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My best guide now; methought it was the sound
Of riot and ill manag'd merriment,

Such as the jocund flute, or gamesome pipe
Stirs up among the loose unletter'd hinds,
When for their teeming flocks, and granges full,
In wanton dance they praise the bounteous Pan,
And thank the Gods amiss. I should be loath
To meet the rudeness, and swill'd insolence
Of such late wassailers; yet O where else
Shall I inform my unacquainted feet

7

173.-gamesome pipe] "Game

66 some mood." Par. L. vi. 620. Drayton has the word, Ecl. ii. and Ecl. vii. T. Warton.

175.granges full.] The Manuscript had at first garners, which was altered with judg. ment. Two rural scenes of festivity are alluded to, the spring [teeming flocks], and the autumn [granges full, sheep-shearing and harvest-home. But the time when the garners are full is in winter, when the corn is thrashed. Warburton.

179. Of such late wassailers;] An ingenious author, who should best know the force of English words, as he is employed in drawing up an English dictionary, gives this account of the origin of the word wassailer. Hail or heil for health was in such continual use among the good-fellows of ancient times, that a drinker was called a was-heiler or a wisher of health, and the liquor was termed was-heil, because health was so often wished over it. Thus in the lines of Hanvil the monk,

175

180

Jamque vagante scypho, discincto
gutture was-heil,

Ingeminant was-heil: labor est plus
perdere vini
Quam sitis.

These words were afterwards cor

rupted into wassail and wassailer.
See Miscellaneous Observations
on Macbeth, p. 41. So Shake-
speare in Hamlet, act i. sc. 7.

The king doth wake to night, and
takes his rouse,
Keeps wassail, &c.

179. In some parts of England, especially in the west, it is still customary for a company of mummers, in the evenings of the Christmas-holidays, to go about carousing from house to house, who are called the wassailers. Compare Fletcher's Faithf. Shep. act v. s. 1. Selden mentions the "yearly was-haile in the country,

66

on the vigil of the new year.' Notes on Polyolb. s. ix. vol. iii. p. 838. Compare Love's Lab. Lost, act v. s. ii. and Jonson, Masques, vol. vi. 3. T. Warton.

180. Shall I inform my unacquainted feet, &c.] The expres

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,
Stepp'd, 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 gray-hooded Even,

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181. In the blind mazes of this tangled wood?] In the Manuscript it was at first

In the blind alleys of this arched wood.

184. Under the spreading favour of these pines.] This is like Virgil's "Hospitiis teneat frondentibus "arbos." Georg. iv. 24. An

inversion of the same sort occurs in Cicero, in a Latin version from Sophocles's Trachinia, of the shirt of Nessus. Tusc. Disp. ii. 8.

Ipse inligatus peste interimor textili, T. Warton. 185. To bring me berries, or

such cooling fruit As the kind hospitable woods provide.]

So Fletcher, Faith. Shep. act i. s. 1. vol. iii. p. 105. Where, says the virgin-shepherdess Clorin,

185

My meat shall be what these wild woods afford,

Berries, and chesnuts, plantanes on whose cheeks

The sun sits smiling, and the lofty fruit

Pull'd from the fair head of the straight-grown-pine.

By laying the scene of his Mask in a wild forest, Milton secured to himself a perpetual fund of picturesque description, which, resulting from situation, was always at hand. He was not obliged to go out of his way for this striking embellishment: it was suggested of necessity by happy choice of scene supplied present circumstances. The same Sophocles in Philoctetes, Shakespeare in As you like it, and Fletcher in the Faithful Shepherdess, with frequent and even unavoidable opportunities of rural delineation, and that of the most romantic kind. But Milton has additional advantages: his forest is not only the residence of a magician, but is exhibited under the gloom of midnight. Fletcher, however, to whom Milton is confessedly indebted, avails himself of the latter circumstance. T. Warton.

Like a sad votarist in palmer's weed,

Rose from the hindmost wheels of Phoebus' wain. 190
But where they are, and why they came not back,
Is now the labour of my thoughts; 'tis likeliest
They had engag'd their wand'ring steps too far,
And envious darkness, ere they could return,
Had stole them from me; else O thievish Night
Why should'st thou, but for some felonious end,

189. Like a sad votarist in palmer's weed,] A palmer is a pilgrim, bearing branches of palm from the Holy Land, whither he made a vow to go, and is therefore called votarist in palmer's weed; and so Spenser, Faery Queen, b. ii. cant. i. st.

52.

-I wrap myself in palmer's weed. In Milton's Manuscript it is weeds. Paradise Regained, iv. 426.

-till morning fair

Came forth with pilgrim steps in amice gray.

190. of Phoebus' wain.] In the Manuscript it was at first

-of Phoebus' chair, 192.-likeliest] Milton is fond of this superlative. See Par. L. vi. 688. ix. 414. ii. 525. iii. 659. Likest also occurs frequently. See below, v. 237. and Par. L. ii. 756. iii. 572. vi. 301. ix. 394. T. Warton.

