I can desire, and they will add to the interest 
 which all Englishmen and Americans will feel in the beautiful 
 Milton window. I think that if Milton had now been living, 
 you are the poet whom he would have chosen to speak of him, 
 as being the poet with whose whole tone of mind he would 
 have been most in sympathy." 
 
 In his memorable address at the unveiling of this window Mr. 
 Matthew Arnold, alluding to the ' Anglo-Saxon Contagion ' and 
 its effect upon the ideal of a high and rare excellence, said : 
 " I treat the gift of Mr. Childs as a gift in honour of Milton, al- 
 though the window given is in memory of his second wife. . . . 
 This fair and gentle daughter of the rigid sectarist of Hack- 
 ney, this lovable companion with whom Milton had rest and 
 happiness one year, is a part of Milton indeed, and in calling 
 up her memory we call up his. ... If to our English race 
 an inadequate sense for perfection of work is a real danger, 
 if the discipline of respect for a high and flawless excellence 
 is peculiarly needed by us, Milton is of all our gifted men 
 the best lesson, the most salutary influence. In the sure 
 
240 NOTES 
 
 and flawless perfection of his rhythm and diction he is as 
 admirable as Virgil or Dante, and in this respect he is unique 
 amongst us. No one else in English literature and art possesses 
 a' like distinction. . . . From style really high and pure Mil- 
 ton never departs. That Milton, of all our English race, is by 
 his diction and rhythm the one artist of the highest rank in the 
 great style whom we have ; this I take as requiring no discus- 
 sion, this I take as certain. . . . All the Anglo-Saxon con- 
 tagion, all the flood of Anglo-Saxon commonness, beats vainly 
 against the great style but cannot shake it, and has to accept its 
 triumph. But it triumphs in Milton, in our own race, tongue, 
 faith, and morals. The English race overspreads the world, 
 and at the same time the ideal of an excellence the most high 
 and the most rare abides a possession with it forever." 
 
 Mr. Henry Van Dyke says : "Of woman, woman as God 
 meant her to be, woman as she is in true purity and unspoiled 
 beauty of her nature, Milton never thought otherwise than nobly 
 and reverently. Surely there is no more beautiful and heartfelt 
 praise of perfect womanhood in all literature than this sonnet." 
 
 Cf. Wordsworth's tribute to his wife in She was a Phantom 
 of Delight: 
 
 " The reason firm, the temperate will, 
 Endurance, foresight, strength and skill ; 
 A perfect woman, nobly planned ; 
 To warn, to comfort and command ; 
 And yet a spirit still, and bright 
 With something of angelic light." 
 
 Cf. Tennyson, Princess : 
 
 " My wife, my life. O we will walk this world, 
 Yoked in all exercise of noble end, 
 And so thro' those dark gates across the wild 
 That no man knows. Indeed I love thee : come, 
 Yield thyself up : my hopes and thine are one : 
 Accomplish thou my manhood and thyself ; 
 Lay thy sweet hands in mine and trust to me." 
 
NOTES 241 
 
 Dedication to Enoch Arden : 
 
 " Dear, near and true no truer Time himself 
 Can prove you, tho 1 lie make you evermore 
 Dearer and nearer." 
 
 Cromwell died in August, 1658, and during Richard's Pro- 
 tectorate Milton remained in office. He wrote the State papers 
 and composed three pamphlets. The first was A Treatise of 
 Civil Power in Ecclesiastical Causes : showing that it is not 
 lawful for any Power on Earth to compel in Matters of Re- 
 ligion. In this he criticised Cromwell for supporting a State 
 Church. The second, Considerations touching the Likeliest 
 Means to remove Hirelings out of the Church, was also an 
 attack upon Cromwell's unjust interference in " free election of 
 ministers." These were both in the spirit of Vane and the 
 Republicans. In May, 1659, Richard abdicated, and on Monk 
 being made Dictator, in March, 1660, the third pamphlet 
 appeared. It was A Heady and Easy Way to establish a Free 
 Commonwealth. Monk and the Parliament disregarded this 
 splendid plea for a Republic. In May the Restoration came 
 and the hunt for Regicides began. Milton fled from his home 
 and took hiding at a friend's in Bartholomew Close, until the 
 29th of August, when the Act of Indemnity was passed. He 
 was nevertheless taken into custody by the Sergeant-at-Arms, 
 and his Defensio and Eikonoklastes burned by the hangman. 
 He was released from custody by the intercession of friends, 
 Andrew Marvel, or Sir William Davenant, the new Poet- 
 laureate. 
 
 " On evil days now fallen, and evil tongues, 
 In darkness, and with dangers compassed round," 
 
 his cause lost, his enemies in triumph, his name a byword, his 
 fortune impaired, at fifty-two he is thrown back upon himself, 
 and he asks 
 
 "by which means, 
 
 Now blind, disheartened, shamed, dishonoured, quelled, 
 To what can I be useful ? Wherein serve 
 My nation, and the work from Heaven imposed ? " 
 
242 NOTES 
 
 He begins to work upon the plan that pleased his boyish 
 thought ; he is attired with sudden brightness like a man in- 
 spired. Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, Samson Agonistes 
 reveal to us 
 
 44 Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme." 
 
 Lowell says : " It is idle to talk of the loneliness of one the 
 habitual companions of whose mind were the Fast and Future. 
 I always seem to see him leaning in his blindness a hand on the 
 shoulder of each, sure that one will guard the song which the 
 other had inspired." 
 
 44 What though the music of thy rustic flute 
 Kept not for long its happy country tone ; 
 
 Lost it too soon, and learnt a stormy note 
 Of men contention-tost, of men who groan, 
 
 Which task'd thy pipe too sore, and tired thy throat 
 
 It fail'd and thou wast mute ! 
 Yet hadst thou always visions of our light 
 
 And long with men of care thou couldst not stay, 
 
 And soon thy foot resumed its wandering way, 
 Left human haunt, and on alone till night." 
 
 2. like Alcestis, etc. An allusion to the Alcestis of Euripi- 
 des, where Hercules rescues the heroine from the lower world 
 and restores her to her husband. 
 
 "Euripides the human with his droppings of warm tears 
 And his touching of things human 'till they seem to reach 
 the spheres." 
 
 6. Purification. Cf. Leviticus xii. 
 
 10. Her face was veiled. Milton had never looked upon 
 her face. Masson thinks there is here a possible allusion to 
 Alkestis when restored to Admetus. 
 
 44 There is no telling how the hero twitched 
 The veil off." 
 
 BROWNING, Balaustiori's Adventure. 
 
ELEGIA PEIMA 
 
 AD CAROLUM DIODATUM 
 
 TANDEM, chare, tuae mihi pervenere tabellse, 
 
 Pertulit et voces nuncia charta tuas ; 
 Pertulit occidua Devse Cestrensis ab ora 
 
 Vergivium prono qua petit amne salum. 
 Multum, crede, juvat terras aluisse remotas 
 
 Pectus amans nostri, tamque fidele caput, 
 Quodque mihi lepidum tellus longinqua sodalem 
 
 Debet, at unde brevi redd ere jussa velit. 
 Me tenet urbs reflua quam Thamesis alluit unda, 
 
 Meque nee invitum patria dulcis habet. 10 
 
 Jam nee arundiferum mihi cura revisere Camum, 
 
 Nee dudum vetiti me laris angit amor. 
 Nuda nee arva placent, umbrasque negantia molles ; 
 
 Quam male Phoebicolis convenit ille locus ! 
 Nee duri libet usque minas perferre Magistri, 
 
 Cseteraque ingenio non subeunda meo. 
 Si sit hoc exilium, patrios adiisse penates, 
 
 Et vacuum curis otia grata sequi, 
 Non ego vel profugi nomen sortemve recuso, 
 
 Lsetus et exilii conditione fruor. 20 
 
 utinam vates nunquam graviora tulisset 
 
 Ille Tomitano flebilis exul agro ; 
 243 
 
244 ELEGIA PRIMA 
 
 Non tune lonio quicquam cessisset Homero, 
 
 Neve foret victo laus tibi prima, Maro. 
 Tempora nam licet hie placidis dare libera Musis, 
 
 Et totum rapiunt me, mea vita, libri. 
 Excipit hinc fessum sinuosi pompa theatri, 
 
 Et vocat ad plausus garrula scena suos. 
 Seu eatus auditur senior, seu prodigus haeres, 
 
 Seu procus, aut posita casside miles adest, 30 
 
 Sive decennali fcecundus lite patronus 
 
 Detonat inculto barbara verba f oro ; 
 Saepe vafer gnato succurrit servus amanti, 
 
 Et nasum rigidi fallit ubique patris ; 
 Saepe novos illic virgo inirata calores 
 
 Quid sit amor nescit, dum quoque nescit amat : 
 Sive cruentatum furiosa Tragoedia sceptrum 
 
 Quassat, et effusis crinibus ora rotat ; 
 Et dolet, et specto, juvat et spectasse dolendo; 
 
 Interdum et lacrymis dulcis amaror inest : 40 
 
 Seu puer infelix indelibata reliquit 
 
 Gaudia, et abrupto flendus amore cadit ; 
 Seu ferus e tenebris iterat Styga criminis ultor, 
 
 Conscia funereo pectora torre m ovens ; 
 Seu moeret Pelopeia domus, seu nobilis Hi, 
 
 Aut luit incestos aula Creontis avos. 
 Sed neque sub tecto semper nee in urbe latemus, 
 
 Irrita nee nobis tempora veris eunt. 
 Nos quoque lucus liabet vicina consitus ulmo, 
 
 Atque suburbani nobilis umbra loci 50 
 
 Saepius hie, blandas spirantia sidera flammas, 
 
 Virgineos videas praeteriisse chores. 
 Ah quoties dignae stupui miracula formae 
 
 Quae possit senium vel reparare Jovis ! 
 
ELEGIA PEIMA 245 
 
 Ah quoties vidi superantia luniina gemmas, 
 
 Atque faces quotquot volvit uterque polus ; 
 Collaque bis vivi Pelopis quse brachia vincant, 
 
 Quseque fiuit puro nectare tincta via, 
 Et decus eximium frontis, tremulosque capillos, 
 
 Aurea quee fallax retia tendit Amor ; GO 
 
 Pellacesque genas, ad quas hyacinthina sordet 
 
 Purpura, et ipse tui floris, Adoni, rubor ! 
 Oedite laudatse toties Heroides olim, 
 
 Et qusecunque vagum cepit arnica Jovem ; 
 Cedite Achsemeniae turrita fronte puellae, 
 
 Et quot Susa colunt, Memnoniamque Ninon ; 
 Vos etiam Danase fasces submittite Nymphae, 
 
 Et vos Iliacae, Romuleseque nurus ; 
 Nee Pompeianas Tarpeia Musa coliunnas 
 
 Jactet, et Ausoniis plena theatra stolis. 70 
 
 Gloria virginibus debetur prima Britannis ; 
 
 Extera sat tibi sit foemina posse sequi. 
 Tuque urbs Dardaniis, Londinum f structa colonis, 
 
 Turrigerum late conspicienda caput, 
 Tu nimium felix intra tua moenia claudis 
 
 Quicquid formosi pendulus orbis habet. 
 Non tibi tot cselo scintillant astra sereno, 
 
 Endymionese turba ministra deae, 
 Quot tibi conspicuae formaque auroque puellse 
 
 Per medias radiant turba videnda vias. 8C 
 
 Creditur hue geminis venisse invecta columbis 
 
 Alma pharetrigero milite cincta Venus, 
 Huic Cnidon, et riguas Simoeiitis flumine valles, 
 
 Hide Paphon, et roseam posthabitura Cypron. 
 Ast ego, dum pueri sinit indulgentia cseci, 
 
 Moenia quam subito linquere fausta paro ; 
 
246 ELEGIA SEXTA 
 
 Et vitare procul malefidae infamia Circes 
 
 Atria, divini Molyos usus ope. 
 Stat quoque juncosas Cami remeare paludes, 
 
 Atque iterum raucse murmur adire Scholse. 90 
 
 Interea fidi parvum cape munus amici, 
 
 Paucaque in alternos verba coacta modos. 
 
 ELEGIA SEXTA 
 AD CAKOLUM DIODATUM, RURI COMMORANTEM ; 
 
 Qiti, cum Tdibus Decent!), scripsisset, et sua carmina excusari postuldsset 
 si solito minus essent bo?ia, quod inter lautitias quibuz erat ab am-icia 
 exceptus fiaud satis felicem operam Musis dare se posse affirmabat, 
 hoc habuit responsum. 
 
 MITTO tibi sanam non pleno ventre salutem, 
 
 Qua tu distento forte carere potes. 
 At tua quid nostram prolectat Musa camoenam, 
 
 Nee sinit optatas posse sequi tenebras ? 
 Carmine scire velis quam te redamemque colamque ; 
 
 Crede mihi vix hoc carmine scire queas. 
 Nam neque noster amor modulis encluditur arctis, 
 
 Nee venit ad claudos integer ipse pedes. 
 Quam bene solennes epulas, hilaremque Decembrim, 
 
 Festaque cselifugam quse coluere Deum, 10 
 
 Deliciasque refers, hiberni gaudia ruris, 
 
 Haustaque per lepidos Gallica musta focos ! 
 Quid quereris refugam vino dapibusque poesin ? 
 
 Carmen amat Bacchum, carmina Bacchus amat. 
 
