In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena,

Is of such pow'r to stir up joy as this,

To life so friendly, or so cool to thirst.
Why should you be so cruel to yourself,

And to those dainty limbs which Nature lent
For gentle usage, and soft delicacy?

680

But

you invert the covenants of her trust, And harshly deal like an ill borrower

With that which you receiv'd on other terms,
Scorning the unexempt condition

By which all mortal frailty must subsist,
Refreshment after toil, ease after pain,

That have been tir'd all day without repast,
And timely rest have wanted; but fair Virgin,
This will restore all soon.

LADY.

685

'Twill not, false traitor,

'Twill not restore the truth and honesty

690

"them, they had them originally "from Egypt; and this of Helen appears plainly to be a pro"duction of that country, and a custom which can be traced "from Homer to Augustus's reign, and from thence to the age preceding our own." Dr. J. Warton.

66

679. Why should you &c.] Instead of the nine following lines, which were added afterwards in the Manuscript, there was only this at first,

Poor Lady, thou hast need of some refreshing

That hast been tir'd all day &c. 689. but fair Virgin,] It was at first, here fair Virgin.

That thou hast banish'd from thy tongue with lies.
Was this the cottage, and the safe abode

Thou told'st me of? What grim aspects are these,
These ugly-headed monsters? Mercy guard me! 695
Hence with thy brew'd inchantments, foul deceiver;
Hast thou betray'd my credulous innocence
With vizor'd falsehood, and base forgery?
And wouldst thou seek again to trap me here
With liquorish baits fit to insnare a brute?
Were it a draft 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-govern'd and wise appetite.

COMUS.

O foolishness of men! that lend their ears

To those budge doctors of the Stoic fur,

700

705

And fetch their precepts from the Cynic tub,
Praising the lean and sallow Abstinence.
Wherefore did Nature pour her bounties forth,
With 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,

710

715

That in their green shops weave the smooth-hair'd silk
To deck her sons, and that no corner might
Be vacant of her plenty, in her own loins

She hutch'd th' all-worshipp'd ore, and precious gems
To store her children with: if all the world
Should in a pet of temp'rance feed on pulse,

nuscript had at first Stoic gown, which is better; for budge signifies furred: but I suppose by Stoic fur Milton intended to explain the other obsolete word, though he fell upon a very inaccurate way of doing it. Warburton.

Mr. Bowle here cites a passage from Stowe's Survay of London, ed. 1618. p. 455. " Budge-rowe, a streete so called of Budge, furre, and of Skinners dwelling there." The place and name still remain. T. Warton.

710. Wherefore did Nature pour her bounties forth, With such a full and unwithdrawing hand,] Silius Italicus, xv. 55. Quantas ipse Deus lætos generavit in

usus

Res homini, plenaque dedit bona gaudia dextra?

Richardson. 712. Covering the earth, &c.]

720

Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but frieze,
Th' all-giver would be' unthank'd, would be unprais'd,
Not half his riches known, and yet despis'd,

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,

725

Who would be quite surcharg'd with her own weight,
And strangled with her waste fertility,

Th' earth cumber'd, and the wing'd air dark'd with

plumes,

The herds would over-multitude their lords,

730

The sea o'erfraught would swell, and th' unsought
diamonds

Would so imblaze the forehead of the deep,
And so bestud with stars, that they below

727. And live like Nature's bastards, not her sons,] In the Manuscript it was at first,

Living as Nature's bastards, not her

sons,

which latter is an expression
taken from Heb. xii. 8. then are
ye bastards, and not sons.

730. dark'd with plumes,]
The image taken from what the
ancients said of the air of the
northern islands, that it was
clogged and darkened with fea-
thers. Warburton.

731. The herds, &c.] Mr.
Bowle observes, that the tenour
of Comus's argument is like that
of Clarinda, in B. and Fletcher's
Sea-Voyage, a. ii. s. 1.

Should all women use this obstinate
abstinence,

In a few years the whole world would
be peopled

Only with beasts.

J

Would
grow inur'd to light, and come at last
To gaze upon the sun with shameless brows.
List Lady, be not coy, and be not cozen'd
With that same vaunted name Virginity.
Beauty is Nature's coin, must not be horded,
But must be current, and the good thereof
Consists in mutual and partaken bliss,
Unsavory in th' enjoyment of itself;

If you let slip time, like a neglected rose
It withers on the stalk with languish'd head.

735

740

For soon comes age, that will her pride deflower;

Gather the rose of love, whilst yet is time,

Whilst loving thou may'st loved be with equal crime:

or as they are translated by Fairfax,

O gather then the rose, while time

thou hast,

Short is the day, done when it scant began,

Gather the rose of love, while yet

thou may'st

Loving, be lov'd; embracing, be embrac❜d.

And Shakespeare to the same purpose in Venus and Adonis,

Make use of time, let not advantage slip,

Beauty within itself would not be wasted.

Fair flow'rs that are not gather'd in their prime,

Rot and consume themselves in little time.

743. I rather think, we are immediately to refer to a passage in Milton's favourite, the Midsummer Night's Dream, where Theseus blames Hermione for refusing to marry Demetrius, a. i. s. 1.

2

But earlier happy is the rose distill'd,