680

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?
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.

?Twill not, false traitor, 'Twill not restore the truth and honesty

685

690

66

Which stirs up anguish and con- “ them, they had them originally tentious rage :

“ from Egypt; and this of Helen Instead thereof sweet peace and quiet

appears plainly to be a proage

“ duction of that country, and It doth establish in the troubled mind.

a custom which can be traced Few men, but such as sober are and “ from Homer to Augustus's sage,

“ reign, and from thence to the Are by the Gods to drink thereof assign'd;

age preceding our own." Dr. But such as drink, eternal happiness J. Warton. do find.

679. Why should you &c.] In675. The author of the lively which were added afterwards in

stead of the nine following lines, and learned Enquiry into the Life and Writings of Homer, has the Manuscript, there was only brought together many parti- this at first, culars of this celebrated drug, Poor Lady, thou hast need of some rea and concludes, p. 135. edit. 1.

freshing “ It is true they are opiates for

That hast been tir'd all day &c. pleasure all over the Levant; 689. —but fair Virgin,) It was “but by the best accounts of 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 vizord 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.

705
Comus.
O foolishness of men ! that lend their ears
To those budge doctors of the Stoic fur,

a

700

694. -What grim aspects are being headed like sundry sorts of these,] So Drayton, Polyolb.wild beasts. S. xxvii.

696. Hence with thy brew'd Her grim aspect to see.

inchantments,] Magical potions, And Spenser, F. Q. v. ix. 48.

brewed or compounded of in

cantatory herbs and poisonous -With griesly grim aspect Abhorred Murder.

drugs. Shakespeare's Cauldron T. Warton.

is a brewed inchantment, but of

another kind. T. Warton. 695. These ugly-headed monsters?] In Milton's Manuscript, the Manuscript forgeries.

698. —and base forgery?] 'In and in his editions, it is ougly or

702. oughly, which is only an old way

But such as are good men can of writing ugly, as appears from

give good things,] several places in Sir Philip Sid- This noble sentiment Milton has ney's Arcadia, and from Shake- borrowed from Euripides, Medea, speare's Sonnets in the edition

ver. 618. of the year 1609: and care must be taken that the word be not

Κακου γαρ ανδρος δωρ' ονησιν ουκ εχει. mistaken, as some have mistaken 707. To those budge doctors of it, for owly-headed, Comus's train the Stoic fur,] The Trinity Ma

VOL. IV.

-попе

H

And fetch their precepts from the Cynic tub,
Praising the lean and sallow Abstinence.
Wherefore did Nature pour her bounties forth, 710
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, 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,

720

fowl, &c.

nuscript had at first Stoic gown, These verses were thus at first
which is better; for budge sig- in the Manuscript,
nifies furred: but I suppose by

Covering the earth with odours, and
Stoic fur Milton intended to ex- with fruits,
plain the other obsolete word, Cramming the seas with spawn in.
though he fell upon a very in-

numerable, accurate way of doing it. War

The fields with cattle, and the air with burton.

Mr. Bowle here cites a passage 717. To deck her sons,] So he from Stowe's Survay of London, had written at first, then altered ed. 1618. p. 455.“ Budge-rowe, it to adorn, and afterwards to deck a streete so called of Budge, furre, again. and of Skinners dwelling there." 719. She hutch'd,] That is, The place and name still remain. coffered. Warburton. T. Warton.

Hutch is an old word, still in No 710. Wherefore did Nature pour use, for coffer. Abp. Chichele her bounties forth,

gave a borrowing chest to the With such a full and unwith- University of Oxford, which was drawing hand,]

called Chichele's hutch. T. WarSilius Italicus, xv. 55.

ton. Quantas ipse Deus lætos generavit in

721. --feed on pulse,] So it

was at first, then fetches : but I Res homini, plenaque dedit bona suppose the allitteration of f's gaudia dextra? Richardson.

offended, and then he restored

pulse again. 712. Covering the earth, &c.]

usus

725

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,
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,

730
The herds would over-multitude their lords,
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

waters up

727. And live like Nature's And the observation is still fur. bastards, not her sons,] In the ther justified from Milton's great Manuscript it was at first, intimacy with the plays of the

twin-bards. T. Warton. Living as Nature's bastards, not her

732. The sea o'erfraught &c.] sons,

Mr. Warburton remarks, and I which latter is an expression agree with him, that this and taken from Heb. xii. 8. then are the four following lines are exye bastards, and not sons.

ceeding childish: and they were 730. —darkod with plumes,] thus written at first, The image taken from what the

The sea o'erfraught would heave her ancients said of the air of the northern islands, that it was Above the shore, and th' unsought clogged and darkened with fea

diamonds thers. Warburton.

Would so bestud the centre with their Mr.

star-light, 731. The herds, &c.]

And so imblaze the forehead of the Bowle observés, that the tenour deep, of Comus's argument is like that Were they not taken thence, that they of Clarinda, in B. and Fletcher's

below

Would grow inur'd to day, and come Sea-Voyage, a. ii. s. 1.

at last &c. Should all women use this obstinate

734. And so bestud with stars,] abstinence, In a few years the whole world would So Drayton in his most elegant be peopled

epistle from King John to MaOnly with beasts.

tilda, which our author, as we

735

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 ;

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

740

If you

crown.

shall see, has more largely copied For soon comes age, that will her in the remainder of Comus's pride deflower;

Gather the rose of love, whilst yet is speech, vol. i. p. 232. Of heaven.

time, Would she put on her star-bestudded Whilst loving thou may'st loved be

with equal crime: Sylvester calls the stars “glisler- or as they are translated by

ing sluds." Du Bart. (p. 147. Fairfax, 4to.) D. v. W. 1. And “ the gilt

O gather then the rose, while time “ siuds of the firmament,” Ibid. thou hast, (4to. p. 247.) W. i. D. 7. T. Short is the day, done when it scant Warton.

began,

Gather the rose of love, while yet 737. -and be not cozen'd] In

thou may'st the Manuscript

Loving, be lov’d; embracing, be -nor be not cozen'd.

embrac'd.

And Shakespeare to the same 743. If you let slip time, like a neglected rose

purpose in Venus and Adonis, It withers on the stalk with lan- Make use of time, let not advantage guish'd head.]

slip, It was at first,

Beauty within itself would not be

wasted. It withers on the stalk, and fades Fair flow'rs that are not gather'd away.

in their prime,

Rot and consume themselves in Milton had probably in view a

little time. most beautiful comparison of the same kind in Tasso, cant. xvi. st.

743. I rather think, we are 14, 15. which Spenser has lite- immediately to refer to a passage rally translated, b. ii. cant. xii. in Milton's favourite, the Midst. 74, 75. the application and summer Night's Dream, where concluding lines of which are Theseus blames Hermione. for these,

refusing to marry Demetrius, a.