EL EG I A SEXTA 
 
 247 
 
 Nee puduit Phoebum virides gestasse corymbos, 
 
 Atque hederam lauro prseposuisse suse. 
 Ssepius Aoniis clamavit collibus Euce 
 
 Mista Thyoneo turba novena choro. 
 Naso Corallseis mala carmina misit ab agris ; 
 
 Non illic epulae, non sata vitis erat. 20 
 
 Quid nisi vina, rosasque, raceraiferumque Lyaeum, 
 
 Cantavit brevibus Teia Musa modis ? 
 Pindaricosque inflat numeros Teumesius Euan, 
 
 Et redolet sumptum pagina quaeque merum ; 
 Dum gravis everso currus crepat axe supinus, 
 
 Et volat Eleo pulvere fuscus eques. 
 Quadrimoque madens Lyricen Romanus laccho 
 
 Dulce canit G-lyceran, flavicomamque Chloen. 
 Jam quoque lauta tibi generoso mensa paratu 
 
 Mentis alit vires, ingeniumque fovet. 30 
 
 Massica foecundam despumant pocula venam, 
 
 Fundis et ex ipso condita metra cado. 
 Addiinus his artes, fustimque per intima Phoebum 
 
 Corda ; favent uni Bacchus, Apollo, Ceres. 
 Scilicet baud mirum tarn dulcia carmina per te, 
 
 Numine composite, tres peperisse Deos. 
 Nunc quoque Thressa tibi caelato barbitos auro 
 
 Insonat argua molliter icta manu ; 
 Auditurque chelys suspensa tapetia circum, 
 
 Virgineos tremula quae regat arte pedes. 40 
 
 Ilia tuas saltern teneant spectacula Musas, 
 
 Et revocent quantum crapula pellit iners. 
 Crede mihi, dum psallit ebur, comitataque plectrum 
 
 Implet odoratos festa chorea tholos, 
 Percipies taciturn per pectora serpere Phoebum, 
 
 Quale repentinus permeat ossa calor ; 
 
248 ELEGIA SEXTA 
 
 Perque puellares oculos digitumque sonantem 
 
 Irruet in totos lapsa Thalia sinus. 
 Namque Elegia levis multorum cura deorum est, 
 
 Et vocat ad numeros quemlibet ilia suos ; 50 
 
 Liber adest elegis, Eratoque, Ceresque, Venusque, 
 
 Et cum purpurea matre tenellus Amor. 
 Talibus inde licent coiivivia larga poetis, 
 
 Saepius et veteri commaduisse mero. 
 At qui bella refert, et adulto sub Jove cselum, 
 
 Heroasque pios, semideosque duces, 
 Et nunc sancta canit superum consulta deorum, 
 
 Nunc latrata fero regna profunda cane, 
 Ille quidem parce, Samii pro more magistri, 
 
 Vivat, et innocuos prsebeat herba cibos ; 60 
 
 Stet prope fagineo pellucida lympha catillo, 
 
 Sobriaque e puro pocula fonte bibat. 
 Additur huic scelerisque vacans et casta juventus, 
 
 Et rigidi mores, et sine labe inanus ; 
 Qualis veste nitens sacra, et lustralibus undis, 
 
 Surgis ad infensos augur iture Deos. 
 Hoc ritu vixisse ferunt post rapa sagacem 
 
 Lumina Tiresian, Ogygiumque Linon, 
 Et lare devoto profugum Calchanta, senemque 
 
 Orpheon edomitis sola per antra feris ; 70 
 
 Sic dapis exiguus, sic rivi potor Homerus 
 
 Dulichium vexit per freta longa virum, 
 Et per monstrificam Perseise Phoebados aulam, 
 
 Et vada foemineis insidiosa sonis, 
 Perque tuas, rex ime, domos, ubi sanguine nigro 
 
 Dicitur umbrarum detinuisse greges : 
 Diis etenim sacer est vates, divumque sacerdos, 
 
 Spirat et occultum pectus et ora Jovem. 
 
ELEGIA SEXTA 249 
 
 At tu si quid agam scitabere (si modo saltern 
 
 Esse putas tanti noscere siquid agam). 80 
 
 Paciferum canimus caelesti semine regem, 
 
 Faustaque sacratis ssecula pacta libris ; 
 Vagitumque Dei, et stabulantem paupere tecto 
 
 Qui suprema suo cum patre regna colit ; 
 Stelliparumque polum, modulantesque sethere turmas, 
 
 Et subito elisos ad sua faiia Deos. 
 Dona quidem dedimus Christi natalibus ilia ; 
 
 Ilia sub auroram lux mihi prima tulit. 
 Te quoque pressa manent patriis meditata cicutis ; 
 
 Tu mihi, cui recitem, judicis instar eris. 90 
 
 DIODATI (e te '1 diro con maraviglia), 
 
 Quel ritroso io, ch' amor spreggiar solea 
 
 E de' suoi lacci spesso mi ridea, 
 
 Gia caddi, ov' uom dabben talor s'* impiglia. 
 
 Ne treccie d' oro ne guancia vermiglia 
 M' abbaglian si, ma sotto nova idea 
 Pellegrina bellezza che '1 cuor bea, 
 Portamenti alti onesti, e nelle ciglia 
 
 Quel sereno fulgor d' amabil nero, 
 
 Parole adorne di lingua piu d'una, 10 
 
 E '1 cantar che di mezzo 1' emispero 
 
 Traviar ben puo la faticosa Luna ; 
 
 E degli occhi suoi avventa si gran fuoco 
 Che T incerar gli orecchi mi fia poco. 
 
250 EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS 
 
 EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS 
 
 ARGUMENTUM 
 
 THYRSIS et DAMON, ejusdem viciniae pastores, eadem studia sequuti, a pueritia 
 amici erant, ut qui plurimum. THYRSIS, aniini causal profectus, peregre 
 de obitu DAMONIS rnuncium accepit. Domum postea reversus, et rem ita 
 esse comperto, se suamque solitudinem hoc carmine deplorut. DAMONIS 
 autem sub persona hie intelligitur CAROLUS DEODATITS, ex urbe Hetrurite 
 Luca paterno genere oriundus, caetera Anglus ; ingenio, doctrina, clarissi- 
 misque cseteris virtutibus, dum viveret, juvenis egregius. 
 
 HIMERIDES Nymphse (nam vos et Daphnin et Hylan, 
 Et plorata diu meministis fata Bionis), 
 Dicite Sicelicum Thamesina per oppida carmen : 
 Quas miser effudit voces, quse murmura Thyrsis, 
 Et quibus assiduis exercuit antra querelis, 
 Fluminaque, fontesque vagos, nemorumque recessus, 
 Dum sibi prserepturn queritur Damona, neque altam 
 Luctibus exemit noctem, loca sola pererrans. 
 Et jam bis viridi surgebat culmus arista, 
 Et totidem flavas numerabant horrea messes, 10 
 
 Ex quo summa dies tulerat Damona sub umbras, 
 ]S~ec dum aderat Thyrsis ; pastorem scilicet ilium 
 Dulcis amor Musse Thusca retinebat in urbe. 
 Ast ubi mens expleta domum pecorisque relicti 
 Cura vocat, simul assueta seditque sub ulmo, 
 Turn vero amissum, turn denique, seritit ainicum, 
 Ccepit et immensum sic exonerare dolorem : 
 
 "Ite domum impasti; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Hei mini ! quse terris, quse dicam numina caelo, 
 Postquam te immiti rapuerunt f unere, Damon ? 20 
 Siccine nos linquis ? tua sic sine nomine virtus 
 Ibit, et obscuris numero sociabitur umbris ? 
 
EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS 251 
 
 At non ille animas virga qui dividit aurea 
 Ista velit, dignumque tui te ducat in agmen, 
 Ignavumque procul pecus arceat omne silentum. 
 
 " Ite domuni impasti ; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Quicquid erit, certe, nisi me lupus ante videbit, 
 Indeplorato non comniinuere sepulchre, 
 Constabitque tuns tibi honos, longumque vigebit 
 Inter pastores. Illi tibi vota secundo 30 
 
 Solvere post Daphnin, post Daphnin dicere laudes, 
 Gaudebunt, dum rura Pales, dum Faunus amabit ; 
 Si quid id est, priscamque fidem coluisse, piumque, 
 Palladiasque artes, sociumque habuisse canorum. 
 
 a lte domum impasti; domino jam non vocat, agni. 
 Haec tibi certa manent, tibi erunt hsec prsemia, Damon. 
 At niihi quid tandem net modo ? quis mihi fidus 
 Hserebit lateri comes, ut tu ssepe solebas, 
 Frigoribus duris, et per loca foeta pruinis, 
 Aut rapido sub sole, siti morientibus herbis, 40 
 
 Sive opus in magnos fuit eminus ire leones, 
 Aut avido terrere lupos prsesepibus altis ? 
 Quis fando sopire diem cantuque solebit ? 
 
 " Ite domum impasti ; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Pectora cui credam ? quis me lenire docebit 
 Mordaces curas, quis longam fallere noctem 
 Dulcibus alloquiis, grato cum sibilat igni 
 Molle pirum, et nucibus strepitat focus, at malus Auster 
 Miscet cuncta foris, et desuper intonat ulmo ? 
 
 " Ite domum impasti ; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Aut sestate, dies medio dum vertitur axe, 51 
 
 Cum Pan aesculea somnum capit abditus umbra, 
 Et repetuiit sub aquis sibi nota sedilia Nymphae, 
 Pastoresque latent, stertit sub sepe colonus, 
 
252 EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS 
 
 Quis mihi blanditiasque tuas, quis turn mihi risus, 
 Cecropiosque sales referet, cultosque lepores ? 
 
 " Ite domum impasti ; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 At jam solus agros, jam pascua solus oberro, 
 Sicubi ramose densantur vallibus umbrae ; 
 Hie serum expecto ; supra caput imber et Eurus 60 
 Triste sonant, fractseque agitata crepuscula silvse. 
 
 "Ite domum impasti; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Heu ! quam culta mihi prius arva procacibus herbis 
 Involvuntur, et ipsa situ seges alta fatiscit ! 
 Innuba neglecto marcescit et uva racemo, 
 Nee myrteta juvant ; ovium quoque taedet, at ille 
 Moerent, inque suum convertunt ora magistrum. 
 
 "Ite domum impasti; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Tityrus ad corylos vocat, Alpliesiboeus ad ornos, 
 Ad salices ^Egon, ad flumina pulcher Amyntas : 70 
 ' Hie gelidi f ontes, hie illita gramina musco, 
 Hie Zephyri, hie placidas interstrepit arbutus undas.' 
 Ista canunt surdo ; frutices ego nactus abibam. 
 
 "Ite domum impasti; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Mopsus ad hsec, nam me redeuntem forte notarat 
 (Et callebat avium linguas et sidera Mopsus), 
 ' Thyrsi, quid hoc ? ' dixit ; ' quse te coquit improbabilis ? 
 Aut te perdit amor, aut te male fascinat astrum ; 
 Saturni grave saepe fuit pastoribus astrum, 
 Intimaque obliquo figit prsecordia plumbo.' 80 
 
 "Ite domum impasti; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Mirantur nymphaa, et ( Quid te, Thyrsi, futurum est ? 
 Quid tibi vis ? ' aiunt : ' non hsec solet esse juventse 
 Nubila frons, oculique truces, vultusque sever! : 
 Ilia choros, lususque leves, et semper amorem 
 Jure petit ; bis ille miser qui serus amavit.' 
 
EPITAPI1IUM DAMONIS 253 
 
 " Ite domum impasti ; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Venit Hyas, Dryopeque, et filia Baucidis -53gle, 
 Docta modos, citharseque sciens, sed perdita fastu ; 
 Venit Idumanii Chloris vincina fluenti: 90 
 
 Nil me blanditise, nil me solantia verba, 
 Nil me si quid adest movet, aut spes ulla futuri. 
 
 "Ite domum impasti ; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Hei mihi ! quam similes ludunt per prata juvenci, 
 Omnes unanimi secum sibi lege sodales ! 
 Nee magis hunc alio quisquam secernit amicum 
 De grege ; sic densi veniunt ad pabula thoes, 
 Inque vicem hirsuti paribus junguntur onagri : 
 Lex eadem pelagi ; deserto in littore Proteus 
 Agmina phocarum numerat : vilisque volucrum 100 
 Passer habet semper quicum sit, et omnia circum 
 Farra libens volitet, sero sua tecta revisens ; 
 Quern si sors letho objecit, seu milvus adunco 
 Fata tulit rostro, seu stravit arundine fossor, 
 Protinus ille alium socio petit hide volatu. 
 Nos durum genus, et diris exercita fatis 
 Gens, homines, aliena animis, et pectore discors ; 
 Vix sibi quisque parem de millibus invenit unum ; 
 Aut, si sors dederit tandem non aspera votis, 
 Ilium inopina dies, qua non speraveris hora, 110 
 
 Surripit, aeternum linquens in ssecula damnum. 
 
 "Ite domum impasti; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Heu ! quis me ignotas traxit vagus error in oras 
 Ire per ae'reas rupes, Alpemque nivosam ? 
 Ecquid erat tanti Romam vidisse sepultam 
 (Quamvis ilia foret, qualem dum viseret olim 
 Tityrus ipse suas et oves et rura reliquit), 
 Ut te tarn dulci possem caruisse sodale, 
 
254 EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS 
 
 Possem tot maria alta, tot interponere montes, 
 
 Tot silvas, tot saxa tibi, fluviosque sonantes ? 120 
 
 Ah ! certe extremum licuisset tangere dextram, 
 
 Et bene compositos placide morientis ocellos, 
 
 Et dixisse ' Vale ! nostri memor ibis ad astra.' 
 
