Skip to main content

Full text of "Lycidas, sonnets, &c. Edited with introd. and notes by W. Bell"

See other formats 


MILTON'S 

L'ALLEGKO,   IL   PENSEKOSO, 
ETC. 


MACMILLAN    AND  CO.,   LIMITED 

LONDON    •     BOMBAY    •    CALCUTTA    •    MADRAS 
MELBOURNE 

THE    MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

NEW   YORK    •    BOSTON    •    CHICAGO 
DALLAS    •     SAN    FRANCISCO 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.   OF  CANADA,   LTD. 

TORONTO 


Lycidas,  Sonnets 


By 

John  Milton 


EDITED    WITH   INTRODUCTION  AND  NOTES  BY 

W.  Bell,  M.A. 

Professor  of  Philosophy  and  Logic,  Government  College,  Lahore 


MACMILLAN   AND   CO.,   LIMITED 
ST.    MARTIN'S    STREET,    LONDON 
1917 


Ffc  . 

55 

B4- 


COPYRIGHT. 


First  Edition  1889. 

Reprinted  1890,  1891,  1894,  1897,  1901,  1904,  1905,  1907,  1910, 
1912,  1914,  1916,  1917. 


GLASGOW  :    PRINTED   AT    THE    UNIVERSITY  PRESS 
BY  ROBERT   MACLEHOSE    AND   CO.   LTD. 


CONTENTS. 

INTRODUCTION 

-    vir 
Song  on  May  Morning    • , 

On  Shakespeare     - 

On  the  University  Carrier      •-.-,.  n 

Another  on  the  Same      - 

0 

An  Epitaph  on  the  Marchioness  of  Winchester     -        -         .4 

On  Time 

6 
L'ALLEGRO _  7 

IL  PENSEROSO ,, 

ARCADES        ---.-__. 

LYCIDAS         -                                 ^ 

SONNETS — 

I.  To  the  Nightingale        ------  25 

II.  On  his  having  arrived  at  the  Age  of  Twenty- three  26 

VIII.  When  the  Assault  was  intended  to  the  City          -  26 

IX.  To  a  Lady              _  27 

X.  To  the  Lady  Margaret  Ley 27 

XI.  On  the  Detraction  which  followed  upon  my  writing 

certain  Treatises    ------  28 

XII.  On  the  Same 28 

Xlla.  On  the  New  Forcers  of  Conscience  under  the  Long 

Parliament 29 

XIII.  To  Mr.  H.  Lawes,  on  his  Airs       -         -        -        -  30 

XIV.  On    the    Religious    Memory   of    Mrs.    Catherine 

Thomson         -         -         -         .         .        .         ,30 


VI 


CONTENTS. 


XV.  On  the  Lord  General  Fairfax 
XVI.  To  the  Lord  General  Cromwell      - 
XVII.  To  Sir  Henry  Vane  the  Younger  - 
XVIII.  On  the  late  Massacre  in  Piedmont 
XIX.  On  his  Blindness   - 
XX.  To  Mr.  Lawrence 
XXI.  To  Cyriack  Skinner       - 
XXII.  To  the  Same          .... 
XXIII.  To  the  Memory  of  his  second  Wife 
NOTES 


PAGE 

31 
31 
32 
32 
33 
33 
34 
34 
35 
36 


GENERAL   INTRODUCTION. 

THIS  selection  comprises,  with  only  one  notable  excep 
tion  (Comus  *),  all  the  English  poetry  that  Milton  wrote 
between  1630  and  1660 — a  period  of  thirty  years.  On 
the  former  date  he  had  already  been  five  years  at  the 
University  of  Cambridge,  and  on  the  latter  he  finally 
escaped  from  the  political  troubles  that  had  beset  him 
for  nearly  twenty  years  and  set  to  work  in  earnest  upon 
his  great  epic,  Paradise  Lost.  If  we  divide  his  life  into 
four  periods,  as  detailed  below,  we  find  that  the  poems 
in  this  volume  belong  to  the  second  and  third  of  these, 
and,  if  we  exclude  the  Sonnets,  entirely  to  the  second. 
We  have  to  deal,  therefore,  with  the  products  of  Milton's 
earlier  muse ;  his  later  or  epic  muse  belongs  exclusively 
to  the  fourth  and  last  period  of  his  life. 
I.  Pre-literary  period,  1608-25. 
II.  Period  of  College  and  Country  life  and  Travel, 
1625-40. 

III.  Controversial  period,  1640-60. 

IV.  Period  of  Great  Poems,  1660-74. 

I.  John  Milton  was  born  on  December  9th,  1608, 
about  eight  years  before  the  death  of  Shakespeare. 
His  father,  a  prosperous  London  scrivener,  was  a  pious 
and  cultured  man,  and  chose  as  his  son's  first  tutor 
Thomas  Young,  a  Puritan  divine.  In  his  twelfth  year 

*  A  separate  volume  of  this' series. 
vii 


viii  GENERAL  INTRODUCTION. 

the  boy  was  entered  as  a  day-scholar  at  St.  Paul's 
School,  and  there  he  attended  for  four  or  five  years. 
Before  he  left  this  school  he  had  made  good  progress  in 
Greek  and  Latin,  he  knew  some  Hebrew,  and  he  had  also, 
by  his  father's  advice,  studied  French  and  Italian.  His 
own  account  of  these  laborious  pre-college  days  is  as  fol 
lows  :  "  My  father  destined  me  while  yet  a  little  bo)'  for 
the  study  of  humane  letters,  which  I  seized  with  such 
eagerness,  that  from  the  twelfth  year  of  my  age  I  scarcely 
ever  went  from  my  lessons  to  bed  before  midnight; 
which  indeed  was  the  first  cause  of  injury  to  my  eyes, 
to  whose  natural  weakness  there  were  also  added  frequent 
headaches.  All  which  not  retarding  my  impetuosity  in 
learning,  he  caused  me  to  be  daily  instructed,  both  at 
the  grammar-school  and  under  other  masters  at  home, 
and  then  when  I  had  acquired  various  tongues,  and 
also  not  some  insignificant  taste  for  the  sweetness  of 
philosophy,  he  sent  me  to  Cambridge."  He  had  already 
shown  some  facility  in  the  writing  of  verses,  but  only 
two  paraphrases  of  psalms  have  been  preserved  to  us. 

II.  In  February,  1625 — six  weeks  before  the  accession 
of  Charles  I,  Milton  was  enrolled  at  Christ's  College, 
Cambridge,  and  for  seven  years  he  continued  to  study 
there.  He  took  the  B.A.  degree  in  1628-9,  and  the 
M.A.  degree  in  July,  1632.  During  these  years  he 
wrote  a  number  of  Latin  pieces  and  the  following  English 
poems  :— On  the  Death  of  a  Fair  Infant  (1626)— his  first 
original  poem  in  his  native  tongue ;  At  a  Vacation  Exer 
cise  (1628);  On  the  Morning  of  Christ's  Nativity  (1629), 
an  unfinished  piece  on  The  Passion;  also  the  five 
short  poems  that  stand  at  the  beginning  of  this  volume, 
and  the  first  and  second  sonnets.  In  the  Song  on  May 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION.  ix 

Morning  we  have  a  foretaste  of  the  spirit  of  L' Allegro, 
both  in  the  matter  and  the  rhythm;  in  the  lines  On 
Shakespeare  we  already  discover  some  of  the  most  striking 
characteristics  of  Milton's  style;  in  the  two  poems  On 
the  University  Carrier  the  poet  shows  a  kind  of  whimsical 
pleasantry  that  does  not  appear  again  anywhere  in  his 
poems ;  and  in  the  graceful  Epitaph  on  the  Marchioness  of 
Winchester  we  have  much  of  the  exquisite  perfection  of 
language  and  metre  seen  in  L1  Allegro  and  //  Penseroso, 
along  with  a  glimpse  of  the  elegiac  beauty  and  religious 
feeling  of  Lycidas.  The  small  piece  On  Time  is  variously 
referred  to  the  period  of  Milton's  life  at  Cambridge  and 
to  the  Horton  period ;  similarly  with  At  a  Solemn  Music 
and  Upon  the  Circumcision.  The  second  sonnet  closes 
the  list  of  his  compositions  at  Cambridge.  He  had 
already  found  his  true  vocation — poetry;  and,  in  obedi 
ence  to  "  an  inward  prompting  "  to  fit  himself  by  labour 
and  intent  study  for  his  life-work,  he  gave  up  all  intention 
of  studying  for  the  Church,  left  the  university  after 
obtaining  his  degree  and  retired  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
three  to  his  father's  house  in  the  small  village  of  Horton, 
near  Windsor,  and  about  twenty  miles  from  London. 

To  the  six  quiet  years  of  country  life  at  Horton 
— years  which  Milton  regarded  merely  as  a  time  of 
"ripening"  for  his  great  work,  we  owe  the  best  of  his 
minor  poems,  written  in  the  order  in  which  they  are 
here  named,  viz.  L' Allegro  and  //  Penseroso,  Arcades, 
Comus,  and  Lycidas.  It  has  been  said  that  these  pieces, 
even  though  their  author  had  not  written  Paradise 
Lost,  "would  have  sufficed  to  place  their  author  in  a 
class  apart,  and  above  all  those  who  had  used  the 
English  language  for  poetical  purposes  before  him." 


x  GENERAL  INTRODUCTION. 

Yet  Milton  himself  regarded  them  as  no  more  than  the 
first  fruits  of  his  genius ;  he  had,  in  his  own  estimation, 
shattered  the  leaves  of  his  poetic  laurels  "before  the 
mellowing  year."  In  April,  1 638,  he  set  out  on  a  journey 
to  Italy,  the  classic  land  of  poetry  and  art.  He  had  spent 
some  months  in  Florence  and  Rome,  and  was  staying  in 
Naples  when  "  the  sad  news  of  civil  war  "  reached  him ; 
he  resolved  to  turn  his  face  homewards,  "for,"  he  says, 
"I  thought  it  disgraceful,  while  my  fellow-countrymen 
were  fighting  for  liberty,  that  I  should  be  travelling 
abroad  for  pleasure."  He  retraced  his  steps  in  a 
leisurely  manner,  and  arrived  in  England  in  August, 
1639.  It  was  on  this  journey  that  he  wrote  his  Italian 
Sonnets,  and  shortly  after  his  return  he  wrote  that  elegy 
on  the  death  of  his  friend  Charles  Diodati,  to  which 
allusion  is  made  in  the  notes  on  Lycidas. 

III.  In  the  end  of  1639  Milton  took  lodgings  in 
London,  and  hoped  to  betake  himself  to  his  favourite 
studies  with  a  view  to  still  further  maturing  himself  for 
the  production  of  some  great  English  poem.  But  this 
hope  was  not  fulfilled.  The  Scots  had  rebelled  against 
Episcopacy,  and  the  Puritans  of  England  (of  whom, 
both  by  nature  and  upbringing,  Milton  was  one)  were 
all  in  sympathy  with  them.  The  famous  Long  Parlia 
ment  had  already  resisted  in  a  number  of  ways  the 
unconstitutional  conduct  of  Charles  I,  and  had  decided 
to  sweep  away  the  abuses  of  the  Episcopal  Church. 
How  best  to  do  this  was  the  important  question,  and 
to  the  answering  of  this  Milton  first  devoted  himself 
with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  his  truly  religious  spirit. 

Then,  in  1642,  civil  war  broke  out,  and  Milton,  of 
course,  declared  for  the  side  of  the  Parliament.  In 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION.  xi 

1643,  he  nevertheless  married  a  lady  belonging  to  a 
Royalist  family,  who  left  him  after  less  than  two  month? 
and  did  not  return  for  two  years.  This  turned  his 
attention  to  the  question  of  divorce,  and  the  new  con 
troversy  between  the  Presbyterians  and  the  Independents 
provided  still  more  work  for  his  pen.  Throughout  all 
the  din  and  smoke  of  war  we  catch  only  a  few  glimpses 
of  the  poet,  as  distinct  from  the  pamphleteer :  how  few 
these  glimpses  are  the  sonnets  composed  in  these  years 
will  show.  From  1640  to  1648,  when  the  last  embers 
of  the  civil  war  were  finally  extinguished,  Milton  wrote 
nothing  in  poetry  but  nine  sonnets  (VIII.-XV.)  and  a 
few  Latin  pieces.  And  in  the  next  ten  years,  when  he 
was  in  the  employment  of  the  new  government,  and 
when  upon  him  was  thrown  the  task  of  answering  all 
attacks  made  upon  it,  he  wrote,  along  with  much  prose, 
nothing  more  than  his  eight  remaining  sonnets  (XVI.  - 
XXIII.)  and  a  few  scraps  in  Latin.  In  1658,  when  he 
wrote  his  last  sonnet,  Cromwell  died.  Milton  continued 
in  office  as  Latin  Secretary,  and  within  a  few  weeks  of 
the  Restoration  we  find  him  issuing  projects  for  the 
best  means  of  establishing  a  free  commonwealth.  He 
had  been  blind  since  1652;  in  1653-4  his  first  wife 
died,  and  in  1656  he  married  again,  but  his  second  wife 
died  fifteen  months  after  the  marriage ;  in  1664  he 
married  a  third  time. 

IV.  At  the  Restoration,  Milton  was  placed  for  a  short 
time  under  arrest,  but  he  was  at  last  able  to  take  up 
the  task  that  had  been  laid  aside  so  long,  and  in  1665 
the  composition  of  Paradise  Lost  was  completed.  It 
was  followed  in  1671  by  Paradise  Regained  and  Samson 
Agonistes.  In  1674  the  poet  died. 


xii  GENERAL  INTRODUCTION. 

We  shall  sum  up  in  a  few  words  the  most  striking 
characteristics  of  Milton's  genius. 

1.  First  of  all  we  may  note  his  early  and   settled 
conviction  that  poetry  was  his  vocation.     He  tells  us, 
before  he  is  twenty-three   years   of  age,  that   he   has 
discovered  "whether  aught  was  imposed  upon  me  by 
them  that  had  the  overlooking  or  betaken  to  of  mine 
own  choice,  in  English  or  other  tongue,  prosing  or  versing, 
but  chiefly  this  latter,  the  style,  by  certain  vital  signs  it 
had,  was  likely  to  live."     In  1637,  just  before  he  wrote 
Lycidas,   he  felt  that   God   had   instilled   into   him   a 
vehement  love  of  the  beautiful,  and  declared  that  he  was 
"  wont   day   and   night   to   seek   for   this   idea  of  the 
beautiful   through   all   the   forms   and   faces  of  things 
....  You  ask  what  I  am  thinking  of?     So  may  the 
good  Deity  help  me,  of  immortality." — Letter  to  Diodati. 

2.  Along  with  this  we  note  his  sense  of  the  greatness 
of  the  poet's  task,  and  his  consequent  self-appreciation, 
which,  however,  was  very  different  from  the  sickly  self- 
conceit  of  that  race  of  poets  who  immediately  preceded 
him,  and  of  that  equally  complacent  race  who  came  after 
him.     His  ideal  was  too  high  to  enable  him  to  be  other 
than  truly  modest.     He  looked  for  inspiration  to  "  that 
eternal   Spirit  who  can  enrich  with  all  utterance   and 
knowledge,    and    sends    out    His    seraphim    with    the 
hallowed   fire   of  His  altar,   to   touch   and   purify  the 
lips  of  whom  He  pleases." — Reason  of  Church,  Government 
(1641). 

