Chapter III: Introduction (3)

86. ~smooth-dittied~: sweetly-worded. 'Ditty' (Lat. _dictatum_) strictly denotes the words of a song as distinct from the musical accompaniment; it is now applied to any little piece intended to be sung: comp. _Lyc._ 32. For a similar panegyric on Lawes' musical genius compare _Son._ xiii. The musical alliteration in lines 86-88 should be noted.

87. ~knows to still~, etc.: comp. _Lyc._ 10, "he knew Himself to sing."

88. ~nor of less faith~, etc.; _i.e._ he is not less faithful than he is skilful in music; and from the nature of his occupation he is most likely to be at hand should any emergency arise.

92. ~viewless~, invisible: comp. _The Passion_, 50, "_viewless_ wing"; _Par. Lost_, iii. 518. Masson calls this a peculiarly Shakespearian word: see _M. for M._ iii. 1. 124, "To be imprisoned in the viewless winds." The word is obsolete, but poets use great liberty in the formation of adjectives in _-less_: comp. Shelley's _Sensitive Plant_, 'windless clouds.' See note, l. 574. ~charming-rod~: see note, l. 52: also l. 653. ~rout~, a disorderly crowd. The word is also used in the sense of 'defeat,' and is cognate with _route_, _rote_, and _rut_. All come from Lat. _ruptus_, broken: a 'rout' is the breaking up of a crowd, or a crowd broken up; a 'route' is a way broken through a forest; 'rote' is a beaten track; and a 'rut' is a track left by a wheel. See _Lyc._ 61, "by the _rout_ that made the hideous roar."

93. ~star ... fold~, the evening star, Hesperus, an appellation of the planet Venus: comp. _Lyc._ 30. As the morning star (called by Shakespeare the 'unfolding star'), it is called Phosphorus or Lucifer, the light-bringer. Hence Tennyson's allusion:

"Bright Phosphor, fresher for the night,...
Sweet _Hesper-Phosphor_, double name."--

_In Memoriam_, cxxi.

Lines 93-144 are in rhymed couplets, and consist for the most part of eight syllables each. The prevailing accentuation is iambic.

94. ~top of heaven~, etc., _i.e._ is far above the horizon. So in _Lyc._ 31, it is said to slope "toward heaven's _descent_," _i.e._ to sink towards the horizon. Comp. Virgil, _Aen._ ii. 250, "Round rolls the sky, and on comes Night from the ocean."

95. ~gilded car~: Apollo, as the god of the Sun, rode in a golden chariot. Comp. Chaucer, _Test. of Creseide_, 208, "Phoebus' golden cart"; and "Phoebus' wain," line 190.

96. ~his glowing axle doth allay~. In the _Hymn of the Nativity_ Milton alludes to the "burning axle-tree" of the sun: comp. _Aen._ iv. 482, "Atlas _Axem_ umero torquet." There is here an allusion to the opinion of the ancients that the setting of the sun in the Atlantic Ocean was accompanied with a noise, as of the sea hissing (Todd). 'Allay' would thus denote 'quench' or 'cool.' _His_, in this line, = _its_. _Its_ occurs only three times in Milton's poems, _Od. Nat._ 106; _Par. Lost_, i. 254; _Par. Lost_, iv. 813: the word is found also in Lawes' dedication of _Comus_. The word does not occur in English at all until the end of the sixteenth century, the possessive case of the neuter pronoun _it_ and of the masculine _he_ being _his_. This gave rise to confusion when the old gender system decayed, and the form _its_ gradually came into use, until, by the end of the seventeenth century, it was in general use. Milton, however, scarcely recognised it, its place in his involved syntax being taken by the relative pronouns and other connectives, or by _his_, _her_, _thereof_, etc.

97. ~steep Atlantic stream~. To the ancients the Ocean was the great _stream_ that encompassed the earth: _Iliad_, xiv., "the deep-flowing Okeanos (+bathyrroos+)." With this use of 'steep' compare the phrase 'the high seas.'

98. ~slope sun~, sun sunk beneath the horizon, so that the only rays visible shoot up into the sky. _Slope_ = sloped; also used by Milton as an adverb = aslope (_Par. Lost_, iv. 591), and as a verb (_Lyc._ 31).

99. ~dusky~. Milton first wrote 'northern.'

100. ~Pacing toward the other goal~, etc. Comp. _Psalm_ xix. 5: "The sun as a bridegroom cometh out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race."

102. The spirit of lines 102-144 may be contrasted with that of _L'Allegro_, 25-40. Both pieces are calls upon Mirth and Pleasure, and both are therefore suitably expressed in the same tripping measure and with many similarities of language. But the pleasures of _L'Allegro_ begin with the sun-rise and yet are "unreproved"; those of _Comus_ and his crew begin with the darkness and are "unreproved" only if "these dun shades will ne'er report" them. The "light fantastic toe" of the one is not the "tipsy dance" of the other; and the laughter and liberty that betoken the absence of "wrinkled Care" have nothing in common with the "midnight shout and revelry" that can be enjoyed only when Rigour, Advice, strict Age, and sour Severity have "gone to bed." The "quips and cranks" of _L'Allegro_ have given way to the magic rites of _Comus_, and the wreathed smiles and dimples that adorn the face of innocent Mirth are ill replaced by the wine-dropping "rosy twine" of revelry.

104. ~jollity~: has here its modern sense of boisterous mirth. In Milton occasionally the adjective 'jolly' (Fr. _joli_, pretty) has its primary sense of pleasing or festive.

105. ~Braid your locks with rosy twine~; 'entwine your hair with wreaths of roses.'

106. ~dropping odours~: comp. l. 862-3.

108. ~Advice ... scrupulous head~. 'Advice,' now used chiefly to signify counsel given by another, was formerly used also of self-counsel or deliberation. See Chaucer, _Prologue_, 786, "granted him without more _advice_"; and comp. Shakespeare, _M. of V._ iv. 2. 6, "Bassanio upon more _advice_, Hath sent you here this ring"; also _Par. Lost_, ii. 376, "_Advise_, if this be worth Attempting," where 'advise' = consider. See also l. 755, note. _Scrupulous_ = full of scruples, conscientious.

110. ~saws~, sayings, maxims. _Saw_, _say_, and _saga_ (a Norwegian legend) are cognate.

111. ~of purer fire~, _i.e._ having a higher or diviner nature. (Or, as there is really no question of degree, we may render the phrase as = divine.) Compare the Platonic doctrine that each element had living creatures belonging to it, those of fire being the gods; similarly the Stoics held that whatever consisted of _pure fire_ was divine, _e.g._ the stars: hence the additional significance of line 112.

112. ~the starry quire~: an allusion to the music of the spheres; see lines 3, 1021. Pythagoras supposed that the planets emitted sounds proportional to their distances from the earth and formed a celestial concert too melodious to affect the "gross unpurgèd ear" of mankind: comp. l. 458 and _Arc._ 63-73. Shakespeare (_M. of V._ v. 1. 61) alludes to the music of the spheres:

"There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins," etc.