 "Ite domum impasti ; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Quamquam etiam vestri nunquain meminisse pigebit, 
 Pastores Thusci, Musis operata juventus, 
 Hie Charis, atque Lepos ; et Thuscus tu quoque Damon, 
 Antiqua genus unde petis Lucumonis ab urbe. 
 ego quantus eram, gelidi cum stratus ad Ami 
 Murmura, populeumque nemus, qua mollior herba, 130 
 Carpere nunc violas, nunc summas earpere myrtos, 
 Et potui Lycidse certantem audire Menalcam ! 
 Ipse etiam tentare ausus sum ; nee puto multum 
 Displicui ; nam sunt et apud me munera vestra, 
 Fiscellse, calathique, et cerea vincla cicutae : 
 Quin et nostra suas docuerunt nomina fagos 
 Et Datis et Francinus ; erant et vocibus ambo 
 Et studiis noti, Lydorum sanguinis ambo. 
 
 "Ite domum impasti; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Hsec mini turn Iseto dictabat roscida luna, 140 
 
 Dum solus teneros claudebam cratibus hoedos. 
 Ah ! quoties dixi, cum te ciiiis ater habebat, 
 ' Nunc canit, aut lepori nunc tendit retia Damon ; 
 Vimina nunc texit varios sibi quod sit in usus ' ; 
 Et quse turn facili sperabam mente futura 
 Arripui voto levis, et prsesentia finxi. 
 ' Heus bone ! numquid agis ? nisi te quid forte retardat, 
 Irnus, et arguta paulum recubamus in umbra, 
 Aut ad aquas Colni, aut ubi jugera Cassibelauni ? 
 Tu mild percurres medicos, tua gramina, succos, 150 
 
EP1TAPHIUM DAMONIS 255 
 
 Lumque, humilesque, crocos, foliumque hyacin- 
 
 Quasque liabet ista palus herbas, artesque medentum.' 
 Ah ! pereant herbae, pereant artesque medentum, 
 Gramma, postqiiani ipsi nil profecere magistro ! 
 Ipse etiam namnescio quid mihi grande sonabat 
 Fistula ab undecima jam lux est altera nocte 
 Et turn forte novis admoram labra cicutis : 
 Dissiluere tamen, rupta compage, nee ultra 
 Ferre graves potuere sonos : dubito quoque ne sim 
 Turgidulus; tameii-et ref eram ; vos cedite, sylvae. 160 
 
 "Ite domuin impasti; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Ipse ego Dardanias Rutupina per sequora puppes 
 Dicam, et Pandrasidos regnum vetus Inogeniae, 
 Brennumque Arviragumque duces, priscumque Beli- 
 
 num, 
 
 Et tandem Armoricos Britonum sub lege colonos ; 
 Turn gravidam Arturo fatali fraude logernen; 
 Mendaces vultus, assumptaque Gorlois arma, 
 Meiiini dolus. 0, mihi turn si vita supersit, 
 Tu procul annosa pendebis, fistula, pinu 
 Multum oblita mihi, aut patriis mutata Camcenis 170 
 Brittonicum strides ! Quid enim ? omnia non licet uni, 
 ISTon sperasse uni licet omnia ; mi satis ampla 
 Merces, et mihi grande decus (sim ignotus in sevum 
 Turn licet, externo penitusque inglorius orbi), 
 Si me flava comas legat Usa, et potor Alauni, 
 Vorticibusque frequens Abra, et nemus omne Treantse, 
 Et Thamesis meus ante omnes, et fusca metallis 
 Tamara, et extremis me discant Orcades undis. 
 
 "Ite domuin impasti; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Heec tibi servabam lenta sub cortice lauri, 180 
 
256 EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS 
 
 Haec, et plura simul ; turn quae mihi pocula Mansus, 
 
 Mansus, Chalcidicse non ultima gloria ripae, 
 
 Bina dedit, mirnm artis opus, mirandus et ipse, 
 
 Et circum gemino caelaverat argumento. 
 
 In medio Rubri Maris unda, et odoriferum ver, 
 
 Littora longa Arabum, et sudantes balsama sylvae ; 
 
 Has inter Phoenix, divina avis, unica terris, 
 
 Cseruleum fulgens diversicoloribus alis, 
 
 Auroram vitreis surgentem respicit undis ; 
 
 Parte alia polus omnipatens, et magims Olympus : 190 
 
 Quis putet? hie quoque Amor, pictaeque in nube 
 
 pharetrae, 
 
 Arma corusca, faces, et spicula tincta pyropo ; 
 Nee tenues animas, pectusque ignobile vulgi, 
 Hinc ferit ; at, circuin flammantia lumina torquens, 
 Semper in erectum spargit sua tela per orbes 
 Impiger, et pronos nunquam collimat ad ictus : 
 Hinc mentes ardere sacrae, formaeque deorum. 
 
 "Tu quoque in his nee me fallit spes lubrica, 
 
 Damon 
 
 Tu quoque in his certe es ; nam quo tua dulcis abiret 
 Sanctaque simplicitas ? nam quotua Candida virtus ? 200 
 Nee te Lethaeo fas quaesivisse sub Oreo ; 
 Nee tibi conveniunt lacrymae, nee flebimus ultra. 
 Ite procul, lacrymae; purum colit aethera Damon, 
 ^Ethera purus habet, pluvium pede reppulit arcum ; 
 Heroumque animas inter, divosque perrennes, 
 ^Ethereos haurit latices et gaudia potat 
 Ore sacro. Quin tu, caeli post jura recepta, 
 Dexter ades, placidusque fave, quicunque vocaris ; 
 Seu tu noster eris Damon, sive aequior audis 
 DIOI>OTUS ? quo te divino nomine cuncti 210 
 
EPITAPH1UM DAMONIS 257 
 
 Caelicolse norint, sylvisque vocabere Damon. 
 Quod tibi purpureus pudor, et sine labe juventus 
 Grata fuit, quod nulla tori libata voluptas, 
 En ! etiam tibi virginei servantur honores ! 
 Tpse, caput nitidum cinctus rutilante corona, 
 Laetaque frondentis gestans umbracula palmse, 
 Sternum perages immortales hymenseos, 
 Cantus ubi, choreisque furit lyra mista beatis, 
 Festa Sionseo bacchantur et Orgia thyrso." 
 
258 TRANSLATION 
 
 ELEGY I 
 To CHAKLES DEODATI 
 
 AT length, my friend, the far-sent letters come, 
 
 Charged with thy kindness, to their destined home; 
 
 They come, at length, from Deva's western side, 
 
 Where prone she seeks the salt Vergivian tide. 
 
 Trust me, my joy is great that thou shouldst be, 
 
 Though born of foreign race, yet born for me, 
 
 And that my sprightly friend, now free to roam, 
 
 Must seek again so soon his wonted home. 
 
 I well content, where Thames with influent tide 
 
 My native city laves, meantime reside, 10 
 
 Nor zeal nor duty now my steps impel 
 
 To reedy Cam, and my forbidden cell. 
 
 Nor aught of pleasure in those fields have I, 
 
 That, to the musing bard, all shade deny. 
 
 'Tis time that I a pedant's threats disdain, 
 
 And fly from wrongs my soul will ne'er sustain. 
 
 If peaceful days, in lettered leisure spent 
 
 Beneath my father's roof, be banishment, 
 
 Then call me banished, I will ne'er refuse 
 
 A name expressive of the lot I chuse. 20 
 
 I would that, exiled to the Pontic shore, 
 
 Koine's hapless bard had suffered nothing more; 
 
 He then had equalled even Homer's lays, 
 
 And Virgil! thou hadst won but second praise. 
 
 For here I woo the Muse, with no control ; 
 
 And here my books my life absorb me whole. 
 
 Here too I visit, or to smile, or weep, 
 
 The winding theatre's majestic sweep; 
 
ELEGY I 259 
 
 The grave or gay colloquial scene recruits 
 My spirits, spent in learning's long pursuits, so 
 
 Whether some senior shrewd, or spendthrift heir, 
 Suitor, or soldier now unarmed, be there; 
 Or some coifed brooder o'er a ten years' cause 
 Thunder the Norman gibberish of the laws. 
 The lacquey there oft dupes the wary sire, 
 And artful speeds the enamoured son's desire. 
 There, virgins oft, unconscious what they prove, 
 What love is know not, yet, unknowing, love. 
 Or if impassioned Tragedy wield high 
 The bloody sceptre, give her locks to fly 40 
 
 Wild as the winds, and roll her haggard eye, 
 I gaze, and grieve, still cherishing my grief, 
 At times even bitter tears yield sweet relief: 
 As when, from bliss untasted torn away, 
 Some youth dies, hapless, on his bridal day ; 
 Or when the ghost, sent back from shades below, 
 Fills the assassin's heart with vengeful woe, 
 When Troy, or Argos, the dire scene affords, 
 Or Creon's hall laments its guilty lords. 
 Nor always city-pent, or pent at home, 50 
 
 I dwell; but when spring calls me forth to roam, 
 Expatiate in our proud suburban shades 
 Of branching elm, that never sun pervades. 
 Here many a virgin troop I may descry, 
 Like stars of mildest influence, gliding by. 
 Oh forms divine ! Oh looks that might inspire 
 Even Jove himself, grown old, with young de- 
 sire! 
 
 Oft have I gazed on gem-surpassing eyes, 
 Outsparkling every star that gilds the skies, 
 
260 TEA NSL A TION 
 
 N"ecks whiter than the ivory arm bestowed 60 
 
 By Jove on Pelops, or the Milky Boad ! 
 
 Bright locks, Love's golden snare! these falling low, 
 
 Those playing wanton o'er the graceful brow ! 
 
 Cheeks too, more winning sweet than after shower 
 
 Adonis turned to Flora's favourite flower! 
 
 Yield, heroines, yield, and ye who shared the embrace 
 
 Of Jupiter in ancient times, give place ! 
 
 Give place, ye turbaned fair of Persia's coast! 
 
 And ye, not less renowned, Assyria's boast! 
 
 Submit, ye nymphs of Greece! ye, once the bloom 70 
 
 Of Ilion ! and all ye of haughty Borne, 
 
 Who swept, of old, her theatres with trains 
 
 Bedundant, and still live in classic strains! 
 
 To British damsels beauty's palm is due; 
 
 Aliens! to follow them is fame for you. 
 
 city, founded by Dardanian hands, 
 
 Whose towering front the circling realms commands, 
 
 Too blest abode ! no loveliness we see 
 
 In all the earth, but it abounds in thee. 
 
 The virgin multitude that daily meets 80 
 
 Badiant with gold and beauty, in thy streets, 
 
 Outnumbers all her train of starry fires, 
 
 With which Diana gilds thy lofty spires. 
 
 Fame says, that wafted hither by her doves, 
 
 With all her host of quiver-bearing loves, 
 
 Venus, preferring Paphian scenes no more, 
 
 Has fixed her empire on thy nobler shore. 
 
 But lest the sightless boy inforce my stay, 
 
 1 leave these happy walls, while yet I may. 
 Immortal Moly shall secure my heart 90 
 From all the sorcery of Circaean art, 
 
ELEGY VI 261 
 
 And I will e'en repass Cam's reedy pools 
 To face once more the warfare of the schools. 
 Meantime accept this trifle ! rhymes though few, 
 Yet such as prove thy Friend's remembrance true! 
 
 ELEGY VI 
 To CHAELES DEODATI 
 
 Who, while he spent his Christmas in the country, sent the Author 
 a poetical Epistle, in which he requested that his verses, if not so 
 good as usual, might be excused on account of the many feasts to 
 which his friends had invited him, and which would not allow 
 him leisure to finish them as he wished. 
 
 WITH no rich viands overcharged, I send 
 
 Health, which perchance you want, my pampered 
 
 friend ; 
 
 But wherefore should thy muse tempt mine away 
 From what she loves, from darkness into day ? 
 Art thou desirous to be told how well 
 I love thee, and in verse ? verse cannot tell, 
 For verse has bounds, and must in measure move 
 But neither bounds nor measure knows my love. 
 How pleasant, in thy lines described, appear 
 December's harmless sports, and rural cheer! 10 
 
 French spirits kindling with cserulean fires, 
 And all such gambols as the time inspires ! 
 
 Think not that wine against good verse offends ; 
 The Muse and Bacchus have been always friends, 
 Nor Phoebus blushes sometimes to be found 
 With ivy, rather than with laurel, crowned. 
 
262 TRANSLATION 
 
 The Nine themselves ofttimes have joined the song 
 
 And revels of the Bacchanalian throng; 
 
 Not even Ovid could in Scythian air 
 
 Sing sweetly why ? no vine would flourish there, 20 
 
 What in brief numbers sung Anacreon's muse ? 
 
 Wine, and the rose, that sparkling wine bedews. 
 
 Pindar with Bacchus glows his every line 
 
 Breathes the rich fragrance of inspiring wine, 
 
 While, with loud crash overturned, the chariot lies 
 
 And brown with dust the fiery courser flies. 
 
 The Roman lyrist steeped in wine his lays, 
 
 So sweet in Glycera's and Chloe's praise. 
 
 Now too the plenteous feast and mantling bowl 
 
 Nourish the vigour of thy sprightly soul ; 30 
 
 The flowing goblet makes thy numbers flow, 
 
 And casks not wine alone, but verse bestow. 
 
 Thus Phoebus favours, and the~arts attend, 
 
 Whom Bacchus, and whom Ceres, both befriend: 
 
 What wonder, then, thy verses are so sweet, 
 
 In which these triple powers so kindly meet ? 
 
