Comus, a Mask. John Milton. 1909-14. Complete Poems. The Harvard Classics

Verse > Harvard Classics > John Milton > Complete Poems

CONTENTS · BOOK CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

John Milton. (1608–1674). Complete Poems.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.

Comus, a Mask

SONG

Spir. Back, Shepherds, back! Enough your play

	THE PERSONS

	THE ATTENDANT SPIRIT, afterwards in the habit of THYRSIS.
	Comus, with his Crew.
	THE LADY.
	FIRST BROTHER.
	SECOND BROTHER.
	SABRINA, the Nymph.

	PRESENTED AT LUDLOW CASTLE, 1634, BEFORE THE EARL OF BRIDGEWATER, THEN PRESIDENT OF WALES

	The Chief Person which presented were:—The Lord Brackley; Mr. Thomas Egerton, his Brother;The Lady Alice Egerton.

	The first Scene discovers a wild wood.The ATTENDANT SPIRIT descends or enters.

BEFORE the starry threshold of Jove’s court

My mansion is, where those immortal shapes

Of bright aerial Spirits live insphered

In regions mild of calm and serene air,

Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot

Which men call Earth, and, with low-thoughted care,

Confined and pestered in this pinfold here,

Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being,

Unmindful of the crown that Virtue gives,

After this mortal change, to her true servants

Amongst the enthronèd gods on sainted seats.

Yet some there be that by due steps aspire

To lay their just hands on that golden key

That opes the Palace of Eternity.

To such my errand is; and, but for such,

I would not soil these pure ambrosial weeds

With the rank vapours of this sin-worn mould.

But to my task. Neptune, besides the sway

Of every salt flood and each ebbing stream,

Took in, by lot ’twixt high and nether Jove,

Imperial rule of all the sea-girt Isles

That, like to rich and various gems, inlay

The unadornèd bosom of the Deep;

Which he, to grace his tributary gods,

By course commits to several government,

And gives them leave to wear their sapphire crowns

And wield their little tridents. But this Isle,

The greatest and the best of all the main,

He quarters to his blue-haired deities;

And all this tract that fronts the falling sun

A noble Peer of mickle trust and power

Has in his charge, with tempered awe to guide

An old and haughty Nation, proud in arms:

Where his fair offspring, nursed in princely lore,

Are coming to attend their father’s state,

And new-intrusted sceptre. But their way

Lies through the perplexed paths of this drear wood,

The nodding horror of whose shady brows

Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger;

And here their tender age might suffer peril,

But that, by quick command from sovran Jove,

I was despatched for their defence and guard!

And listen why; for I will tell you now

What never yet was heard in tale or song,

From old or modern bard, in hall or bower.

Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape

Crushed the sweet poison of misused wine,

After the Tuscan mariners transformed,

Coasting the Tyrrhene shore, as the winds listed,

On Circe’s island fell. (Who knows not Circe,

The daughter of the Sun, whose charmed cup

Whoever tasted lost his upright shape,

And downward fell into a grovelling swine?)

This Nymph, that gazed upon his clustering locks,

With ivy berries wreathed, and his blithe youth,

Had by him, ere he parted thence, a Son

Much like his Father, but his Mother more,

Whom therefore she brought up, and Comus named:

Who, ripe and frolic of his full-grown age,

Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields,

At last betakes him to this ominous wood,

And, in thick shelter of black shades imbowered,

Excels his Mother at her mighty art;

Offering to every weary traveller

His orient liquor in a crystal glass,

To quench the drouth of Phœbus; which as they taste

(For most do taste through fond intemperate thirst),

Soon as the potion works, their human count’nance,

The express resemblance of the gods, is changed

Into some brutish form of wolf or bear,

Or ounce or tiger, hog, or bearded goat

All other parts remaining as they were.

And they, so perfect is their misery,

Not once perceive their foul disfigurement,

But boast themselves more comely than before,

And all their friends and native home forget,

To roll with pleasure in a sensual sty.

Therefore, when any favoured of high Jove

Chances to pass through this adventrous glade,

Swift as the sparkle of a glancing star

I shoot from heaven, to give him safe convoy,

As now I do. But first I must put off

These my sky-robes, spun out of Iris’ woof,

And take the weeds and likeness of a swain

That to the service of this house belongs,

Who, with his soft pipe and smooth-dittied song,

Well knows to still the wild winds when they roar,

And hush the waving woods; nor of less faith,

And in this office of his mountain watch

Likeliest, and nearest to the present aid

Of this occasion. But I hear the tread

Of hateful steps; I must be viewless now.

COMUS enters with a charming-rod in one hand, his glass in the other; with him a rout of Monsters, headed like sundry sorts of wild beasts, but otherwise like men and women, their apparel glistering. They come in making a riotous and unruly noise, with torches in their hands.

Comus. The star that bids the shepherd fold

Now the top of heaven doth hold;

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

100

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,

105

Dropping odours, dropping wine.

