And bad me keep it as of sovereign use

'Gainst all inchantments, mildew, blast, or damp, 640 Or ghastly furies' apparition.

I purs'd it up, but little reck'ning made,
Till now that this extremity compell❜d:
But now I find it true; for by this means
I knew the foul inchanter though disguis'd,
Enter'd the very lime-twigs of his spells,
And yet came off: if you have this about you,

be admitted, his subsequent reasoning is very ingenious. It is no unusual thing, says he, to find in the old writers upon the nature of herbs this virtue attributed to certain plants; but I can meet with no authority for Milton's imputing it to hæmony or spleenwort. Perhaps it may be thought refining too much to conjecture, that he meant to hint, that, as this root was esteemed a sovereign remedy against the spleen, it must consequently be a preservative against inchantments, apparitions, &c. which are

generally nothing else but the

645

In some

642. I purs'd it up,] It was customary in families to have herbs in store not only for medical and culinary, but for superstitious, purposes. houses, rue and rosemary were constantly kept for good luck. See the Winter's Tale, act iv. s. 3; and Hamlet, act iv. s. 5; and Greene's Quip for an upstart Courtier. T. Warton.

642. —but little reck'ning made,] I thought but little of it. So Lycidas, 116.

Of other care they little reck'ning make.

sickly fancies and imaginations And Daniel, Civil Warres, b. i. 92. of vaporish and splenetic complexions.

641. Or ghastly furies' apparition.] Peck supposes that the furies were never believed to appear, and proposes to read "faery's apparition." But Milton means any frightful appearance raised by magic. Among the spectres, which the fiend had raised around our Saviour in the wilderness, were furies. See P. R. iv. 422. The furies, which are classical, often enter into the incantations of the later Gothic romance. T. Warton.

Yet hereof no important reck❜ning

makes.

T. Warton.

647. if you have this about you, &c.] In the Manuscript the following lines were thus written at first, and afterwards corrected.

(As I will give you as we go [or on

the way]) you may
Boldly assault the necromantic hall;
Where if he be, with sudden violence
And brandish'd blades rush on him,
break his glass,

And pour the luscious potion on the
ground,
And seize his wand.

(As I will give you when we go) you may Boldly assault the necromancer's hall;

Where if he be, with dauntless hardihood,

And brandish'd blade rush on him, break his glass,
And shed the luscious liquor on the ground,
But seize his wand; though he and his curs'd crew

647. The notion of facing danger, and conquering an enemy, by carrying a charm, which was often an herb, is not uncommon. See Samson Agonistes, 1130, and the notes on v. 1132. Milton, in furnishing the Elder Brother with the plant hæmony when like a knight he is to attack the necromancer Comus, and even to assail his hall, notwithstanding that the idea is originally founded in Homer's moly, certainly alluded to the charming herb of the romantic combat. The assault on the necromancer's hall is also an idea of romance. See the adventure of the Black Castle in the Seven Champions of Christendom, where the business is finally achieved by an attack on the hall of the Necromancer Leoger, p. ii. ch. 9. T. Warton.

651. And brandish'd blade rush on him.] Thus Ulysses assaults Circe offering her cup, with a drawn sword. Ovid, Metam. xiii. 293.

-Intrat

Ille domum Circes, et ad insidiosa vocatus

Pocula, conantem virga mulcere capillos

Reppulit, et stricto pavidam deterruit

ense.

See Homer, Odyss. x. 294, 321.
But Milton in his allusions to
Circe's story has followed Ovid
more than Homer. T. Warton.

650

651. break his glass
And shed the luscious liquor on
the ground,

But seize his wand ;]
This is in imitation of Spenser,
Faery Queen, b. ii. cant. xii. st.
49. where Sir Guyon serves
Pleasure's porter in the same

manner.

But he his idle courtesy defied,

And overthrew his bowl disdainfully, And broke his staff, with which he charmed semblants sly.

651. But he also copies Spenser, and more closely, where Sir Guyon breaks the golden cup of the enchantress Excesse, ii. xii. 57.

So she to Guyon offred it to taste:
Who taking it out of her tender
hand,

The cup to ground did violently cast,
That all to pieces it was broken fond,
And with the liquor stained all the

lond.