 The lute now also sounds, with gold inwrought, 
 
 And touched with flying fingers, nicely taught; 
 
 In tapestried halls, high-roofed, the sprightly lyre 
 
 Directs the dancers of the virgin choir. 40 
 
 If dull repletion fright the muse away, 
 
 Sights, gay as these, may more invite her stay: 
 
 And, trust me, while the ivory keys resound, 
 
 Fair damsels sport, and perfumes steam around, 
 
 Apollo's influence, like ethereal flame, 
 
 Shall animate, at once, thy glowing frame, 
 
 And all the Muse shall rush into thy breast, 
 
 By love and music's blended powers possest. 
 
ELEGY VI 263 
 
 For numerous powers light Elegy befriend, 
 
 Hear her sweet voice, and at her call attend ; 50 
 
 Her Bacchus, Ceres, Venus, all approve, 
 
 And, with his blushing mother, gentle Love. 
 
 Hence to such bards we grant the copious use 
 
 Of banquets, and the vine's delicious juice. 
 
 But they, who demi-gods and heroes praise, 
 
 And feats performed in Jove's more youthful days, 
 
 Who now the counsels of high heaven explore, 
 
 Now shades, that echo the Cerberean roar, 
 
 Simply let these, like him of Samos, live; 
 
 Let herbs to them a* bloodless banquet give ; 60 
 
 In beechen goblets let their beverage shine, 
 
 Cool from the crystal spring, their sober wine ! 
 
 Their youth should pass in innocence, secure 
 
 From stain licentious, and in manners pure, 
 
 Pure as the priest, when robed in white he stands, 
 
 The fresh lustration ready in his hands. 
 
 Thus Linus lived, and thus, as poets write, 
 
 Tiresias, wiser for his loss of sight; 
 
 Thus exiled Chalcas, thus the bard of Thrace, 
 
 Melodious tamer of the savage race ; 70 
 
 Thus, trained by temperance, Homer led, of yore, 
 
 His chief of Ithaca from shore to shore, 
 
 Through magic Circe's monster-peopled reign, 
 
 And shoals insidious with the Siren train ; 
 
 And through the realms where grizly spectres dwell, 
 
 Whose tribes he fettered in a gory spell : 
 
 For these are sacred bards, and, from above, 
 
 Drink large infusions from the mind of Jove. 
 
 Wouldst thou, (perhaps 'tis hardly worth thine ear) 
 Wouldst thou be told my occupation here ? 80 
 
264 TRANSLATION 
 
 The promised King of peace employs my pen, 
 The eternal covenant made for guilty men, 
 The new-born Deity with infant cries 
 Filling the sordid hovel, where he lies; 
 The hymning Angels, and the herald star, 
 That led the Wise, who sought him from afar, 
 And idols on their own unhallowed shore 
 Dashed, at his birth, to be revered no more ! 
 This theme on reeds of Albion I rehearse : 
 The dawn of that blest day inspired the verse; 90 
 Verse that, reserved in secret, shall attend 
 Thy candid voice, my critic, and my friend! 
 
 SONNET 
 
 TO CHARLES DEODATI 
 
 CHARLES and I say it wondering thou must know 
 That I, who once assumed a scornful air, 
 And scoffed at Love, am fallen in his snare ; 
 (Full many an upright man has fallen so.) 
 
 Yet think me not thus dazzled by the flow 
 Of golden locks, or damask cheek ; more rare 
 The heartfelt beauties of my foreign fair, 
 A mien majestic, with dark brows that show 
 
 The tranquil lustre of a lofty mind; 
 
 Words exquisite, of idioms more than one, 
 And song, whose fascinating power might bind, 
 
 And from her sphere draw down, the labouring moon ; 
 With such fire-darting eyes, that should I fill 
 My ears with wax, she would enchant me still. 
 
ON THE DEATH OF DAMON 265 
 
 ON THE DEATH OF DAMON 
 
 AN ARGUMENT 
 
 Thyrsis and Damon, shepherds and neighbours, had always pur- 
 sued the same studies, and had, from their earliest days, been united 
 in the closest friendship. Thyrsis, while travelling for improve- 
 ment, received intelligence of the death of Damon, and, after a time, 
 returning and finding it true, deplores himself, and his solitary 
 condition, in this poem. 
 
 By Damon is to be understood Charles Deodati, connected with 
 the Italian city of Lucca by his father's side, in other respects an 
 Englishman ; a youth of uncommon genius, erudition, and virtue. 
 
 YE nymphs of Himera (for ye have shed 
 
 Erewhile for Daphnis, and for Hylas dead, 
 
 And over Bion's long-lamented bier, 
 
 The fruitless meed of many a sacred tear), 
 
 Now through the villas laved by Thames rehearse 
 
 The woes of Thyrsis in Sicilian verse, 
 
 What sighs he heaved, and how with groans profound 
 
 He made the woods and hollow rocks resound, 
 
 Young Damon dead; nor even ceased to pour 
 
 His lonely sorrows at the midnight hour. 10 
 
 The green wheat twice had nodded in the ear 
 And golden harvest twice enriched the year, 
 Since Damon's lips had gasped for vital air 
 The last, last time, nor Thyrsis yet was there; 
 For he, enamoured of the Muse, remained 
 In Tuscan Fiorenza long detained, 
 But, stored at length with all he wished to learn, 
 For his flock's sake now hasted to return ; 
 And when the shepherd had resumed his seat 
 At the elm's root, within his own retreat, 20 
 
266 TRANSLATION 
 
 Then 'twas his lot, then, all his loss to know, 
 
 And, from his burthened heart, he vented thus his woe : 
 
 " Go, seek your home, my lambs ; my thoughts are 
 
 due 
 
 " To other cares than those of feeding you. 
 " Alas ! what deities shall I suppose 
 " In heaven, or earth, concerned for human woes, 
 u Since, my Damon ! their severe decree 
 " So soon condemns me to regret of thee ! 
 " Departest thou thus, thy virtues unrepaid 
 " With fame and honour, like a vulgar shade ? 30 
 
 " Let him forbid it whose bright rod controls 
 " And separates sordid from illustrious souls, 
 " Drive far the rabble, and to thee assign 
 " A happier lot, with spirits worthy thine ! 
 
 "Go, seek your home, my lambs; my thoughts are 
 
 due 
 
 " To other cares than those of feeding you. 
 " Whate'er befall, unless by cruel chance 
 " The wolf first give me a forbidding glance, 
 " Thou shalt not moulder undeplored, but long 
 " Thy praise shall dwell on every shepherd's tongue; 40 
 " To Daphnis first they shall delight to pay, 
 " And, after him, to thee, the votive lay, 
 " While Pales shall the flocks and pastures love, 
 " Or Faunus to frequent the field or grove, 
 " At least, if ancient piety and truth, 
 " With all the learned labours of thy youth, 
 "May serve thee aught, or to have left behind 
 " A sorrowing friend, and of the tuneful kind. 
 
 " Go, seek your home, my lambs ; my thoughts are due 
 " To other cares than those of feeding you. 50 
 
ON THE DEATH OF DAMON 267 
 
 " Yes, Damon ! such thy sure reward shall be ; 
 " But ah, what doom awaits unhappy me ? 
 " Who now my pains and perils shall divide 
 " As thou wast wont, for ever at my side, 
 " Both when the rugged frost annoyed our feet, 
 " And when the herbage all was parched with heat ; 
 " Whether the grim wolf's ravage to prevent, 
 " Or the huge lion's, armed with darts we went ? 
 " Whose converse, now, shall calm my stormy day, 
 "With charming song who now beguile my way ? 60 
 "Go, seek your home, my lambs; my thoughts are 
 
 due 
 
 " To other cares than those of feeding you. 
 " In whom shall I confide ? whose counsel find 
 " A balmy medicine for my troubled mind ? 
 "Or whose discourse with innocent delight 
 " Shall fill me now, and cheat the wintry night, 
 " While hisses on my hearth the pulpy pear, 
 "And blackening chestnuts start and crackle there, 
 " While storms abroad the dreary meadows whelm, 
 "And the wind thunders through the neighbouring 
 
 elm ? 70 
 
 " Go, seek your home, my lambs ; my thoughts are 
 
 due 
 
 " To other cares than those of feeding you. 
 " Or who, when summer suns their summit reach, 
 " And Pan sleeps hidden by the sheltering beech, 
 "When shepherds disappear, nymphs seek the 
 
 sedge, 
 
 " And the stretched rustic snores beneath the hedge, 
 " Who then shall render me thy pleasant vein 
 " Of Attic wit, thy jests, thy smiles, again ? 
 
268 TRANSLATION 
 
 " Go, seek your home, my lambs ; my thoughts are 
 
 due 
 
 " To other cares than those of feeding you. 80 
 
 " Where glens and vales are thickest overgrown 
 " With tangled boughs, I wander now alone, 
 "Till night descends, while blustering wind and 
 
 shower 
 " Beat on my temples through the shattered bower. 
 
 "Go, seek your home, my lambs; my thoughts are 
 
 due 
 
 " To other cares than those of feeding you. 
 " Alas ! what rampant weeds now shame my fields, 
 "And what a mildewed crop the furrow yields! 
 " My rambling vines, un wedded to the trees, 
 " Bear shrivelled grapes ; my myrtles fail to please j 90 
 "Nor please me more my flocks; they, slighted, 
 
 turn 
 " Their unavailing looks on me, and mourn. 
 
 "Go, seek your home, my lambs; my thoughts are 
 
 due 
 
 " To other cares than those of feeding you. 
 " JEgon invites me to the hazel grove, 
 " Amyntas, on the river's bank to rove, 
 " And young Alphesibceus to a seat 
 " Where branching elms exclude the mid-day heat. 
 '"Here fountains spring, here mossy hillocks rise; 
 '"Here Zephyr whispers, and the stream replies.' 100 
 "Thus each persuades, but, deaf to every call, 
 "I gain the thickets, and escape them all. 
 
 " Go, seek your home, my lambs ; my thoughts are 
 
 due 
 " To other cares than those of feeding you. 
 
ON THE DEATH OF DAMON 269 
 
 " Then Mopsus said, (the same who reads so well 
 " The voice of birds, and what the stars foretell, 
 "For he by chance had noticed my return,) 
 '"What means thy sullen mood, this deep concern ? 
 "'Ah, Thyrsis! thou art either crazed with love, 
 "'Or some sinister influence from above; no 
 
 "'Dull Saturn's influence oft the shepherds rue; 
 "'His leaden shaft oblique has pierced thee through.' 
 
 " Go, go, my lambs, unpastured as ye are, 
 " My thoughts are all now due to other care. 
 " The nymphs, amazed, my melancholy see, 
 "And 'Thyrsis!' cry, 'what will become of thee ? 
 "'What wouldst thou, Thyrsis? such should not 
 
 appear 
 
 "'The brow of youth, stern, gloomy, and severe; 
 "'Brisk youth should laugh and love, ah, shun the 
 
 fate 
 " 'Of those twice wretched mopes who love too late! ' 
 
 " Go, go, my lambs, unpastured as ye are ; 121 
 
 "My thoughts are all now due to other care. 
 " JEgle with Hyas came, to soothe my pain, 
 "And Baucis' daughter, Dryope the vain, 
 " Fair Dryope, for voice and finger neat 
 "Known far and near, and for her self-conceit; 
 " Chloris too came, whose cottage on the lands 
 "That skirt the Idumanian current stands; 
 " But all in vain they came, and but to see 
 " Kind words, and comfortable, lost on me. 130 
 
 " Go, go, my lambs, unpastured as ye are ; 
 " My thoughts are all now due to other care. 
 " Ah, blest indifference of the playful herd, 
 " None by his fellow chosen or preferred ! 
 
270 TRANSLATION 
 
 11 No bonds of amity the flocks enthral, 
 
 "But each associates and is pleased with all; 
 
 " So graze the dappled deer in numerous droves, 
 
 "And all his kind alike the zebra loves; 
 
 " The same law governs where the billows roar, 
 
 " And Proteus' shoals o'erspread the desert shore; 140 
 
 " The sparrow, meanest of the feathered race, 
 
 " His fit companion finds in every place, 
 
 " With whom he picks the grain that suits him best, 
 
 " Flirts here and there, and late returns to rest, 
 
 " And whom, if chance the falcon make his prey, 
 
 " Or hedger with his well-aimed arrow slay, 
 
 " For no such loss the gay survivor grieves, 
 
 "New love he seeks, and new delight receives. 
 
 " We only, an obdurate kind, rejoice, 
 
 " Scorning all others, in a single choice. 150 
 
 "We scarce in thousands meet one kindred mind; 
 
 "And if the long-sought good at last we find, 
 
 " When least we fear it, Death our treasure steals, 
 
 " And gives our heart a wound that nothing heals. 
 
 " Go, go, my lambs, unpastured as ye are ; 
 "My thoughts are all now due to other care. 
 " Ah, what delusion lured me from my flocks, 
 "To traverse Alpine snows and rugged rocks! 
 " What need so great had I to visit Rome, 
 " Now sunk in ruins, and herself a tomb ? 160 
 
 " Or, had she flourished still as when of old 
 "For her sake Tityrus forsook his fold, 
 " What need so great had I to incur a pause 
 " Of thy sweet intercourse for such a cause, 
 " For such a cause to place the roaring sea, 
 " Rocks, mountains, woods, between my friend and me? 
 