Rigour now is gone to bed;

And Advice with scrupulous head,

Strict Age, and sour Severity,

With their grave saws, in slumber lie.

110

We, that are of purer fire,

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,

115

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, decked with daisies trim,

120

Their merry wakes and pastimes keep:

What hath night to do with sleep?

Night hath better sweets to prove;

Venus now wakes, and wakens Love

Come, let us our rites begin;

125

’T is only daylight that makes sin,

Which these dun shades will ne’er report.

Hail, goddess of nocturnal sport,

Dark-veiled Cotytto, to whom the secret flame

Of midnight torches burns! mysterious Dame,

130

That ne’er art called but when the dragon womb

Of Stygian darkness spets her thickest gloom,

And makes one blot of all the air!

Stay thy cloudy ebon chair,

Wherein thou ridest with Hecat’, and befriend

135

Us thy vowed priests, till utmost end

Of all thy dues be done, and none left out

Ere the blabbing eastern scout,

The nice Morn on the Indian steep,

From her cabined loop-hole peep,

140

And to the tell-tale Sun descry

Our concealed solemnity.

Come, knit hands, and beat the ground

In a light fantastic round.

The Measure.

Break off, break off! I feel the different pace

145

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,

150

And to my wily trains: I shall ere long

Be well stocked with as fair a herd as grazed

About my Mother Circe. Thus I hurl

My dazzling spells into the spongy air,

Of power to cheat the eye with blear illusion,

155

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.

I, under fair pretence of friendly ends,

160

And well-placed words of glozing courtesy,

Baited with reasons not unplausible,

Wind me into the easy-hearted man,

And hug him into snares. When once her eye

Hath met the virtue of this magic dust

165

I shall appear some harmless villager,

Whom thrift keeps up about his country gear.

But here she comes; I fairly step aside,

And hearken, if I may her business hear.

The LADY Enters

Lady. This way the noise was, if mine ear be true,

170

My best guide now. Methought it was the sound

Of riot and ill-managed merriment,

Such as the jocond flute or gamesome pipe

Stirs up among the loose unlettered hinds,

When, for their teeming flocks and granges full,

175

In wanton dance they praise the bounteous Pan,

And thank the gods amiss. I should be loth

To meet the rudeness and swilled insolence

Of such late wassailers; yet, oh! where else

Shall I inform my unacquainted feet

180

In the blind mazes of this tangled wood?

My brothers, when they saw me wearied out

With this long way, resolving here to lodge

Under the spreading favour of these pines,

Stepped, as they said, to the next thicket side

To bring me berries, or such cooling fruit

As the kind hospitable woods provide.

They left me then when the grey-hooded Even,

Like a sad Votarist in palmer’s weed,

Rose from the hindmost wheels of Phœbus’ wain.

190

But where they are, and why they came not back,

Is now the labour of my thoughts. ’T is likeliest

They had ingaged their wandering steps too far;

And envious darkness, ere they could return,

Had stole them from me. Else, O thievish Night,

195

Why shouldst thou, but for some felonious end,

In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars

That Nature hung in heaven, and filled their lamps

With everlasting oil, to give due light

To the misled and lonely travailler?

200

This is the place, as well as I may guess,

Whence even now the tumult of loud mirth

Was rife, and perfet in my listening ear;

Yet nought but single darkness do I find.

What might this be? A thousand fantasies

205

Begin to throng into my memory,

Of calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire,

And airy tongues that syllable men’s names

On sands and shores and desert wildernesses.

These thoughts may startle well, but not astound

210

The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended

By a strong siding champion, Conscience.

O welcome, pure-eyed Faith, white-handed Hope,

Thou hovering angel girt with golden wings,

And thou unblemished form of Chastity!

215

I see ye visibly, and now believe

That He, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill

Are but as slavish officers of vengeance,

Would send a glistering guardian, if need were,

To keep my life and honour unassailed….

220

Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud

Turn forth her silver lining on the night?

I did not err: there does a sable cloud

Turn forth her silver lining on the night,

And casts a gleam over this tufted grove.

225

I cannot hallo to my brothers, but

Such noise as I can make to be heard farthest

I’ll venter; for my new-enlivened spirits

Prompt me, and they perhaps are not far off.

SONG

Sweet Echo, sweetest Nymph, that liv’st unseen

230

Within thy airy shell

By slow Meander’s margent green,

And in the violet-embroidered vale

Where the love-lorn Nightingale

Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well:

235

Canst thou not tell me of a gentle pair

That likest thy Narcissus are?

O if thou have

Hid them in some flowery cave,

Tell me but where,

240

Sweet Queen of Parley, Daughter of the Sphere!

So may’st thou be translated to the skies,

And give resounding grace to all Heaven’s harmonies!

Comus. Can any mortal mixture of earth’s mould

Breathe such divine inchanting ravishment?

245

Sure something holy lodges in that breast,

And with these raptures moves the vocal air

To testify his hidden residence.

