95

100

And the gilded car of day
His glowing axle doth allay
In the steep Atlantic stream,
And the slope sun his upward beam
Shoots against the dusky pole,
Pacing toward the other goal
Of his chamber in the east.
Meanwhile welcome Joy, and Feast,
Midnight Shout and Revelry,
Tipsy Dance and Jollity,
Braid your locks with rosy twine,
Dropping odours, dropping wine.
Rigour now is gone to bed,
And Advice with scrupulous head,

105

locks with rosy

in u wild and antic fashion. In- In allusion to the same kind of trant καμαζοντες.

metaphors employed by the 93. The star that bids the shep- Psalmist, xix. 5. The sun as a herd fold,] A pastoral way of bridegroom cometh out of his chamcounting time. So Virgil, Ecl. ber, and rejoiceth as a strong man vi. 85.

to run a race. Cogere donec oves stabulis numerum

105. Braid

your que referre

twine, Jussit, et invito processit Vesper Dropping odours, dropping

, Olympo.

wine.] and Georg. iv. 434.

This is perfectly in the spirit Vesper ubi e pastu vitulos ad tecta

and manner of Anacreon, who

used to be crowned with roses, reducit.

and anointed with sweet oint93. Shakespeare calls the morning-star, the unfolding star. Meas. Od. 5.

ments, while he was drinking. for Meas. a. iv. s. 3. T. Warton. 97. In the steep Atlantic stream

Το ροδον το καλλιφυλλον So altered in the Manuscript

Κροταφοισιν αρμοσαντες

Πινομεν άβρα γελωντες. from Tartarean stream.

And again Od. 15. and in other 99. -the dusky pole,]. In the

places. Manuscript it is northern: dusky is the marginal reading.

Εμοι μελει μυροισι

Καταβρεχειν υπηκης" 100, Pacing toward the other

Εμοι μελει ροδοισι goal

Καταστεφειν κάρηνα. Of his chamber in the east.] 108. And Advice with scrupu

110

purer fire

115

Strict Age, and sour Severity
With their grave saws in slumber lie.
We that are of
Imitate the starry quire,
Who in their nightly watchful spheres,
Lead in swift round the months and

years.
The sounds and seas, with all their finny drove,
Now to the moon in wavering morrice move;
And on the tawny sands and shelves
Trip the pert fairies and the dapper elves.
By dimpled brook, and fountain brim,
The wood-nymphs deck'd with daisies trim,
Their merry wakes and pastimes keep:
What hath night to do with sleep?

120

lous head,] It was at first in the move ;] The morrice or Moorish Manuscript,

dance was first brought into And quick Laro with her scrupulous England, as I take it, in Edward head,

the Third's time, when John of 108. The MS. reading is the Gaunt returned from Spain, best. It is not the essential attri- where he had been to assist his bute of Advice to be scrupulous; father-in-law, Peter king of Casbut it is of quick law, or watchful tile, against Henry the Bastard. law, to be so. Warburton.

Peck. It was however in character In the Morgante Maggiore of for Comus to call advice, scrupu- Pulci, we have “Balli alla molous. It was his business to de. resea,” which he gives to the preciate advice at the expense of age of Charlemagne. Cant. iv. 92. truth. T. Warton.

T. Warton. 110. With their grave saws]

117. And on the tawny sands] Saws, sayings, maxims. So Shake So altered in the Manuscript speare, As you like it, act ii. sc. 9. from yellow sands. Full of wise saws.

118. Trip the pert faeries] See Hamlet, act i. sc. 8.

the note, Comus, 961. E.

119. --fountain brim] This I'll wipe away all trivial fond records,

was the pastoral language of All saws of books.

Milton's age. So Drayton, Bar. 114. Lead in swift round] It W. vi. 36. and Warner's Albion's was first written, Lead with swift England, b. ix. 46. We have round.

185

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.
Hail Goddess of nocturnal sport,
Dark-veil'd Cotytto, ť whom the secret flame
Of midnight torches burns; mysterious dame,
That ne'er art call's, but when the dragon womb
Of Stygian darkness spits her thickest gloom,
And makes one blot of all the air,
Stay thy cloudy ebon chair,
Wherein thou rid'st with Hecat', and befriend
Us thy vow'd priests, till utmost end
Of all thy dues be done, and none left out,

130

135

123. Night hath better] In the Spettcth his lightning forth. Manuscript Night has better.

And Spenser has, fire-spetting 129. Dark-veil'd Cotytto,] The forge, F. Q. ii. viii. 3. T. Wurton. Goddess of impudence, originally

133. And makes one blot of all a strumpet, had midnight sacrifices at Athens. She is here there- bad first written And makes a

the air,) In the Manuscript he fore very properly said to be blot of nature, and afterwards dark-veil'd. Her dues or rites

And throws a blot o'er all the air, were called Colytlia, and her

and then corrected it as it stands priests Baptæ ; because they, at present.