ON THE DEATH OF DAMON 271 
 
 " Else, had I grasped thy feeble hand, composed 
 " Thy decent limbs, thy drooping eyelids closed, 
 " And, at the last, had said 'Farewell, ascend, 
 " 'Nor even in the skies forget thy friend! ' 170 
 
 "Go, go, my lambs, untended homeward fare; 
 " My thoughts are all now due to other care. 
 "Although well pleased, ye tuneful Tuscan swains! 
 " My mind the memory of your worth retains, 
 " Yet not your worth can teach me less to mourn 
 " My Damon lost ; he too was Tuscan born, 
 "Born in your Lucca, city of renown! 
 " And wit possessed, and genius, like your own. 
 " Oh, how elate was I, when stretched beside 
 " The murmuring course of Arno's breezy tide, 180 
 " Beneath the poplar grove I passed my hours, 
 " Now cropping myrtles, and now vernal flowers, 
 " And hearing, as I lay at ease along, 
 " Your swains contending for the prize of song ! 
 " I also dared attempt (and, as it seems, 
 " Not much displeased attempting) various themes, 
 " For even I can presents boast from you, 
 "The shepherd's pipe, and osier basket too; 
 " And Dati, and Francini, both have made 
 " My name familiar to the beechen shade, 190 
 
 " And they are learned, and each in every place 
 " Renowned for song, and both of Lydian race. 
 
 " Go, go, my lambs, untended homeward fare ; 
 " My thoughts are all now due to other care. 
 " While bright the dewy grass with moonbeams shone, 
 " And I stood hurdling in my kids alone, 
 " How often have I said (but thou hadst found 
 " Ere then thy dark cold lodgment under ground), 
 
272 TRANSLATION 
 
 " Now Damon sings, or springes sets for hares, 
 
 " Or wickerwork for various use prepares ! 200 
 
 " How oft, indulging fancy, have I planned 
 
 " New scenes of pleasure that I hoped at hand, 
 
 " Called thee abroad as I was wont, and cried, 
 
 "'What, hoa! my friend, come lay thy task aside, 
 
 "' Haste, let us forth together, and beguile 
 
 '"The heat beneath yon whispering shades awhile, 
 
 "'Or on the margin stray of Colne's clear flood, 
 
 "'Or where Cassibelan's grey turrets stood! 
 
 "'There thou shalt cull me simples, and shalt teach 
 
 " 'Thy friend the name and healing powers of each, 210 
 
 "'From the tall bluebell to the dwarfish weed, 
 
 "'What the dry land and what the marshes breed, 
 
 "'For all their kinds alike to thee are known, 
 
 '"And the whole art of Galen is thy own.' 
 
 "Ah, perish Galen's art, and withered be 
 
 " The useless herbs that gave not health to thee ! 
 
 "Twelve evenings since, as in poetic dream 
 
 "I meditating sat some statelier theme, 
 
 " The reeds no sooner touched my lip, though new 
 
 " And unessayed before, than wide they flew, 220 
 
 "Bursting their waxen bands, nor could sustain 
 
 "The deep-toned music of the solemn strain; 
 
 " And I am vain perhaps, but I will tell 
 
 "How proud a theme I chose, ye groves, farewell! 
 
 "Go, go, my lambs, untended homeward fare; 
 " My thoughts are all now due to other care. 
 " Of Brutus, Dardan chief, my song shall be, 
 " How with his barks he ploughed the British sea, 
 "First from Rutupia's towering headland seen, 
 "And of his consort's reign, fair Imogen; 230 
 
ON THE DEATH OF DAMON 273 
 
 " Of Brennus and Belinus, brothers bold, 
 
 " And of Arviragus, and how of old 
 
 " Our hardy sires the Armorican controlled, 
 
 " And of the wife of Gorlo'is, who, surprised 
 
 "By Uther, in her husband's form disguised 
 
 " (Such was the force of Merlin's art), became 
 
 " Pregnant with Arthur of heroic fame. 
 
 "These themes I now revolve, and oh, if Fate 
 
 "Proportion to these themes my lengthened date, 
 
 "Adieu iny shepherd's reed! yon pine-tree bough 240 
 
 " Shall be thy future home ; there dangle thou 
 
 " Forgotten and disused, unless ere long 
 
 "Thou change thy Latian for a British song; 
 
 " A British ? even so, the powers of man 
 
 " Are bounded ; little is the most he can : 
 
 " And it shall well suffice me, and shall be 
 
 " Fame, and proud recompense enough for me, 
 
 " If Usa, golden-haired, my verse may learn. 
 
 " If Alain bending o'er his crystal urn, 
 
 " S wift- whirling Abra, Trent's o'ershadowed stream, 250 
 
 " Thames, lovelier far than all in my esteem, 
 
 " Tamar's ore-tinctured flood, and, after these, 
 
 " The wave-worn shores of utmost Orcades. 
 
 " Go, go, my lambs, untended homeward fare ; 
 " My thoughts are all now due to other care. 
 " All this I kept in leaves of laurel-rind 
 " Enfolded safe, and for thy view designed 
 "This, and a gift from Manso's hand beside 
 "(Manso, not least his native city's pride), 
 " Two cups that radiant as their giver shone, 2CO 
 
 " Adorned by sculpture with a double zone. 
 "The spring was graven there; here slowly wind 
 
274 TRANSLATION 
 
 "The Red-sea shores, with groves of spices lined; 
 " Her plumes of various hues amid the boughs 
 "The sacred, solitary Phoenix shows, 
 " And, watchful of the dawn, reverts her head 
 " To see Aurora leave her watery bed. 
 " In other part, the expansive vault above, 
 "And there too, even there, the god of love; 
 " With quiver armed he mounts, his torch displays 270 
 "A vivid light, his gem-tipt arrows blaze, 
 " Around his bright and fiery eyes he rolls, 
 " Nor aims at vulgar minds or little souls, 
 " Nor deigns one look below, bu.t aiming high 
 " Sends every arrow to the lofty sky ; 
 " Hence forms divine, and minds immortal, Itsarn 
 " The power of Cupid, and enamoured burn. 
 " Thou, also, Damon (neither need I fear 
 "That hope delusive), thou art also there; 
 " For whither should simplicity like thine 280 
 
 " Retire ? where else such spotless virtue shine ? 
 "Thou dwellest not (thought profane) in shades 
 
 below, 
 
 " Nor tears suit thee ; cease then my tears to flow ! 
 " Away with grief, on Damon ill bestowed ! 
 "Who, pure himself, has found a pure abode, 
 " Has passed the showery arch, henceforth resides 
 " With saints and heroes, and* from flowing tides 
 " Quaffs copious immortality and joy, 
 " With hallowed lips ! Oh ! blest without alloy, 
 " And now enriched with all that faith can claim, 290 
 " Look down, entreated by whatever name, 
 " If Damon please thee most (that rural sound 
 " Shall oft with echoes fill the groves around) 
 
ON THE DEATH. OF DAMON 275 
 
 " Or if Deodatus, by which alone 
 
 "In those ethereal mansions thou art known. 
 
 " Thy blush was maiden, and thy youth the taste 
 
 " Of wedded bliss knew never, pure and chaste : 
 
 " The honours, therefore, by divine decree 
 
 " The lot of virgin worth, are given to thee ; 
 
 " Thy brows encircled with a radiant band, 300 
 
 "And the green palm-branch waving in thy hand, 
 
 " Thou in immortal nuptials shalt rejoice, 
 
 "And join with seraphs thy according voice, 
 
 " Where rapture reigns, and the ecstatic lyre 
 
 u Guides the blest orgies of the blazing quire." 
 
NOTES 
 
 1626-1645 
 ELEGY I 
 
 WE have already alluded to Milton's friendship for Diodati, 
 which began at St. Paul's School (p. 115), and in this poem 
 we have that friendship revealed in the true Miltonic fashion. 
 It is interesting to know that the family of Diodati like that of 
 Milton was persecuted for religious opinions. Diodati's uncle 
 was exiled from Italy and settled in Geneva, where he became 
 Professor of Hebrew, while his father came to England, married 
 an English woman, and practised medicine in London. There 
 the son Charles was born. The friendship of Diodati and Mil- 
 ton formed at St. Paul's was continued while one was at Oxford 
 and the other at Cambridge. In their vacations in London they 
 were invariably together. 
 
 Their correspondence was in Latin and Greek, Diodati pre- 
 ferring the latter, while Milton used the former. Two of 
 Diodati's Greek epistles are now in the British Museum. The 
 first, probably written in the vacation of 1625, bears this greet- 
 ing, U 9e65oros Mi'Xrum ev(j)patve(r8ai. (Diodati to Milton, to 
 cheer up)." It contains the following evidence of the closest 
 endearment : "So much do I long for your society that I am 
 now dreaming of, and all but prophesying, fine weather, and 
 calm, and everything golden, for to-morrow that we may regale 
 each other with the discourses of philosophers and learned men, 
 . . . air, and sun, and river, and trees, and birds, and men, 
 will make holiday with us, and laugh with us, and, be it said 
 without offence, dance with us ... only you be ready either 
 to start when I come for you, or, without being called to come 
 to me longing for you." In December of this year Diodati took 
 his degree of B.A. and went into the country, as it is from 
 
 276 
 
 
NOTES 277 
 
 Cheshire that the second of these Greek letters was sent, in the 
 summer of 1626. It is headed, "6e65oros MiXrow x<*-P fiV (Dio- 
 dati to Milton greeting)." I have no fault to find with my 
 present mode of life, except this one, that I lack some kindred 
 spirit to converse with, and long for such an one ; for what else 
 is wanting when the days are long, the scenery blooming with 
 flowers and waving and teeming with leaves, on every branch 
 a nightingale or goldfinch or other bird delightful with its songs 
 and warblings, most varied walks, a table neither scant nor 
 overloaded, and sleep undisturbed." Masson thinks that Mil- 
 ton's first elegy is written in reply to the above from Diodati. 
 It was written during Milton's enforced absence from Cam- 
 bridge in the summer of 1626, and is full of the most interesting 
 biographical color. It reveals that the truest type of the Puri- 
 tan was not devoid of the sense of humor. It is generally 
 believed that the Puritans lacked this sense, but there are 
 abundant evidences to the contrary. 
 
 3. Deva's western side. The Dee was the old boundary 
 between England and Wales. Diodati was in Cheshire near 
 Chester. 
 
 4. Vergivian tide. The Irish Sea. 
 
 7, 8. now free to roam, etc. Milton seems delighted that 
 Diodati can be in the country. 
 
 12. my forbidden cell. His rooms in St. John's College, 
 Cambridge, from which he is temporarily exiled. 
 
 
 Among the band of my compeers was one 
 Whom chance had stationed in the very room 
 Honored by Milton's name." 
 
 WORDSWORTH, Prelude, iii. 293-295. 
 
 22. hapless bard. Ovid, who was banished from Rome by 
 Augustus. "A soul ill at ease amid its surroundings." K. Y. 
 TYRRELL. 
 
 27-49. Here too I visit, etc. Not much of formal Puritanism 
 here. Shakespeare was his teacher. 
 
 45. Some youth, etc. Romeo. 
 
 47. assassin's heart. Hamlet. 
 
278 NOTES 
 
 49, 50. Troy, or Argos, . . . Creon's hall, etc. An allusion 
 to the tragedies of ^Eschylos, Sophocles and Euripides. 
 "JEschylos, Sophocles and Euripides, the three tragic poets 
 unequalled yet by any, and the best rule to all who endeavor to 
 write Tragedy." Preface to Samson Agonistes. Cf. II Pense- 
 roso, 97-102, and note. 
 
 51-53. but when spring calls. Diodati wrote from the coun- 
 try : "But thou, wondrous youth, why dost thou persist in 
 tying thyself night and day to books, and studies. Live, laugh, 
 enjoy youth and the present ; and give over wearing yourself 
 out with reading about the libations, and leisures, and indo- 
 lences of the Sages of old." 
 
 54-89. Here many a virgin troop, etc. In some of the parks. 
 Masson says, " Kensington Gardens would be about the present 
 equivalent." Does any one doubt that Milton was susceptible 
 to feminine charms ? Cf. note, p. 210. 
 
 76. Dardanian hands. An allusion to the old legend which 
 said that London was founded by the Trojans, and called New 
 Troy. 
 
 90, 91. Immortal Moly, etc. By this plant Ulysses is made 
 proof against the charms of Circe. 
 
 "The root is black, 
 
 The blossom white as milk. Among the gods 
 Its name is Moly." Odyssey, x. 
 
 1629-1645 
 ELEGY VI 
 
 The heading to this poem reveals the occasion of its inception. 
 It is in reply to one of December 13th, 1629, written by Diodati 
 when he was in the country enjoying the festivities preceding 
 Christmas, and was sent about Christmas in the same year. 
 Diodati was continuing the study of medicine, and Milton was 
 still in the University. Masson thinks that when Diodati was 
 incorporated ad eundem at Cambridge in July, 1629, the two 
 friends must have met. 
 
 10-12. December's harmless sports, etc. Cf. Washington 
 
Irving, Ch 
 
 NOTES 279 
 
 ing, Christmas, Christmas Day, and Christmas Eve in Sketch 
 Book. 
 
 19, 21 Not even Ovid, etc. Ovid, during his banishment, 
 wrote his Tristia, and other poems which were considered by 
 critics not equal to those written in Italy. 
 
 21. Anacreon's muse. Anacreon was a native of Teos on 
 the coast of Asia Minor. His poetry was characterized by its 
 bacchanalian turn. Professor K. C. Jebb calls him the poet of 
 courtly festivity. 
 
 23-26. Pindar with Bacchus glows, etc. Pindar was the 
 poet of the Olympian Festival, where the present and past 
 religious and heroic splendor of the Hellenic spirit were united. 
 Matthew Arnold described him as "the poet on whom above 
 all other poets, the power of style seems to have exercised an 
 inspiring and intoxicating effect." 
 
 27, 28. The Roman lyrist, etc. 
 
 " Bacchus ! to thee belong 
 The glories twain of Peace and War, 
 The fight, the jest, the dance, the song : 
 Hail ! genial King ! Hail ! youthful conqueror! " 
 
 Horace, Book ii. Ode xix. 
 