How sweetly did they float upon the wings

Of silence, through the empty-vaulted night,

250

At every fall smoothing the raven down

Of darkness till it smiled! I have oft heard

My mother Circe with the Sirens three,

Amidst the flowery-kirtled Naiades,

Culling their potent hearbs and baleful drugs,

255

Who, as they sung, would take the prisoned soul,

And lap it in Elysium: Scylla wept,

And child her barking waves into attention,

And fell Charybdis murmured soft applause.

Yet they in pleasing slumber lulled the sense,

260

And in sweet madness robbed it of itself;

But such a sacred and home-felt delight,

Such sober certainty of waking bliss,

I never heard till now. I’ll speak to her,

And she shall be my Queen.-Hail, foreign wonder!

265

Whom certain these rough shades did never breed,

Unless the Goddess that in rural shrine

Dwell’st here with Pan or Sylvan, by blest song

Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog

To touch the prosperous growth of this tall wood.

270

Lady. Nay, gentle shepherd, ill is lost that praise

That is addressed to unattending ears.

Not any boast of skill, but extreme shift

How to regain my severed company,

Compelled me to awake the courteous Echo

275

To give me answer from her mossy couch.

Comus. What chance, good Lady, hath bereft you thus?

Lady. Dim darkness and this leavy labyrinth.

Comus. Could that divide you from near-ushering guides?

Lady. They left me weary on a grassy turf.

280

Comus. By falsehood, or discourtesy, or why?

Lady. To seek i’ the valley some cool friendly spring.

Comus. And left your fair side all unguarded, Lady?

Lady. They were but twain, and purposed quick return.

Comus. Perhaps forestalling night prevented them.

285

Lady. How easy my misfortune is to hit!

Comus. Imports their loss, beside the present need?

Lady. No less than if I should my brothers lose.

Comus. Where they of manly prime, or youthful bloom?

Lady. As smooth as Hebe’s their unrazored lips.

290

Comus. Two such I saw, what time the laboured ox

In his loose traces from the furrow came,

And the swinked hedger at his supper sat.

I saw them under a green mantling vine,

That crawls along the side of yon small hill,

295

Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots;

Their port was more than human, as they stood.

I took it for a faery vision

Of some gay creatures of the element,

That in the colours of the rainbow live,

300

And play i’ the plighted clouds. I was awe-strook,

And, as I passed, I worshiped. If those you seek,

It were a journey like the path to Heaven

To help you find them.

Lady. Gentle villager,

305

What readiest way would bring me to that place?

Comus. Due west it rises from this shrubby point.

Lady. To find out that, good Shepherd, I suppose,

In such a scant allowance of star-light,

Would overtask the best land-pilot’s art,

310

Without the sure guess of well-practised feet.

Comus. I know each lane, and every alley green,

Dingle, or bushy dell, of this wild wood,

And every bosky bourn from side to side,

My daily walks and ancient neighbourhood;

315

And, if your stray attendance be yet lodged,

Or shroud within these limits, I shall know

Ere morrow wake, or the low-roosted lark

From her thatched pallet rouse. If otherwise,

I can conduct you, Lady, to a low

320

But loyal cottage, where you may be safe

Till further quest.

Lady. Shepherd, I take thy word,

And trust thy honest-offered courtesy,

Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds,

325

With smoky rafters, than in tapestry halls

And courts of princes, where it first was named,

And yet is most pretended. In a place

Less warranted than this, or less secure,

I cannot be, that I should fear to change it.

330

Eye me, blest Providence, and square my trial

To my proportioned strength! Shepherd, lead on….

The TWO BROTHERS.

Eld. Bro. Unmuffle, ye faint stars; and thou, fair Moon,

That wont’st to love the travailler’s benison,

Stoop thy pale visage through an amber cloud,

335

And disinherit Chaos, that reigns here

In double night of darkness and of shades;

Or, if your influence be quite dammed up

With black usurping mists, some gentle taper,

Though a rush-candle from the wicker hole

340

Of some clay habitation, visit us

With thy long levelled rule of streaming light,

And thou shalt be our star of Arcady,

Or Tyrian Cynosure.

Sec. Bro. Or, if our eyes

345

Be barred that happiness, might we but hear

The folded flocks, penned in their wattled cotes,

Or sound of pastoral reed with oaten stops,

Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock

Count the night-watches to his feathery dames,

350

’Twould be some solace yet, some little cheering,

In this close dungeon of innumerous boughs.

But, Oh, that hapless virgin, our lost sister!

Where may she wander now, whither betake her

From the chill dew, amongst rude burs and thistles?

355

Perhaps some cold bank is her bolster now,

Or ’gainst the rugged bark of some broad elm

Leans her unpillowed head, fraught with sad fears.

What if in wild amazement and affright,

Or, while we speak, within the direful grasp

360

Of savage hunger, or of savage heat!

Eld. Bro. Peace, brother: be not over-exquisite

To cast the fashion of uncertain evils;

For, grant they be so, while they rest unknown,

What need a man forestall his date of grief,

365

And run to meet what he would most avoid?