_Quire_ is a form of _choir_ (Lat. _chorus_, a band of singers); in Greek tragedy the chorus was supposed to represent the sentiments of the audience. _Quire_ (of paper) is a totally different word, probably derived from Lat. _quatuor_, four.

113. ~nightly watchful spheres~. Milton elsewhere alludes to the stars keeping watch: "And all the spangled host keep watch in order bright," _Hymn Nat._ 21. 'Nightly,' used as an adjective in the sense of 'nocturnal': comp. _Il Pens._ 84, "To bless the doors from _nightly_ harm"; _Arc._ 48, "_nightly_ ill"; and Wordsworth's line: "The _nightly_ hunter lifting up his eyes." Its ordinary sense is "night by night."

114. ~Lead in swift round~. Comp. _Arc._ 71: "And the low world in measured motion draw, After the heavenly tune."

115. ~sounds~, straits: A.S. _sund_, a strait of the sea, so called because it could be _swum_ across. See Skeat, _Etym. Dict._ _s.v._

116. ~to the moon~, _i.e._ as affected by the moon. For similar uses of 'to,' comp. _Lyc._ 33, "tempered _to_ the oaten flute"; _Lyc._ 44, "fanning their joyous leaves _to_ thy soft lays." ~morrice~. The waters quiver in the moonlight as if dancing. The morrice = a morris or Moorish dance, brought into Spain by the Moors, and thence introduced into England by John of Gaunt. We read also of a "morris-pike"--a weapon used by the Moors in Spain.

117. ~shelves~, flat ledges of rock.

118. ~pert~, lively. Here used in its radical sense (being a form of _perk_, smart): its modern sense is 'forward' or 'impertinent.' Skeat points out that _perk_ and _pert_ were both used as verbs; _e.g._ "_perked_ up in a glistering grief," _Henry VIII._ ii. 3. 21: "how it (a child) speaks, and looks, and _perts_ up the head," Beaumont and Fletcher's _Knight of the Burning Pestle_, i. 1. A similar change of _k_ into _t_ is seen in E. _mate_ from M.E. _make_. ~dapper~, quick (Du. _dapper_, Ger. _tapfer_, brave, quick). It is usual in the sense of 'neat.'

119. ~dimple~. _Dimple_ is a diminutive of _dip_, and cognate with _dingle_ and _dapple_.

120. ~daisies trim~: comp. _L'Alleg._ 75, "Meadows _trim_, with daisies pied"; _Il Pens._ 50, "_trim_ gardens."

121. ~wakes~, night-watches (A.S. _niht-wacu_, a night wake). The adjective _wakeful_ (A.S. _wacol_) is the exact cognate of the Latin _vigil_. The word was applied to the vigil kept at the dedication of a church, then to the feast connected therewith, and finally to an evening merry-making. ~prove~, test, judge of (Lat. _probare_). This is its sense in older writers and in the much-misunderstood phrase--"the exception _proves_ the rule," which means that the exception is a test of the rule.

124. ~Venus now wakes~, etc. Spenser, _Brit. Ida_, ii. 3, has "Night is Love's holyday." In this line ~wakens~ is used transitively, its object being 'Love.'

125. ~rights~. Here used, as sometimes by Spenser, where modern usage requires _rites_ (Lat. _ritus_, a custom): see l. 535.

126. ~daylight ... sin~. Daylight makes sin by revealing it. Contrast the sentiment of Comus with that of Milton in _Par. Lost_, i. 500, "When night Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons Of Belial."

127. ~dun shades~: evidently suggested by Fairfax's _Tasso_, ix. 62, "The horrid darkness, and the shadows _dun_." 'Dun' is A.S. _dunn_, dark.

129. ~Cotytto~, the goddess of Licentiousness: here called 'dark-veiled' because her midnight orgies were veiled in darkness. She was a Thracian divinity, and her worshippers were called Baptae ('sprinkled'), because the ceremony of initiation involved the sprinkling of warm water.

131. ~called~, invoked. ~dragon-womb Of Stygian darkness~. The Styx (= 'the abhorred') was the chief river in the lower world. Milton here speaks of darkness as something positive, ejected from the womb of Night, Night being represented as a monster of the lower regions: comp. _Par. Lost_, i. 63. The pronoun 'her' shows that 'womb' is here used in its strict sense, but in _Par. Lost_, i. 673, "in his _womb_ was hid metallic ore," it has the more general sense of "interior": comp. the use of Lat. _uterus_, _Aen._ ii. 258, vii. 499. ~dragon~: Shakespeare refers to the dragons or 'dragon car' of night, _Cym._ ii. 2. 48, "Swift, swift, you _dragons_ of the night"; _Tro. and Cress._ v. 8. 17, "The _dragon_ wing of night o'erspreads the earth"; see also _Il Pens._ 59, "Cynthia checks her dragon yoke."

132. ~spets~, a form of _spits_ (as _spettle_ for _spittle_).

133. ~one blot~, _i.e._ a universal blot: comp. _Macbeth_, ii. 2. 63. Milton first wrote, "And makes a blot of nature."

134. ~Stay~, here used causally = check. The radical sense of the word is 'to support,' as in the substantive _stay_ and its plural _stays_. ~ebon~, black as ebony. Ebony is so called because it is hard as a stone (Heb. _eben_, a stone); and the wood being of a dark colour, the name has become a synonym both for hardness and for blackness.

135. ~Hecat'~, _i.e._ Hecatè (as in line 535): a mysterious Thracian divinity, afterwards regarded as the goddess of witchcraft: for these reasons a fit companion for Cotytto and a fit patroness of Comus. Jonson calls her "the mistress of witches." She was supposed to send forth at night all kinds of demons and phantoms, and to wander about with the souls of the dead and amidst the howling of dogs.

136. ~utmost end~, full completion. Compare _L'Alleg._ 109, "the corn That ten day-labourers could not _end_," where 'end' = 'complete.'

137. ~dues~: see note, l. 12.

138. ~blabbing eastern scout~, _i.e._ the tale-telling spy that comes from the East, viz. Morning.

139. ~nice~; hard to please, fastidious: "a finely chosen epithet, expressing at once _curious_ and _squeamish_" (Hurd). It is used by Comus in contempt: comp. ii. _Henry IV._ iv. 1, "Hence, therefore, thou _nice_ crutch"; and see the index to the Globe _Shakespeare_. ~the Indian steep~. In his _Elegia Tertia_ Milton represents the sun as the "light-bringing king" whose home is on the shores of the Ganges (_i.e._ in the far East): comp. "the Indian mount," _Par. Lost_, i. 781, and Tennyson's _In Memoriam_, xxvi., "ere yet the morn Breaks hither over _Indian_ seas."

