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THE PERSON S.

The attendent SPIRIT, afterwards in the habit of

Thyrfis.

COMUS with his Crew.

The LADY.

First BROTHER.

Second BROTHER.

SABRINA the Nymph.

The chief persons who presented were,

The Lord BRACKLY.

Mr. THOMAS EGERTON his brother.

The Lady ALICE EGERTON.

The

The Mask was prefented in 1634, and confequently in the 26th year of our author's age. In the title page of the first edition printed in 1637, it is said that it was presented on Michaelmas night, and there was this motto,

Eheu quid volui mifero mihi! floribus auftrum

Perditus-----

In this edition, and in that of Milton's poems in 1645, there was prefixed to the Mask the following dedication.

To the Right Honorable

JOHN Lord Vicount BRACKLY fon and heir apparent to the Earl of BRIDGEWATER, &c.

MY LORD,

HIS

TH

poem,

which received its firft occafion of

birth from yourself and others of your noble family, and much honor from your own person in the performance, now returns again to make a final dedication of itself to you. Although not openly acknowledg'd by the author, yet it is a legitimate ofspring, so lovely, and fo much defired, that the often copying of it hath tir'd my pen to give my feveral friends fatisfaction, and brought me to a neceffity 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

pro

promifing youth, which give a full afsurance, to all that know you, of a future excellence. Live sweet Lord to be the honor of your name, and receive this as your own, from the hands of him, who hath by many favors been long oblig'd to your most honor'd parents, and as in this representation your attendent Thyrfis, fo now in all real expreffion

Your faithful and moft

humble Servant,

H. LAWES.

In the edition of 1645 was also prefixed Sir Henry Wotton's letter to the author upon the following poem: but as we have inferted it in the Life of Milton, there is no occafion to repeat it here.

B

M

A

A S K.

The first scene discovers a wild wood.

The attendent Spirit defcends or enters.

EFORE the starry threshold of Jove's court

My mansion is, where those immortal shapes

Of bright aereal Spirits live infpher'd

In regions mild of calm and serene air,

Above the smoke and ftir of this dim spot,

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Which men call Earth, and with low thoughted
Confin'd, and pester'd in this pin-fold here, (care
Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being,
Unmindful of the crown that virtue gives
After this mortal change to her true fervants
Amongst the enthron'd Gods on fainted feats.
Yet fome there be that by due steps aspire
To lay their juft hands on that golden key,
That opes
the palace of eternity:

To fuch my errand is; and but for fuch,
I would not foil these pure ambrofial weeds
With the rank vapors of this fin-worn mold.

But to my task. Neptune befides the sway
Of every falt flood, and each ebbing stream,
Took in by lot 'twixt high and nether Jove

E e

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Imperial rule of all the fea-girt iles,

That like to rich and various gems inlay
The unadorned bofom of the deep,

Which he to grace his tributary Gods

By course commits to several government,

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And gives them leave to wear their faphir crowns,
And wield their little tridents: but this Ile,
The greatest and the best of all the main,
He quarters to his blue-hair'd deities;
And all this tract that fronts the falling fun
A noble Peer of mickle truft and power
Has in his charge, with temper'd awe to guide
An old, and haughty nation proud in arms:
Where his fair ofspring nurs'd in princely lore
Are coming to attend their father's state,
And new-intrusted scepter; but their way
Lies through the perplex'd paths of this drear wood,
The nodding horror of whose fhady brows
Threats the forlorn and wand'ring passenger;
And here their tender age might suffer peril,
But that by quick command from fovran Jove
I was dispatch'd for their defense and guard;
And liften why, for I will tell
you now
What never yet was heard in tale or fong,
From old or modern bard, in hall or bower.
Bacchus, that firft from out the purple grape
Crush'd the sweet poison of mis-used wine,
After the Tuscan mariners transform'd,

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