Or, if they be but false alarms of fear,

How bitter is such self-delusion!

I do not think my sister so to seek,

Or so unprincipled in virtue’s book,

370

And the sweet peace that goodness bosoms ever,

As that the single want of light and noise

(Not being in danger, as I trust she is not)

Could stir the constant mood of her calm thoughts,

And put them into misbecoming plight.

375

Virtue could see to do what Virtue would

By her own radiant light, though sun and moon

Were in the flat sea sunk. And Wisdom’s self

Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude,

Where, with her best nurse, Contemplation,

380

She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings,

That, in the various bustle of resort,

Were all to-ruffled, and sometimes impaired.

He that has light within his own clear breast

May sit i’ the centre, and enjoy bright day:

385

But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts

Benighted walks under the mid-day sun;

Himself is his own dungeon.

Sec. Bro. ’Tis most true

That musing Meditation most affects

390

The pensive secrecy of desert cell,

Far from the cheerful haunt of men and herds,

And sits as safe as in a senate-house;

For who would rob a Hermit of his weeds,

His few books, or his beads, or maple dish,

395

Or do his grey hairs any violence?

But Beauty, like the fair Hesperian Tree

Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard

Of dragon-watch with uninchanted eye

To save her blossoms, and defend her fruit,

400

From the rash hand of bold Incontinence.

You may as well spread out the unsunned heaps

Of miser’s treasure by an outlaw’s den,

And tell me it is safe, as bid me hope

Danger will wink on Opportunity,

405

And let a single helpless maiden pass

Uninjured in this wild surrounding waste.

Of night or loneliness it recks me not;

I fear the dread events that dog them both,

Lest some ill-greeting touch attempt the person

410

Of our unownèd sister.

Eld. Bro. I do not, brother,

Infer as if I thought my sister’s state

Secure without all doubt or controversy;

Yet, where an equal poise of hope and fear

415

Does arbitrate the event, my nature is

That I encline to hope rather than fear,

And gladly banish squint suspicion.

My sister is not so defenceless left

As you imagine; she has a hidden strength,

420

Which you remember not.

Sec. Bro. What hidden strength,

Unless the strength of Heaven, if you mean that?

Eld. Bro. I mean that too, but yet a hidden strength,

Which, if Heaven gave it, may be termed her own:

425

’Tis Chastity, my brother, Chastity:

She that has that is clad in com’plete steel,

And, like a quivered nymph with arrows keen,

May trace huge forests, and unharboured heaths,

Infamous hills, and sandy perilous wilds;

430

Where, through the sacred rays of chastity,

No savage fierce, bandite, or mountaineer,

Will dare to soil her virgin purity.

Yea, there, where very desolation dwells,

By grots and caverns shagged with horrid shades,

435

She may pass on with unblenched majesty,

Be it not done in pride, or in presumption.

Some say no evil thing that walks by night,

In fog or fire, by lake or moorish fen,

Blue meagre hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost,

440

That breaks his magic chains at curfew time,

No goblin or swart faery of the mine,

Hath hurtful power o’er true virginity.

Do ye believe me yet, or shall I call

Antiquity from the old schools of Greece

445

To testify the arms of Chastity?

Hence had the huntress Dian her dread bow,

Fair silver-shafted Queen for ever chaste,

Wherewith she tamed the brinded lioness

And spotted mountain-pard, but set at nought

450

The frivolous bolt of Cupid; gods and men

Feared her stern frown, and she was queen o’ the woods.

What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shield

That wise Minerva wore, unconquered virgin,

Wherewith she freezed her foes to con’gealed stone,

455

But rigid looks of chaste austerity,

And noble grace that dashed brute violence

With sudden adoration and blank awe?

So dear to Heaven is saintly chastity

That, when a soul is found sincerely so,

460

A thousand liveried angels lackey her,

Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt,

And in clear dream and solemn vision

Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear;

Till oft converse with heavenly habitants

465

Begin to cast a beam on the outward shape,

The unpolluted temple of the mind,

And turns it by degrees to the soul’s essence,

Till all be made immortal. But, when lust,

By unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk,

470

But most by lewd and lavish act of sin,

Lets in defilement to the inward parts,

The soul grows clotted by contagion,

Imbodies, and imbrutes, till she quite lose

The divine property of her first being.

475

Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp

Oft seen in charnel-vaults and sepulchres,

Lingering and sitting by a new-made grave,

As loth to leave the body that it loved,

And linked itself by carnal sensuality

480

To a degenerate and degraded state.

Sec. Bro. How charming is divine Philosophy!

Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose,

But musical as is Apollo’s lute,

And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets,

485

Where no crude surfeit reigns.

Eld. Bro. List! list! I hear

Some far-off hallo break the silent air.

Sec. Bro. Methought so too; what should it be?

Eld. Bro. For certain,

490

Either some one, like us, night-foundered here,

Or else some neighbour woodman, or, at worst,

Some roving robber calling to his fellows.

