And the gilded car of day His glowing axle doth allay In the steep Atlantic stream, 95 And the slope sun his upward beam Shoots against the dusky pole, Of his chamber in the east. in a wild and antic fashion. Intrant κωμάζοντες. 93. The star that bids the shepherd fold,] A pastoral way of counting time. So Virgil, Ecl. vi. 85. Cogere donec oves stabulis numerum- Jussit, et invito processit Vesper and Georg. iv. 434. Vesper ubi e pastu vitulos ad tecta reducit. 93. Shakespeare calls the morning-star, the unfolding star. Meas. for Meas. a. iv. s. 3. T. Warton. 97. In the steep Atlantic stream] So altered in the Manuscript from Tartarean stream. 99. the dusky pole,] In the Manuscript it is northern: dusky is the marginal reading. 100. Pacing toward the other goal Of his chamber in the east.] 100 105 The sounds and seas, with all their finny drove, lous head,] It was at first in the And quick Law with her scrupulous head. 115 120 move ;] The morrice or Moorish dance was first brought into England, as I take it, in Edward the Third's time, when John of Gaunt returned from Spain, where he had been to assist his father-in-law, Peter king of Castile, against Henry the Bastard. Peck. In the Morgante Maggiore of Pulci, we have "Balli alla mo resea," which he gives to the age of Charlemagne. Cant. iv. 92. T. Warton. 117. And on the tawny sands] So altered in the Manuscript from yellow sands. 118. Trip the pert faeries] See the note, Comus, 961. E. 119. fountain brim] This was the pastoral language of Milton's age. So Drayton, Bar. W. vi. 36. and Warner's Albion's Night hath better sweets to prove, Venus now wakes, and wakens Love. Come let us our rites begin, 'Tis only day-light that makes sin, Which these dun shades will ne'er report. Dark-veil❜d Cotytto, t' whom the secret flame Wherein thou rid'st with Hecat', and befriend 125 130 135 Spetteth his lightning forth. And Spenser has, fire-spetting forge, F. Q. ii. viii. 3. T. Warton. 133. And makes one blot of all the air,] In the Manuscript he had first written And makes a blot of nature, and afterwards And throws a blot o'er all the air, and then corrected it as it stands at present. 134. Stay thy cloudy ebon chair, &c.] In the Manuscript these lines at first run thus, Stay thy polish'd ebon chair, Till all thy dues be done, and nought left out. Afterwards these lines. were Wherein thou rid'st with Hecate, and then altered to what they D Ere the blabbing eastern scout, The nice morn on th' Indian steep From her cabin'd loophole peep, Come, knit hands, and beat the ground 139. nice morn] A finely chosen epithet, expressing at once curious and squeamish. Hurd. 140. From her cabin'd loophole peep,] So appearing to them who see the morning break from the midst of a wood, at loopholes cut through thickest shade. Paradise Lost, ix. 1110. Cantic. vi. 10. Who is she that looketh forth as the morning? Richardson. Milton here perhaps imitated Fletcher's beginning of his fifth act of the Faithful Shepherdess. See the blushing morn doth peep Through the window, while the sun, &c. 140. --cabin'd] Rather cabin's. Comus is describing the morning contemptuously, as it was unwelcome and unfriendly to his secret revels. Compare also Drayton, Mus. Elyz. ed. 1630. p. 22. The sun out of the east doth peepe, &c. T. Warton. 141. the tell-tale sun] This epithet alludes to the fable of 140 the sun's discovering Mars and And Shakespeare, Mids. N. Dr. Venus together, and telling tales to Vulcan. Odyss. viii. 302. Ηέλιος γαρ οἱ σκοπιην έχεν, είπε τε μύθον. 143. Come, knit hands, and beat the ground In a light fantastic round.] a. iv. s. 1. Sound music, Come, my queen, take hand with me, And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be. T. Warton. The Measure. Break off, break off, I feel the different pace Benighted in these woods. Now to my charms, 145. I feel the different pace &c.] The following lines before they were altered in the Manuscript run thus, -I hear the different pace Of some chaste footing near about this ground. Some virgin sure benighted in these For so I can distinguish by mine art. 151.wily trains;] Rightly altered from what he had first written in his Manuscript, -Now to my trains, And to my mother's charms— for the charms described are not from the classical pharmacopœa, but the Gothic. Warburton. 145 150 155 153. Thus I hurl &c.] The L lines following were thus in the Manuscript at first. My powder'd spells into the spungy |