3.  His  rule  of  life  was  therefore  a  strict  one  :   the 
inward  ripeness  that  he  desired  could  only  be  attained 
in  one  way — by  the  noblest  purity  in  every  thought  and 
action.     "Long  it  was  not  after  when  I  was  confirmed 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION.  xiii 

in  this  opinion,  that  he  who  would  not  be  frustrate  of 
his  hope  to  write  well  hereafter  in  laudable  things  ought 
himself  to  be  a  true  poem — that  is,  a  composition  and 
pattern  of  the  best  and  honourablest  things." — Apology 
for  Smectymnuus.  As  a  part  of  his  noble  austerity  of  life 
we  may  specially  note  his  strictly  temperate  habits.  In 
his  sixth  elegy  he  tells  us  that  they  who  would  hope  to 
sing  of  heroes  and  to  explore  the  counsels  of  Heaven 
must  live  simply : 

Let  herbs  to  them  a  bloodless  banquet  give  ; 
In  beechen  goblets  let  their  beverage  shine, 
Cool  from  the  crystal  spring,  their  sober  wine  ! 

(Cowper's  translation. ) 

The  same  sentiment  shows  itself  in  the  delineation  of 
Penseroso,  one  of  whose  companions  is  "  spare  Fast " ;  in 
Lycidas  (line  72);  and  in  Sonnet  XX.  For  the  poet  is 
sacred  and  must  draw  his  inspiration  from  Heaven,  not 
from  the  wine-cup. 

4.  He  was  a  man  of  industrious  and  select  reading. 
His  knowledge  was  most  extensive.  "  Whatever,"  says 
Prof.  Masson,  "  of  learning,  of  science,  or  of  discipline  in 
logic  or  philosophy,  the  University  at  that  time  could 
give,  he  had  duly  and  in  the  largest  measure  acquired. 
No  better  Greek  or  Latin  scholar  probably  had  the 
University  in  that  age  sent  forth ;  he  was  proficient  in 
the  Hebrew  tongue,  and  in  all  the  other  customary  aids 
to  a  Biblical  Theology ;  and  he  could  speak  and  write 
well  in  French  and  Italian.  His  acquaintance,  obtained 
by  independent  reading,  with  the  history  and  with  the 
whole  body  of  the  literature  of  ancient  and  modern 
nations,  was  extensive  and  various." — Three  Devils,  etc. 
When  he  left  the  University  and  went  to  Horton  he 


xir  GENERAL  INTRODUCTION. 

devoted  himself  to  a  steady  perusal  of  the  Greek  and 
Latin  writers,  and  was  eager  to  learn  "  anything  new  in 
Mathematics  or  in  Music."  And  just  before  he  was 
whirled  into  the  controversies  of  Church  and  State  he 
was  still  looking  forward  to  a  time  of  hard  study. 

5.  His  religious  fervour  was  as  much  a  part  of  himself 
as  his  poetic  temperament.     Hence,  in  the  controversial 
war  in  which  he  engaged,  he  belieyed  his  task  to  have 
been  imposed  upon  him  by  Heaven  in  no  less  degree 
than  that  other  task  of  writing  a  great  poem.     And 
hence,  also,  it  was  as  natural  for  Milton  to  introduce 
deep   thoughts   of  death   and   immortality  into  a  few 
lines  written  to  set  on  a  clock-case,  or  to  compare  the 
Marchioness  of  Winchester  with  Rachel,  or  to  speak  of 
Lycidas  in  the  same  breath  as  a  risen  saint  and  the 
"genius  of  the  shore,"  as  it  was  for  him  to  write  of 
the   great  truths  of  Scripture  in  Paradise  Lost.      His 
grand  seriousness  is  over  all. 

6.  His  love  of  music  is  an  important  element  of  his 
genius.     His  father  was  no  mean  musician,  and  both 
father  and  son  numbered  famous  musicians  among  their 
friends.     "  As  nature  had  endowed  him  in  no  ordinary 
degree  with  that  most  exquisite  of  her  gifts,  the  ear 
and  the  passion  for  harmony,  he  had  studied  music  as 
an  art,  and  had  taught  himself  riot  only  to  sing  in  the 
society  of  others,   but   also  to  touch  the  keys  for  his 
solitary  pleasure"  (Masson,  Three  Devils,  etc.).     His  style 
is  everywhere  dominated  by  his  mastery  over  the  effects 
of  music,  and  his  works  are  full  of  expressions  of  his  love 
for  it.     It  influences  his  choice  of  words,  his  choice  of  a 
particular  form  of  a  word,  and  even  his  pronunciation ; 
it  explains  many  of  those  inversions  so  common  in  his 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION.  xv 

poetry ;  it  accounts  for  his  use  of  alliteration  and  for 
the  form  of  many  of  the  compound  epithets  that  he 
coined  so  freely;  it  heightens  the  charm  of  his  songs;  and, 
above  all,  it  has  enabled  him  once  for  all  to  stamp 
the  character  of  English  blank  verse. 

7.  Bound  up  with  the  preceding  is  his  laborious 
striving  after  perfection  of  workmanship.  We  shall 
close  with  the  words  of  Mr.  Matthew  Arnold  on  this 
point :  "  If  to  our  English  race  an  inadequate  sense 
for  perfection  of  work  is  a  real  danger,  if  the  discipline 
of  respect  for  a  high  and  flawless  excellence  is  peculiarly 
needed  by  us,  Milton  is  of  all  our  gifted  men  the  best 
lesson,  the  most  salutary  influence.  In  the  sure  and 
flawless  perfection  of  his  j-hythm :  jmd L  diction  he  is  as 
admirable  as  Virgil  or  Dante,  and  in  this  respect  he  is 
unique  amongst  us.  No  one  else  in  English  litera 
ture  and  art  possesses  the  like  distinction." — Essays  in 
Criticism,  2nd  series. 


MILTON'S 

L'ALLEGRO,  IL  PENSEROSO,  ARCADES, 
LYCIDAS,  SONNETS,  ETC. 

SONG  ON  MAY  MORNING. 

Now  the  bright  morning-star,  Day's  harbinger, 
Comes  dancing  from  the  east,  and  leads  with  her 
The  flowery  May,  who  from  her  green  lap  throws 
The  yellow  cowslip  and  the  pale  primrose.  •» 

Hail,  bounteous  May,  that  dost  inspire 
Mirth,  and  youth,  and  warm  desire  ! 
Woods  and  groves  are  of  thy  dressing ; 
Hill  and  dale  doth  boast  thy  blessing. 
Thus  we  salute  thee  with  our  early  song, 
And  welcome  thee,  and  wish  thee  long.  10 


ON  SHAKESPEARE.     1630. 

WHAT  needs  my  Shakespeare  for  his  honoured  bones 

The  labour  of  an  age  in  piltsd  stones  ? 

Or  that  his  hallowed  reliques  should  be  hid 

Under  a  star-y  point  ing  pyramid  ? 

Dear  son  of  memory,  great  heir  of  fame, 

What  need'st  thou  such  weak  witness  of  thy  name? 

Thou  in  our  wonder  and  astonishment 

Hast  built  thyself  a  livelong  monument. 


ON  SHAKESPEARE. 

For  whilst,  to  the  shame  of  slow-endeavouring  art, 
Thy  easy  numbers  flow,  and  that  each  heart  10 

Hath  from  the  leaves  of  thy  unvalued  book 
Those  Delphic  lines  with  deep  impression  took, 
Then  thou,  our  fancy  of  itself  bereaving, 
Dost  make  us  marble  with  too  much  conceiving, 
And  so  sepulchred  in  such  pomp  dost  lie 
That  kings  for  such  a  tomb  would  wish  to  die. 


ON  THE  UNIVERSITY  CARRIER. 

Who  sickened  in  the  time  of  his  Vacancy,  being  forbid  to  go  tc 
London  by  reason  of  the  Plague. 

HERE  lies  old  Hobson.     Death  hath  broke  his  girt, 

And  here,  alas !   hath  laid  him  in  the  dirt ; 

Or  else,  the  ways  being  foul,  twenty  to  one 

He's  here  stuck  in  a  slough,  and  overthrown. 

'Twas  such  a  shifter  that,  if  truth  were  known, 

Death  was  half  glad  when  he  had  got  him  down  ; 

For  he  had  any  time  this  ten  years  full 

Dodged  with  him  betwixt  Cambridge  and  The  Bull. 

And  surely  Death  could  never  have  prevailed, 

Had  not  his  weekly  course  of  carriage  failed  ;  10 

But  lately,  finding  him  so  long  at  home, 

And  thinking  now  his  journey's  end  was  come, 

And  that  he  had  ta'en  up  his  latest  inn, 

In  the  kind  office  of  a  chamberlin 

Showed  him  his  room  where  he  must  lodge  that  night, 

Pulled  off  his  boots,  and  took  away  the  light. 

If  any  ask  for  him,  it  shall  be  said, 

"Hobson  has  supped,  and's  newly  gone  to  bed." 


ON  THE  UNIVERSITY  CARRIER.  3 

ANOTHER  ON  THE  SAME. 

HERE  lieth  one  who  did  most  truly  prove 

That  he  could  never  die  while  he  could  move ; 

So  hung  his  destiny,  never  to  rot 

While  he  might  still  jog  on  and  keep  his  trot ; 

Made  of  sphere-metal,  never  to  decay 

Until  his  revolution  was  at  stay. 

Time  numbers  motion,  yet  (without  a  crime 

'Gainst  old  truth)  motion  numbered  out  his  time  ; 

And,  like  an  engine  moved  with  wheel  and  weight, 

His  principles  being  ceased,  he  ended  straight.  10 

Rest,  that  gives  all  men  life,  gave  him  his  death, 

And  too  much  breathing  put  him  out  of  breath  ; 

Nor  were  it  contradiction  to  affirm 

Too  long  vacation  hastened  on  his  term. 

Merely  to  drive  the  time  away  he  sickened, 

Fainted,  and  died,  nor  would  with  ale  be  quickened. 

"  Nay,"  quoth  he,  on  his  swooning  bed  outstretched, 

"If  I  mayn't  carry,  sure  I'll  ne'er  be  fetched, 

But  vow,  though  the  cross  doctors  all  stood  hearers, 

For  one  carrier  put  down  to  make  six  bearers."          20 

Ease  was  his  chief  disease  ;  and,  to  judge  right, 

He  died  for  heaviness  that  his  cart  went  light. 

His  leisure  told  him  that  his  time  was  come, 

And  lack  of  load  made  his  life  burdensome, 

That  even  to  his  last  breath  (there  be  that  say't), 

As  he  were  pressed  to  death,  he  cried,  "More  weight!" 

But,  had  his  doings  lasted  as  they  were, 

He  had  been  an  immortal  carrier. 

Obedient  to  the  moon  he  spent  his  date 

In  course  reciprocal,  and  had  his  fate  30 

Linked  to  the  mutual  flowing  of  the  seas  ; 

Yet  (strange  to  think)  his  wain  was  his  increase. 

His  letters  are  delivered  all  and  gone  ; 

Only  remains  this  superscription. 


ON  THE  MARCHIONESS  OF  WINCHESTER. 


AN   EPITAPH   ON   THE   MARCHIONESS   OF 
WINCHESTER. 

THIS  rich  marble  doth  inter 

The  honoured  wife  of  Winchester, 

A  Viscount's  daughter,  an  Earl's  heir, 

Besides  what  her  virtues  fair 

Added  to  her  noble  birth, 

More  than  she  could  own  from  Earth. 

Summers  three  times  eight  save  one 

She  had  told  ;  alas  !  too  soon, 

After  so  short  time  of  breath, 

To  house  with  darkness  and  with  death  !  10 

Yet,  had  the  number  of  her  days 

Been  as  complete  as  was  her  praise, 

Nature  and  Fate  had  had  no  strife 

In  giving  limit  to  her  life. 

Her  high  birth  and  her  graces  sweet 

Quickly  found  a  lover  meet ; 

The  virgin  quire  for  her  request 

The  god  that  sits  at  marriage-feast ; 

He  at  their  invoking  came, 

But  with  a  scarce  well-lighted  flame ;  20 

And  in  his  garland,  as  he  stood, 

Ye  might  discern  a  cypress-bud. 

Once  had  the  early  matrons  run 

To  greet  her  of  a  lovely  son, 

And  now  with  second  hope  she  goes, 

And  calls  Lucina  to  her  throes  ; 

But,  whether  by  mischance  or  blame, 

Atropos  for  Lucina  came, 

And  with  remorseless  cruelty 

Spoiled  at  once  both  fruit  and  tree.  30 

The  hapless  babe  before  his  birth 

Had  burial,  not  yet  laid  in  earth  ; 

And  the  languished  mother's  womb 


ON  THE  MARCHIONESS  OF  WINCHESTER.          5 

Was  not  long  a  living  tomb. 

So  have  I  seen  some  tender  slip, 

Saved  with  care  from  winter's  nip, 

The  pride  of  her  carnation  train, 

Plucked  up  by  some  unheedy  swain, 

Who  only  thought  to  crop  the  flower 

New  shot  up  from  vernal  shower  ;  40 

But  tho  fair  blossom  hangs  the  head 

Sideways,  as  on  a  dying  bed, 

And  those  pearls  of  dew  she  wears 

Prove  to  be  presaging  tears 

Which  the  sad  morn  had  let  fall 

On  her  hastening  funeral. 

Gentle  Lady,  may  thy  grave 

Peace  and  quiet  ever  have  ! 

After  this  thy  travail  sore, 

Sweet  rest  seize  thee  evermore,  50 

That,  to  give  the  world  increase, 

Shortened  hast  thy  own  life's  lease  ! 

Here,  besides  the  sorrowing 

That  thy  noble  house  doth  bring, 

Here  be  tears  of  perfect  moan 

Weept  for  thee  in  Helicon  ; 

And  some  flowers  and  some  bays 

For  thy  hearse,  to  strew  the  ways, 

Sent  thee  from  the  banks  of  Came, 

Devoted  to  thy  virtuous  name ;  60 

Whilst  thou,  bright  Saint,  high  sitt'st  in  glory, 

Next  her,  much  like  to  thee  in  story, 

That  fair  Syrian  shepherdess, 

Who,  after  years  of  barrenness, 

The  highly -favoured  Joseph  bore 

To  him  that  served  for  her  before, 

And  at  her  next  birth,  much  like  thee, 

Through  pangs  fled  to  felicity, 

Far  within  the  bosom  bright 


ON  TIME. 

Of  blazing  Majesty  and  Light :  70 

There  with  thee,  new-welcome  Saint, 
Like  fortunes  may  her  soul  acquaint, 
With  thee  there  clad  in  radiant  sheen, 
No  Marchioness,  but  now  a  Queen. 


ON  TIME. 

FLY,  envious  Time,  till  thou  run  out  thy  race  : 
Call  on  the  lazy  leaden-stepping  Hours, 
Whose  speed  is  but  the  heavy  plummet's  pace  ; 
And  glut  thyself  with  what  thy  womb  devours, 
Which  is  no  more  than  what  is  false  and  vain, 
And  merely  mortal  dross ; 
So  little  is  our  loss, 
So  little  is  thy  gain  ! 