 " Drink, comrades, drink ; give loose to mirth ! 
 With joyous footstep beat the earth, 
 And spread before the War-God's shrine 
 The Salian feast, the sacrificial wine." 
 
 Book i. Ode xxxvii. 
 
 29-54. Now too the plenteous feast, etc. Milton gives here 
 a splendid characteristic of what he calls "light elegy," the 
 popular flute music suitable for social gatherings or the jovial 
 friendly epistle. 
 
 39-48. In tapestried halls, etc. Diodati was enjoying holi- 
 day festivities with friends in the country, and this description 
 of the associations of the time in the English country-mansion is 
 exceedingly beautiful. 
 
280 NOTES 
 
 u As in the winters left behind, 
 
 Again our ancient games had place, 
 The mimic pictures' breathing grace, 
 And dance and song and hoodinan blind." 
 
 In Memoriam, LXXVIII. 
 
 u And who but listened, till was paid 
 Respect to every true friend's claim : 
 The greeting given, the music played, 
 In honour of each household name, 
 Duly pronounced with lusty call, 
 And 'Merry Christmas' wished to all." 
 
 WORDSWORTH, The River Duddon. 
 
 55-78. But they, etc. "These twenty-four lines," says 
 Masson, "are about Milton's noblest in Latin, and deserve to 
 be learnt by heart with reference to himself, or to be written 
 under his portrait." 
 
 59. him of Samos. Pythagoras. 
 
 67. Linus. Theban philosopher and singer. He instructed 
 Hercules in music. 
 
 68. Tiresias. A Theban prophet. Cf. Tennyson, Tiresias. 
 
 69. Calchas. The prophet who went with the Greeks to 
 Troy. Cf. Iliad, i. 
 
 bard of Thrace. Orpheus, poet, musician and philosopher. 
 
 71-78. Homer led, etc. Cf. Odyssey, x. 
 
 79-88. Wouldst thou be told, etc. An allusion to the Hymn 
 on the Nativity. 
 
 91, 92. Verse that, etc. This is a revelation that Diodati 
 was looked upon by Milton much as was Hallam by Tennyson. 
 
 " Heart-affluence in discursive talk 
 
 From household fountains never dry : 
 The critic clearness of an eye, 
 That saw thro' all the Muses' walk." 
 
 In Memoriam, cix. 
 Cf. Comus, 619-628, and note. 
 
NOTES 281 
 
 1638-1645 
 
 SONNET 
 
 Milton set out upon his Italian journey (cf. p. 209) full of joy 
 and hope, not a little of which was due to his association with 
 Diodati. In his Epistolae Familiares, written not long before 
 he left England, we find him greeting his friend who was now 
 settled in the practice of his profession, probably near Chester. 
 He says : "I would not that true friendship turned on balance 
 of letters and salutations, all which may be false ; but that it 
 should depend upon the deep roots of the mind and sustain 
 itself there ... for the fostering of which friendship there is 
 not need so much of writing as of a loving recollection of virtues 
 on the one side and on the other. Nor, even now should you 
 not have written, would there be a lack of means for supplying 
 that good office. Your probity writes with me in your stead 
 and indites true letters on my inmost heart ; your blamelessness 
 of morals writes to me, and your love of the good ; your genius 
 also, by no means a common one, writes to me, and commends 
 you to me more and more, . . . Know that it is impossible for 
 me not to love men like you." This, then, was the feeling he 
 carried with him everywhere during his visit with the country- 
 men of his friend. While at Florence he makes a journey to 
 Lucca to visit the town where the Diodati family originated, 
 and at Geneva visited the celebrated theologian, Giovanni 
 Diodati, the uncle of Charles. 
 
 In the five sonnets and the canzone written in Italian there is 
 concealed an experience similar to that in the sonnets of Shake- 
 speare, and the critics are perplexed as to how to interpret them. 
 They seem to reveal Milton's love for a beautiful and accom- 
 plished Italian lady. It is generally believed that they were 
 written during his visit to Italy and that they record his affec- 
 tion for one whom he then met, possibly, but unlikely, the 
 celebrated singer, Leonora Baroni, whom he heard at Rome 
 and to whom he addressed complimentary Latin verses. The 
 lady is described in the first sonnet as one 
 
282 NOTES 
 
 " whose harmonious name the Rhine 
 Through all his grassy vale, delights to hear." 
 
 In the fourth he says : 
 
 " Lady ! it cannot be but that thine eyes 
 
 Must be my sun, such radiance they display." 
 
 The master-mistress of Shakespeare's passion, and the subject 
 of Wordsworth's poems on Lucy are not more surely concealed 
 than is this spirit 
 
 " That manifests a sweetness all divine." 
 
 It was natural that Milton should wish to confide this secret to 
 his friend Diodati, and the incident is rendered pathetic from 
 the fact that the sonnets never reached him. Cf. Epitaphium 
 Damonis, note. 
 
 1639-1645 
 THE DEATH OF DAMON 
 
 Early in 1639 Milton turned his steps homeward. He was 
 anticipating the pleasure of meeting his friend in the familiar 
 scenes so dear to both, and the opportunity of sharing the 
 delights of his tour, when he learned that his hopes were vain, 
 that Diodati had been dead for nearly a year. No particulars 
 were made known to him until he reached home. He was at 
 first stunned by the blow, but on gaining possession of himself 
 he could say as did Tennyson at the death of Hallam : 
 
 " I sing to him that rests below, 
 
 Arid since the grasses round me wave, 
 I take the grasses of the grave, 
 And make them pipes whereon to blow." 
 
 The fact that this poem was written in Latin has caused it to 
 be almost unknown to the general reader, and hence Lycidas 
 has become associated with the other great elegies of English 
 poets. But Lycidas lacks the strong personal note which is 
 the characteristic of the Latin poem. King had been only an 
 
NOTES 283 
 
 associate of Milton in the life of the University, while Diotlati 
 was the embodiment of 
 
 "First love, first friendship, equal powers, 
 That marry with the virgin heart." 
 
 "In Diodati," says Mr. Richard Garnett, "Milton found per- 
 haps the only friend whom, in the most sacred sense of that 
 term, he had ever possessed." 
 
 Mr. Mark Pattison says: "Milton's Latin verses are dis- 
 tinguished from most Neo-Latin verse by being a vehicle of 
 real emotion. His technical skill is said to have been sur- 
 passed by others ; but that in which he stands alone is, that in 
 these exercises of imitative art he is able to remain himself and 
 to give utterance to genuine passion. Artificial Arcadianism 
 is as much the framework of the elegy on Diodati as it is of 
 Lycidas. . . . But this factitious bucolism is pervaded by a 
 pathos which, like volcanic heat, has fused into a new com- 
 pound the dilapidated debris of the Theocritan world." 
 
 "The poem is," says Masson, "beyond all question, the 
 finest, the deepest in feeling of all that Milton has left us in 
 Latin, and one of the most interesting of all his poems, whether 
 in Latin or English. . . . Whoever will read it will perceive 
 in it a passionateness of personal grief, an evidence of bursts of 
 tears and sobbings interrupting the act of writing, to which 
 there is nothing equivalent in the English Lycidas." 
 
 1. nymphs of Himera. Himera is a Sicilian river mentioned 
 in the Idylls of Theocritus. 
 
 2. Daphnis. A shepherd in the first idyll of Theocritus. 
 Hylas. The youth abducted by the nymphs in the thirteenth 
 
 idyll of Theocritus. 
 
 3. Bion. The pastoral poet whose death Moschus laments in 
 his third idyll. 
 
 6. Thyrsis. This name is common in pastoral poetry, from 
 Theocritus to Arnold. Milton assumes the part of the bereaved 
 shepherd. 
 
 Arnold, in Thyrsis, gives us a picture of one who sought com- 
 
284 NOTES 
 
 fort in the scenes associated with a friendship similar to that of 
 Milton and Diodati. 
 
 " Well ! wind-dispersed and vain the words will be, 
 Yet, Thyrsis, let me give my grief its hour 
 
 In the old haunt, and find our tree-topp'd hill ! 
 Who, if not it, for questing here hath power ? 
 
 I know the wood which hides the daffodil, 
 
 I know the Fyfield tree, 
 I know what white, what purple fritillaries 
 
 The grassy harvest of the river fields, 
 
 Above by Ensham, down by Sandford, yields, 
 And what sedged brooks are Thames' tributaries." 
 
 9. Damon. Another common name for shepherd in pastoral 
 poetry. 
 
 11-14. The green wheat, etc. This makes it certain that 
 Diodati died soon after Milton left England in April, 1638. 
 Milton returned in the fall of 1639. 
 
 16. Tuscan Fiorenza. Milton was in Florence when his 
 friend died. 
 
 23, 24. Go, seek your home, etc. The repetition of these 
 lines at regular intervals in the poem is after the fashion of 
 Theocritus and the pastoralists. 
 
 41, 42. To Daphnis first, etc. Here is an illustration of the 
 egotism of a great soul, " a glorious nature," as Kev. Frederick 
 Robertson called it. Milton does not hesitate to take a place 
 second only to Theocritus. 
 
 43. Pales. The god of the sheepfold. 
 
 44. Faunus. The god of the pastures and flocks. 
 65-70. Or whose discourse, etc. 
 
 " Best seemed the thing he was, and join'd 
 Each office of the social hour 
 To noble manners, as the flower 
 And native growth of noble mind." 
 
 In Memoriam, cxi. 
 
NOTES 285 
 
 " There thou art gone, and me thou leavest here 
 Sole in these fields ! Yet will I not despair. 
 
 Despair I will not, while I yet descry 
 'Neath the soft canopy of English air 
 That lonely tree against the western sky." 
 
 MATTHEW ARNOLD, Thyrsis. 
 
 91, 92. they, slighted, turn, etc. Cf. Lyctdas, 125. 
 
 95-106. .ffigon . . . Amyntas . . . Alphesiboeus . . . Mop- 
 sus. Names of shepherds in the classic pastoral. 
 
 111. Saturn's influence. The star Saturn was considered as 
 causing melancholy among shepherds. Cf. II Penseroso, 43. 
 
 123, 124. JEgle . . . Hyas . . . Baucis . . . Dryope. Names 
 taken from mythology and applied to shepherdesses. 
 
 127-129. Chloris too came, etc. Masson thinks that as the 
 "Idumanian current" is the river Chelmer in Essex, some 
 friend of Milton's is here meant. 
 
 133-154. Ah, blest indifference, etc. This contrast of natural 
 and moral affection is one of the most interesting features of 
 the poem. The one is temporary, the other permanent. 
 
 " Dear friend, far off, my lost desire ; 
 So far, so near in woe and weal ; 
 O loved the most, when most I feel 
 There is a lower and a higher." 
 
 In Memoriam, cxxix. 
 
 157-170. Ah, what delusion, etc. An allusion to Virgil's 
 first Eclogue, where Tityrus (Virgil) tells Melibceus of his visit 
 to Rome, " carrying her head as high among all other cities as 
 cypresses do among your bending hedgerow trees." Milton 
 implies that even if Rome were as in Virgil's time, he paid 
 dearly for such a sight if it took him away from his dying 
 friend. 
 
 173-192. Although well pleased, etc. Here we have an 
 allusion to the friendships Milton formed in Italy. Carlo Dati 
 and Antonio Francini were among the distinguished Florentines 
 who did him honor, the one in an ode and the other in an 
 
286 NOTES 
 
 address. Milton himself entertained them with his discussions 
 in the Academies ; his ease and grace, his learning and accom- 
 plishments, delighted them. 
 
 195-216. While bright the dewy grass, etc. Milton antici- 
 pates his return from Italy and the pleasure he would have in 
 the society of Diodati the follower of Galen. Sometimes Mil- 
 ton would go to St. Albans, in Herts (where the British king 
 Cassibelaunus opposed Caesar), and where his friend lived, or 
 Diodati would visit him at Horton on the Colne. This reminds 
 us of the society of Tennyson and Hallam. 
 
 " We talk'd ; the stream beneath us ran ; 
 The wine-flask lying couch' d in moss. 
 
 Or cool'd within the glooming wave ; 
 
 And last returning from afar, 
 
 Before the crimson-circled star 
 Had fall' n into her father's grave. 
 
 And brushing ankle-deep in flowers, 
 We heard behind the woodbine veil 
 The milk that bubbled in the pail, 
 
 And buzzings of the honied hours." 
 
 In Memoriam, xciv. 
 
 217-224. Twelve evenings since, etc. Here we have an allu- 
 sion to the fact that Milton was meditating a great English 
 poem, but that the subject was too complex for him. As 
 there is no Diodati in whom to confide dare he confide in us ? 
 He says, ' Yes, I will let you into the secret,' and for this pur- 
 pose he bids farewell to the 'groves,' or the pastoral, and re- 
 veals his high theme. 
 
 Milton's father was disappointed that his son did not care to 
 enter the service of the church. In his Latin poem Ad Patrem, 
 written at Horton, Milton alludes to this feeling as an apparent 
 slighting of the Muse. 
 
 " Nor thou persist, I pray thee, still to slight 
 The sacred Nine, and to imagine vain 
 
NOTES 287 
 
 And useless powers, by whom inspired, thyself 
 
 Art skilful to associate verse with airs 
 
 Harmonious, and to give the human voice 
 
 A thousand modulations, heir by right 
 
 Indisputable of Arion's fame. 
 
 Now say, what wonder is it if a son 
 
 Of thine delight in verse, if, so conjoined 
 
 In close affinity, we sympathise 
 
 In social arts, and kindred studies sweet ? 
 
 Such distribution of himself to us 
 
 Was Phoabus' choice ; thou hast thy gift, and I 
 
 Mine also, and between us we receive, 
 
 Father and son, the whole inspiring god. 
 