. who were initiated into her mys

134. Stay thy cloudy ebon chair, teries, were sprinkled with warm &c.] In the Manuscript these water. See Peck, and Juvenal

lines at first run thus,
ii. 91.
Talia secreta coluerunt orgia tæda

Stay thy polish'd ebon chair,
Cecropiam soliti Baptæ lassare Co.

Till all thy dues be done, and nought

left out.
tytto.
131. -the dragon womb] Al- Afterwards these lines
luding to the dragons of the added in the margin,
night. See Il Penseroso 59.

Wherein thou rid'st with Hecate, 132. —spits her thickest gloom,]

And favour our close jocondrie, So Drayton of an exhalation or cloud. Bar. W. ü. 35. without and then altered to what they a familiar or low sense.

are at present. VOL. IV.

D

were

Ere the blabbing eastern scout,
The nice morn on th’ Indian steep,
From her cabin'd loophole peep,
And to the tell-tale sun descry.
Our conceal'd solemnity.
Come, knit hands, and beat the ground
In a light fantastic round.

measure

139. -nice morn] A finely This sufficiently explains what chosen epithet, expressing at once is meant by the measure followcurious and squeamish. Hurd. ing; which, says Mr. Peck, is

140. From her cabin'd loophole an old way of expression for the peep,] So appearing to them dance, as in Shakespeare, King who see the morning break from Henry VIII. act i, sc. 7. the midst of a wood, at loopholes cut through thickest shade. Para

Good, my Lord Cardinal, I have half

a dozen healths dise Lost, ix. 1110. Cantic. vi.

To drink to these fair ladies, and a 10. Who is she that looketh forth as the morning ? Richardson. To lead them once again ; and then Milton here perhaps imitated

let's dream

Who's best in favour. Fletcher's beginning of his fifth act of the Faithful Shepherdess. In Milton's Manuscript the last See the blushing morn doth peep

line was thus at first, Through the window, while the sun,

With a light and frolic round. &c. 140. —-cabin'd] Rather cabin's. And then follows, The measure Comus is describing the morning in a wild, rude, and wanton antic. contemptuously, as it was un- 143. Compare Fletcher, Faitha welcome and unfriendly to his ful Shepherdess, a. i. s. 1. secret revels. Compare also

145

150

The Measure. Break off, break off, I feel the different

pace Of some chaste footing near about this ground. Run to your shrouds, within these brakes and trees; Our number may affright: some virgin sure (For so I can distinguish by mine art) Benighted in these woods. Now to my charms, And to my wily trains ; I shall ere long Be well-stock'd with as fair a herd as graz'd About

my

mother Circe. Thus I hurl
My dazzling spells into the spungy air,
Of pow'r to cheat the eye with blear illusion,
And give it false presentments, lest the place
And my quaint habits breed astonishment,
And put the damsel to suspicious flight,
Which must not be for that's against my course;

а

155

145. —I feel the different pace 153. Thus I hurl &c.] The &c.] The following lines be- lines following were thus in the fore they were altered in the Manuscript at first. Manuscript run thus,

My powder'd spells into the spuogy -I hear the different pace

air Of some chaste fooling near about Of pow'r to cheat the eye with sleight this ground.

(or blind) illusion, Some virgin sure benighted in these And give it false presentments, else woods ;

the place &c. For so I can distinguish by mine art. Run to your shrouds within these 153.. -Thus I hurl brakes, and trees ;

My dazzling spells into the Our number may affright.

spungy air.] And in the margin is written, B. Fletcher, Faith. Shep. act iii. They all scatter.

s. 1. 151. -wily trains ;] Rightly

I strew these herbs to purge the air : altered from what he had first

Let your odour drive from hence written in his Manuscript,

All mists that dazzle sense, &c.
-Now to my trains,

Compare Par. L. viii. 457. T. And to my mother's charms

Warlon. for the charms described are not 157. quaint] See notes, from the classical pharmacopæa, Sams. Agon. 1303. and Arcades, but the Gothic. Warburton. 47., T. Warton.