For,  when  as  each  thing  bad  thou  hast  entombed, 
And,  last  of  all,  thy  greedy  self  consumed,  10 

Then  long  Eternity  shall  greet  our  bliss 
With  an  individual  kiss, 
And  Joy  shall  overtake  us  as  a  flood  ; 
When  every  thing  that  is  sincerely  good 
And  perfectly  divine, 

With  Truth,  and  Peace,  and  Love,  shall  ever  shine 
About  the  supreme  throne 
Of  Him,  to  whose  happy-making  sight  alone 
When  once  our  heavenly-guided  soul  shall  climb, 
Then,  all  this  earthly  grossness  quit,  20 

Attired  with  stars  we  shall  for  ever  sit, 
Triumphing  over  Death,  and  Chance,  and  thee,  O  Time  ! 


L'ALLEGRO.  7 

L' ALLEGRO. 

HENCE,  loathed  Melancholy, 

Of  Cerberus  and  blackest  Midnight  born 
In  Stygian  cave  forlorn 

'Mongst  horrid  shapes,  and  shrieks,  and  sights  unholy! 
Find  out  some  uncouth  cell, 

Where  brooding  Darkness  spreads  his  jealous  wings, 
And  the  night-raven  sings  ; 

There,  under  ebon  shades  and  low-browed  rocks, 
As  ragged  as  thy  locks, 

In  dark  Cimmerian  desert  ever  dwell.  10 

But  come,  thou  Goddess  fair  and  free, 
In  heaven  yclept  Euphrosyne, 
And  by  men  heart-easing  Mirth  ; 
Whom  lovely  Venus,  at  a  birth, 
With  two  sister  Graces  more, 
To  ivy-crowned  Bacchus  bore  : 
Or  whether  (as  some  sager  sing) 
The  frolic  wind  that  breathes  the  spring, 
Zephyr,  with  Aurora  playing, 

As  he  met  her  once  a-Maying,  20 

There,  on  beds  of  violets  blue, 
And  fresh-blown  roses  washed  in  dew, 
Filled  her  with  thee,  a  daughter  fair, 
So  buxom,  blithe,  and  debonair. 
Haste  thee,  Nymph,  and  bring  with  thee 
Jest,  and  youthful  Jollity, 
Quips  and  cranks  and  wanton  wiles, 
Nods  and  becks  and  wreathed  smiles, 
Such  as  hang  on  Hebe's  cheek, 

And  love  to  live  in  dimple  sleek;  30 

Sport  that  wrinkled  Care  derides, 
And  Laughter  holding  both  his  sides. 
Come,  and  trip  it,  as  you  go, 
On  the  light  fantastic  toe  ; 


L'ALLEGRO. 

And  in  thy  right  hand  lead  with  thee 

The  mountain-nymph,  sweet  Liberty ; 

And,  if  I  give  thee  honour  due, 

Mirth,  admit  me  of  thy  crew, 

To  live  with  her,  and  live  with  thee, 

In  unreproved  pleasures  free  ;  40 

To  hear  the  lark  begin  his  flight, 

And,  singing,  startle  the  dull  night, 

From  his  watch-tower  in  the  skies, 

Till  the  dappled  dawn  doth  rise, 

Then  to  come,  in  spite  of  sorrow, 

And  at  my  window  bid  good-morrow, 

Through  the  sweet-briar  or  the  vine, 

Or  the  twisted  eglantine  ; 

While  the  cock,  with  lively  din, 

Scatters  the  rear  of  darkness  thin ;  50 

And  to  the  stack,  or  the  barn-door, 

Stoutly  struts  his  dames  before : 

Oft  listening  how  the  hounds  and  horn 

Cheerly  rouse  the  slumbering  morn, 

From  the  side  of  some  hoar  hill, 

Through  the  high  wood  echoing  shrill : 

Sometime  walking,  not  unseen, 

By  hedgerow  elms,  on  hillocks  green, 

Eight  against  the  eastern  gate 

Where  the  great  Sun  begins  his  state,  60 

Robed  in  flames  and  amber  light, 

The  clouds  in  thousand  liveries  dight ; 

While  the  ploughman,  near  at  hand, 

Whistles  o'er  the  furrowed  land, 

And  the  milkmaid  singeth  blithe, 

And  the  mower  whets  his  scythe, 

And  every  shepherd  tells  his  tale, 

Under  the  hawthorn  in  the  dale. 

Straight  mine  eye  hath  caught  new  pleasures, 

Whilst  the  landskip  round  it  measures  :  70 


L'ALLEGRO.  9 

Eusset  lawns,  and  fallows  grey, 

Where  the  nibbling  flocks  do  stray  ; 

Mountains  on  whose  barren  breast 

The  labouring  clouds  do  often  rest ; 

Meadows  trim,  with  daisies  pied  ; 

Shallow  brooks,  and  rivers  wide ; 

Towers  and  battlements  it  sees 

Bosomed  high  in  tufted  trees, 

Where  perhaps  some  beauty  lies, 

The  cynosure  of  neighbouring  eyes.  80 

Hard  by  a  cottage  chimney  smokes 

From  betwixt  two  aged  oaks, 

Where  Corydon  and  Thyrsis  met 

Are  at  their  savoury  dinner  set 

Of  herbs  and  other  country  messes, 

Which  the  neat-handed  Phyllis  dresses ; 

And  then  in  haste  her  bower  she  leaves, 

With  Thestylis  to  bind  the  sheaves  ; 

Or,  if  the  earlier  season  lead, 

To  the  tanned  haycock  in  the  mead.  90 

Sometimes,  with  secure  delight, 

The  upland  hamlets  will  invite, 

When  the  merry  bells  ring  round, 

And  the  jocund  rebecks  sound 

To  many  a  youth  and  many  a  maid 

Dancing  in  the  chequered  shade, 

And  young  and  old  come  forth  to  play 

On  a  sunshine  holiday, 

Till  the  livelong  daylight  fail  : 

Then  to  the  spicy  nut-brown  ale,  100 

With  stories  told  of  many  a  feat, 

How  Faery  Mab  the  junkets  eat. 

She  was  pinched  and  pulled,  she  said  ; 

And  he,  by  Friar's  lantern  led, 

Tells  how  the  drudging  goblin  sweat 

To  earn  his  cream-bowl  duly  set, 


10  L'ALLEGRO. 

When  in  one  night,  ere  glimpse  of  morn, 

His  shadowy  flail  hath  threshed  the  corn 

That  ten  day-labourers  could  not  end  ; 

Tben  lies  him  down,  the  lubber  fiend,  110 

And,  stretched  out  all  the  chimney's  length, 

Basks  at  the  fire  his  hairy  strength, 

And  crop-full  out  of  doors  he  flings, 

Ere  the  first  cock  his  matin  rings. 

Thus  done  the  tales,  to  bed  they  creep, 

By  whispering  winds  soon  lulled  asleep. 

Towered  cities  please  us  then, 

And  the  busy  hum  of  men, 

Where  throngs  of  knights  and  barons  bold, 

In  weeds  of  peace,  high  triumphs  hold,  120 

With  store  of  ladies,  whose  bright  eyes 

Eain  influence,  and  judge  the  prize 

Of  wit  or  arms,  while  both  contend 

To  win  her  grace  whom  all  commend. 

There  let  Hymen  oft  appear 

In  saffron  robe,  with  taper  clear, 

And  pomp,  and  feast,  and  revelry, 

With  mask  and  antique  pageantry  ; 

Such  sights  as  youthful  poets  dream 

On  summer  eves  by  haunted  stream.  130 

Then  to  the  well-trod  stage  anon, 

If  Jonson's  learned  sock  be  on, 

Or  sweetest  Shakespeare,  Fancy's  child, 

Warble  his  native  wood-notes  wild. 

And  ever,  against  eating  cares, 

Lap  me  in  soft  Lydian  airs, 

Married  to  immortal  verse, 

Such  as  the  meeting  soul  may  pierce, 

In  notes  with  many  a  winding  bout 

Of  linked  sweetness  long  drawn  out  140 

With  wanton  heed  and  giddy  cunning, 

The-  melting  voice  through  mazes  running, 


IL  PENSEROSO.  n 

Untwisting  all  the  chains  that  tie 

The  hidden  soul  of  harmony  ; 

That  Orpheus'  self  may  heave  his  head 

From  golden  slumber  on  a  bed 

Of  heaped  Elysian  flowers,  and  hear 

Such  strains  as  would  have  won  the  ear 

Of  Pluto  to  have  quite  set  free 

His  half-regained  Eurydice.  150 

These  delights  if  thou  canst  give, 

Mirth,  with  thee  I  mean  to  live. 


IL  PENSEROSO. 

HENCE,  vain  deluding  Joys, 

The  brood  of  Folly  without  father  bred  ! 
How  little  you  bested, 

Or  fill  the  fixed  mind  with  all  your  toys  ! 
Dwell  in  some  idle  brain, 

And  fancies  fond  with  gaudy  shapes  possess, 
As  thick  and  numberless 

As  the  gay  motes  that  people  the  sun-beams, 
Or  likest  hovering  dreams, 

The  fickle  pensioners  of  Morpheus'  train.  10 

But,  hail !  thou  Goddess  sage  and  holy  ! 
Hail,  divinest  Melancholy  ! 
Whose  saintly  visage  is  too  bright 
To  hit  the  sense  of  human  sight, 
And  therefore  to  our  weaker  view 
O'erlaid  with  black,  staid  Wisdom's  hue  ; 
Black,  but  such  as  in  esteem 
Prince  Memnon's  sister  might  beseem, 
Or  that  starred  Ethiop  queen  that  strove 
To  set  her  beauty's  praise  above  20 


12  IL  PENSEROSO. 

The  Sea-Nymphs,  and  their  powers  offended. 

Yet  thou  art  higher  far  descended  : 

Thee  bright-haired  Vesta  long  of  yore 

To  solitary  Saturn  bore  ; 

His  daughter  she  ;  in  Saturn's  reign 

Such  mixture  was  not  held  a  stain. 

Oft  in  glimmering  bowers  and  glades 

He  met  her,  and  in  secret  shades 

Of  woody  Ida's  inmost  grove, 

Whilst  yet  there  was  no  fear  of  Jove.  30 

Come,  pensive  Nun,  devout  and  pure, 

Sober,  steadfast,  and  demure, 

All  in  a  robe  of  darkest  grain, 

Flowing  with  majestic  train, 

And  sable  stole  of  cypress  lawn 

Over  thy  decent  shoulders  drawn. 

Come  ;  but  keep  thy  wonted  state, 

With  even  step,  and  musing  gait, 

And  looks  commercing  with  the  skies, 

Thy  rapt  soul  sitting  in  thine  eyes :  40 

There,  held  in  holy  passion  still, 

Forget  thyself  to  marble,  till 

With  a  sad  leaden  downward  cast 

Thou  fix  them  on  the  earth  as  fast. 

And  join  with  thee  calm  Peace  and  Quiet, 

Spare  Fast,  that  oft  with  gods  doth  diet, 

And  hears  the  Muses  in  a  ring 

Aye  round  about  Jove's  altar  sing  ; 

And  add  to  these  retired  Leisure, 

That  in  trim  gardens  takes  his  pleasure ;  50 

But,  first  and  chiefest,  with  thee  bring 

Him  that  yon  soars  on  golden  wing, 

Guiding  the  fiery-wheeled  throne, 

The  Cherub  Contemplation ; 

And  the  mute  Silence  hist  along, 

'Less  Philomel  will  deign  a  song. 


IL  PENSEROSO.  J  3 

In  her  sweetest  saddest  plight, 

Smoothing  the  rugged  brow  of  Night, 

While  Cynthia  checks  her  dragon  yoke 

Gently  o'er  the  accustomed  oak.  60 

Sweet  bird,  that  shunn'st  the  noise  of  folly, 

Most  musical,  most  melancholy  ! 

Thee,  chauntress,  oft  the  woods  among 

I  woo,  to  hear  thy  even-song ; 

And,  missing  thee,  I  walk  unseen 

On  the  dry  smooth-shaven  green, 

To  behold  the  wandering  moon, 

Biding  near  her  highest  noon, 

Like  one  that  had  been  led  astray 

Through  the  heaven's  wide  pathless  way,  70 

And  oft,  as  if  her  head  she  bowed, 

Stooping  through  a  fleecy  cloud. 

Oft,  on  a  plat  of  rising  ground, 

I  hear  the  far-off  curfew  sound, 

Over  some  wide-watered  shore, 

Swinging  slow  with  sullen  roar ; 

Or,  if  the  air  will  not  permit, 

Some  still  removed  place  will  fit, 

Where  glowing  embers  through  the  room 

Teach  light  to  counterfeit  a  gloom,  80 

Far  from  all  resort  of  mirth, 

Save  the  cricket  on  the  hearth, 

Or  the  bellman's  drowsy  charm 

To  bless  the  doors  from  nightly  harm. 

Or  let  my  lamp,  at  midnight  hour, 

Be  seen  in  some  high  lonely  tower, 

Where  I  may  oft  outwatch  the  Bear, 

With  thrice  great  Hermes,  or  unsphere 

The  spirit  of  Plato,  to  unfold 

What  worlds  or  what  vast  regions  hold  90 

The  immortal  mind  that  hath  forsook 

Her  mansion  in  this  fleshly  nook ; 


14  IL  PENSEROSO. 

And  of  those  demons  that  are  found 

In  fire,  air,  flood,  or  underground, 

Whose  power  hath  a  true  consent 

With  planet  or  with  element. 

Sometime  let  gorgeous  Tragedy 

In  sceptred  pall  come  sweeping  by, 

Presenting  Thebes,  or  Pelops'  line, 

Or  the  tale  of  Troy  divine,  100 

Or  what  (though  rare)  of  later  age 

Ennobled  hath  the  buskined  stage. 

But,  O  sad  Virgin  !  that  thy  power 

Might  raise  Musseus  from  his  bower ; 

Or  bid  the  soul  of  Orpheus  sing 

Such  notes  as,  warbled  to  the  string, 

Drew  iron  tears  down  Pluto's  cheek, 

And  made  Hell  grant  what  love  did  seek  ; 

Or  call  up  him  that  left  half-told 

The  story  of  Cambuscan  bold,  110 

Of  Camball,  and  of  Algarsife, 

And  who  had  Canace"  to  wife, 

That  owned  the  virtuous  ring  and  glass, 

And  of  the  wondrous  horse  of  brass 

On  which  the  Tartar  king  did  ride  ; 

And  if  aught  else  great  bards  beside 

In  sage  and  solemn  tunes  have  sung, 

Of  turneys,  and  of  trophies  hung, 

Of  forests,  and  enchantments  drear, 

Where  more  is  meant  than  meets  the  ear.  120 

Thus,  Night,  oft  see  me  in  thy  pale  career, 

Till  civil-suited  Morn  appear, 

Not  tricked  and  frounced,  as  she  was  wont 

With  the  Attic  boy  to  hunt, 

But  kerchieft  in  a  comely  cloud, 

While  rocking  winds  are  piping  loud, 

Or  ushered  with  a  shower  still, 

When  the  gust  hath  blown  his  fill, 


IL  PENSEROSO.  15 

Ending  on  the  rustling  leaves, 

With  minute-drops  from  off  the  eaves.  130 

And,  when  the  sun  begins  to  fling 

His  flaring  beams,  me,  Goddess,  bring 

To  arched  walks  of  twilight  groves, 

And  shadows  brown,  that  Sylvan  loves, 

Of  pine,  or  monumental  oak, 

Where  the  rude  axe  with  heaved  stroke 

Was  never  heard  the  nymphs  to  daunt, 

Or  fright  them  from  their  hallowed  haunt. 