Sec. Bro. Heaven keep my sister!

Again, again, and near!

495

Best draw, and stand upon our guard.

Eld. Bro. I’ll hallo.

If he be friendly, he comes well: if not,

Defence is a good cause, and Heaven be for us!

The ATTENDANT SPIRIT, habited like a shepherd.

That hallo I should know. What are you? speak.

500

Come not too near; you fall on iron stakes else.

Spir. What voice is that? my young Lord? speak again.

Sec. Bro. O brother, ’tis my father’s Shepherd, sure.

Eld. Bro. Thyrsis! whose artful strains have oft delayed

The huddling brook to hear his madrigal,

505

And sweetened every musk-rose of the dale.

How camest thou here, good swain? Hath any ram

Slipped from the fold, or young kid lost his dam,

Or straggling wether the pent flock forsook?

How couldst thou find this dark sequestered nook?

510

Spir. O my loved master’s heir, and his next joy,

I came not here on such a trivial toy

As a strayed ewe, or to pursue the stealth

Of pilfering wolf; not all the fleecy wealth

That doth enrich these downs is worth a thought

515

To this my errand, and the care it brought.

But, oh! my virgin Lady, where is she?

How chance she is not in your company?

Eld. Bro. To tell thee sadly, Shepherd, without blame

Or our neglect, we lost her as we came.

520

Spir. Ay me unhappy! then my fears are true.

Eld. Bro. What fears, good Thyrsis?

Prithee briefly shew.

Spir. I’ll tell ye, ’tis not vain or fabulous

(Though so esteemed by shallow ignorance)

525

What the sage poets, taught by the heavenly Muse,

Storied of old in high immortal verse

Of dire Chimeras and inchanted Isles,

And rifted rocks whose entrance leads to Hell;

For such there be, but unbelief is blind.

530

Within the navel of this hideous wood,

Immured in cypress shades, a Sorcerer dwells,

Of Bacchus and of Circe born, great Comus,

Deep skilled in all his mother’s witcheries,

And here to every thirsty wanderer

535

By sly enticement gives his baneful cup,

With many murmurs mixed, whose pleasing poision

The visage quite transforms of him that drinks,

And the inglorious likeness of a beast

Fixes instead, unmoulding reason’s mintage

540

Charactered in the face. This have I learnt

Tending my flocks hard by i’ the hilly crofts

That brow this bottom glade; whence night by night

He and his monstrous rout are heard to howl

Like stabled wolves, or tigers at their prey,

545

Doing abhorrèd rites to Hecate

In their obscurèd haunts of inmost bowers.

Yet have they many baits and guileful spells

To inveigle and invite the unwary sense

Of them that pass unweeting by the way.

550

This evening late, by then the chewing flocks

Had ta’en their supper on the savoury herb

Of knot-grass dew-besprent, and were in fold,

I sat me down to watch upon a bank

With ivy canopied, and interwove

555

With flaunting honeysuckle, and began,

Wrapt in a pleasing fit of melancholy,

To meditate my rural minstrelsy,

Till fancy had her fill. But ere a close

The wonted roar was up amidst the woods,

560

And filled the air with barbarous dissonance;

At which I ceased, and listened them a while,

Till an unusual stop of sudden silence

Gave respite to the drowsy-flighted steeds

That draw the litter of close-curtained Sleep.

565

At last a soft and solemn-breathing sound

Rose like a steam of rich distilled perfumes,

And stole upon the air, that even Silence

Was took ere she was ware, and wished she might

Deny her nature, and be never more,

570

Still to be so displaced. I was all ear,

And took in strains that might create a soul

Under the ribs of Death. But, oh! ere long

Too well I did perceive it was the voice

Of my most honoured Lady, your dear sister.

575

Amazed I stood, harrowed with grief and fear;

And “O poor hapless Nightingale,” thought I,

“How sweet thou sing’st, how near the deadly snare!”

Then down the lawns I ran with headlong haste,

Through paths and turnings often trod by day,

580

Till, guided by mine ear, I found the place

Where that damned wisard, hid in sly disguise

(For so by certain signs I knew), had met

Already, ere my best speed could prevent,

The aidless innocent lady, his wished prey;

585

Who gently asked if he had seen such two,

Supposing him some neighbour villager.

Longer I durst not stay, but soon I guessed

Ye were the two she meant; with that I sprung

Into swift flight, till I had found you here;

590

But furder know I not.

Sec. Bro. O night and shades,

How are ye joined with hell in triple knot

Against the unarmèd weakness of one virgin,

Alone and helpless! Is this the confidence

595

You gave me, brother?

Eld. Bro. Yes, and keep it still;

Lean on it safely; not a period

Shall be unsaid for me. Against the threats

Of malice or of sorcery, or that power

600

Which erring men call Chance, this I hold firm:

Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt,

Surprised by unjust force, but not enthralled;

Yea, even that which Mischief meant most harm

Shall in the happy trial prove most glory.