140. ~cabined loop-hole~: an allusion to the first glimpse of dawn, _i.e._ the peep of day. Comp. "Out of her window close she blushing peeps," said of the morning (P. Fletcher's _Eclogues_), as if the first rays of the sun struggled through some small aperture. 'Cabined,' literally 'belonging to a cabin,' and therefore small.

141. ~tell-tale Sun~. Compare Spenser, _Brit. Ida_, ii. 3,

"The thick-locked boughs shut out the _tell-tale_ sun,
For Venus hated his _all-blabbing_ light."

Shakespeare refers to "the tell-tale day" (_R. of L._ 806). In _Odyssey_, viii., we read how Helios (the sun) kept watch and informed Vulcan of Venus's love for Mars. ~descry~, etc., _i.e._ make known our hidden rites. 'Descry' is here used in its primary sense = _describe_: both words are from Lat. _describere_, to write fully. In Milton and Shakespeare 'descry' also occurs in the sense of 'to reconnoitre.'

142. ~solemnity~, ceremony, rite. The word is from Lat. _sollus_, complete, and _annus_, a year; 'solemn' = _solennis_ = _sollennis_. Hence the changes of meaning: (1) recurring at the end of a completed year; (2) usual; (3) religious, for sacred festivals recur at stated intervals; (4) that which is not to be lightly undertaken, _i.e._ serious or important.

143. ~knit hands~, etc. Comp. _Masque of Hymen_:

"Now, now begin to set
Your spirits in active heat;
And, since your hands are met,
Instruct your nimble feet,
In motions swift and meet,
The happy ground to beat."

144. ~light fantastic round~: comp. _L'Alleg._ 34, "Come, and trip it, as you go, On the light fantastic toe." A round is a dance or 'measure' in which the dancers join hands, 'Fantastic' = full of fancy, unrestrained. So Shakespeare uses it of that which has merely been imagined, and has not yet happened. It is now used in the sense of grotesque. _Fancy_ is a form of _fantasy_ (Greek _phantasia_).

At this point in the mask Comus and his rout dance a measure, after which he again speaks, but in a different strain. The change is marked by a return to blank verse: the previous lines are mostly in octosyllabic couplets.

145. ~different~, _i.e._ different from the voluptuous footing of Comus and his crew.

146. ~footing~: comp. _Lyc._ 103, "Camus, reverend sire, went _footing_ slow."

147. ~shrouds~, coverts, places of hiding. The word etymologically denotes 'something cut off,' being allied to 'shred'; hence a garment; and finally (as in Milton) any covering or means of covering. Many of Latimer's sermons are described as having been "preached in The Shrouds," a covered place near St. Paul's Cathedral. The modern use of the word is restricted: comp. l. 316. ~brakes~, bushes. Shakespeare has "hawthorn-_brake_," _M. N. D._ iii. l. 3, and the word seems to be connected with _bracken_.

148. ~Some virgin sure~, _sc._ 'it is.'

150. ~charms ... wily trains~; _i.e._ spells ... cunning allurements. _Charm_ is the Lat. _carmen_, a song, also used in the sense of 'magic verses'; wily = full of _wile_ (etymologically the same as guile). _Train_ here denotes an artifice or snare as in 'venereal trains' (_Sams. Agon._ 533): "Oh, _train_ me not, sweet mermaid, with thy note" (_Com. of Errors_, iii. 2. 45). See Index, Globe _Shakespeare_. Some would take 'wily trains' as = trains of wiles.

151. ~ere long~: _ere_ has here the force of a preposition; in A.S. it was an adverb as well = soon, but now it is used only as a conjunction or a preposition.

153. ~Thus I hurl~, etc. "Conceive that at this moment of the performance the actor who personates Comus flings into the air, or makes a gesture as if flinging into the air, some powder, which, by a stage-device, is kindled so as to produce a flash of blue light. In the original draft among the Cambridge MSS. the phrase is _powdered spells_; but Milton, by a judicious change, concealing the mechanism of the stage-trick, substituted _dazzling_" (Masson).

154. ~dazzling~. This implies both brightness and illusion. ~spells~. A _spell_ is properly a magical form of words (A.S. _spel_, a saying): here it refers to the whole enchantment employed. ~spongy air~: so called because it holds in suspension the magic powder.

155. ~Of power to cheat ... and (to) give~, etc. These lines are attributive to 'spells.' The preposition 'of' is thus used to denote a characteristic; thus 'of power' = powerful; comp. l. 677. ~blear illusion~; deception, that which deceives by _blurring_ the vision. Shakespeare has 'bleared thine eye' = dimmed thy vision, deceived (_Tam. Shrew_, v. 1. 120). Comp. "This may stand for a pretty superficial argument, to _blear_ our eyes, and lull us asleep in security" (Sir W. Raleigh). _Blur_ is another form of _blear_.

156. ~presentments~, appearances. This word is to be distinguished from _presentiment_. A presentiment is a "fore-feeling" (Lat. _praesentire_): while a presentment is something presented (Lat. _praesens_, being before). Shakespeare, _Ham._ iii. 4. 54, has 'presentment' in the sense of picture. ~quaint habits~, unfamiliar dress. Quaint is from Lat. _cognitus_, so that its primary sense is 'known' or 'remarkable.' In French it became _coint_, which was treated as if from Lat. _comptus_, neat; hence the word is frequent in the sense of neat, exact, or delicate. Its modern sense is 'unusual' or 'odd.'

158. ~suspicious flight~: flight due to suspicion of danger.

160. ~I, under fair pretence~, etc.: 'Under the mask of friendly intentions and with the plausible language of wheedling courtesy, I insinuate myself into the unsuspecting mind and ensnare it.'

161. ~glozing~, flattering, wheedling. Compare _Par. Lost_, ix. 549,

"So _glozed_ the temper, and his proem tuned:
Into the heart of Eve his words made way."

_Gloze_ is from the old word _glose_, a gloss or explanation (Gr. _glossa_, the tongue): hence also glossary, glossology, etc. Trench, in his lecture on the Morality of Words, points out how often fair names are given to ugly things: it is in this way that a word which merely denoted an explanation has come to denote a false explanation, an endeavour to deceive. The word has no connection with _gloss_ = brightness.

162. ~Baited~, rendered attractive. Radically _bait_ is the causative of _bite_; hence a trap is said to be baited. Comp. _Sams. Ag._ 1066, "The _bait_ of honied words."

163. ~wind me~, etc. The verbs _wind_ (_i.e._ coil) and _hug_ suggest the cunning of the serpent. The easy-hearted man is the person whose heart or mind is easily overcome: 'man' is here used generically. Burton, in _Anat. of Mel._, says: "The devil, being a slender incomprehensible spirit, can easily insinuate and _wind_ himself into human bodies." _Me_ is here used reflexively: see note, l. 61. This is not the ethic dative.