There,  in  close  covert,  by  some  brook, 

Where  no  profaner  eye  may  look,  140 

Hide  me  from  day's  garish  eye, 

While  the  bee  with  honeyed  thigh, 

That  at  her  flowery  work  doth  sing, 

And  the  waters  murmuring, 

With  such  consort  as  they  keep, 

Entice  the  dewy-feathered  Sleep. 

And  let  some  strange  mysterious  dream 

Wave  at  his  wings,  in  airy  stream 

Of  lively  portraiture  displayed, 

Softly  on  my  eyelids  laid  ;  150 

And,  as  I  wake,  sweet  music  breathe 

Above,  about,  or  underneath, 

Sent  by  some  Spirit  to  mortals  good, 

Or  the  unseen  Genius  of  the  wood. 

But  let  my  due  feet  never  fail 

To  walk  the  studious  cloister's  pale, 

And  love  the  high  embowed  roof, 

With  antique  pillars  massy  proof, 

And  storied  windows  richly  dight, 

Casting  a  dim  religious  light.  160 

There  let  the  pealing  organ  blow, 

To  the  full-voiced  quire  below, 

In  service  high  and  anthems  clear, 

As  may  with  sweetness,  through  mine  ear, 


16  ARCADES. 

Dissolve  me  into  ecstasies, 

And  bring  all  Heaven  before  mine  eyes. 

And  may  at  last  my  weary  age 

Find  out  the  peaceful  hermitage, 

The  hairy  gown  and  mossy  cell, 

Where  I  may  sit  and  rightly  spell  170 

Of  every  star  that  heaven  doth  shew, 

And  every  herb  that  sips  the  dew, 

Till  old  experience  do  attain 

To  something  like  prophetic  strain. 

These  pleasures,  Melancholy,  give  ; 

And  I  with  thee  will  choose  to  live. 


ARCADES. 

Part  of  an  Entertainment  presented  to  the  Countess  Dowager 
of  Derby  at  Harefield  by  some  Noble  Persons  of  her 
Family;  who  appear  on  the  Scene  in  pastoral  habit  ^ 
moving  toward  the  seat  of  state,  with  this  song  ; 

I.  Song. 

LOOK,  Nymphs  and  Shepherds,  look  ! 
What  sudden  blaze  of  majesty 
Is  that  which  we  from  hencfe  descry, 
Too  divine  to  be  mistook  ? 

This,  this  is  she 

To  whom  our  vows  and  wishes  bend  : 
Here  our  solemn  search  hath  end. 

Fame,  that  her  high  worth  to  raise 

Seemed  erst  so  lavish  and  profuse, 

We  may  justly  now  accuse  10 

Of  detraction  from  her  praise : 


ARCADES.  17 

Less  than  half  we  find  expressed ; 
Envy  bid  conceal  the  rest. 

Mark  what  radiant  state  she  spreads, 
In  circle  round  her  shining  throne 
Shooting  her  beams  like  silver  threads : 
This,  this  is  she  alone, 

Sitting  like  a  goddess  bright 

In  the  centre  of  her  light. 

Might  she  the  wise  Latona  be,  20 

Or  the  towered  Cybele, 
Mother  of  a  hundred  gods? 
Juno  dares  not  give  her  odds  : 

Who  had  thought  this  clime  had  held 

A  deity  so  unparalleled  ? 

As  they  come  forward,  THE  GENIUS  OF  THE  WOOD  appears, 
and,  turning  toward  them. 


Gen.  Stay,  gentle  Swains,  for,  though  in  this  disguise, 
I  see  bright  honour  sparkle  through  your  eyes  ; 
Of  famous  Arcady  ye  are,  and  sprung 
Of  that  renowned  flood,  so  often  sung, 
Divine  Alpheus,  who,  by  secret  sluice,  30 

Stole  under  seas  to  meet  his  Arethuse  ; 
And  ye,  the  breathing  roses  of  the  wood, 
Fair  silver-buskined  Nymphs,  as  great  and  good. 
I  know  this  quest  of  yours  and  free  intent 
Was  all  in  honour  and  devotion  meant 
To  the  great  mistress  of  yon  princely  shrine, 
Whom  with  low  reverence  I  adore  as  mine, 
And  with  all  helpful  service  will  comply 
To  further  this  night's  glad  solemnity, 
And  lead  ye  where  ye  may  more  near  behold  40 

Wrhat  shallow-searching  Fame  hath  left  untold  ; 
Which  I  full  oft,  amidst  these  shades  alone, 


18  ARCADES. 

Have  sat  to  wonder  at,  and  gaze  upon. 

For  know,  by  lot  from  Jove,  I  am  the  Power 

Of  this  fair  wood,  and  live  in  oaken  bower, 

To  nurse  the  saplings  tall,  and  curl  the  grove 

With  ringlets  quaint  and  wanton  windings  wove  ; 

And  all  my  plants  I  save  from  nightly  ill 

Of  noisome  winds  and  blasting  vapours  chill  ; 

And  from  the  boughs  brush  off  the  evil  dew,  50 

And  heal  the  harms  of  thwarting  thunder  blue, 

Or  what  the  cross  dire-looking  planet  smites, 

Or  hurtful  worm  with  cankered  venom  bites. 

When  evening  grey  doth  rise,  I  fetch  my  round 

Over  the  mount,  and  all  this  hallowed  ground  ; 

And  early,  ere  the  odorous  breath  of  morn 

Awakes  the  slumbering  leaves,  or  tassel  led  horn 

Shakes  the  high  thicket,  haste  I  all  about, 

Number  my  ranks,  and  visit  every  sprout 

With  puissant  words  and  murmurs  made  to  bless.  60 

But  else,  in  deep  of  night,  when  drowsiness 

Hath  locked  up  mortal  sense,  then  listen  I 

To  the  celestial  Sirens'  harmony, 

That  sit  upon  the  nine  infolded  spheres, 

And  sing  to  those  that  hold  the  vital  shears, 

And  turn  the  adamantine  spindle  round 

On  which  the  fate  of  gods  and  men  is  wound. 

Such  sweet  compulsion  doth  in  music  lie, 

To  lull  the  daughters  of  Necessity, 

And  keep  unsteady  Nature  to  her  law,  70 

And  the  low  world  in  measured  motion  draw 

After  the  heavenly  tune,  which  none  can  hear 

Of  human  mould  with  gross  unpurged  ear. 

And  yet  such  music  worthiest  were  to  blaze 

The  peerless  height  of  her  immortal  praise 

Whose  lustre  leads  us,  and  for  her  most  fit, 

If  my  inferior  hand  or  voice  could  hit 

Inimitable  sounds.     Yet,  as  we  go, 


ARCADES.  19 

Whate'er  the  skill  of  lesser  gods  can  show 

I  will  assay,  her  worth  to  celebrate,  80 

And  so  attend  ye  toward  her  glittering  state  ; 

Where  ye  may  all,  that  are  of  noble  stem, 

Approach,  and  kiss  her  sacred  vesture's  hem. 

II.  Song. 

O'er  the  smooth  enamelled  green, 
Where  no  print  of  step  hath  been, 
Follow  me,  as  I  sing 
And  touch  the  warbled  string  ; 
Under  the  shady  roof 
Of  branching  elm  star-proof 

Follow  me.  90 

I  will  bring  you  where  she  sits, 
Clad  in  splendour  as  befits 

Her  deity. 
Such  a  rural  Queen 
All  Arcadia  hath  not  seen. 

III.  Song. 

Nymphs  and  Shepherds,  dance  no  more 

By  sandy  Ladon's  lilied  banks  ; 
On  old  Lycseus,  or  Cyllene  hoar, 

Trip  no  more  in  twilight  ranks  ; 
Though  Erymanth  your  loss  deplore,  100 

A  better  soil  shall  give  ye  thanks. 
From  the  stony  Maenalus 
Bring  your  flocks,  and  live  with  us  ; 
Here  ye  shall  have  greater  grace, 
To  serve  the  Lady  of  this  place. 
Though  Syrinx  your  Pan's  mistress  were, 
Yet  Syrinx  well  might  wait  on  her. 

Such  a  rural  Queen 

All  Arcadia  hath  not  seen. 


20  LYCIDAS. 

LYCIDAS. 

In  this  Monody  the  Author  bewails  a  learned  Friend,  unfortunately 
drowned  in  his  passage  from  Chester  on  the  Irish  Seas,  1637 ;  and, 
by  occasion,  foretells  the  ruin  of  our  corrupted  Clergy,  then  in 
their  height. 

YET  once  more,  O  ye  laurels,  and  once  more. 

Ye  myrtles  brown,  with  ivy  never  sere, 

I  come  to  pluck  your  berries  harsh  and  crude, 

And  with  forced  fingers  rude 

.Shatter  your  leaves  before  the  mellowing  year. 

Bitter  constraint  and  sad  occasion  dear 

Compels  me  to  disturb  your  season  due  ; 

For  Lycidas  is  dead,  dead  ere  his  prime, 

Young  Lycidas,  and  hath  not  left  his  peer. 

~Who  would  not  sing  for  Lycidas  ?  he  knew  10 

Himself  to  sing,  and  build  the  lofty  rhyme. 

He  must  not  float  upon  his  watery  bier 

Unwept,  and  welter  to  the  parching  wind, 

Without  the  meed  of  some  melodious  tear.  X"" 

Y/ 

Begin,  then,  Sisters  of  the  sacred  well 
That  from  beneath  the  seat  of  Jove  doth  spring ; 
Begin,  and  somewhat  loudly  sweep  the  string. 
Hence  with  denial  vain  and  coy  excuse  : 
,So  may  some  gentle  Muse 

With  lucky  words  favour  my  destined  urn,  20 

And  as  he  passes  turn, 
And  bid  fair  peace  be  to  my  sable  shroud  j^X 

For  we  were  nursed  upon  the  self-same  hill, 
Fed  the  same  flock,  by  fountain,  shade,  and  rill ; 
Together  both,  ere  the  high  lawns  appeared 
Under  the  opening  eyelids  of  the  Morn, 
We  drove  a-field,  and  both  together  heard 
What  time  the  grey-fly  winds  her  sultry  horn, 
Battening  our  flocks  with  the  fresh  dews  of  night, 
'Oft  till  the  star  that  rose  at  evening  bright  30 


LYCIDAS.  21 

Toward  heaven's  descent  had  sloped  his  westering  wheel. 
Meanwhile  the  rural  ditties  were  not  mute, 
Tempered  to  the  oaten  flute  ; 

Rough  Satyrs  danced,  and  Fauns  with  cloven  heel 
From  the  glad  sound  would  not  be  absent  long  ; 
And  old  Damcetas  loved  to  hear  our  song^X 

But,  oh  !  the  heavy  change,  now  thou  art  gone, 
Now  thou  art  gone  and  never  must  return  ! 
Thee,  Shepherd,  thee  the  woods  and  desert  caves, 
With  wild  thyme  and  the  gadding  vine  o'ergrown,          40 
And  all  their  echoes,  mourn. 
The  willows,  and  the  hazel  copses  green, 
Shall  now  no  more  be  seen 
Fanning  their  joyous  leaves  to  thy  soft  lays. 
As  killing  as  the  canker  to  the  rose, 
Or  taint-worm  to  the  weanling  herds  that  graze, 
Or  frost  to  flowers,  that  their  gay  wardrobe  wear, 
When  first  the  white-thorn  blows  ; 
Such,  Lycidas,  thy  loss  to  shepherd's  ear(>xx^ 

Where  were  ye,  Nymphs,  when  the  remorseless  deep  5l> 
Closed  o'er  the  head  of  your  loved  Lycidas  ? 
For  neither  were  ye  playing  on  the  steep 
Where  your  old  bards,  the  famous  Druids,  lie, 
Nor  on  the  shaggy  top  of  Mona  high, 
Nor  yet  where  Deva  spreads  her  wizard  stream. 
Ay  me  !     I  fondly  dream 

"  Had  ye  been  there,"  ...  for  what  could  that  have  done  ?, 
What  could  the  Muse  herself  that  Orpheus  bore, 
The  Muse  herself,  for  her  enchanting  son, 
Whom  universal  nature  did  lament,  60 

When,  by  the  rout  that  made  the  hideous  roar, 
His  gory  visage  down  the  stream  was  sent, 
Down  the  swift  Hebrus  to  the  Lesbian  shore  ?  / 

Alas  !  what  boots  it  with  uncessant  care 
To  tend  the  homely,  slighted,  shepherd's  trade, 
And  strictly  meditate  the  thankless  Muse? 


22 


LYCIDAS. 


Were  it  not  better  done,  as  others  use, 

To  sport  with  Amaryllis  in  the  shade, 

Or  with  the  tangles  of  Nesera's  hair  ? 

Fame  is  the  spur  that  the  clear  spirit  doth  raise  70 

(That  last  infirmity  of  noble  mind) 

To  scorn  delights  and  live  laborious  days  ; 

But  the  fair  guerdon  when  we  hope  to  find, 

And  think  to  burst  out  into  sudden  blaze, 

Comes  the  blind  Fury  with  the  abhorred  shears. 

And  slits  the  thin-spun  life.     "  But  not  the  praise," 

Phoebus  replied,  and  touched  my  trembling  ears  : 

"Fame  is  no  plant  that  grows  on  mortal  soil, 

Nor  in  the  glistering  foil 

Set  off  to  the  world,  nor  in  broad  rumour  lies,  80 

But  lives  and  spreads  aloft  by  those  pure  eyes 

And  perfect  witness  of  all-judging  Jove  ; 

As  he  pronounces  lastly  on  each  deed, 

Of  so  much  fame  in  heaven  expect  thy  meed" 

O  fountain  Arethuse,  and  thou  honoured  flood, 
Smooth-sliding  Mincius,  crowned  with  vocal  reeds, 
That  strain  I  heard  was  of  a  higher  mood. 
But  now  my  oat  proceeds, 
And  listens  to  the  Herald  of  the  Sea, 
That  came  in  Neptune's  plea.  90 

He  asked  the  waves,  and  asked  the  felon  winds, 
What  hard  mishap  hath  doomed  this  gentle  swain? 
And  questioned  every  gust  of  rugged  wings 
That  blows  off  from  each  beaked  promontory. 
They  knew  not  of  his  story  ; 
And  sage  Hippotades  their  answer  brings, 
That  not  a  blast  was  from  his  dungeon  strayed  : 
The  air  was  calm,  and  on  the  level  brine 
Sleek  Panopd  with  all  her  sisters  played. 
It  was  that  fatal  and  perfidious  bark,  100 

Built  in  the  eclipse,  and  rigged  with  curses  dark, 
That  sunk  so  low  that  sacred  head  of  thine. 


LYCIDAS. 


