...holiday revels at harvest-time, f Lines 110-12: 'Then lies him down the lubber fiend, / And streteh'd out all the chimney's length, / Basks at the fire his hairy strength'. According to the old superstition implicit in Milton's words,6 one is doomed to failure in love unless...

...hath thresh'd the corn That ten day-labourers could not end 5 Then lies him down the lubbar fiend, And stretch'd out all the chimney's length, Basks...crop-full out of doors he flings, Ere the first cock his matin rings." ' The reader will observe that our simple ancestors had reduced all these whimsies '...

...When in one night, ere glimpse of morn, His shadowy Flail hath thresh'd the Corn That ten day-laborers could not end; Then lies him down the Lubber Fiend,...Crop-full out of doors he flings, Ere the first Cock his Matin rings. Thus done the Tales, to bed they creep, 1 1 5 By whispering Winds soon lull'd asleep....

...could not end; Then lies him down the lubber fiend.0 no And stretched out all the chimney's length,0 Basks at the fire his hairy strength; And crop-full out of doors he flings,0 Ere the first cock his matin rings. Thus done the tales, to bed they creep, By whispering...

...the corn That ten day-labourers could not end; Then lies him down, the lubber fiend, And, stretched out all the chimney's length, Basks at the fire his...crop-full out of doors he flings, Ere the first cock his matin rings. Thus done the tales, to bed they creep, By whispering winds soon lulled asleep. Towered...