165. ~virtue~, _i.e._ power or influence (Lat. _virtus_). This radical sense is still found in the phrase 'by virtue of' = by the power of. The adjective _virtuous_ is now used only of moral excellence: in line 621 it has its older meaning.

166. The reading of the text is that of the editions of 1637 and 1645. In the edition of 1673 the reading was:

"I shall appear some harmless villager,
And hearken, if I may, her business here.
But here she comes, I fairly step aside."

But in the errata there was a direction to omit the comma after _may_, and to change _here_ into _hear_. In Masson's text, accordingly, he reads: "And hearken, if I may her business hear."

167. ~keeps up~, etc., _i.e._ keeps occupied with his country affairs even up to a late hour. _Gear_: its original sense is 'preparation' (A.S. _gearu_, ready); hence 'business' or 'property.' Comp. Spenser, _F. Q._ vi. 3. 6, "That to Sir Calidore was _easy gear_," _i.e._ an easy matter, fairly, softly. _Fair_ and _softly_ were two words which went together, signifying _gently_ (Warton).

170. ~mine ear ... My best guide~. Observe the juxtaposition of _mine_ and _my_ in these lines. _Mine_ is frequent before a vowel, especially when the possessive adjective is not emphatic. In Shakespeare 'mine' is almost always found before "eye," "ear," etc., where no emphasis is intended (Abbott, § 237).

171. ~Methought~, _i.e._ it seemed to me. In the verb 'methinks' _me_ is the dative, and _thinks_ is an impersonal verb (A.S. _thincan_, to appear), quite distinct from the causal verb 'I think,' which is from A.S. _thencan_, to make to appear.

173. ~jocund~, merry. Comp. _L'Allegro_, 94, "the _jocund_ rebecks sound." ~gamesome~, lively. This word, like many other adjectives in _-some_, is now less common than it was in Elizabethan English: many such adjectives are obsolete, _e.g._ laboursome, joysome, quietsome, etc. (see Trench's _English, Past and Present_, v.).

174. ~unlettered hinds~, ignorant rustics (A.S. _hina_, a domestic).

175. ~granges~, granaries, barns (Lat. _granum_, grain). The word is now applied to a farm-house with its outhouses.

176. ~Pan~, the god of everything connected with pastoral life: see _Arc._ 106, "Though Syrinx your Pan's mistress were."

177. ~thank the gods amiss~. _Amiss_ stands for M.E. _on misse_ = in error. "Perhaps there is a touch of Puritan rigour in this. The gods should be thanked in solemn acts of devotion, and not by merry-making" (Keightley). See Introduction.

178. ~swilled insolence~, etc., _i.e._ the drunken rudeness of those carousing at this late hour. _Swill_: to swill is to drink greedily, hence to drink like a pig. ~wassailers~; from 'wassail' [A.S. _waes hael_; from _wes_, be thou, and _hál_, whole (modern English _hale_)], a form of salutation, used in drinking one's health; and hence employed in the sense of 'revelling' or 'carousing.' The 'wassail-bowl' here referred to is the "spicy nutbrown ale" of _L'Allegro_, 100. In Scott's _Ivanhoe_, the Friar drinks to the Black Knight with the words, "_Waes hale_, Sir Sluggish Knight," the Knight replying "Drink _hale_, Holy Clerk."

180. ~inform ... feet~. Comp. _Sams. Agon._ 335: "hither hath _informed_ your younger _feet_." This use of 'inform' (= direct) is well illustrated in Spenser's _F. Q._ vi. 6: "Which with sage counsel, when they went astray, He could _enforme_, and then reduce aright."

184. ~spreading favour~. Epithet transferred from cause to effect.

187. ~kind hospitable woods~: an instance of the pathetic fallacy which attributes to inanimate objects the feelings of men: comp. ll. 194, 195. _As_ in this line (after _such_) has the force of a relative pronoun.

188. ~grey-hooded Even~. Comp. "sandals grey," _Lyc._ 187; "civil-suited," _Il Pens._ 122; both applied to morning.

189. ~a sad votarist~, etc. A votarist is one who is bound by a vow (Lat. _votum_): the current form is _votary_, applied in a general sense to one _devoted_ to an object, _e.g._ a votary of science. In the present case, the votarist is a _palmer_, _i.e._ a pilgrim who carried a palm-branch in token of his having been to Palestine. Such would naturally wear sober-coloured or homely garments: comp. Drayton, "a palmer poor in homely russet clad." In _Par. Reg._ xiv. 426, Morning is a pilgrim clad in "amice grey." On ~weed~, see note, l. 16.

190. ~hindmost wheels~: comp. l. 95: "If this fine image is optically realised, what we see is Evening succeeding Day as the figure of a venerable grey-hooded mendicant might slowly follow the wheels of some rich man's chariot" (Masson).

192. ~labour ... thoughts~, the burden of my thoughts.

193. ~engaged~, committed: this use of the word may be compared with that in _Hamlet_, iii. 3. 69, "Art more _engaged_" (= bound or entangled). To _engage_ is to bind by a _gage_ or pledge.

195. ~stole~, stolen. This use of the past form for the participle is frequent in Elizabethan English. ~Else~, etc. The meaning is: 'The envious darkness must have stolen my brothers, _otherwise_ why should night hide the light of the stars?' The clause 'but for some felonious end' is therefore to some extent tautological.

197. ~dark lantern~. The stars by a far-fetched metaphor are said to be concealed, though not extinguished, just as the light of a dark lantern is shut off by a slide. Comp. More; "Vice is like a _dark lanthorn_, which turns its bright side only to him that bears it."

198. ~everlasting oil~. Comp. _F. Q._ i. 1. 57:

"By this the eternal lamps, wherewith high Jove
Doth light the lower world, were half yspent:"

also _Macbeth_, ii. 1. 5, "There's husbandry in heaven; Their candles are all out." There is here an irregularity of syntax. "That Nature hung in heaven" is a relative clause co-ordinate _in sense_ with the next clause; but by a change of thought the phrase "and filled their lamps" is treated as a principal clause, and a new object is introduced: comp. l. 6.

203. ~rife~, prevalent. ~perfect~, distinct; see note, l. 73.

204. ~single darkness~, darkness only. _Single_ is from the same base as _simple_; comp. l. 369.

205. ~What might this be?~ This is a direct question about a past event, and has the same meaning as "what should it be?" in line 482: see note there. ~A thousand fantasies~, etc. On this, passage Lowell says: "That wonderful passage in _Comus_ of the airy tongues, perhaps the most imaginative in suggestion he ever wrote, was conjured out of a dry sentence in Purchas's abstract of Marco Polo. Such examples help us to understand the poet." Reference may also be made to the _Anat. of Mel._: "Fear makes our imagination conceive what it list, ... and tyrannizeth over our fantasy more than all other affections, especially in the dark"; also to the song prefixed to the same work, "My phantasie presents a thousand ugly shapes," etc. On the power of imagination or phantasy, Shakespeare says:

"As imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to _shapes_, and gives to _airy nothing_
A local habitation and a name."--

_M. N. D._ v. 1. 14.