23 


Next,  Camus,  reverend  sire,  went  footing  slow, 
His  mantle  hairy,  and  his  bonnet  sedge, 
Inwrought  with  figures  dim,  and  on  the  edge 
Like  to  that  sanguine  flower  inscribed  with  woe. 
"  Ah  !  who  hath  reft,"  quoth  he,  "  my  dearest  pledge  ? " 
Last  came,  and  last  did  go, 
The  Pilot  of  the  Galilean  Lake  ; 

Two  massy  keys  he  bore  of  metals  twain  110 

(The  golden  opes,  the  iron  shuts  amain). 
He  shook  his  mitred  locks,  and  stern  bespake  : — 
"  How  well  could  I  have  spared  for  thee,  young  swain. 
Enow  of  such  as,  for  their  bellies'  sake, 
Creep,  and  intrude,  and  climb  into  the  fold  ! 
Of  other  care  they  little  reckoning  make 
Than  how  to  scramble  at  the  shearers'  feast, 
And  shove  away  the  worthy  bidden  guest. 
Blind  mouths  !  that  scarce  themselves  know  how  to  hold 
A  sheep-hook,  or  have  learnt  aught  else  the  least  120 

That  to  the  faithful  herdman's  art  belongs  ! 
What  recks  it  them  ?     What  need  they  ?    They  are  sped  ; 
And,  when  they  list,  their  lean  and  flashy  songs 
Grate  on  their  scrannel  pipes  of  wretched  straw  ; 
The  hungry  sheep  look  up,  and  are  not  fed, 
But,  swoln  with  wind  and  the  rank  mist  they  draw, 
Hot  inwardly,  and  foul  contagion  spread ; 
Besides  what  the  grim  wolf  with  privy  paw 
Daily  devours  apace,  and  nothing  said. 
But  that  two-handed  engine  at  the  door  130 

Stands  ready  to  smite  once,  and  smite  no  more." 

Return,  Alpheus ;  the  dread  voice  is  past 
That  shrunk  thy  streams  ;  return  Sicilian  Muse, 
And  call  the  vales,  and  bid  them  hither  cast 
Their  bells  and  flowerets  of  a  thousand  hues. 
Ye  valleys  low,  where  the  mild  whispers  use 
Of  shades,  and  wanton  winds,  and  gushing  brooks, 
On  whose  fresh  lap  the  swart  star  sparely  looks, 


24  LYCIDAS. 

Throw  hither  all  your  quaint  enamelled  eyes, 

That  on  the  green  turf  suck  the  honeyed  showers,         140 

And  purple  all  the  ground  with  vernal  flowers. 

Bring  the  rathe  primrose  that  forsaken  dies, 

The  tufted  crow-toe,  and  pale  jessamine, 

The  white  pink,  and  the  pansy  freaked  with  jet, 

The  glowing  violet, 

The  musk-rose,  and  the  well-attired  woodbine, 

With  cowslips  wan  that  hang  the  pensive  head, 

And  every  flower  that  sad  embroidery  wears ; 

Bid  amaranthus  all  his  beauty  shed, 

And  dafladillies  fill  their  cups  with  tears,  150 

To  strew  the  laureate  hearse  where  Lycid  lies. 

For  so,  to  interpose  a  little  ease, 

Let  our  frail  thoughts  dally  with  false  surmise, 

Ay  me  !  whilst  thee  the  shores  and  sounding  seas 

Wash  far  away,  where'er  thy  bones  are  hurled ; 

Whether  beyond  the  stormy  Hebrides, 

Where  thou  perhaps  under  the  whelming  tide 

Visit'st  the  bottom  of  the  monstrous  world  ; 

Or  whether  thou,  to  our  moist  vows  denied, 

Sleep'st  by  the  fable  of  Bellerus  old,  160 

Where  the  great  Vision  of  the  guarded,  mount 

Looks  toward  Namancos  and  Bayona's  hold. 

Look  homeward,  Angel,  now,  and  melt  with  ruth  : 

And,  O  ye  dolphins,  waft  the  hapless  youth. 

Weep  no  more,  woful  shepherds,  weep  no  more, 
For  Lycidas,  your  sorrow,  is  not  dead,  , 

Sunk  though  he  be  beneath  the  watery  floor. 
So  sinks  the  day-star  in  the  ocean  bed, 
And  yet  anon  repairs  his  drooping  head, 
And  tricks  his  beams,  and  with  new-spangled  ore          170 
Flames  in  the  forehead  of  the  morning  sky  : 
So  Lycidas  sunk  low,  but  mounted  high, 
Through  the  dear  might  of  Him  that  walked  the  waves, 
Where,  other  groves  and  other  streams  along, 


LYCIDAS.  25> 

With  nectar  pure  his  oozy  locks  he  luves, 

And  hears  the  unexpressive  nuptial  song, 

In  the  blest  kingdoms  meek  of  joy  and  love. 

There  entertain  him  all  the  Saints  above, 

In  solemn  troops,  and  sweet  societies, 

That  sing,  and  singing  in  their  glory  move,  160* 

And  wipe  the  tears  for  ever  from  his  eyes. 

Now,  Lycidas,  the  shepherds  weep  no  more  j 

Henceforth  thou  art  the  Genius  of  the  shore,- 

In  thy  large  recompense,  and  shalt  be  good 

To  all  that  wander  in  that  perilous  flood. 

Thus  sang  the  uncouth  swain  to  the  oaks  and  rills> 
While  the  still  morn  went  out  with  sandals  grey  : 
He  touched  the  tender  stops  of  various  quills, 
With  eager  thought  warbling  his  Doric  lay  : 
And  now  the  sun  had  stretched  out  all  the  hills,  190' 

And  now  was  dropt  into  the  western  bay. 
At  last  he  rose,  and  twitched  his  mantle  blue  : 
To-morrow  to  fresh  woods,  and  pastures  new. 


SONNETS. 


[TO   THE   NIGHTINGALE.] 

0  NIGHTINGALE  that  on  yon  bloomy  spray 

Warblest  at  eve,  when  all  the  woods  are  still, 
Thou  with  fresh  hope  the  lover's  heart  dost  fill, 
While  the  jolly  hours  lead  on  propitious  May. 

Thy  liquid  notes  that  close  the  eye  of  day, 

First  heard  before  the  shallow  cuckoo's  bill, 

Portend  success  in  love.     O,  if  Jove's  will 

Have  linked  that  amorous  power  to  thy  soft  lay, 


26  SONNETS. 

Now  timely  sing,  ere  the  rude  bird  of  hate 

Foretell  my  hopeless  doom,  in  some  grove  nigh ;        10 
As  thou  from  year  to  year  hast  sung  too  late 

For  my  relief,  yet  hadst  no  reason  why. 

Whether  the  Muse  or  Love  call  thee  his  mate, 
Both  them  I  serve,  and  of  their  train  am  I. 


ii. 

[ON    HIS    HAVING   ARRIVED    AT   THE   AGE   OF 
TWENTY-THREE.] 

How  soon  hath  Time,  the  subtle  thief  of  youth, 

Stolen  611  his  wing  my  three-and-twentieth  year! 

My  hasting  days  fly  on  with  full  career, 

But  my  late  spring  no  bud  or  blossom  shew'th. 

Perhaps  my  semblance  might  deceive  the  truth 
That  I  to,  manhood  am  arrived  so  near ; 
And  inward  ripeness  doth  much  less  appear, 
That  some  more  timely-happy  spirits  endu'th. 

Yet,  be  it  less  or  more,  or  soon  or  slow, 

It  shall  be  still  in  strictest  measure  even  10 

To  that  same  lot,  however  mean  or  high, 

Toward  which  Time  leads  me,  and  the  will  of  Heaven  ; 
All  is,  if  I  have  grace  to  use  it  so, 
As  ever  in  my  great  Task-Master's  eye. 


VIII. 
WHEN   THE   ASSAULT   WAS   INTENDED   TO   THE   CITY. 

CAPTAIN  or  Colonel,  or  Knight  in  Arms, 

Whose  chance  on  these  defenceless  doors  may  seize, 

If  deed  of  honour  did  thee  ever  please, 

Guard  them,  and  him  within  protect  from  harms. 

He  can  requite  thee ;  for  he  knows  the  charms 
That  call  fame  on  such  gentle  acts  as  these, 


SONNETS.  27 

And  he  can  spread  thy  name  o'er  lands  and  seas, 
Whatever  clime  the  sun's  bright  circle  warms. 

Lift  not  thy  spear  against  the  Muses'  bower: 

The  great  Emathian  conqueror  bid  spare  10 

The  house  of  Pindarus,  when  temple  and  tower 

Went  to  the  ground  ;  and  the  repeated  air 
Of  sad  Electra's  poet  had  the  power 
To  save  the  Athenian  walls  from  ruin  bare. 


IX. 
[TO  A  VIRTUOUS   YOUNG   LADY.] 

LADY,  that  in  the  prime  of  earliest  youth 

Wisely  hast  shunned  the  broad  way  and  the  green, 
And  with  those  few  art  eminently  seen 
That  labour  up  the  hill  of  heavenly  Truth, 

The  better  part  with  Mary  arid  with  Euth 

Chosen  thou  hast ;  and  they  that  overween, 
And  at  thy  growing  virtues  fret  their  spleen, 
No  anger  find  in  thee,  but  pity  and  ruth. 

Thy  care  is  fixed,  and  zealously  attends 

To  fill  thy  odorous  lamp  with  deeds  of  light,  10 

And  hope  that  reaps  not  shame.     Therefore  be  sure 

Thou,  when  the  Bridegroom  with  his  feastful  friends 
Passes  to  bliss  at  the  mid-hour  of  night, 
Hast  gained  thy  entrance,  Virgin  wise  and  pure. 

x. 

TO   THE   LADY   MARGARET   LEY. 

DAUGHTER  to  that  good  Earl,  once  President 
Of  England's  Council  and  her  Treasury, 
Who  lived  in  both  unstained  with  gold  or  fee, 
And  left  them  both,  more  in  himself  content, 

Till  the  sad  breaking  of  that  Parliament 


28 


SONNETS. 


Broke  him,  as  that  dishonest  victory 

At  Chseronea,  fatal  to  liberty, 

Killed  with  report  that  old  man  eloquent, 

Though  later  born  than  to  have  known  the  days 
Wherein  your  father  flourished,  yet  by  you, 
Madam,  methinks  I  see  him  living  yet : 

So  well  your  words  his  noble  virtues  praise 
That  all  both  judge  you  to  relate  him  true 
And  to  possess  them,  honoured  Margaret. 


10 


XI. 

ON  THE   DETRACTION   WHICH   FOLLOWED   UPON   MY 
WRITING   CERTAIN   TREATISES. 

A  BOOK  was  writ  of  late  called  Tetrachordon, 

And  woven  close,  both  matter,  form,  and  style; 
The  subject  new :  it  walked  the  town  awhile, 
Numbering  good  intellects;  now  seldom  pored  on. 

Cries  the  stall-reader,  "Bless  us!  what  a  word  on 
A  title-page  is  this ! " ;  and  some  in  file 
Stand  spelling  false,  while  one  might  walk  to  Mile- 
End  Green.     Why,  is  it  harder,  sirs,  than  Gordon^ 

Colkitto,  or  Macdonnel,  or  Galasp?  9 

Those  rugged  names  to  our  like  mouths  grow  sleek 
That  would  have  made  Quintilian  stare  and  gasp. 

Thy  age,  like  ours,  O  soul  of  Sir  John  Cheek, 
Hated  not  learning  worse  than  toad  or  asp, 
When    thou    taught'st    Cambridge    and  King  Edward 
Greek. 


XII. 
ON   THE   SAME. 


I  DID  but  prompt  the  age  to  quit  their  clogs 
By  the  known  rules  of  ancient  liberty, 
When  straight  a  barbarous  noise  environs  me 


SONNETS.  29 

i 

Of  owls  and  cuckoos,  asses,  apes,  and  dogs  ; 

As  when  those  hinds  that  were  transformed  to  frogs 
Railed  at  Latona's  twin-born  progeny, 
Which  after  held  the  Sun  and  Moon  in  fee. 
But  this  is  got  by  casting  pearl  to  hogs, 

That  bawl  for  freedom  in  their  senseless  mood, 

And  still  revolt  when  Truth  would  set  them  free.    10 
Licence  they  mean  when  they  cry  Liberty  ; 

For  who  loves  that  must  first  be  wise  and  good  : 
But  from  that  mark  how  far  they  rove  we  see, 
For  all  this  waste  of  wealth  and  loss  of  blood. 


xna. 

ON  THE  NEW  FORCERS  OF  CONSCIENCE  UNDER  THE  LONG 
PARLIAMENT. 

BKCAUSE  you  have  thrown  off  your  Prelate  Lord, 
And  with  stiff  vows  renounced  his  Liturgy, 
To  seize  the  widowed  whore  Plurality 
From  them  whose  sin  ye  envied,  not  abhorred, 

Dare  ye  for  this  adjure  the  civil  sword 

To  force  our  consciences  that  Christ  set  free, 
And  ride  us  with  a  Classic  Hierarchy, 
Taught  ye  by  mere  A.  S.  and  Rutherford? 

Men  whose  life,  learning,  faith,  and  pure  intent, 

Would  have  been  held  in  high  esteem  with  Paul      10 
Must  now  be  named  and  printed  heretics 

By  shallow  Edwards  and  Scotch  What-d'ye-call ! 
But  we  do  hope  to  find  out  all  your  tricks, 
Your  plots  and  packing,  worse  than  those  of  Trent, 
That  so  the  Parliament 

May  with  their  wholesome  and  preventive  shears 

Clip  your  phylacteries,  though  baulk  your  ears, 

And  succour  our  just  fears, 

When  they  shall  read  this  clearly  in  your  charge  : 

New  Presbyter  is  but  old  Priest  writ  large.  20 


30 


SONNETS. 

XIII. 
TO    MR.    II.    LAWES,    ON    HIS   AIRS. 


HARRY,  whose  tuneful  and  well-measured  song 
First  taught  our  English  music  how  to  span 
Words  with  just  note  and  accent,  not  to  scan 
With  Midas'  ears,  committing  short  and  long, 

Thy  worth  and  skill  exempts  thee  from  the  throng, 
With  praise  enough  for  Envy  to  look  wan  ; 
To  after  age  thou  shalt  be  writ  the  man 
That  with  smooth  air  couldst  humour  best  our  tongue. 

Thou  honour'st  Verse,  and  Verse  must  lend  her  wing 

To  honour  thee,  the  priest  of  Phoebus'  quire,  10 

That  tunest  their  happiest  lines  in  hymn  or  story. 

Dante  shall  give  Fame  leave  to  set  thee  higher 
Than  his  Casella,  whom  he  wooed  to  sing, 
Met  in  the  milder  shades  of  Purgatory. 


XIV. 

ON   THE   RELIGIOUS   MEMORY   OF   MRS.    CATHERINE   THOMSON, 
MY   CHRISTIAN   FRIEND,    DECEASED    DEC.    16,    1646. 

WHEN  Faith  and  Love,  which  parted  from  thee  never, 
Had  ripened  thy  just  soul  to  dwell  with  God, 
Meekly  thou  didst  resign  this  earthy  load 
Of  death,  called  life,  which  us  from  life  doth  sever. 

Thy  works,  and  alms,  and  all  thy  good  endeavour, 
Stayed  not  behind,  nor  in  the  grave  were  trod  ; 
But,  as  Faith  pointed  with  her  golden  rod, 
Followed  thee  up  to  joy  and  bliss  for  ever. 