605

But evil on itself shall back recoil,

And mix no more with goodness, when at last,

Gathered like scum, and settled to itself,

It shall be in eternal restless change

Self-fed and self-consumed. If this fail,

610

The pillared firmament is rottenness,

And earth’s base built on stubble. But come, let’s on!

Against the opposing will and arm of Heaven

May never this just sword be lifted up;

But, for that damned magician, let him be girt

615

With all the griesly legiöns that troop

Under the sooty flag of Acheron,

Harpies and Hydras, or all the monstrous forms

’Twixt Africa and Ind. I’ll find him out,

And force him to restore his purchase back,

620

Or drag him by the curls to a foul death,

Cursed as his life.

Spir. Alas! good ventrous youth,

I love thy courage yet, and bold emprise;

But here thy sword can do thee little stead.

625

Far other arms and other weapons must

Be those that quell the might of hellish charms.

He with his bare wand can unthread thy joints,

And crumble all thy sinews.

Eld. Bro. Why, prithee Shepherd,

630

How durst thou then thyself approach so near

As to make this relation?

Spir. Care and utmost shifts

How to secure the Lady from surprisal

Brought to my mind a certain shepherd lad,

635

Of small regard to see to, yet well skilled

In every virtuous plant and healing hearb

That spreads her verdant leaf to the morning ray.

He loved me well, and oft would beg me sing;

Which when I did, he on the tender grass

640

Would sit, and hearken even to ecstasy,

And in requital ope his leathern scrip,

And shew me simples of a thousand names,

Telling their strange and vigorous faculties.

Amongst the rest a small unsightly root,

645

But of divine effect, he culled me out.

The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it,

But in another country, as he said,

Bore a bright golden flower, but not in this soil:

Unknown, and like esteemed, and the dull swain

650

Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon;

And yet more med’cinal is it than that Moly

That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave.

He called it Hæmony, and give it me,

And bade me keep it as of sovran use

655

’Gainst all inchantments, mildew blast, or damp,

Or ghastly Furies’ apparition.

I pursed it up, but little reckoning made,

Till now that this extremity compelled.

But now I find it true; for by this means

660

I knew the foul inchanter, though disguised,

Entered the very lime-twigs of his spells,

And yet came off. If you have this about you

(As I will give you when we go) you may

Boldly assault the necromancer’s hall;

665

Where if he be, with dauntless hardihood

And brandished blade rush on him: break his glass,

And shed the luscious liquor on the ground;

But seize his wand. Though he and his curst crew

Fierce sign of battail make, and menace high,

670

Or, like the sons of Vulcan, vomit smoke,

Yet will they soon retire, if he but shrink.

Eld. Bro. Thyrsis, lead on apace; I’ll follow thee;

And some good angel bear a shield before us!

The Scene changes to a stately palace, set out with all manner of deliciousness: soft music, tables spread with all dainties. COMUS appears with his rabble, and the LADY set in an inchanted chair; to whom he offers his glass; which she puts by, and goes about to rise.

Comus. Nay, Lady, sit. If I but wave this wand,

675

Your nerves are all chained up in alabaster,

And you a statue, or as Daphne was,

Root-bound, that fled Apollo.

Lady. Fool, do not boast.

Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind

680

With all thy charms, although this corporal rind

Thou hast immanacled while Heaven sees good.

Comus. Why are you vexed, Lady? why do you frown?

Here dwell no frowns, nor anger; from these gates

Sorrow flies far. See, here be all the pleasures

685

That fancy can beget on youthful thoughts,

When the fresh blood grows lively, and returns

Brisk as the April buds in primrose season.

And first behold this cordial julep here,

That flames and dances in his crystal bounds,

690

With spirits of balm and fragrant syrups mixed.

Not that Nepenthes which the wife of Thone

In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena

Is of such power to stir up joy as this,

To life so friendly, or so cool to thirst.

695

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,

700

With that which you received on other terms,

Scorning the unexempt condition

By which all mortal frailty must subsist,

Refreshment after toil, ease after pain,

That have been tired all day without repast,

705

And timely rest have wanted. But, fair virgin,

This will restore all soon.

Lady. ’T will not, false traitor!

’T will not restore the truth and honesty

That thou has banished from thy tongue with lies.

710

Was this the cottage and the safe abode

Thou told’st me of? What grim aspects’ are these,

These oughly-headed monsters? Mercy guard me!

Hence with thy brewed inchantments, foul deceiver!

Hast thou betrayed my credulous innocence

715

With vizored falsehood and base forgery?

And wouldst thou seek again to trap me here

With lickerish baits, fit to ensnare a brute?

Were it a draught for Juno when she banquets,

I would not taste thy treasonous offer. None

720

But such as are good men can give good things;

And that which is not good is not delicious

To a well-governed and wise appetite.

Comus. O foolishness of men! that lend their ears

To those budge doctors of the Stoic fur,

725

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,

730

Thronging the seas with spawn innumerable,

But all to please and sate the curious taste?