Compare also Ben Jonson's _Vision of Delight_:

"Break, Phant'sie, from thy cave of cloud,
And spread thy purple wings;
Now all thy figures are allow'd,
And various shapes of things:
Create of _airy forms_ a stream ...
And though it be a waking dream," etc.

207. ~Of calling shapes~, etc. In Heywood's _Hierarchy of Angels_ there is a reference to travellers seeing strange shapes beckoning to them. Such words as 'shapes,' 'shadows,' 'airy tongues,' etc., illustrate Milton's power to create an indefinite, yet expressive picture. Comp. _Aen._ iv. 460. ~beckoning shadows dire~. A characteristic arrangement of words in Milton: comp. lines 470, 945.

208. ~syllable~, pronounce distinctly.

210. ~may startle well~, may well startle.

212. ~siding champion, Conscience~. To side is to take a side, and hence to assist: comp. _Cor._ iv. 2. 2: "The nobles who have _sided_ in his behalf." 'Conscience' (here a trisyllable) is used in its current sense: in _Son._ xxii. 10 it means consciousness. Comp. _Hen. VIII._ iii. 2. 379: "A peace above all earthly dignities, A still and quiet Conscience."

213. ~pure-eyed Faith~. Comp. _Lyc._ 81, "those pure eyes And perfect witness of all-judging Jove"; also the Scriptural words, "God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity." The maiden, whose safeguard is her purity, calls on Faith, Hope, and Chastity, each being characterised by an epithet denoting purity of thought and act, viz. 'pure-eyed,' 'white-handed,' and 'unblemished.' The placing of Chastity instead of Charity in the trio is significant: see i. _Cor._ xiii.

214. ~hovering angel~. Hope hovers over the maiden to protect her. The word 'hover' is found frequently in the sense of 'shelter.' girt, surrounded. ~golden wings~. In _Il Pens._ 52, Contemplation "soars on golden wing."

216. ~see ye visibly~, _i.e._ you are not mere shapes, but living presences. _Ye_: here the object of the verb. "This confusion between _ye_ and _you_ did not exist in old English; _ye_ was always used as a nominative, and _you_ as a dative or accusative. In the English Bible the distinction is very carefully observed, but in the dramatists of the Elizabethan period there is a very loose use of the two forms" (Morris). It is so in Milton, who has _ye_ as nominative, accusative, and dative; comp. lines 513, 967, 1020; also _Arc._ 40, 81, 101. It may be noted that _ye_ can be pronounced more rapidly than _you_, and is therefore frequent when an unaccented syllable is required.

217. ~the Supreme Good~. God being the Supreme Good, if evil exists, it must exist for God's purposes. Evil exists for the sake of 'vengeance' or punishment.

219. ~glistering guardian~, _i.e._ one clad in the 'pure ambrosial weeds' of l. 16. _Glister_, _glisten_, _glitter_, and _glint_ are cognate words.

221. ~Was I deceived~? There is a break in the construction at the end of line 220. The girl's trust in Heaven is suddenly strengthened by a glimpse of light in the dark sky. Warton regards the repetition of the same words in lines 223, 224 as beautifully expressing the confidence of an unaccusing conscience.

222. ~her~ = its. In Latin _nubes_, a cloud, is feminine.

223. ~does ... turn ... and casts~. Comp. _Il Pens._ 46, 'doth diet' and 'hears.' When two co-ordinate verbs are of the same tense and mood the auxiliary verb should apply to both. The above construction is due probably to change of thought.

225. ~tufted grove~. Comp. _L'Alleg._ 78: "bosomed high in _tufted_ trees."

226. ~hallo~. Also _hallow_ (as in Milton's editions), _halloo_, _halloa_, and _holloa_.

227. ~make to be heard~. Make = cause.

228. ~new-enlivened spirits~, _i.e._ my spirits that have been newly enlivened: for the form of the compound adjective comp. note, l. 36.

229. ~they~, _i.e._ the brothers.

230. ~Echo~. In classical mythology she was a nymph whom Juno punished by preventing her from speaking before others or from being silent after others had spoken. She fell in love with Narcissus, and pined away until nothing remained of her but her voice. Compare the invocation to Echo in Ben Jonson's _Cynthia's Revels_, i. 1.

The lady's song, which has been described as "an address to the very Genius of Sound," is here very naturally introduced. The lady wishes to rouse the echoes of the wood in order to attract her brothers' notice, and she does so by addressing Echo, who grieves for the lost youth Narcissus as the lady grieves for her lost brothers.

231. ~thy airy shell~; the atmosphere. Comp. "the hollow round of Cynthia's seat," _Hymn Nat._ 103. The marginal reading in the MS. is _cell_. Some suppose that 'shell' is here used, like Lat. _concha_, because in classical times various musical instruments were made in the form of a shell.

232. ~Meander's margent green~. Maeander, a river of Asia Minor, remarkable for the windings of its course; hence the verb 'to meander,' and hence also (in Keightley's opinion) the mention of the river as a haunt of Echo. It is more probable, however, that, as the lady addresses Echo as the "Sweet Queen of Parley" and the unhappy lover of the lost Narcissus, the river is here mentioned because of its associations with music and misfortune. The Marsyas was a tributary of the Maeander, and the legend was that the flute upon which Marsyas played in his rash contest with Apollo was carried into the Maeander and, after being thrown on land, dedicated to Apollo, the god of song. Comp. _Lyc._ 58-63, where the Muses and misfortune are similarly associated by a reference to Orpheus, whose 'gory visage' and lyre were carried "down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore." Further, the Maeander is associated with the sorrows of the maiden Byblis, who seeks her lost brother Caunus (called by Ovid _Maeandrius juvenis_). [Since the above was written, Prof. J. W. Hales has given the following explanation of Milton's allusion: "The real reason is that the Meander was a famous haunt of swans, and the swan was a favourite bird with the Greek and Latin writers--one to whose sweet singing they perpetually allude" (_Athenaeum_, April 20, 1889).] 'Margent.' _Marge_ and _margin_ are forms of the same word.

233. ~the violet-embroidered vale~. The notion that flowers _broider_ or ornament the ground is common in poetry: comp. _Par. Lost_, iv. 700: "Under foot the violet, Crocus, and hyacinth, with rich inlay _Broidered_ the ground." In _Lyc._ 148, the flowers themselves wear 'embroidery.' The nightingale is made to haunt a violet-embroidered vale because these flowers are associated with love (see Jonson's _Masque of Hymen_) and with innocence (see _Hamlet_, iv. 5. 158: "I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died"). Prof. Hales, however, thinks that some particular vale is here alluded to, and argues, with much acumen, that the poet referred to the woodlands close by Athens to the north-west, through which the Cephissus flowed, and where stood the birthplace of Sophocles, who sings of his native Colonus as frequented by nightingales. The same critic regards the epithet 'violet-embroidered' as a translation of the Greek +iostephanos+ (= crowned with violets), frequently applied by Aristophanes to Athens, of which Colonus was a suburb. Macaulay also refers to Athens as "the violet-crowned city." It is, at least, very probable that Milton might here associate the nightingale with Colonus, as he does in _Par. Reg._ iv. 245: see the following note.