193. They had engag'd &c.] These two lines ran thus at first in the Manuscript,

They had engag'd their youthly steps

too far

To the soon-parting light; and en. vious darkness, &c.

195

195. Had stole them from me ;] In the Manuscript, and in the first edition of 1637, it is stolne.

195. else O thievish Night &c.] This is extremely low in the midst of a speech of so much gravity and dignity. But the candid reader will impute it, no doubt, to our poet's condescension to that prevailing fondness for this kind of false wit about the time in which he wrote. Thyer.

I suppose Dr. Dalton was of the same opinion, for he has omitted these lines in Comus, as he adapted it for the stage.

195. Ph. Fletcher's Pisc. Ecl. p. 34. ed. 1633.

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In thy dark lanthorn thus close up the stars,

That nature hung in heav'n, and fill'd their lamps
With everlasting oil, to give due light

To the misled and lonely traveller?

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

200

Whence even now the tumult of loud mirth
Was rife, and perfect in my list'ning ear,
Yet nought but single darkness do I find.
What might this be? A thousand fantasies
Begin to throng into my memory,
Of calling shapes, and beck'ning shadows dire,
And airy tongues, that syllable men's names

199.

to give due light] He had first written in the Manuscript their light.

203. -rife,] See the note, Par. L. i. 650. E. 205. A thousand fantasies Begin to throng into my memory,

&c.]

Milton perhaps here remembered
Shakespeare, K. John, act v. s. 7.

With many legions of strange fan-
tasies,

Which in their throng and press to
that last hold
Confound themselves.

T. Warton.

207. Of calling shapes, &c.] This is perfectly agreeable to the superstitious notions of that age, and to the manner of his master Shakespeare: and so Fletcher in the Faithful Shepherdess, act i. speaks

205

He

207. These superstitions, which are here finely applied, may be found in the ancient Voyages of Marco Paolo the Venetian. is speaking of the vast and perilous desert of Lop in Asia. De Regionib. Oriental. lib. i. c. xliv. These fancies, from Marco Paolo, are adopted in Heylin's Cosmographie. See lib. iii. p. 201. ed. 1652. fol. And froin Heylin Milton seems to have gleaned his intelligence in Par. L. iii. 437, (where see the note.) Sylvester also has the tradition in the text, in Du Bartas, ed. fol. p. 274.

And round about the desart Lop,
where oft

By strange phantasmas passengers
are scoft.
T. Warton.

208.-that syllable men's names] The Manuscript had first that

of voices calling in the dead of night: lure night-wanderers; the other is

and Virgil, Æn. iv. 460.

Hinc exaudiri voces et verba vocantis

the marginal reading.

208. Syllable, pronounce dis

Visa viri, nox cum terras obscura tinctly. As in Ph. Fletcher's

teneret.

Poet. Miscel. "Yet syllabled in

210

On sands, and shores, and desert wildernesses.
These thoughts may startle well, but not astound
The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended
By a strong siding champion, Conscience.--
O welcome pure-ey'd Faith, white-handed Hope,
Thou hovering Angel girt with golden wings,
And thou unblemish'd form of Chastity;
I see ye visibly, and now believe

That he, the Supreine Good, t' whom all things ill
Are but as slavish officers of vengeance;
Would send a glist'ring guardian if need were
To keep my life and honour unassail'd.
Was I deceiv'd, or did a sable cloud

"flesh-spell'd characters." T.
Warton.

214. Thou hovering angel &c.] In the edition of 1637 it was flittering and so was it at first in the Manuscript too, where the following lines were thus writ ten at first, and afterwards corrected.

And thou unspotted form of chastity;
I see ye visibly, and while I see ye
This dusky hollow is a Paradise,
And heav'n gates o'er my head: now
I believe &c.

214. Thus in Shakespeare's Lover's Complaint, Malone's Suppl. i. p. 759.

Which like a cherubim above them kove 'd.

But hovering is here applied with peculiar propriety to the angel Hope. In sight, on the wing; and if not approaching, yet not flying away. Still appearing. Contemplation soars on golden wing, Il Pens. v. 52. Mr. Bowle directs us to Ariosto, Orl. Fur. c. xiv. 80.

-Mosse

215

220

Con maggior fretta le dorate penne. And we have "that golden-winged "host," in the Ode on the Death of an Infunt, st. ix. T. Warton.

215. And thou unblemish'd form of Chastity, &c.] In the same strain, Fletcher's Shepherdess in the soliloquy just cited, ibid. p. 109.

-Then, strongest Chastity,
Be thou my strongest guard, for here
I'll dwell,

In opposition against fate and hell.
T. Warton.

215. —unblemish'd form of Chastity.] May, of Rosamond in her virgin state, Henr. Sec. lib. v. edit. Lond. 1633. 12mo.

When that unblemish'd forme, so
much admir'd, &c.
T. Warton.

219. Would send a glist'ring guardian] In the Manuscript it was at first cherub.

221. Was I deceiv'd, or did a sable cloud &c.] This presents us

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