And set to work millions of spinning worms,

That in their green shops weave the smooth-haired silk,

To deck her sons; and, that no corner might

735

Be vacant of her plenty, in her own loins

She hutched the all-worshiped ore and precious gems,

To store here children with. If all the world

Should in a pet of temperance, feed on pulse,

Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but frieze,

740

The All-giver would be unthanked, would be unpraised

Not half his riches known, and yet despised;

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,

745

Who would be quite surcharged with her own weight,

And strangled with her waste fertility:

The earth cumbered, and the winged air darked with plumes;

The herds would over-multitude their lords;

The sea o’erfraught would swell, and the unsought diamonds

750

Would so emblaze the forehead of the Deep,

And so bestud with stars, that they below

Would grow inured to light, and come at last

To gaze upon the Sun with shameless brows.

List, Lady; be not coy, and be not cozened

755

With that same vaunted name, Virginity.

Beauty is Nature’s coin; must not be hoarded,

But must be current; and the good thereof

Consists in mutual and partaken bliss,

Unsavoury in the injoyment of itself.

760

If you let slip time, like a neglected rose

It withers on the stalk with languished head.

Beauty is Nature’s brag, and must be shown

In courts, at feasts, and high solemnities,

Where most may wonder at the workmanship.

765

It is for homely features to keep home;

They had their name thence: coarse complexions

And cheeks of sorry grain will serve to ply

The sampler, and to tease the housewife’s wool.

What need a vermeil-tinctured lip for that,

770

Love-darting eyes, or tresses like the Morn?

There was another meaning in these gifts;

Think what, and be advised; you are but young yet.

Lady. I had not thought to have unlocked my lips

In this unhallowed air, but that this Juggler

775

Would think to charm my judgment, as mine eyes,

Obtruding false rules pranked in reason’s garb.

I hate when Vice can bolt her arguments

And Virtue has no tongue to check her pride.

Impostor! do not charge most innocent Nature,

780

As if she would her children should be riotous

With her abundance. She, good Cateress,

Means her provision only to the good,

That live according to her sober law’s

And holy dictate of spare Temperance.

785

If every just man that now pines with want

Had but a moderate and beseeming share

Of that which lewdly-pampered Luxury

Now heaps upon some few with vast excess,

Nature’s full blessings would be well-dispensed

790

In unsuperfluous even proportion,

And she no whit encumbered with her store;

And then the Giver would be better thanked,

His praise due paid: for swinish Gluttony

Ne’er looks to Heaven amidst his gorgeous feast,

795

But with besotted base ingratitude

Crams and blasphemes his Feeder. Shall I go on?

Or have I said enow? to him that dares

Arm his profane tongue with contemptuous words

Against the sun-clad power of Chastity

800

Fain would I something say;-yet to what end?

Thou hast nor ear, nor soul, to apprehend

The sublime notion and high mystery

That must be uttered to unfold the sage

And serious doctrine of Virginity;

805

And thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know

More happiness than this thy present lot.

Enjoy your dear Wit, and gay Rhetoric,

That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence;

Thou art not fit to hear thyself convinced.

810

Yet, should I try, the uncontrollèd worth

Of this pure cause would kindle my rapt spirits

To such a flame of sacred vehemence

That dumb things would be moved to sympathize,

And the brute Earth would lend her nerves, and shake,

815

Till all thy magic structures, reared so high,

Were shattered into heaps o’er thy false head.

Comus. She fables not. I feel that I do fear

Her words set of by some superior power;

And, though not mortal, yet a cold shuddering dew

820

Dips me all o’er, as when the wrath of Jove

Speaks thunder and the chains of Erebus

To some of Saturn’s crew. I must dissemble,

And try her yet more strongly.—Come, no more!

This is mere moral babble, and direct

825

Against the canon laws of our foundation.

I must not suffer this; yet ’t is but the lees

And settlings of a melancholy blood.

But this will cure all straight; one sip of this

Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight

830

Beyond the bliss of dreams. Be wise, and taste…

The BROTHERS rush in with swords drawn, wrest his glass out of his hand, and break it against the ground: his rout make sign of resistance, but are all driven in. The ATTENDANT SPIRIT comes in.

Spir. What! have you let the false Enchanter scape?

O ye mistook; ye should have snatched his wand,

And bound him fast. Without his rod reversed,

And backward mutters of dissevering power,

835

We cannot free the Lady that sits here

In stony fetters fixed and motionless.

Yet stay: be not disturbed; now I bethink me,

Some other means I have which may be used,

Which once of Melibœus old I learnt,

840

The soothest Shepherd that ere piped on plains.

There is a gentle Nymph not far from hence,

That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn stream:

Sabrina is her name: a virgin pure;

Whilom she was the daughter of Locrine,

845

That had the sceptre from his father Brute.

She, guiltless damsel, flying the mad pursuit

Of her enragèd stepdame, Guendolen,

Commended her fair innocence to the flood

That stayed her flight with his cross-flowing course.