234. ~love-lorn nightingale~, the nightingale whose loved ones are lost: comp. Virgil, _Georg._ iv. 511: "As the nightingale wailing in the poplar shade plains for her lost young, ... while she weeps the night through, and sitting on a bough, reproduces her piteous melody, and fills the country round with the plaints of her sorrow." _Lorn_ and _lost_ are cognate words, the former being common in the compound _forlorn_: see note, l. 39. Milton makes frequent allusion to the nightingale: in _Il Penseroso_ it is 'Philomel'; in _Par. Reg._ iv. 245, it is 'the Attic bird'; and in _Par. Lost_ viii. 518, it is 'the amorous bird of night.' He calls it the Attic bird in allusion to the story of Philomela, the daughter of Pandion, King of Athens. Near the Academy was Colonus, which Sophocles has celebrated as the haunt of nightingales (Browne). Philomela was changed, at her own prayer, into a nightingale that she might escape the vengeance of her brother-in-law Tereus. The epithet 'love-lorn,' however, seems to point to the legend of A{=e}don (Greek +aêdôn+, a nightingale), who, having killed her own son by mistake, was changed into a nightingale, whose mournful song was represented by the Greek poets as the lament of the mother for her child.

235. ~her sad song mourneth~, _i.e._ sings her plaintive melody. 'Sad song' forms a kind of cognate accusative.

237. ~likest thy Narcissus~. Narcissus, who failed to return the love of Echo, was punished by being made to fall in love with his own image reflected in a fountain: this he could never approach, and he accordingly pined away and was changed into the flower which bears his name. See the dialogue between Mercury and Echo in _Cynthia's Revels_, i. 1. Grammatically, _likest_ is an adjective qualified adverbially by "(to) thy Narcissus": comp. _Il Pens._ 9, "likest hovering dreams."

238. ~have hid~. This is not a grammatical inaccuracy (as Warton thinks), but the subjunctive mood.

240. ~Tell me but where~, _i.e._ 'Only tell me where.'

241. ~Sweet Queen of Parley~, etc. 'Parley is conversation (Fr. _parler_, to speak): _parlour_, _parole_, _palaver_, _parliament_, _parlance_. etc., are cognate. ~Daughter of the Sphere~, _i.e._ of the sphere which is her "airy shell" (l. 231): comp. "Sphere-born harmonious sisters, Voice and Verse" (_At a Solemn Music_, 2).

243. ~give resounding grace~, etc., _i.e._ add the charm of echo to the music of the spheres.

The metrical structure of this song should be noted: the lines vary in length from two to six feet. The rhymes are few, and the effect is more striking owing to the consonance of _shell_, _well_ with _vale_, _nightingale_; also of _pair_, _where_ with _are_ and _sphere_; and of _have_ with _cave_. Masson regards this song as a striking illustration of Milton's free use of imperfect rhymes, even in his most musical passages.

244. ~mortal mixture ... divine enchanting ravishment~. The words _mortal_ and _divine_ are in antithesis: comp. _Il Pens._ 91, 92, "The immortal mind that hath forsook Her mansion in this fleshly nook." The lines embody a compliment to the Lady Alice: read in this connection lines 555 and 564. 'Ravishment,' rapture (a cognate word) or ecstasy: comp. _Il Pens._ 40, "Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes"; also l. 794.

246. ~Sure~, used adverbially: comp. line 493, and 'certain,' l. 266.

247. ~vocal~, used proleptically.

248. ~his~ = its: see note, l. 96. The pronoun refers to 'something holy.'

251. ~smoothing the raven down~. As the nightingale's song smooths the rugged brow of Night (_Il Pens._ 58), so here the song of the lady smooths the raven plumage of darkness. In classical mythology Night is a winged goddess.

252. ~it~, _i.e._ darkness.

253. ~Circe ... Sirens three~. In the _Odyssey_ the Sirens are two in number and have no connection with Circe. They lived on a rocky island off the coast of Sicily and near the rock of Scylla (l. 257), and lured sailors to destruction by the charm of their song. Circe was also a sweet singer and had the power of enchanting men; hence the combined allusion: see also Horace's _Epist._ i. 2, 23, _Sirenum voces, et Circes pocula nôsti_. Besides, the Sirens were daughters of the river-god Achelous, and Circe had Naiads or fountain-nymphs among her maids.

254. ~flowery-kirtled Naiades~: fresh-water nymphs dressed in flowers, or having their skirts decorated with flowers. A _kirtle_ is a gown; Skeat suggests that it is a diminutive of _skirt_.

255. ~baleful~, injurious (A.S. _balu_, evil).

256. ~sung~. "The verbs _swim_, _begin_, _run_, _drink_, _shrink_, _sink_, _ring_, _sing_, _spring_, have for their proper past tenses _swam_, _began_, _ran_, etc., preserving the original _a_; but in older writers (sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) and in colloquial English we find forms with _u_, which have come from the passive participles." (Morris). ~take the prisoned soul~, _i.e._ would take the soul prisoner; 'prisoned' being used proleptically.

257. ~lap it in Elysium~. _Lap_ is a form of wrap: comp. _L'Alleg._ 136, "_Lap_ me in soft Lydian airs." Elysium: the abode of the spirits of the blessed; comp. _L'Alleg._ 147, "heaped Elysian flowers." ~Scylla ... Charybdis~. The former, a rival of Circe in the affections of the sea-god Glaucus, was changed into a monster, surrounded by barking dogs. She threw herself into the sea and became a rock, the noise of the surrounding waves ("multis circum latrantibus undis," _Aen._ vii. 588) resembling the barking of dogs. The latter was a daughter of Poseidon, and was hurled by Zeus into the sea, where she became a whirlpool.

260. ~slumber~: comp. _Pericles_, v. 1. 335, "thick slumber Hangs upon mine eyes."

261. ~madness~, ecstasy. The same idea is expressed in _Il Pens._ 164: "As may with sweetness, through mine ear, Dissolve me into _ecstasies_, And bring all heaven before mine eyes." In Shakespeare 'ecstasy' occurs in the sense of madness; see _Hamlet_, iii. 1. 167, "That unmatched form and feature of blown youth, Blasted with _ecstasy_"; _Temp._ iii. 3. 108, "hinder them from what this _ecstasy_ May now provoke them to": comp. also "the pleasure of that madness," _Wint. Tale_, v. 3. 73. See also l. 625.

262. ~home-felt~, deeply felt. Compare "The _home_ thrust of a friendly sword is sure" (Dryden); "This is a consideration that comes _home_ to our interest" (Addison): see also Index to Globe _Shakespeare_.