T. Warton,

653. But seize his wand.] In the Tempest, in the intended attack upon the magician Prospero, Caliban gives Stephano another sort of necessary precaution without which nothing else could be done, a. iii. s. 2.

Remember

First to possess his books.

But Prospero has also a staff as well as book, a. v. s. 1. Armida in Tasso has both a book and wand. Gier. Lib. T. Warton.

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.
ELDER BROTHER.

Thyrsis, lead on apace, I'll follow thee,
And some good Angel bear a shield before us.

655

The Scene changes to a stately palace, set out with all manner of deliciousness: soft music, tables spread with all dainties. Comus appears with his rabble, and the Lady set in an inchanted 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

657. I'll follow thee, &c.] In the Manuscript it is I follow thee, and the next line was at first,

And good heav'n cast his best regard

upon us.

And then in the Manuscript the stage direction is as follows. The scene changes to a stately palace set out with all manner of deliciousness, tables spread with all dainties. Comus is discovered with his rabble: and the Lady set in an inchanted chair. She offers to rise.

658. And some good angel bear a shield before us.] Our author has nobly dilated this idea of a guardian-angel, yet not without some particular and express warrant from Scripture, which he has also poetically heightened, in Samson Agonistes, v. 1431.

Send me the angel of thy birth, to stand

Fast by thy side, who from thy

father's field Rode up in flames, after his message told

Your nerves are all chain'd up in alabaster,

And you a statue, or as Daphne was

Root-bound, that fled Apollo.

LADY.

660

Fool, do not boast,

Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind
With all thy charms, although this corporal rind
Thou hast immanacl'd, while heav'n sees good,
COMUS.

Why are you vex'd, Lady? why do you frown?
Here dwell no frowns, nor anger; from these gates
Sorrow flies far: See here be all the pleasures

665

Virtue may be assail'd, but never hurt,

Surpris'd by unjust force, but not inthrall'd.

T. Warton.

See T.

665. -immanacled]

Warton's note on manacled, P. L. i. 426. E.

668. See here be all the pleasures

That fancy can beget on youthful

662. -Fool, do not boast,] He thoughts &c.] This is a thought had written thus at first,

Fool, thou art over-proud, do not boast.

And this whole speech of the Lady, and the first line of the next speech of Comus were added in the margin; for before, the first speech of Comus was continued thus,

Root-bound, that fled Apollo. Why do you frown? &c.

663. Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind With all thy charms.] See v. 589. where this stoical idea of the inviolability of virtue is more fully expressed.

of Shakespeare's, but vastly im-
proved by our poet in the man-
ner of expressing it. Romeo and
Juliet, act i. sc. 3.

Such comfort as do lusty young men
feel,
When well-apparell'd April on the
heel

Of limping winter treads.

Thyer. An echo to Fletcher, Faithf. Sheph. a. i. s. 1.

Here be woods as green, &c.Here be all new delights, &c.

And again, p. 128.

-Whose virtues do refine The blood of men, making it free and fair,

That fancy can beget on youthful thoughts,
When the fresh blood grows lively, and returns
Brisk as the April buds in primrose-season.
And first behold this cordial julep here,
That flames, and dances in his crystal bounds,
With spirits of balm, and fragrant syrups mix'd.
Not that Nepenthes, which the wife of Thone

As the first hour it breath'd, or the
best air.

670

675

Mean time with genial joy to warm the soul,

Bright Helen mix'd a mirth-inspiring bowl:

Temper'd with drugs of sov❜reign

serene,

The man intranc'd would view the deathful scene.

These drugs, so friendly to the joys of life,

Bright Helen learn'd from Thone's imperial wife,

Who sway'd the sceptre, where prolific Nile &c. Fenton.

Notwithstanding the length of this quotation, I cannot forbear citing Spenser's description of this cordial, and the moral improvement that he has made of it. Faery Queen, b. iv. c. iii. st. 43.

Nepenthe is a drink of sov❜reign
grace,

Devised by the Gods, for to assuage
Heart's grief, and bitter gall away

to chace,