Love  led  them  on  ;  and  Faith,  who  knew  them  best 

Thy  handmaids,  clad  them  o'er  with  purple  beams   10 
And  azure  wings,  that  up  they  flew  so  drest, 

And  speak  the  truth  of  thee  on  glorious  themes 

Before  the  Judge  ;  who  thenceforth  bid  thee  rest, 
And  drink  thy  fill  of  pure  immortal  streams. 


SONNETS.  31 

xv. 

ON   THE   LORD   GENERAL   FAIRFAX,    AT  THE   SIEGE  OF 
COLCHESTER. 

FAIRFAX,  whose  name  in  arms  through  Europe  rings, 
Filling  each  mouth  with  envy  or  with  praise, 
And  all  her  jealous  monarchs  with  amaze, 
And  rumours  loud  that  daunt  remotest  kings, 

Thy  firm  unshaken  virtue  ever  brings 

Victory  home,  though  new  rebellions  raise 
Their  Hydra  heads,  and  the  false  North  displays 
Her  broken  league  to  imp  their  serpent  wings. 

0  yet  a  nobler  task  awaits  thy  hand 

(For  what  can  war  but  endless  war  still  breed  ?)      10 
Till  truth  and  right  from  violence  be  freed, 

And  public  faith  cleared  from  the  shameful  brand    . 
Of  public  fraud.     In  vain  doth  Valour  bleed, 
While  Avarice  and  Eapine  share  the  land. 


XVI. 

TO   THE   LORD    GENERAL  CROMWELL,   MAY   1652, 

ON   THE   PROPOSALS   OF   CERTAIN   MINISTERS   AT   THE   COMMITTEE 

FOR   PROPAGATION   OF   THE   GOSPEL. 

CROMWELL,  our  chief  of  men,  who  through  a  cloud 
Not  of  war  only,  but  detractions  rude, 
Guided  by  faith  and  matchless  fortitude, 
To  peace  and  truth  thy  glorious  way  hast  ploughed, 

And  on  the  neck  of  crowned  Fortune  proud 

Hast  reared  God's  trophies,  and  his  work  pursued, 
While  Darwen  stream,  with  blood  of  Scots  imbrued, 
And  Dunbar  field,  resounds  thy  praises  loud, 

And  Worcester's  laureate  wreath  :  yet  much  remains 

To  conquer  still  ;  Peace  hath  her  victories  1C 

No  less  renowned  than  War  :  new  foes  arise, 


•32  SONNETS. 

•Threatening  to  bind  our  souls  with  secular  chains. 
Help  us  to  save  free  conscience  from  the  paw 
Of  hireling  wolves,  whose  Gospel  is  their  maw. 


XVII. 
TO    SIR   HENRY    VANE    THE   YOUNGER. 

VANE,  young  in  years,  but  in  sage  counsel  old, 
Than  whom  a  better  senator  ne'er  held 
The  helm  of  Rome,  when  gowns,  not  arms,  repelled 
The  fierce  Epirot,  and  the  African  bold, 

Whether  to  settle  peace,  or  to  unfold 

The  drift  of  hollow  states  hard  to  be  spelled; 
Then  to  advise  how  war  may  best  upheld 
Move  by  her  two  main  nerves,  iron  and  gold, 

In  all  her  equipage  ;  besides,  to  know 

Both  spiritual  power  and  civil,  what  each  means,      10 
What  severs  each,  thou  hast  learned,  which  few  have 
done. 

•The  bounds  of  either  sword  to  thee  we  owe  : 
Therefore  on  thy  firm  hand  Religion  leans 
In  peace,  and  reckons  thee  her  eldest  son. 

xyiii. 

ON  THE   LATE  -MASSACRE   IN   PIEDMONT. 

AVENGE,  O  Lord,  thy  slaughtered  saints,  whose  bones 
Lie  scattered  on  the  Alpine  mountains  cold  ; 
Even  them  who  kept  thy  truth  so  pure  of  old, 
When  all  our  fathers  worshiped  stocks  and  stones, 

Forget  not  :   in  thy  book  record  their  groans 

Who  were  thy  sheep,  and  in  their  ancient  fold 
Slain  by  the  bloody  Piemon-tese,  that  rolled 
Mother  with  infant  down  the  rocks.     Their  moans 

\The  vales  redoubled  to  ,the  ;h£ll^  and  they 


SONETS.  33 

To  heaven.     Their  martyred  blood  and  ashes  sow     10 
O'er  all  the  Italian  fields,  where  still  doth  sway 
The  triple  Tyrant  ;  that  from  these  may  grow 
A  hundredfold,  who,  having  learnt  thy  way, 
Early  may  fly  the  Babylonian  woe. 


XIX. 
[ON    HIS    BLINDNESS.] 

WHEN  I  consider  how  my  light  is  spent 

Ere  half  my  days  in  this  dark  world  and  wide, 
And  that  one  talent  which  is  death  to  hide 
Lodged  with  me  useless,  though  my  soul  more  bent 

To  serve  therewith  my  Maker,  and  present 
My  true  account,  lest  He  returning  chide, 
"  Doth  God  exact  day-labour,  light  denied  ? " 
I  fondly  ask.     But  Patience,  to  prevent 

That  murmur,  soon  replies,  "God  doth  not  need 

Either  man's  work  or  his  own  gifts.  -•   Who  best        10 
Bear  his  mild  yoke,  they  serve  him'best.     His  state 

Is  kingly  :  thousands  at  his  bidding  speed, 

And  post  o'er  land  and  ocean  without  rest ; 
They  also  serve  who  only  stand  and  wait." 


XX. 

[TO   MR.    LAWRENCE.] 

LAWRENCE,  of  virtuous  father  virtuous  son, 

Now  that  the  fields  are  dank,  and  ways  are  mire, 
Where  shall  we  sometimes  meet,  and  by  the  fire 
Help  waste  a  sullen  day,  what  may  be  won 

From  the  hard  season  gaming?    Time  will  run 
On  smoother,  till  Favonius  reinspire 
The  frozen  earth,  and  clothe  in  fresh  attire 
The  lily  and  rose,  that  neither  sowed  nor  spun, 
c 


34 


SONNETS. 


What  neat  repast  shall  feast  us,  light  and  choice, 
Of  Attic  taste,  with  wine,  whence  we  may  rise 
To  hear  the  lute  well  touched,  or  artful  voice 

Warble  immortal  notes  and  Tuscan  air? 

He  who  of  those  delights  can  judge,  and  spare 
To  interpose  them  oft,  is  not  unwise. 


10 


XXI. 
[TO   CYRIACK   SKINNER.] 

CYRIACK,  whose  grandsire  011  the  royal  bench 
Of  British  Themis,  with  no  mean  applause, 
Pronounced,  and  in  his  volumes  taught,  our  laws, 
Which  others  at  their  bar  so  often  wrench, 

To-day  deep  thoughts  resolve  with  me  to  drench 
In  mirth  that  after  no  repenting  draws  ; 
Let  Euclid  rest,  and  Archimedes  pause, 
And  what  the  Swede  intend,  and  what  the  French. 

To  measure  life  learn  thou  betimes,  and  know 

Toward  solid  good  what  leads  the  nearest  way  ; 
For  other  things  mild  Heaven  a  time  ordains, 

And  disapproves  that  care,  though  wise  in  show, 
That  with  superfluous  burden  loads  the  day, 
And,  when  God  sends  a  cheerful  hour,  refrains. 


10 


XXII. 
[TO   THE    SAME.] 

CYRIACK,  this  three  years'  day  these  eyes,  though  clear, 
To  outward  view,  of  blemish  or  of  spot, 
Bereft  of  light,  their  seeing  have  forgot  ; 
Nor  to  their  idle  orbs  doth  sight  appear 

Of  sun,  or  moon,  or  star,  throughout  the  year, 
Or  man,  or  woman.     Yet  I  argue  not 
Against  Heaven's  hand  or  will,  nor  bate  a  jot 


SONNETS.  35 

Of  heart  or  hope,  but  still  bear  up  and  steer 
Eight  onward.     What  supports  me,  dost  thou  ask? 

The  conscience,  friend,  to  have  lost  them  overplied  10 

In  Liberty's  defence,  my  noble  task, 
Of  which  all  Europe  talks  from  side  to  side. 

This  thought  might  lead  me  through  the  world's  vain 
mask 

Content,  though  blind,  had  I  no  better  guide. 


XX  III. 
[TO   THE   MEMORY   OF   HIS   SECOND   WIFE.] 

METHOUGHT  I  saw  my  late  espoused  saint 

Brought  to  me  like  Alcestis  from  the  grave, 
Whom  Jove's  great  son  to  her  glad  husband  gave, 
Rescued  from  Death  by  force,  though  pale  and  faint. 

Mine,  as  whom  washed  from  spot  of  child-bed  taint 
Purification  in  the  Old  Law  did  save, 
And  such  as  yet  once  more  I  trust  to  have 
-  Full  sight  of  her  in  Heaven  without  restraint, 

Came  vested  all  in  white,  pure  as  her  mind. 

/  'Her  face  was  veiled  ;  yet  to  my  fancied  sight  10 

Love,  sweetness,  goodness,  in  her  person  shined 

So  clear  as  in  no  face  with  more  delight. 

But,  oh  !   as  to  embrace  me  she  inclined, 

I  waked,  she  fled,  and  day  brought  back  my  night. 


NOTES. 


SONG  ON  MAY  MORNING. 

This  piece  is  generally  assigned  to  the  first  of  May,  1630. 
Prof.  Masson  is  inclined  to  date  it  three  years  later,  thus  bring 
ing  it  within  the  Horton  group  of  Milton's  earlier  poems.  It 
certainly  associates  itself  with  these  through  its  bright  allusions 
to  the  spring-time  of  external  nature  and  of  human  life ;  and  it 
gives  sure  evidence  of  Milton's  ' '  divine  ear  "  for  metrical  effect. 
The  trochaic  effect  prevails  in  the  lines  in  which  May  is  wel 
comed  ;  compare  the  welcome  to  Mirth  and  Melancholy  in 
L' Allegro  and  II  Penseroso  respectively.  The  contemplative  side 
of  Milton's  youth  does  not  here  reveal  itself ;  we  see  rather  the 
spirit  of  those  days 

"  When  the  fresh  blood  grows  lively,  and  returns 
Brisk  as  the  April  buds  in  primrose  season." 

Comus,  670. 

1 .  morning- star.     The  planet  Venus,  as  the  morning-star,  was 
called  Phosphorus  or  Lucifer  (the   light-bringer),  and,  as  the 
evening-star,  Hesperus.     Hence  Tennyson's  allusion — 

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

In  Memoriam. 

In  Comus  93,  it  is  the  "star  that  bids  the  shepherd's  fold," 
and  in  Lye.  30,  "the  star  that  rose  at  evening  bright."  In  the 
last  of  these  passages  the  pronoun  his  is  applied  to  the  star ;  in 
this  poem  (line  2)  her  is  used.  This  is  in  allusion  to  the  planet 
as  Venus,  fit  companion  for  the  flowery  May. 

harbinger,  forerunner.  This  is  the  current  sense  of  the 
word;  radically,  it  means  'harbourer,'  one  who  goes  before 
another  and  prepares  a  '  harbour  '  or  lodging  for  him  (M.E.  her- 
bergeour).  The  origin  of  the  word  is  disguised  by  the  intrusion 
of  the  letter  n,  as  in  messenger  from  *  message,'  porringer  from 
'porridge,'  etc. 

2.  Comes  dancing  from  the  east.     Compare  Spenser's  A  strophel, 
iv. :  '  The  dancing  day,  forthcoming  from  the  east. '     Dancing  is 
in  adverbial  relation  to  comes. 

36 


NOTES.  37 

2.  leads  with  her  :  compare  the  language  of  L' Allegro,  35. 

3.  flowery  May,  etc.     Compare  Son.  i.  4  ;  also  Spenser's  Faerie 
Queene,  '  On  Mutability, '  vii.  34  : 

"  Then  came  fair  May,  the  fairest  maid  on  ground,  .  .  , 
And  throwing  flowers  out  of  her  lap  around. " 

4.  yellow  cowslip.     In  Lye.   147,  it  is   "the  cowslip  wan,* 
where  the  epithet  is  suited  to  the  context.     In  Comus,  898,  we. 
have  "  the  cowslip's  velvet  head." 

pale  primrose.  In  Comv£  671  (see  above)  Spring  is  called 
"  the  primrose  season."  For  the  explanation  of  the  epithet  pale, 
see  Lye.  142  and  note. 

5.  that  dost  inspire  Mirth,  etc.,  i.e.  that  fillest  us  with  mirth, 
etc.     Compare  Spenser,  On  Mutability,  vii.  (in  allusion  to  May) : 

"  Lord  !  how  all  creatures  laughed  when  her  they  spied 
And  leapt  and  danced  as  they  had  ravished  been  ! 
And  Cupid's  self  about  her  fluttered  all  in  green." 

inspire  =  breathe  in :  comp.  Son.  xx.  6,  note. 

7.  of  thy  dressing,  i.e.  dressed  by  thee.     Compare  such  phrases 
as  '  of  thy  doing  '=done  by  thee. 

8.  Hill  and  dale  doth  boast  thy  blessing,  i.e.  the  hills  and  the 
dales  rejoice  because  you  have  blessed  them.     Hill  and  dale  are 
used  generically,  and  the  verb  is  singular  because  it  is  to  be  sup 
plied  with  each  of  the  nouns  :  but  see  also  note  on  Son.  xiii.  5. 
Boast  is  here  used  transitively. 

9.  Thus,   i.e.   in  these  words:    "this  is  the  form  which  our 
early  song  of  salutation  takes. " 

10.  And  welcome  thee  :  compare  Chaucer,  Knightes  Tale — 

"  O  May,  with  all  thy  flowers  and  thy  green, 

Right  welcome  be  thou,  fair  fresh  May. " 
wish  thee  long,  i.e.  wish  thee  to  be  long  or  remain  long 
with  us. 


ON  SHAKESPEARE. 

These  lines  were  written  in  1630,  when  Milton  was  twenty-two 
years  of  age.  They  were  printed  anonymously  among  the  com 
mendatory  verses  prefixed  to  the  second  folio  of  Shakespeare 
(1632)  under  the  title  "An  Epitaph  on  the  Admirable  Dramatic 
Poet,  W.  Shakespeare."  The  poem  may  have  been  occasioned 
by  some  proposal  to  erect  a  monument  to  Shakespeare  ;  it  is  more 
probable,  however,  that  it  was  a  purely  spontaneous  tribute 
to  the  genius  of  the  great  dramatist. 


38  ON  SHAKESPEARE. 

1.  What  needs,  etc.     Here  '  what '  is  equivalent  to  '  for  what' 
or  '  why  ' :  compare 

"  What  need  we  any  spur  but  our  own  cause  ?  " 

Julius  Caesar,  ii.  1.  123. 

In  Elizabethan  English  need  is  often  found  with  what,  and  in 
such  cases  it  is  sometimes  difficult  to  say  whether  '  what '  is  an 
adverb  and  '  need  '  a  verb,  or  '  what '  an  adjective  and  '  need '  a 
noun. 

"  What  need  the  bridge  much  broader  than  the  flood  ?  " 

M.  Ado,  i.  1.  318. 

Either  " Why  need  the  bridge  (be)  broader?"  or  "What  need  is 
there  (that)  the  bridge  (be)  broader?"  (Abbott's  Shakespearian 
Grammar,  §  297). 