 No ! howsoe'er the semblance thou assume 
 Of hate, thou hatest not the gentle Muse, 
 My father ! for thou never bad'st me tread 
 The beaten path, and broad, that leads right on 
 To Opulence, nor didst condemn thy son 
 To the insipid clamours of the bar, 
 To laws voluminous, and ill observed ; 
 But, wishing to enrich me more, to fill 
 My mind with treasure, led'st me far away 
 From city din to deep retreats, to banks 
 And streams Aonian, and, with free consent 
 Didst place me happy at Apollo's side." 
 
 227-237. Of Brutus, etc. In his Latin poem to Manso, an 
 Italian marquis who showed Milton much attention at Naples, 
 he had sketched something of his plan of an Epic based on 
 the legendary history of Britain. 
 
 " Oh might so true a friend to me belong, 
 So skilled to grace the votaries of song, 
 Should I recall hereafter into rhyme 
 The kings and heroes of my native clime, 
 Arthur the chief," etc. Manso. 
 
 229. Rutupia. Richborough in Kent, whose headlands make 
 a safe harbor. (M.) 
 
288 NOTES 
 
 230. Imogen. The wife of Brutus. 
 
 231. Brennus and Belinus. Two famous Celts who ruled in 
 Britain centuries after Brutus. 
 
 232. Arviragus. Son of the British king Cunobelin (Shake- 
 speare's Cymbeline). He fought against the Roman invaders 
 about 45 A.D. (M.) 
 
 233. Armorican. An allusion to the settlement of Armorica 
 in France by those who about 450 A.D. left Britain to escape 
 the tyranny of Hengist and Horsa, the Saxons. (M.) 
 
 234. Gorlois. Duke of Cornwall, whose wife Ingraine gave 
 birth to Arthur by Uther Peridragon, king of Britain, whom 
 Merlin introduced into her castle in the guise of her dead hus- 
 band. Cf. Malory, Le Morte D" 1 Arthur ; Tennyson, The Com- 
 ing of Arthur. 
 
 240-243. Adieu my shepherd's reed, etc. Although Milton 
 changed the pastoral form and the Latin verse for British, he 
 never carried out the idea of an Arthurian Epic. In his History 
 of England we have many of the old legends of Britain. 
 
 248-253. If Usa, etc. The enumeration of these rivers re- 
 minds us of that in At a Vacation Exercise. 
 
 Usa. The Ouse. Cf. Cowper, The Poplar Field. 
 
 Alain. The Alyn flowing into the Dee. (M.) 
 
 Abra. The Humber. (M.) 
 
 Tamar. The river dividing Devon from Cornwall. (M.) 
 
 Orcades. The Orkneys. 
 
 256-277. All this I kept, etc. A pathetic allusion to the fact 
 that he anticipated showing this outline of the poem to Diodati, 
 and also the beautiful gifts from the aged Manso. To those 
 who think these gifts were only two lines of Latin verse ideal- 
 ized, Masson says : " We know of no present of Manso to Mil- 
 ton except the Latin distich of compliment 
 
 ' Ut mens, forma, decor, facies, mos, si pietas sic, 
 Non Anglus, verum hercle Angelus ipse, fores,' 
 
 and surely not even Milton's imagination could have converted 
 that into two cups." 
 
NOTES 289 
 
 278-305. Thou, also, Damon, etc. This beautiful conclusion 
 of the poem surpasses that of Lycidas. It throbs with passion- 
 ate love and hope. 
 
 " The breath whose might I have invoked in song 
 Descends on me ; my spirit's bark is driven, 
 Far from the shore, far from the trembling throng 
 Whose sails were to the tempest given ; 
 The massy earth and sphered skies are riven ! 
 I am borne darkly, fearfully, afar ; 
 Whilst burning through the inmost veil of Heaven, 
 The soul of Adonais, like a star, 
 Beacons from the abode where the Eternal are." 
 
 SHELLEY, Adonais. 
 
 " Far off thou art, but ever nigh ; 
 I have thee still, and I rejoice : 
 I prosper, circled by thy voice ; 
 I shall not lose thee tho' I die." 
 
 " living will that shalt endure 
 
 When all that seems shall suffer shock, 
 Rise in the spiritual rock, 
 Flow thro' our deeds and make them pure." 
 
 In Memoriam, cxxx., cxxxi. 
 
INDEX TO FIRST LINES 
 
 A Book was writ of late called 
 
 Tetrachordon, 95. 
 At length, my friend, the far- 
 
 fetched letters came, 258. 
 Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered 
 
 saints, whose bones, 101. 
 
 Because you have thrown off 
 
 your Prelate Lord, 97. 
 Before the starry threshold of 
 
 Jove's court, 53. 
 Blest pair of Sirens, pledges of 
 
 Heaven's joy, 26. 
 
 Captain or Colonel, or Knight in 
 
 Arms, 94. 
 Charles and I say it wondering 
 
 thou must know, 264. 
 Cromwell, our chief of men, who 
 
 though a cloud, 99. 
 Cyriack, this three years' day 
 
 these eyes, though clear, 103. 
 Cyriack, whose grandsire on the 
 
 royal bench, 102. 
 
 Daughter to that good Earl, 
 once President, 95. 
 
 Erewhile music, and ethereal 
 mirth, 23. 
 
 Fairfax, whose name in arms 
 
 through Europe rings, 99. 
 Fly, envious Time, till thou run 
 
 out thy race, 25. 
 
 Hail, Native Language, that by 
 
 sinews weak, 8. 
 Harry, whose tuneful and well 
 
 measured song, 97. 
 Hence, loathed Melancholy, 34. 
 Hence, vain deluding Joys, 39. 
 Here lieth one who did most 
 
 truly prove, 29. 
 Here lies old Hobson. Death hath 
 
 broke his girt, 28. 
 How soon hath Time, the subtle 
 
 thief of youth, 33. 
 
 I did but prompt the age to quit 
 their clogs, 96. 
 
 Lady, that in the prime of ear- 
 liest youth, 94. 
 
 Lawrence, of virtuous father 
 virtuous son, 102. 
 
 Let us with a gladsome mind, 2. 
 
 Look, Nymphs and Shepherds, 
 look! 45. 
 
 Methought I saw my late es- 
 poused saint, 104. 
 
 Now the bright morning-star, 
 Day's harbinger, 27. 
 
 O Fairest flower, no sooner blown 
 
 but blasted, 5. 
 O Nightingale that on yon 
 
 bloomy spray, 33. 
 
 291 
 
292 
 
 INDEX TO FIRST LINES 
 
 This is the month, and this the 
 
 happy morn, 12. 
 This rich marble doth inter, 
 
 30. 
 
 Vane, young in years, but in sage 
 counsel old, 100. 
 
 What needs my Shakespeare for 
 his honoured bones, 28. 
 
 When Faith and Love, which 
 parted from thee never, 98. 
 
 When I consider how my light is 
 
 spent, 101. 
 When the blest seed of Terah's 
 
 faithful son, 1. 
 With no rich viands overcharged, 
 
 I send, 261. 
 
 Ye flaming Powers, and winged 
 
 Warriors bright, 22. 
 Ye nymphs of Himera (for ye 
 
 have shed, 265. 
 Yet once more, O ye laurels, and 
 
 once more, 87. 
 
INDEX 
 
 ABRA, 288. 
 
 attendance, 180. 
 
 brood, heavenly, 119. 
 
 Accident, 122. 
 
 azurn, 186. 
 
 Brutus, 287. 
 
 Acheron, 182. 
 
 
 buskined, silver, 170. 
 
 adieu, 288. 
 
 BAALIM, 128. 
 
 
 adjure, 218. 
 
 bard, hapless, 277. 
 
 CALCHAS, 280. 
 
 JEgle, 285. 
 
 bard, of Thrace, 280. 
 
 Came, 142. 
 
 ^Egon, 285. 
 
 bards, 165. 
 
 Camus, 202. 
 
 age, 217. 
 
 bass, 128. 
 
 car, gilded, 179. 
 
 air, 163, 212. 
 
 battlements, 157. 
 
 care, disapproves 
 
 Airs, Lydian, 150. 
 
 Baucis, 285. 
 
 that, 236. 
 
 Alain, 288. 
 
 baulk, 219. 
 
 cast, 180. 
 
 ale, 157. 
 
 Bear, outwatch the, 
 
 Cassibelan, 286. 
 
 Alphesiboeus, 285. 
 
 164. 
 
 cedarn, 187. 
 
 Alpheus, 205. 
 
 begin, 199. 
 
 cell, forbidden, 277. 
 
 altar, 125. 
 
 Belinus, 288. 
 
 Celtic, 178. 
 
 amber-dropping, 185. 
 
 bellman, 163. 
 
 centre, 'i the, 181. 
 
 amorous on, 118. 
 
 bested, 161. 
 
 Cerberus, 154. 
 
 Ammorean, 114. 
 
 Bion, 283. 
 
 chains, 225. 
 
 Amphitrite, 18(i. 
 
 bird of hate, 153. 
 
 chains, willing, 122. 
 
 Amyntas, 285. 
 
 birds of calm, 126. 
 
 chariot, 131. 
 
 Anacreou's, 279. 
 
 black, all be, 131. 
 
 charms, 212. 
 
 Anchises, 18G. 
 
 blasts, urchin, 185. 
 
 Charybdis, 180. 
 
 Antiquity, 182. 
 
 blood, martyred, 231. 
 
 Chastity, 180. 
 
 Aquilo, 118. 
 
 blue-haired, 177. 
 
 Cheek, John, 217. 
 
 Arcady, star of, 180. 
 
 bolt, 184. 
 
 Chloris, 285. 
 
 Arethuse, 201. 
 
 book, 231. 
 
 Cimmerian, 155. 
 
 Argos, 278. 
 
 born, 214. 
 
 clear, 201. 
 
 Aristotle, 120. 
 
 bosky, 180. 
 
 climb, 203. 
 
 Armorican, 288. 
 
 bout, 159. 
 
 clip, 219. 
 
 art, 138. 
 
 bower, Amphitrite's, 
 
 close, 127. 
 
 A. S., 219. 
 
 186. 
 
 coffers, 121. 
 
 assassin's, 277. 
 
 boy, Attic, 165. 
 
 compass, 122. 
 
 asphodil, 185. 
 
 breaking, 214. 
 
 commercing, 162. 
 
 Atropos, 141. 
 
 Brennus, 288. 
 
 committing, 220. 
 
 293 
 
294 
 
 INDEX 
 
 concent, 135. 
 
 ears, trembling, 201. 
 
 for, 217. 
 
 conscience, 237. 
 
 eclipse, built in, 202. 
 
 Fortune, 225. 
 
 consort, 128, 135. 
 
 Edwards, 219. 
 
 Francini, 285. 
 
 Corydon, 157. 
 
 element, 180. 
 
 free, 170. 
 
 Cotytto, 179. 
 
 elf, 185. 
 
 froth-becurled, 114. 
 
 Cranks, 156. 
 
 Emathian, 212. 
 
 fur, Stoic, 183. 
 
 creep, 203. 
 
 engine, 205. 
 
 Fury, 201. 
 
 Cremona, 131. 
 
 envermeil, 118. 
 
 
 crofts, 182. 
 
 ere, 126. 
 
 GADDING, 200. 
 
 Cupid, 187. 
 
 erewhile, 131. 
 
 Galen, 286. 
 
 curl, 170. 
 
 Erebus, 184. 
 
 gardens, 187. 
 
 curls, 183. 
 
 Erymanthus, 171. 
 
 gate, 156. 
 
 Cybele, 169. 
 
 Erythraean, 114. 
 
 Genius, 207. 
 
 Cyllene, 171. 
 
 essence, 130. 
 
 gentle, 170. 
 
 cypress-bud, 141. 
 
 Ethiop, 162. 
 
 ghost, 181. 
 
 
 Euclid, 236. 
 
 Glaucus, 186. 
 
 DAISIES pied, 157. 
 
 Euphrosyne, 155. 
 
 gloom, 126. 
 
 Damon, 284. 
 
 Even, 179. 
 
 goblin, 158. 
 
 Dardanian, 278. 
 
 evenings, twelve, 286. 
 
 Gordon, 216. 
 
 Darwen, 225. 
 
 excess, 130. 
 
 Gorlois, 288. 
 
 Daphne, 183. 
 
 exempts, 220. 
 
 gowns, 228. 
 
 Daphnis, 283, 284. 
 
 eyn, 128. 
 
 grain, 162, 184. 
 
 Dati, 285. 
 
 
 granges, 179. 
 
 dawn, dappled, 156. 
 
 FAME, 169. 
 
 Green, Mile-End, 216. 
 
 debonair, 155. 
 
 fantastics, 121. 
 
 
 December's, 278. 
 
 fast, 162. 
 
 HAEMONY, 183. 
 
 Delphic, 138. 
 
 Faunus, 284. 
 
 half my days, 233. 
 
 delusion, 285. 
 
 Favonius, 234. 
 
 hall, 178. 
 
 demons, 164. 
 
 fays, 129. 
 
 halls, 279. 
 
 Deva, 200. 
 
 feast, 279. 
 
 harmony, Siren's, 171. 
 
 dight, 157. 
 
 feathered, dewy, 1(55. 
 
 harnessed, 129. 
 
 disinherit, 180. 
 
 fee, 217. 
 
 Harpies, 182. 
 
 divide to sing, 131. 
 
 feet, 186. 
 
 haughty, 178. 
 
 dodged, 139. 
 
 fence, 184. 
 
 head, 186. 
 
 dolphins, 207. 
 
 fiend, 158. 
 
 hearse, 142, 207. 
 