263. ~waking bliss~, as opposed to the ecstatic slumber induced by the song of Circe.

265. ~Hail, foreign wonder!~ Warton notes that _Comus_ is universally allowed to have taken some of its tints from the _Tempest_, and quotes, "O you wonder! If you be maid, or no?" i. 2. 426.

266. ~certain~: see note, l. 246.

267. ~Unless the goddess~, etc. = unless _thou be_ the goddess that in rural shrine _dwells_ here. Here, as often in Latin, we have 'unless' (Lat. _nisi_, etc.) used with a single word instead of a clause: and, also as in Latin, the verb in the relative clause has the person of the antecedent.

268. ~Pan or Sylvan~: see l. 176: also _Il Pens._ 134, "shadows brown that Sylvan loves," and _Arc._ 106, "Though Syrinx your Pan's mistress were." Sylvanus, the god of fields and forests, as denoted by his name which is corrupted from Silvan (Lat. _silva_, a wood).

269. ~Forbidding~, etc. These lines recall the language of _Arcades_, in which also a lady is complimented as "a _deity_," "a _rural_ Queen," and "mistress of yon princely shrine" in the land of Pan. There is a reference also to her protecting the woods through her servant, the Genius: _Arc._ 36-53, 91-95.

271. ~ill is lost~. A Latin idiom (as Keightley points out) = _male perditur_: Prof. Masson, however, would regard it as equivalent to "there is little loss in losing."

273. ~extreme shift~; last resource. Comp. l. 617.

274. ~my severed company~: a condensed expression = the companions separated from me. Comp. l. 315: this figure of speech is called Synecdoche.

277. ~What chance~, etc. In lines 277-290 we have a reproduction of that form of dialogue employed in Greek tragedy in which question and answer occupy alternate lines: it is called _stichomythia_, and is admirable when there is a gradual rise in excitement towards the end (as in the _Supplices_ of Euripides). In _Samson Agonistes_, which is modelled on the Greek pattern, Milton did not employ it.

278. An alliterative line.

279. ~near ushering~, closely attending. To usher is to introduce (Lat. _ostium_, a door).

284. ~twain~: thus frequently used as a predicate. It is also used after its substantive as in _Lyc._ 110, "of metals _twain_," and as a substantive.

285. ~forestalling~, anticipating. 'Forestall,' originally a marketing term, is to buy up goods before they have been displayed at a _stall_ in the market in order to sell them again at a higher price: hence 'to anticipate.' ~prevented~. 'Prevent,' now used in the sense of 'hinder,' seems in this line to have something of its older meaning, viz., to anticipate (in which case 'forestalling' would be proleptic). Comp. l. 362; _Par. Lost_, vi. 129, "half-way he met His daring foe, at this _prevention_ more Incensed."

286. ~to hit~. This is the gerundial infinitive after an adjective: comp. "good to eat," "deadly to hear," etc.

287. ~Imports their loss~, etc.: 'Apart from the present emergency, is the loss of them important?'

289. ~manly prime~, etc.: 'Were they in the prime of manhood, or were they merely youths?' With Milton the 'prime of manhood' is where 'youth' ends: comp. _Par. Lost_, xi. 245, "_prime_ in manhood where youth ended"; iii. 636, "a stripling Cherub he appears, Not of the prime, yet such as in his face Youth smiled celestial." Spenser has 'prime' = Spring.

290. ~Hebe~, the goddess of youth. "The down of manhood" had not appeared on the lips of the brothers.

291. ~what time~: common in poetry for 'when' (Lat. _quo tempore_). Compare Horace, _Od._ iii. 6: "what time the sun shifted the shadows of the mountains, and took the yokes from the wearied oxen." ~laboured~: wearied with labour.

292. ~loose traces~. Because no longer taut from the draught of the plough.

293. ~swinked~, overcome with toil, fatigued (A.S. _swincan_, to toil). Skeat points out that this was once an extremely common word; the sense of toil is due to that of constant movement from the _swinging_ of the labourer's arms. In Chaucer 'swinker' = ploughman.

294. ~mantling~, spreading. To mantle is strictly to cloak or cover: comp. _Temp._ v. 1. 67, "fumes that _mantle_ Their clearer reason."

297. ~port~, bearing, mien.

298. ~faery~. This spelling is nearer to that of the M.E. _faerie_ than the current form.

299. ~the element~; the air. Since the time of the Greek philosopher Empedocles, fire, earth, air, and water have been popularly called the four elements; when used alone, however, 'the element' commonly means 'the air.' Comp. _Hen. V._ iv. 1. 107, "The _element_ shows him as it doth to me"; _Par. Lost_, ii. 490, "the louring _element_ Scowls o'er the darkened landscape snow or shower," etc.

301. ~plighted~, interwoven or _plaited_. The verb 'plight' (or more properly _plite_) is a variant of _plait_: see _Il Pens._ 57, "her sweetest saddest _plight_." The word has no connection with 'plight,' l. 372. ~awe-strook~. Milton uses three forms of the participle, viz. 'strook,' 'struck,' and 'strucken.'

302. ~worshiped~. The final consonant is now doubled in such verbs before _-ed_.

303. ~were~ = would be: subjunctive. ~like the path to Heaven~; _i.e._ it would be a pleasure to help, etc. There is (probably) no allusion to the Scripture parable of the narrow and difficult way to Heaven (_Matt._ vii.) as in _Son._ ix., "labours up the hill of heavenly Truth."

304. ~help you find~: comp. l. 623. The simple infinitive is here used without _to_ where _to_ would now be inserted. This omission of the preposition now occurs with so few verbs that 'to' is often called the sign of the infinitive, but in Early English the only sign of the infinitive was the termination _en_ (_e.g._ he can _speken_). The infinitive, being used as a noun, had a dative form called the gerund, which was preceded by the preposition _to_, and when this became confused with the simple infinitive the use of _to_ became general. Comp. _Son._ xx. 4, "_Help_ waste a sullen day."

305. ~readiest way~. Here 'readiest' logically belongs to the predicate.

311. ~each ... every~: see note, l. 19. ~alley~, a walk or avenue.

312. ~Dingle ... bushy dell ... bosky bourn~. 'Dingle' = dimble (see Ben Jonson's _Sad Shepherd_) = dimple = a little dip or depression; hence a narrow valley. 'Dell' = dale, literally a cleft; hence a valley, not so deep as a dingle. 'Bosky bourn,' a stream whose banks are bushy or thickly grown with bushes. 'Bourn,' a boundary, is a distinct word etymologically, but the phrase "from side to side," as used by Comus, might well imply that the valley as well as the stream is here referred to. 'Bosky,' bushy. The noun 'boscage' = jungle or _bush_ (M.E. _busch_, _bush_, _bush_). 'See Tennyson's _Dream of F. W._ 243, "the sombre _boscage_ of the wood."