2.  The  labour  of  an  age.     The  Pyramids  of  Egypt  are  monu 
ments  that  may  well  be  described  thus  ;  see  1.  4. 

3.  Or  that  his,  etc. ,  the  construction  is,  '  What  needs  Shake 
speare  that  his  hallowed  reliques  should,'  etc. 

hallowed,  sacred. 

reliques,  remains.  This  is  now  commonly  written  relics 
(Lat.  reliquiae,  remains). 

4.  star-ypointiug,  i.e.,  rising  far  into  the  heavens.     For  the 
form  y pointing,  see  note  L'A  lley.  1 2  ;  in  the  very  earliest  stages 
of  the  language  the  prefix  ge  was  not  confined  to  the  past  parti 
ciple,  being  found  along  with  the  infinitive  and  the  past  tense. 
But  ordinarily  it  belonged  to  the  past  participle,  and  Milton's 
use  of  it  with  a  present  participle  is  peculiar,  though  not  without 
precedent. 

5.  son  of  memory.     This  may  mean  '  immortal  poet,'  or  '  Muse ' 
(as  in  Lye.  19),  the  muses  being  sometimes  called  '  daughters  of 
Memory, ' 

heir  of  fame  :  this  strengthens  and  also  expands  'the  sense 
of  "son  of  memory."  'Heir  of  fame'  is  one  who  inherits  or 
possesses  fame  (Lat.  heres,  an  heir  or  possessor).  Comp.  Lye.  78, 
where  it  is  said  that  the  true  poet  cannot  be  deprived  of  his 
meed  of  fame. 

6.  What  need'st  thou  :  see  note  on  1.  1  ;  the  object  of  necd'st  is 
witness. 

7.  astonishment.     As  the  strict  sense  of  astonish  is  '  to  stun,'  i.e. 
to  render  incapable  of  thought  or  movement,  the  idea  is  the  same 
as  that  expressed  by  1.  14,  and  by  11  Pens.  42,  where  see  notes. 

8.  livelong.   Milton  first  wrote  lasting,  which  gives  the  meaning. 
The  word  is  a  form  of  life-long,  but  the  usage  of  the  two  forms  is 
now  distinct.     Lifelong  means  "lasting  through  life,"  while  live- 


NOTES.  39 

long  merely  indicates  long  continuance,  without  reference  to  any 
definite  period.  Comp.  L 'Alley.  99. 

9.  slow-endeavouring,  laborious.  Milton  has  perhaps  in  these 
lines  made  a  modest  reference  to  his  own  fastidious  mode  of  com 
position. 

JO.  Thy  easy  numbers  flow,  i.e.  thy  numbers  flow  with  ease. 
'  Numbers,'  like  the  synonymous  word  rime  (see  note,  Lye.  11), 
is  here  used  for  verse.     Compare  Pope's  lines  on  himself  : 
"As  yet  a  child,  nor  yet  a  fool  to  fame, 

I  lisped  in  numbers,  for  the  numbers  came." 

Milton  alludes  to  Shakespeare's  marvellous  ease  of  composition  : 
the  editors  of  the  first  folio  of  Shakespeare  said,  "  His  mind  and 
hand  went  together ;  And  what  he  thought  he  uttered  with  that 
easiness  that  we  have  scarce  received  from  him  a  blot  in  his 
papers. " 

that  each  heart ;  the  construction  is,  '  whilst  that  each 
heart,'  etc.  In  Elizabethan  English  the  use  of  that  as  a  conjunc 
tional  suffix  is  very  common  ;  we  find  '  when  that,'  '  why  that,' 
'  whilst  that,'  '  though  that,'  '  since  that,'  in  all  of  which  cases 
we  should  now  omit  that. 

11.  unvalued  book,  i.e.  invaluable  book.     See  note  on  L'Alleg. 
40.     Shakespeare   has    'unvalued   jewels '  =  jewels  whose   value 
cannot  be  estimated.     Shelley,  in  the  opposite  sense  of  toorthless, 
has  '  unvalued  stones '  =  stones  having  no  value. 

12.  Delphic  lines,   i.e.    oracular  lines,   as   if   spoken   by  the 
greatest  of  all  oracles,  viz.,  that  in  Apollo's  temple  at  Delphi. 

took,  taken.  This  is  a  form  of  the  past  tense  used  as  the 
past  participle.  Shakespeare  has  took  for  taken,  shaked  and  shook 
for  shaken,  arose  for  arisen,  etc.  Comp.  Arc.  4. 

13.  bereaving.     The  construction  is,  '  bereaving  our  fancy  of 
itself, '  i.  e.  in  our  efforts  to  follow  your  train  of  thought,  we  are 
carried  out  of  ourselves  ;  we  become  monuments  of  your  power. 
Compare  Com.  260. 

14.  Dost  make  us  marble,   etc.  ;  we  become  as  insensible  as 
marble  to  all  around  us  owing  to  our  ecstatic  delight  in  your 
works.     Such  testimony  to  your  genius  is  a  far  grander  monu 
ment  than  the  marble  tomb  of  an  earthly  king.     Comp.  11  Pens. 
42  ;  the  same  idea  occurs  in  the  common  phrase,  "  to  be  petrified 
with  astonishment. " 

15.  sepulchred,  entombed  or  commemorated.     Comp.  Shake 
speare's  Sonnet  Ixxxi : 

"When  you  entombed  in  men's  eyes  shall  lie, 

Your  monument  shall  be  my  gentle  verse,"  etc. 
The  accent  in  '  sepulchred  '  is  on  the  penult. 
The  poem  is  not  a  sonnet ;  it  consists  simply  of  eight  couplets. 


40  ON  THE  UNIVERSITY  CARRIER. 


ON  THE  UNIVERSITY  CARRIER. 

The  two  short  pieces  on  this  subject  bring  Milton  before  us  in 
the  mood  of  L 'Allegro,  who  delights  in  "quips  and  cranks  and 
wanton  wiles."  They  were  probably  written  in  January,  1631, 
the  date  of  Hobson's  death. 

Thomas  Hobson  was  for  more  than  sixty  years  the  University 
carrier  between  Cambridge  and  the  Bull's  Inn,  London ;  he  car 
ried  letters,  parcels,  and  sometimes  passengers  in  his  waggon. 
In  1630,  owing  to  the  Plague,  the  authorities  forbade  Hobson  to 
continue  his  weekly  journeys,  and  for  eight  or  nine  months  the 
old  man  chafed  under  this  enforced  idleness.  His  health  broke 
down,  and  when  the  Plague  had  abated,  he  was  too  ill  to  resume 
work.  He  sickened  and  died  at  the  age  of  eighty-six.  The 
witty  language  of  Milton's  verses  is  based  chiefly  on  the  analogy 
between  Hobson's  almost  hum-drum  existence  and  the  course  of 
life  in  general,  and  on  the  fact  that  the  "Vacancy"  seems  to 
have  been  the  immediate  cause  of  his  death.  His  memory  is 
kept  alive  not  only  in  Milton's  lines,  but  also  in  the  well-known 
saying,  "  Hobson's  choice  " — an  allusion  to  his  practice,  in  letting 
out  his  horses,  of  compelling  the  hirer  to  take  that  horse  which 
happened  to  stand  next  the  stable  door. 

1.  girt,  girth  or  girdle  :  all  cognate  words.  The  quibbles  in 
the  first  four  lines  turn  on  Hobson's  likeness  to  a  horse  that  has 
stuck  in  the  mire,  and  in  its  struggles  has  fallen  and  broken  its 
girth. 

3.  twenty  to  one.    Here  to  seems  to  have  the  force  of  "in  com 
parison  with  " ;  '  twenty  to  one '  is  used  to  indicate  a  high  degree 
of  probability.     Comp.  Abbott,  §  187. 

4.  slough,  hollow  filled  with  mud,  a  mire. 

5.  'Twas,  familiar  idiom  for  'he  was.'     The  meaning  is  that 
the  carrier  had  so  continually  shifted  from  place  to  place  that 
Death,  though  it  had  been  '  dodging  with  '  him  for  ten  years,  had 
been  unable  until  now  to  overtake  him. 

8.  Dodged  with.  '  To  dodge '  is  to  move  quickly  hither  and 
thither  ;  '  to  dodge  with '  another  is  to  follow  in  his  track. 

10.  carriage,  carrying.    The  whole  line  is  a  conditional  clause. 

13.  ta'en  up  his  latest  inn,  taken  up  his  final  abode. 

14.  The  sense  is  :    '  Death,  kindly  performing  the  duties  of  a 
chamberlain  or  attendant  at  an  inn,  pointed  out  to  him  the  room 
he  was  to  occupy,'  etc.      '  Chamberlin '  :  properly  '  one  in  charge 
of  chambers  or  rooms ' ;  the  termination  I'm  (or  lain)  is  a  corrup 
tion  of  A.S.  ling,  seen  in  lordling,  etc.,  and  must  not  be  mistaken 
for  the  purely  diminutive  termination  seen  in  duckling,  etc. 


NOTES.  41 


ANOTHER  ON  THE  SAME. 

3.  '  It  was  so  ordained,  that  he  shouM  not  die  while  he,'  etc. 

4.  might,  was  able  to,  could.     This  is  the  original  sense  of  the 
word,  which  is  the  past  tense  of  may  (A.S.  mugan,  to  be  able). 

5.  Made  of  sphere-metal,  i.e.  made  of  the  same  metal  as  the 
heavenly  spheres  whose  motion  is  perpetual.    Hobson's  "  revolu 
tions  "  were  between  Cambridge  and  London. 

6.  was  at  stay,  i.  e.  had  come  to  a  stop. 

7.  '  Motion  is  estimated  in  time,  but  (on  the  contrary)  Hobson's 
time  (i.e.  life)  was  estimated  in  motion  (Le.  in  the  journeys  he 
made).' 

9.  engine,  machine :  see  note,  Lye.  130. 

10.  His  principles,  i.e.  principles  of  motion,  moving  forces. 

straight,  straightway.  In  modern  English  straight  is  still 
used  as  an  adverb,  as  '  He  went  straight  to  the  point ' ;  but  to 
indicate  time  the  adverb  straightway  (compounded  of  a  noun  and 
an  adjective)  is  employed.  Straight  is  radically  equivalent  to 
'  stretched  or  drawn  out. ' 

12.  breathing.  In  the  same  way  we  speak  of  a  time  of  leisure 
as  a  "  breathing-space." 

14.  vacation  ...  term.     These  are  University  terms  punningly 
applied  to  Hobson's  period  of  idleness  and  to  the  term  (Lat. 
terminus)  or  allotted  period  of  his  life. 

15.  *  He  sickened  in  order  to  have  something  to  do.' 

16.  quickened,  revived :  A.S.  civic,  living. 

20.  The  construction  is :  '  I  vow  that  if  I,  the  carrier,  am  put 
down,  I  will  make  six  bearers,'  i.e.  six  men  will  be  required  to 
carry  me  to  the  grave. 

21.  Ease  ...  disease.     ' Disease  '=  want  of  ease. 

22.  He  died  for  heaviness  ...  light,  i.e.  he  died  from  heaviness 
of  spirit  because  he  was  no  longer  able  to  load  his  cart. 

'  For '  =  because  of ;  see  Abbott,  §  149,  for  examples  of  this 
use  of  for.  '  That '  =  because  :  "  since  that  represents  different 
cases  of  the  relative,  it  may  mean  'in  that,'  'for  that,'  'be 
cause  '  (quod),  or  ' at  which  time '  (quum)."  Abbott,  §  284. 

25.  '  So  that  (as  some  say)  he  continued  to  the  very  last  to  cry 
"More  weight,"  as  if  he  were  being  pressed  to  death.'  There 
was  a  mode  of  torture  by  which  the  victim  was  pressed  to  death, 
his  sufferings  being  terminated  by  '  more  weight.' 


42  ON  THE  UNIVERSITY  CARRIER. 

25.  be  :  on  this  indicative  use  of  be,  see  note,  Epit.  on  M.  of  W. 
55,  and  Abbott,  §  300. 

28.  He  had  been,  i.e.  he  would  have  been. 

29.  Obedient  to  the  moon.     As  he  made  four  journeys  every 
month,  his  course  was,  like  that  of  the  tides,  governed  by  the 
moon. 

32.  wain  ...  increase.     A  pun  on  the  two  identical  sounds — 
wain,  a  waggon  or  cart,  and  ivune,  decrease,  applied  to  the  moon 
in  her  third  and  fourth  quarters. 

33.  His  letters,  i.e.  the  letters  which  he  had  been  entrusted  to 
deliver. 

34.  superscription,  i.e.  Milton's  own  verses. 


AN  EPITAPH  ON  THE  MARCHIONESS  OF 
WINCHESTER. 

This  piece,  in  the  metre  of  L' Allegro  and  II  Penseroso,  was 
probably  written  immediately  after  the  death  of  the  Marchioness 
in  1631.  She  was  the  first  wife  of  the  fifth  Marquis  of  Win 
chester,  and  died  in  child-birth  at  the  age  of  23.  The  poet-laureate, 
Ben  Jonson,  and  others  lamented  her  death  in  verse. 

1.  inter,  hold  the  remains  of.  This  is  a  peculiar  use  of  the 
word  :  when  used  actively  its  subject  is  generally  a  person  or 
persons,  not  an  inanimate  object. 

3.  A  Viscount's  daughter.     She  was  the  daughter  of  Viscount 
Savage. 

an  Earl's  heir.     Her  mother  had  been  the  eldest  daughter 
and  one  of  the  heirs  of  Thomas  Darcy,  Earl  of  Rivers. 

4.  Besides  what,   etc.     The  sense  is,    'She  was  a  Viscount's 
daughter,  and  an  Earl's  heir,  in  addition  to  all  that  her  virtues 
added  to  these  earthly  honours.'    *  Besides,'  a  preposition,  is  here 
a  trisyllable. 

6.  More  than,  etc.     This  line  is  explanatory  of  what  in  line  4. 

7.  Summers  three  times  eight,  etc.      In  prosaic   language, 
'  She  was  twenty-three  years  of  age. '     Dante  and  Spenser  de 
light  in  these  round-about  ways  of  measuring  time. 

8.  told,  counted  :  see  note,  L'A  lleg.  67,  on  this  use  of  tell. 

alas  !  too  soon,  etc.     This  and  the  two  succeeding  lines  are 
attributive  :  ' '  She,  who,  alas  !  was  too  soon  to  dwell  with  dark- 


NOTES.  43 

ness  and  with  death."  '  With  darkness  and  with  death '  may  be 
regarded  as  an  example  of  hendiadys,  being  equivalent  to  '  in  the 
dark  tomb.' 

12.  her  praise,  i.e.  praise  of  her,  her  fame,     Comp.  Lye.  76. 

13.  Nature  and  Fate,  etc. ;  '  Nature  and  Fate  would  not  then 
have  disagreed,'  i.e.  she  would  have  died  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
Nature. 

16.  a  lover  meet,  i.e.  a  husband  worthy  of  her. 