 Doric, 207. 
 
 Fiorenza, 284. 
 
 Heaven, 128. 
 
 Dragon, 128. 
 
 flamens, 128. 
 
 Hebe, 180. 
 
 Dryope, 285. 
 
 flighted, drowsy, 182. 
 
 Hebrides, 207. 
 
 Dunbar, 225. 
 
 fly, grey, 200. 
 
 Hecate, 179. 
 
 dungeon, 181. 
 
 fond, 161, 178. 
 
 Helicon, 142. 
 
 
 fondly, 233. 
 
 Herald of the sea, 
 
 EARS, Midas', 220. 
 
 for, all, 126. 
 
 202. 
 
INDEX 
 
 295 
 
 herd, 285. 
 
 junkets, 158. 
 
 Memnon, 161. 
 
 here, 277, 278. 
 
 Juno, 169. 
 
 mickle, 177. 
 
 Hermes, 164. 
 
 
 milder, 221. 
 
 Hero, 131. 
 
 KINGS, last of, 121. 
 
 mist, 204. 
 
 Hesperian, 181. 
 
 kirtled, flowery, 180. 
 
 mistook, 169. 
 
 Hierarchy, 219. 
 
 kiss, thought to, 118. 
 
 Mole, 123. 
 
 Himera, nymphs of, 
 
 
 Moly, 183, 278. 
 
 283. 
 
 LADON, 171. 
 
 Mona, 200. 
 
 hinds, 217. 
 
 lamp, 163. 
 
 monumental, 165. 
 
 Hippotades, 202. 
 
 landskip, 157. 
 
 moon, 187. 
 
 hist, 163. 
 
 language, 120. 
 
 Mopsus, 285. 
 
 hit, 161. 
 
 lantern, Friar's, 158. 
 
 morn, 125. 
 
 holiday, sunshine, 
 
 lark, 156. 
 
 morrice, 179. 
 
 157, 187. 
 
 Lars, 128. 
 
 mourners, 131. 
 
 homeward, 207. 
 
 Latona, 169. 
 
 mouths, 203. 
 
 Homer, 280. 
 
 lawn, 126, 162. 
 
 murmurs, 171, 182. 
 
 honour, 170. 
 
 leaden, 162. 
 
 Musseus, 164. 
 
 hooked, 12(5. 
 
 leaves, 131. 
 
 Muse, 200, 279. 
 
 horn, tasselled, 170. 
 
 lees, 184. 
 
 music, 127. 
 
 hutched, 184. 
 
 Lemures, 128. 
 
 
 Hylas, 283. 
 
 Leucothea, 186. 
 
 NARCISSUS, 180. 
 
 Hymen, 158. 
 
 license, 217. 
 
 Nature, 171. 
 
 
 Ligea, 186. 
 
 navel, 182. 
 
 IBERIAN, 178. 
 Idumanian, 285. 
 
 line, Anchises, 186. 
 Linus, 280. 
 locks, 203. 
 
 Nepenthes, 183. 
 Neptune, 185. 
 Nereus, 185. 
 
 Imogen, 288. 
 
 Lucina, 141. 
 
 nod, 187. 
 
 imp, 233. 
 
 luck, 122. 
 
 noise, 127. 
 
 Ind, 182. 
 indifference, 285. 
 individual, 131. 
 
 Lycaeus, 171. 
 Lycidas, 199, 200. 
 lyrist, Roman, 279. 
 
 North, 223. 
 note, just, 220. 
 night raven, 155. 
 
 infer, 181. 
 
 
 nursed, 178. 
 
 iusphered, 177. 
 intrude, 203. 
 
 MAB, Faery, 157. 
 Maenalus, 171. 
 
 Nymph, 155, 184. 
 nymphs of Himera, 
 
 Iris, 178. 
 
 Maid, just, 119. 
 
 283. 
 
 Isle, 177. 
 
 Manso, 287, 288. 
 
 
 its, 127. 
 
 marble, 128, 138, 162. 
 
 OCEAN, 126. 
 
 
 mariners, 178. 
 
 Oceanus, 185. 
 
 JOLLY, 153. 
 
 mask, 131. 
 
 off, thrown, 218. 
 
 Jove, 177, 184. 
 
 Meander, 180. 
 
 Og, 115. 
 
 Joys, 160. 
 
 Melancholy, 161. 
 
 Oracles, 128. 
 
 julep, 183. 
 
 Meliboeus, 184. 
 
 Orcades, 288. 
 
296 
 
 INDEX 
 
 orient, 178. 
 
 Quintilian, 217. 
 
 several, 177. 
 
 Orpheus, 159. 
 
 Quips, 156. 
 
 shade, chequered, 157. 
 
 otherwhere, are 
 
 Quire, 125, 141. 
 
 shadows, 129. 
 
 found, 131. 
 
 
 shapes, 180. 
 
 Ovid, 279. 
 
 RAGGED, 155. 
 
 sheep, 204. 
 
 
 rathe, 207. 
 
 shoou, 183. 
 
 PACE, 131. 
 
 rebecks, 157. 
 
 side, 187. 
 
 Pales, 284. 
 
 reed, 288. 
 
 sight, happy-making, 
 
 Pan, 127. 
 
 repairs, 207. 
 
 132. 
 
 Panope, 202. 
 
 resolve me, 118. 
 
 Sihon, 114. 
 
 Parthenope, 186. 
 
 Rivers, 122. 
 
 simples, 183. 
 
 Peer, 177. 
 
 roam, 277. 
 
 single, 180. 
 
 pensioners, 161. 
 
 robe, 158. 
 
 Sirens, 171, 180. 
 
 Peor, 128. 
 
 rock, 131. 
 
 slip, 142. 
 
 perceive, 178. 
 
 rod, 184. 
 
 slope, 179. 
 
 pestered, 177. 
 
 rolled, 231. 
 
 sock, 158. 
 
 pestilence, 119. 
 
 roof, 171. 
 
 song, 288. 
 
 Pharian, 114. 
 
 roosted, low, 180. 
 
 sons, 119. 
 
 Phillis, 157. 
 
 roses, 155. 
 
 soothest, 184. 
 
 Phoebus, 131. 
 
 round, 179. 
 
 spare, 235. 
 
 Pilot, 202. 
 
 rove, 217. 
 
 spared, 203. 
 
 Pindarus, 212. 
 
 ruddy, 114. 
 
 sparely,. 205. 
 
 pinfold, 177. 
 
 ruffled, 181. 
 
 speckled, 128. 
 
 planet, 170. 
 
 rugged, 202. 
 
 spells, 179. 
 
 pledge, 202. 
 
 Rutupia, 287. 
 
 spets, 179. 
 
 plighted, 180. 
 
 Rutherford, 219. 
 
 sphere, 118, 126, 179. 
 
 pluck, come to, 199. 
 
 
 sphere-metal, 139. 
 
 poets, 182. 
 
 SAGES, 125. 
 
 Spring, 278. 
 
 Powers, 130. 
 
 Samos, 280. 
 
 stakes, 182. 
 
 Predicaments, 120. 
 
 sampler, 184. 
 
 stall-reader, 216. 
 
 prefixed, 119. 
 
 Satyrs, 200. 
 
 Star of Arcady, 180. 
 
 Presbyter, 219. 
 
 Saturn's, 285. 
 
 star, 205. 
 
 prevent, 125. 
 
 saws, 179. 
 
 star-ypointing, 138. 
 
 Priest, 219. 
 
 Scotch -What- d'ye- 
 
 state, 169, 171. 
 
 primrose, 205. 
 
 call, 219. 
 
 states, hollow, 228. 
 
 proof, massy, 165. 
 
 scrannel, 204. 
 
 steep, 200. 
 
 Proteus, 186. 
 
 Scylla, 180. 
 
 Stoic, 183. 
 
 pulse, 184. 
 
 secure, 157. 
 
 stole, 162. 
 
 
 seek, so to, 180. 
 
 storied, 165. 
 
 QUARTERS, 177. 
 
 seize, 142, 218. 
 
 story, 220. 
 
 Queen, 128, 187. 
 
 sepulchral, 131. 
 
 straight, 157. 
 
 quills, 208. 
 
 serene, 177. 
 
 stray, 186. 
 
INDEX 
 
 297 
 
 strife, 141. 
 
 Towers, 137. 
 
 VACATION, 139. 
 
 strook, 127. 
 
 trace, 181. 
 
 Venus, 155. 
 
 Stygian, 155. 
 
 tract, 177. 
 
 Vergivian, 277. 
 
 suited, civil, 165. 
 
 Tragedy, 164. 
 
 Vesta, 162. 
 
 surmise, 207. 
 
 trains, 179. 
 
 victory, 214. 
 
 suspicion, 181. 
 
 tresses, 186. 
 
 viewless, 179. 
 
 swain, 177, 185. 
 
 Triple-Tyrant, 231. 
 
 Virtue, 187. 
 
 swart, 181. 
 
 trip it, 156. 
 
 vizored, 183. 
 
 swinges, 128. 
 
 Triton, 186. 
 
 Vulcan, 183. 
 
 swinked, 180. 
 
 triumphs, 158. 
 
 
 sylvan, 165. 
 
 Troy, 278. 
 
 WALLS, of glass, 
 
 Syrian shepherdess, 
 
 tub, Cynic, 183. 
 
 114. 
 
 142. 
 
 Turkis, 181. 
 
 wain, 139. 
 
 
 turtle, 126. 
 
 wanton, 125. 
 
 TALE, 157. 
 
 twigs, 183. 
 
 warble forth, 115. 
 
 talent, one, 233. 
 
 twine, 179. 
 
 Warriors, 130. 
 
 Tamar, 288. 
 
 twins, 187. 
 
 weed, 119, 158, 177. 
 
 taste, Attic, 235. 
 
 Typhon, 129. 
 
 weeping, 131. 
 
 teemed, 129. 
 
 
 well, 200. 
 
 Terah, 114. 
 
 UNADORNED, 177. 
 
 whilere, 130. 
 
 than, 126. 
 
 uncouth, 207. 
 
 whist, 126. 
 
 theatre, 277. 
 
 unenchanted, 181. 
 
 wind, 204. 
 
 Themis, 236. 
 
 unexpressive, 127, 207. 
 
 wings, 155. 
 
 Thestylis, 157. 
 
 unharboured, 181. 
 
 wink, 181. 
 
 thigh, 165. 
 
 unmoulding, 182. 
 
 Wizard, Carpathian, 
 
 thing, evil, 181. 
 
 unowned, 181. 
 
 185. 
 
 Thone, 183. 
 
 unprincipled, 180. 
 
 wizards, 125. 
 
 thousands, 233. 
 
 unreproved, 156. 
 
 woe, 231. 
 
 throne, 135. 
 
 unsphere, 164. 
 
 wolf, 205. 
 
 thrusts, 184. 
 
 unsunned, 181. 
 
 wolves, 182, 220, 225. 
 
 thunder, 121. 
 
 unvalued, 138. 
 
 worm, taint, 200. 
 
 thwarting, 170. unwithdrawing, 183. 
 
 wreath, laureate, 225. 
 
 Thyrsis, 157, 182, 283. Usa, 288. 
 
 
 Tiresias, 280. 
 
 use, 205. 
 
 YCLEPT, 125. 
 
 Tityrus, 285. 
 
 Uther, 288. 
 
 youth, 277. 
 
REFERENCES 
 
 BIOGRAPHY 
 
 Garnett, Richard. Milton (Great Writers Series). 
 
 Johnson, S. Milton (Lives of the Poets). 
 
 Masson, David. Life of John Milton. 6 vols. 
 
 Masson, David. The Poetical Works of John Milton. 3 vols. 
 
 Pattison, M. Milton (English Men of Letters Series). 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 Archer, T. The Highway of Letters. 
 Fiske, J. Beginnings of New England. 
 Gardiner, S. R. History of England. 
 Green, J. R. Short History of the English People, 
 Howitt, W. Homes and Haunts of British Poets. 
 Hutton, L. Literary Landmarks of London. 
 Macaulay, T. B. History of England. 
 Mitchell, D. G. From Elizabeth to Anne. 
 
 CRITICISM 
 
 Arnold, M. Essays in Criticism. Second Series. 
 
 Bagehot, W. Literary Studies. 
 
 Bayne, Peter. Chief Actors of the Puritan Revolution. 
 
 Birrell, A. Obiter Dicta. Second Series. 
 
 Brooke, S. A. Milton (Classical Writers). 
 
 Brooke, S. A. English Literature. Macmillan & Co. 
 
 Channing, W. E. On the Character and Writings of John 
 
 Milton. 
 
 Carlyle, T. History of Literature. 
 Coleridge, S. T. Lectures on Shakespeare and Milton. 
 Dowden, E. Transcripts and Studies. 
 
 298 
 
REFERENCES 299 
 
 Emerson, R. W. Essays from the North American Review. 
 
 Forster, J. The Statesmen of the Commonwealth. 
 
 Lowell, J. R. Prose Works. Vol. IV. 
 
 Masson, I). Three Devils, and other Essays, 
 
 Maurice, F. I). The Friendship of Books. 
 
 Myers, E. Introduction to Milton's Prose. 
 
 Macaulay, T. B. Essay on Milton. 
 
 Paine, H. A. English Literature. 
 
 Shairp, J. C. Poetical Interpretation of Nature. 
 
 Saintsbury, G. Elizabethan Literature. 
 
 Scherer, E. Essays. Trans, by George Saintsbury. 
 
 Palgrave, F. T. Landscape in Poetry. 
 
 Van Dyke, H. Poems of Tennyson (Milton and Tennyson). 
 

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