rance, to all that know you, of a future excellence. Live, fweet 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 mo honor'd parents; and as in this representation your at tendant Thyrfis, fo now in all real expreffion
The firft Scene difcovers a wild Wood.
The attendant Spirit defcends or enters.
EFORE the ftarry threshold of Jove's court
My manfion is, where thofe immortal shapes
Of bright aereal Spirits live infpher'd
In regions mild of calm and ferene air,
Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot,
Which men call Earth, and with low-thoughted care
Confin'd, and pester'd in this pin-fold here,
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 afpire
To lay their juft hands on that golden key,
That opes the palace of eternity:
To fuch my errand is; and but for such,
I would not foil thefe pure ambrofial weeds
With the rank vapors of this fin-worn mold.
But to my task. Neptune, befides the fway
Of every falt flood, and each ebbing stream,
Took in by lot 'twixt high and nether Jove
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 courfe commits to several government,
And gives them leave to wear their fapphire crowns, And wield their little tridents: but this Ile,
The greatest and the best of all the main,
quarters to his blue-hair'd deities;
And all this tract that fronts the falling fun
A noble Peer of mickle trust and power
Has in his charge, with temper'd awe to guide
An old, and haughty nation proud in arms:
Where his fair offspring nurs'd in princely lore
Are coming to attend their father's ftate,
And new-intrusted scepter; but their way
Lies through the perplex'd paths of this drear wood,
The nodding horror of whofe fhady brows
Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger;
And here their tender age might fuffer peril,
But that by quick command from sovran 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 first from out the purple grape
Crush'd the sweet poifon of mif-ufed wine,
After the Tuscan mariners transform'd,
Coasting the Tyrrhene fhore, as the winds lifted,
On Circe's iland fell: (Who knows not Circe
The daughter of the fun? whofe charm'd cup
Whoever tafted, loft his upright shape,
And downward fell into a groveling swine)
This Nymph that gaz'd upon his clustering locks,
With ivy berries wreath'd, and his blithe youth,
Had by him, ere he parted thence, a fon
Much like his father, but his mother more,
Whom therefore the brought up, and Comus namn'd, Who, ripe, and frolic of his full grown age,
Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields,
At laft betakes him to this ominous wood,
And in thick fhelter of black fhades imbower'd
Excels his mother at her mighty art,
Offering to every weary traveller
His orient liquor in a crystal glass,
To quench the drouth of Phoebus, which as they taste,
(For most do taste through fond intemperate thirst)
Soon as the potion works, their human count'nance,
Th' express resemblance of the Gods, is chang'd
Into fome brutish form of wolf, or bear,
Or ounce, or tiger, hog, or bearded goat,
All other parts remaining as they were;
And they, fo perfect is their mifery,
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 favor'd of high Jove
Chances to pass through this adventrous glade,
Swift as the sparkle of a glancing star
I shoot from Heav'n, to give him safe convoy,
A's 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 fwain,
That to the fervice of this houfe belongs,
Who with his foft-pipe, and fimooth dittied fong,
Well knows to fill the wild winds when they roar,
And hush the waving woods, nor of less faith,
And in this office of his mountain watch,
Likelieft, and nearest to the present aid
Of this occafion. But I hear the tread
Of hateful steps. I must be viewless now.
Comus enters with a charming-rod in one hand, his glafs in the other; with him a rout of monsters, headed like fundry forts of wild beafts, but otherwife like men and women, their apparel gliftering; they come in making a riotous and unruly noise, with torches in their hands.
COм. The ftar that bids the fhepherd fold,
Now the top of Heav'n doth hold,
And the gilded car of day
His glowing axle doth allay
In the steep Atlantic stream,
And the slope fun his upward beam
Shoots against the dusky pole,
Pacing toward the other goal
Of his chamber in the east.
Mean while welcome Joy, and Feast,
Midnight Shout, and Revelry,
Tipfy Dance, and Jollity.
Braid your locks with rofy twine, *Dropping odors, dropping wine.
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