315. ~stray attendance~ = strayed attendants; abstract for concrete, as in line 274. Comp. _Par. Lost_, x. 80, "_Attendance_ none shall need, nor train"; xii. 132, "Of herds, and flocks, and numerous _servitude_" (= servants).

316. ~shroud~, etc. Milton first wrote "within these shroudie limits": see note, l. 147.

317. ~low-roosted lark~, _i.e._ the lark that has roosted on the ground. This is certainly Milton's meaning, as he refers to the bird as rising from its "thatched pallet" = its nest, which is built on the ground. 'Roost' has, however, no radical connection with _rest_, but denotes a perch for fowls, and Keightley's remark that Milton is guilty of supposing the lark to sleep, like a hen, upon a perch or roost, may therefore be noticed. But the poets' meaning is obvious. Prof. Masson takes 'thatched' as referring to the texture of the nest or to the corn-stalks or rushes over it.

318. ~rouse~. Here used intransitively = awake.

322. ~honest-offered~: see notes, ll. 36, 228.

323. ~sooner~, more readily.

324. ~tapestry halls~. Halls hung with tapestry, tapestry being "a kind of carpet work, with wrought figures, especially used for decorating walls." The word is said to be from the Persian.

325. ~first was named~. The meaning is: '_Courtesy_ which is derived from _court_, and which is still nominally most common in high life, is nevertheless most readily found amongst those of humble station.' This sentiment is becoming in the mouth of Lady Alice when addressed to a humble shepherd. 'Courtesy' (or, as Milton elsewhere writes, _courtship_) has, like _civility_, lost much of its deeper significance. Comp. Spenser, _F. Q._ vi. 1. 1:

"Of Court it seems men Courtesy do call,
For that it there most useth to abound."

327. ~less warranted~, _i.e._ when I have less _guarantee_ of safety. _Guarantee_ and _warrant_, like _guard_ and _ward_, _guile_ and _wile_, are radically the same.

329. ~Eye me~, _i.e._ look on me. To _eye_ a person now usually implies watching narrowly or suspiciously. ~square~, accommodate, adjust. The adj. 'proportioned' is here used proleptically, denoting the result of the action indicated by the verb 'square.' Comp. _M. for M._ v. 1: "Thou 'rt said to have a stubborn soul, ... And _squar'st_ thy life accordingly." ~Exeunt~, _i.e._ they go out, they leave the stage.

331. ~Unmuffle~, uncover yourselves. To _muffle_ is to cover up, _e.g._ 'to _muffle_ the throat,' 'a _muffled_ sound,' etc. _Muffle_ (subst.) is a diminutive of _muff_.

332. ~wont'st~, _i.e._ art wont. _Wont'st_ is here apparently the 2nd person singular, present tense, of a verb _to wont_ = to be accustomed; hence also the participle _wonted_ (_Il Pens._ 37, "keep thy _wonted_ state"). But the M.E. verb was _wonen_, to dwell or be accustomed, and its participle _woned_ or _wont_. The fact that _wont_ was a participle being forgotten, it was treated as a distinct verb, and a new participle formed, viz., _wonted_ (= won-ed-ed); from this again comes the noun _wontedness_. Milton, however, uses _wont_ as a present only twice in his poetry: as in modern English he uses it as a noun (= custom) or as a participial adj. with the verb _to be_ (_Il Pens._ 123, "As she was wont"). ~benison~, blessing: radically the same as 'benediction' (Lat. _benedictio_).

333. ~Stoop thy pale visage~, etc. Comp. l. 1023 and _Il Pens._ 72, "_Stooping_ through a fleecy cloud." 'Visage,' a word now mostly used with a touch of contempt, in Milton simply denotes 'face': see _Il Pens._ 13, "saintly _visage_"; _Lyc._ 62, "His gory _visage_ down the stream was sent." ~amber~: comp. _L'Alleg._ 61, "Robed in flames and _amber_ light," and Tennyson:

"What time the _amber_ morn
Forth gushes from beneath a low-hung cloud."

334. ~disinherit~, drive out, dispossess. Comp. _Two Gent._ iii. 2. 87, "This or else nothing, will _inherit_ (_i.e._ obtain possession of) her."

336. ~Influence ... dammed up~. The verb here shows that influence is employed in its strict sense, = a flowing in (Lat. _in_ and _fluo_): it was thus used in astrology to denote "an _influent_ course of the planets, their virtue being infused into, or their course working on, inferior creatures"; comp. _L'Alleg._ 112, "whose bright eyes Rain _influence_"; _Par. Lost_, iv. 669, "with kindly heat Of various _influence_." Astrology has left many traces upon the English language, _e.g._ influence, disastrous, ill-starred, ascendant, etc. See also l. 360.

337. ~taper~; here a vocative, the verb being "visit (thou)."

338. ~though a rush candle~, _i.e._ 'though it be only a rush-candle'; a rush light, obtained from the pith of a rush dipped in oil.

340. ~long levelled rule~; straight horizontal beam of light: comp. _Par. Lost_, iv. 543, "the setting sun ... _Levelled_ his evening rays." The instrument with which straight lines are drawn is called a _rule_ or ruler.

341. ~star of Arcady Or Tyrian Cynosure~; here put by synecdoche for 'lode-star.' More particularly, the star of Arcady signifies any of the stars in the constellation of the Great Bear, by which Greek sailors steered; and 'Tyrian Cynosure' signifies the stars comprising that part of the constellation of the Lesser Bear which, from its shape, was called _Cynosura_, the dog's tail (Greek +kynos oura+), and by which Phoenician or Tyrian sailors steered. See _L'Alleg._ 80, "The _cynosure_ of neighbouring eyes," where the word is used as a common noun = point of attraction. Both constellations are connected in Greek mythology with the Arcadian nymph Callisto, who was turned by Zeus into the Great Bear while her son Arcas became the Lesser Bear. Milton follows the Roman poets in associating these stars with Arcadia on this account.

343. ~barred~, debarred or barred _from_.

344. ~wattled cotes~: enclosures made of hurdles, _i.e._ frames of plaited twigs. _Cote_, _cot_, and _coat_ are varieties of the same word = a covering or enclosure.

345. ~oaten stops~: see _Lyc._ 33, "the _oaten_ flute"; 88, "But now my _oat_ proceeds"; 188, "the tender stops of various _quills_." The shepherd's pipe, being at first a row of oaten stalks, "the oaten pipe," "oat," etc., came to denote any instrument of this kind and even to signify "pastoral poetry." The 'stops' are the holes over which the player's fingers are placed, also called vent-holes or "ventages" (_Ham._ iii. 2. 372). See also note on 'azurn,' l. 893.

346. ~whistle ... lodge~, _i.e._ the sound of the shepherd calling his dog by whistling. Or it may be used in the same sense as in _L'Alleg._ 63, "the ploughman _whistles_ o'er the furrowed land."