850

The water-Nymphs, that in the bottom played,

Held up their pearlèd wrists, and took her in,

Bearing her straight to aged Nereus’ hall;

Who, piteous of her woes, reared her lank head,

And gave her to his daughters to imbathe

855

In nectared lavers strewed with asphodil,

And through the porch and inlet of each sense

Dropt in ambrosial oils, till she revived.

And underwent a quick immortal change,

Made Goddess of the river. Still she retains

860

Her maiden gentleness, and oft at eve

Visits the herds along with twilight meadows,

Helping all urchin blasts, and ill-luck signs

That the shrewd meddling Elf delights to make,

Which she with pretious vialed liquors heals:

865

For which the Shepherds, at their festivals,

Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays,

And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream,

Of pansies, pinks, and gaudy daffadils.

And, as the old Swain said, she can unlock

870

The clasping charm, and thaw the numbing spell,

If she be right invoked in warbled song;

For maidenhood she loves, and will be swift

To aid a virgin, such as was herself,

In hard-besetting need. This will I try,

875

And add the power of some adjuring verse.

SONG

Sabrina fair,

Listen where thou art sitting

Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,

In twisted braids of lilies knitting

880

The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair;

Listen for dear honour’s sake,

Goddess of the silver lake,

Listen and save!

Listen, and appear to us,

885

In name of great Oceanus,

By the earth-shaking Neptune’s mace

And Tethys’ grave majestic pace;

By hoary Nereus’ wrinkled look,

And the Carpathian wizard’s hook;

890

By scaly Triton’s winding shell,

And old soothsaying Glaucus’ spell;

By Leucothea’s lovely hands,

And her son that rules the strands;

By Thetis’ tinsel-slippered feet,

895

And the songs of Sirens sweet;

By dead Parthenope’s dear tomb,

And fair Ligea’s golden comb,

Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks

Sleeking her soft alluring locks;

900

By all the nymphs that nightly dance

Upon thy streams with wily glance;

Rise, rise, and heave thy rosy head

From thy coral-paven bed,

And bridle in thy headlong wave,

905

Till thou our summons answered have.

Listen and save!

SABRINA rises, attended by Water-nymphs, and sings.

By the rushy-fringèd bank,

Where grows the willow and the oiser dank,

My sliding chariot stays,

910

Thick set with agate, and the azurn sheen

Of turkis blue, and emerald green,

That in the channel strays:

Whilst from off the waters fleet

Thus I set my printless feet

915

O’er the cowslip’s velvet head,

That bends not as I tread.

Gentle swain, at thy request

I am here!

Spir. Goddess dear,

920

We implore thy powerful hand

To undo the charmed band

Of true virgin here distressed

Through the force and through the wile

Of unblessed enchanter vile.

925

Sabr. Shepherd, ’t is my office best

To help insnarèd Chastity,

Brightest Lady, look on me.

Thus I sprinkle on thy breast

Drops that from my fountain pure

930

I have kept of pretious cure;

Thrice upon thy finger’s tip,

Thrice upon thy rubied lip:

Next this marble venomed seat,

Smeared with gums of glutinous heat,

935

I touch with chaste palms moist and cold.

Now the spell hath lost his hold;

And I must haste ere morning hour

To wait in Amphitrite’s bower.

SABRINA descends, and the LADY rises out of her seat.

Spir. Virgin, daughter of Locrine,

940

Sprung of old Anchises’ line,

May thy brimmed waves for this

Their full tribute never miss

From a thousand petty rills,

That tumble down the snowy hills:

945

Summer drouth or singed air

Never scorch thy tresses fair,

Nor wet October’s torrent flood

Thy molten crystal fill with mud;

May thy billows roll ashore

950

The beryl and the golden ore;

May thy lofty head be crowned

With many a tower and terrace round,

And here and there thy banks upon

With groves of myrrh and cinnamon.

955

Come, Lady; while Heaven lends us grace,

Let us fly this cursed place,

Lest the Sorcerer us entice

With some other new device.

Not a waste or needless sound

960

Till we come to holier ground.

I shall be your faithful guide

Through this gloomy covert wide;

And not many furlongs thence

Is your Father’s residence,

965

Where this night are met in state

Many a friend to gratulate

His wished presence, and beside

All the Swains that there abide

With jigs and rural dance resort.

970

We shall catch them at their sport,

And our sudden coming there

Will double all their mirth and cheer.

Come, let us haste; the stars grow high,

But Night sits monarch yet in the mid sky.

975

The Scene changes, presenting Ludlow Town, and the President’s Castle: then come in Country Dancers; after them the ATTENDANT SPIRIT, with the two BROTHERS and the LADY.

Till next sun-shine holiday.

Here be, without duck or nod,

Other trippings to be trod

Of lighter toes, and such court guise

980

As Mercury did first devise

With the mincing Dryades

On the lawns and on the leas.

This second Song presents them to their Father and Mother.

Noble Lord and Lady bright,

I have brought ye new delight.

985