17.  The  virgin  quire,  etc.:  'the  bride's  maids  having  called 
upon  Hymen,  that  god  appeared  ;   but  his  torch  burned  dimly, 
and   in  the  marriage  wreath  which  he  carried  a  cypress  bud 
might  have  been  noticed.'     See  note  on  Hymen,  UAlleg.  125. 

quire  :  a  band  of  singers.  This  is  another  spelling  of 
choir  (Lat.  chorus}.  The  chorus  of  the  Greek  drama  wras  a  sing 
ing  as  well  as  a  dancing  body;  it  was  supposed  to  represent  the 
sentiments  of  the  audience.  Quire,  a  collection  of  sheets  of  paper, 
is  a  distinct  word,  which  is  variously  derived  from  O.F.  quaier, 
a  small  written  book,  and  from  Lat.  quatuor,  four. 

22.  a  cypress-bud  ;  an  omen  that  the  marriage  would  speedily 
be  followed  by  a  funeral.      Cypress  garlands  were  carried  at 
funerals  :  the  name  of  the  tree  is  said  to  be  derived  from  Cyprus 
(comp.  note,  II  Pens.  35). 

23.  Once  had,  etc.     She  had  already  had  a  son,  afterwards  the 
sixth  Marquis  of  Winchester. 

24.  To  greet  her  of,  etc.,  i.e.  to  salute  or  congratulate  her  as 
the  mother  of  a  lovely  son.     '  Of  '  :  this  preposition  is  thus  fre 
quently  used  in  Elizabethan  English  to  indicate  the  circumstances 
of  an  action,  and  may  be  rendered  by  '  concerning  '  or  '  about ' 
or  '  on  account  of.'     Abbott,  §  174. 

26.  calls  Lucina.  Lucina  was  the  Roman  goddess  who  presided 
over  child-birth ;  her  name  denotes  '  the  bringer  to  light. '  Com 
pare  Spenser,  F.  Q.  II.  i. ,  liii : 

"  And  bade  me  call  Lucina  to  be  near. 
Lucina  came  :  a  man-child  forth  I  brought." 

28.  Atropos,  etc.,  i.e.  Atrdpos,  one  of  the  Fates,  who  cuts  the 
thread  of  life,  came  instead  of  Lucina :  see  notes,  Arc.  65-69, 
Lye.  75. 

30.  at  once,  i.e.  at  one  and  the  same  time, 
fruit  and  tree,  child  and  mother. 

31.  hapless:  unfortunate.     The  student  should  note  how  words 
like  happy,  lucky,  fortunate,   which  strictly  refer  to  a  person's 
hap,  whether  good  or  bad,  have  been  restricted  to  good  hap  :  in 


whole 


44       ON  THE  MARCHIONESS  OF  WINCHESTER. 

order  to  give  them  an  unfavourable  meaning  a  negative  prefix  or 
suffix  is  used. 

33.  languished,  exhausted.     Comp.  Com.  743 : 

"  If  you  let  slip  time,  like  a  neglected  rose, 
It  withers  on  the  stalk  with  languished  head  " : 

also  Par.   Lost,  vi.  496.     The  suffix   -ed  is  frequently  used  in 
Elizabethan  English  where  we  now  have  -ing  (Abbott,  §  374), 

35.  slip,  a  small  branch  or  twig. 

36.  Saved  ...  nip:  comp.  Sams.  Agon.  1576 — 

.     .     .    "  the  first-born  bloom  of  spring 
Nipt  with  the  lagging  rear  of  winter's  frost. 

37.  pride  of  her  carnation  train,  i.e.  the  pride  of  the 
garden,  the  pride  of  the  flowers  surrounding  the  tender  slip. 
On  'train'  see  II  Pens.  10,  note  ;   'carnation'  is  the  name  of  a 
particular  flower,  so  called  from  its  flesh-colour  (Lat.  caro,  flesh), 
but  it  is  probably  here  used  merely  to  denote  beauty. 

38.  unheedy,  unheeding,  careless.     Compare  Shakespeare, 

"  Wings  and  no  eyes  figure  unheedy  haste." 

M.  A'.  /).  i.  1.  237. 

The  suffix  -y  also  occurs  where  we  would  now  use  the  present 
participle  in  'slumbery  agitation,'  Macbeth  v.  1.  237. 

43.  those  pearls  of  dew,  etc.  '  Those  pearly  dew-drops  which 
rest  upon  the  fair  blossom  prove  to  be  tears  shed  by  the  morning 
as  a  presage  of  its  speedy  death. ' 

The  comparison  of  dew-drops  to  tears  is  frequent  in  poetry  : 
comp.  Chesterfield's  A  dvice  : 

"  Those  tears  of  the  sky  for  the  loss  of  the  sun." 

46.  hastening  funeral,  speedy  death.  The  Latin  funus  — 
death. 

49.  this  thy  travail :  '  this '  and  '  travail '  are  in  apposition. 

50.  seize,  possess,  give  possession  of.     This  is  a  legal  sense  of 
the  word :  comp.  lease,  1.  52. 

51.  That,  etc.     The  construction  is,  '  (You)  who,  in  order  to 
give  the  world  increase,  have  shortened  your  own  life.' 

55.  foe:  are.  This  use  of  be  in  the  indicative  is  frequent  in 
Elizabethan  English,  especially  with  a  plural  nominative  and 
after  where,  there,  here,  etc.  It  is  used  with  reference  to  a 
number  of  persons  or  things,  regarded  as  a  class.  Comp.  Com. 
12,  519,  668. 

tears  of  perfect  moan.     '  Perfect  moan '  =  sincere  or  great 


NOTES.  45 

sorrow  :   *  perfect '  has  its  original  sense  of  '  complete, '  as  in  line 
73  of  Comus,  "so perfect  is  their  misery." 

56.  Weept,  wept :  another  form  of  the  participle.     See  note, 
L'Alleg.  105. 

Helicon,  a  mountain  in  Boeotia  sacred  to  the  Muses :  the 
tears  wept  in  Helicon  are  the  elegiac  verses  of  the  various  poets 
who  lamented  the  death  of  the  Marchioness ;  comp.  Lye.  14, 
"  melodious  tear." 

57.  And  some  flowers  . . .  Came.     The  construction  is  '  And  here 
are  some  flowers, '  etc.     The  flowers  and  bays  referred  to  are  the 
verses  written  by  Milton  (and  perhaps  by  other  Cambridge  men). 
The  Came  is  the  river  Cam ;  see  Lye.  103.     The  bay  or  laurel 
was  sacred  to  Apollo,  the  god  of  song. 

58.  For  thy  hearse,  to  strew  the  ways,  i.e.  to  strew  the  ways 
for  thy  hearse. 

*  Hearse'  does  not  here  denote  '  tomb,'  as  in  line  151  of  Lycidas; 
it  may  be  rendered  'bier.'  See  note,  Lye.  151. 

60.  Devoted  to,  dedicated  to. 

61.  bright  Saiat :  comp.  Lye.  172-181. 

62.  much  like  to  thee  in  story,  whose  story  closely  resembles 
yours. 

63.  fair  Syrian  shepherdess  :  an  allusion  to  Rachel,  the  wife  of 
Jacob  and  the  mother  of  Joseph.     Like  the  Marchioness,  she 
died  at  the  birth  of  her  second  child.     See  Genesis,  xxix.,  xxx., 

XXXV. 

66.  served  for  her  before.  Jacob  served  Laban  seven  years  in 
order  to  obtain  his  daughter  Rachel  to  wife ;  he  was,  however, 
deceived  into  marrying  her  sister  Leah,  and  had  to  serve  other 
seven  years  before  he  was  allowed  to  marry  Rachel. 

68.  Through  pangs  fled  to  felicity :  the  pangs  of  child-birth 
caused  her  death,  and  thereby  enabled  her  to  enter  upon  the  joys 
of  heaven.  Comp.  Spenser  F.  Q.  II  i.  Ivi. 

' '  And  ended  all  her  woe  in  quiet  death. " 

On  this  line  Dunster  says  :  '  We  cannot  too  much  admire  the 
beauty  of  this  line.  I  wish  it  had  closed  the  poem,  which  it 
would  have  done  with  singular  effect.' 

72.  Like  fortunes,  etc.,  i.e.  similar  fortunes  may  make  her  soul 
acquainted  with  thee. 

73.  With  thee  there  clad,  etc.,  i.e.  with  thee  who  in  heaven  art 
clad  in  dazzling  splendour.     Sheen  is  cognate  with  show  :  comp. 
Comus,  893. 

$4.  Marchioness  and  Queen  are  in  apposition  to  thee. 


46  ON  TIME. 


ON   TIME. 

This  piece,  probably  written  about  the  beginning  of  1634,  bears 
in  Milton's  draft  the  following  title — On  Time  :  to  be  set  OH  a 
Clock-case.  It  was  formerly  a  common  practice  to  print  011  the 
faces  of  clocks  such  sentiments  as  Tempusfugit  (time  flies). 

1.  envious  Time;  comp.  Son.  ii.  1,  "Time,  the  subtle  thief  of 
youth." 

2.  leaden- stepping,  tedious.     An  adjective  formed,  as  it  were, 
from  a  previous  compound  noun  ' '  leaden-step.      Comp.  the  form 
of  the  adjective  "rushy-f ringed."     Com.  890. 

3.  the  heavy  plummet's  pace.      A    'plummet'  is    a  leaden 
weight :    the  word  is  cognate  with   '  plumb '  (Fr.  plomb,  lead). 
The  poet  refers  to  the  weights  in  a  clock  which  descend  very 
slowly. 

4.  And  glut  thyself,  etc.     As  in  1.  9,  Time  is  represented  as 
devouring  all  the  transitory  vanities  of  this  world  ;  afterwards, 
only  Eternity  and  all  things  truly  good  will  remain. 

9.  when  as :  as  is  a  conjunctional  suffix.    See  note,  On  Shak.  10. 

12.  individual,  indivisible,  inseparable.  This  is  the  sense  of 
the  Latin  individuals  :  it  is  frequent  in  Milton.  See  Par.  Lost, 
iv.  486,  "  an  individual  solace. " 

14.  sincerely,  perfectly  ;  see  Com.  454,  "  When  a  soul  is  found 
sincerely  so,"  etc. 

18.  happy-making  sight :  "the  plain  English  of  beatific  vision*' 
(Newton).  The  phrase  'to  whose  happy-making  sight'  depends 
on  'climb.'  Comp.  Par.  Lost,  i.  684. 

20.  quit,  freed  from  all  this  earthly  grossness.     The  word  is 
originally  an  adjective  and  is  so  used  here  :  from  it  comes  the 
verb  '  to  quit  '  =  to  be  quit  or  freed. 

21.  Attired,  crowned.     The  head-dresses  of  Elizabethan  ladies 
were  called  '  attires, 'and  to  attire  oneself  was  to  put  on  the  head 
dress  :  see  note,  Lye.  146. 

22.  Those  who  gain  eternal  life   are   said  to  triumph  over 
Death,  Chance,  and  Time.     Compare  Par.  Lost,  iii.  338. 


NOTES.  47 


L' ALLEGRO  AND  IL  PENSEROSO. 

These  titles  are  Italian  and  may  be  translated  '  the  cheerful 
man '  and  '  the  thoughtful  man. '  Milton  probably  chose  the 
words  not  so  much  because  they  exactly  expressed  the  charac 
teristics  of  the  two  men  represented  as  because  they  were  less 
likely  to  lead  to  misconception  of  his  meaning  than  the  words 
'Mirth'  and  'Melancholy.'  Allegro  conies  from  Lat.  alacer, 
from  which  we  have  the  word  '  alacrity, '  and  there  is  an 
air  of  briskness  pervading  the  whole  poem  so  called ; 
the  movement  never  flags.  We  have,  "  Haste  thee,  nymph," 
etc  ,1  25  ;  "  Come,  and  trip  it,"  1.  33  ;  "  In  haste  her  bower  she 
leaves,"  1.  87;  "Out  of  doors  he  Jlingx,"  1.  113;  and  in  many 
other  ways  animation  and  buoyancy  are  indicated.  The  whole 
piece,  too,  is  full  of  sound,  from  the  morning  song  of  the  lark  to 
the  whispering  winds  of  evening,  and  from  the  merry  bells  of 
the  upland  hamlets  to  the  busy  hum  of  men  in  towered  cities. 
So  far,  at  any  rate,  the  title  L' Allegro  is  not  at  variance  with 
the  poet's  meaning. 

Penseroso,  from  the  same  root  as  pensive,  avoids  the  association 
of  ill-humour  which  belonged  to  the  word  'Melancholy,'  though 
the  Italian  word  pensiero  means  '  anxious  '  or  '  full  of  care. '  II 
Penseroso,  however,  is  not  full  of  care  ;  his  mind  is  tranquil 
and  contemplative,  and,  like  the  ancient  Greek  philosopher,  he 
has  learned  to  be  able  to  endure  his  own  company.  Solitude  is 
to  him  the  nurse  of  Contemplation.  There  is  therefore  less 
rapidity  and  continuity  of  movement,  and  fewer  sounds  in  the 
Penseroso  than  in  the  A  llegro  :  everything  in  it  moves  more 
slowly  and  quietly. 

The  two  poems  are  companion  pieces,  and  the  student  must 
study  them  together  in  order  to  observe  how  far  the  one  is  the 
complement,  rather  than  the  contrast,  of  the  other.  The  subjoined 
analysis  may  serve  to  some  extent  as  a  guide  ;  it  cannot,  how 
ever,  obviate  the  necessity  for  careful  study  of  the  means  by 
which  the  poet  effects  his  purpose  in  each  piece.  The  two 
pieces  may  be  viewed  as  pictures  of  two  moods  of  Milton's  own 
mind — the  mind  of  a  young  and  high-souled  student  open  to  all 
the  impressions  of  nature.  They  are  described  by  Wordsworth 
(Preface,  1815)  as  idylls  in  which  the  appearances  of  external 
nature  are  given  in  conjunction  with  the  character  and  sentiments 
of  the  observer.  They  are  not  mere  descriptions  of  any  scene  or 
scenes  that  actually  came  under  Milton's  eye,  though  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  scenery  round  Horton  has  left  its  traces  upon  the 
pictures.  Each  records  the  events  of  an  ideal  day  of  twenty-four 
hours — beginning  in  L' A  llegro  with  the  song  of  the  lark  and  in  II 
Penxeroso  with  that  of  the  nightingale.  It  is  impossible  to  say 
with  certainty  which  was  written  first ;  but  there  can  be  no 


48 


L'ALLEGRO  AND  IL  PENSEROSO. 


hesitation  in  saying  that  II  Penseroso  is  a  man  much  more  after 
Milton's  own  heart  than  L'Allegro,  i.e.  he  represents  a  much 
more  characteristic  mood  of  Milton's  mind,  and  the  many  ways 
in  which  this  preference  reveals  itself  should  not  fail  to  attract 
the  student's  notice. 


ANALYSIS. 


L'Al-LEGRO. 


1.  'Loathed  Melancholy'  banished 

from  L'Allegro's  presence : 
(a)  Her  pare  tage  stated. 
(6)  Her  fit  abode  described.    1-10 


2.  Welcome  to  'heart-easing  Mirth': 
(a)  Her  description. 
(6)  Her  parentage.  ..     ll--.'4 


IL  PENSEROSO. 


1.  'Vain  deluding    joys'    banished 
from  II  Penseroso's  presence  : 

(a)  Their  parentage  stated. 

(b)  Their  fit  ab  >de  described.  1-10 


2.  Welcome  to  'divinest  Melancholy': 
(a)  Her  description. 
(6)  Her  parentage.  ..     11-30 


3.  Mirth's  companions. 


25-10         3.  Melancholy's  companions.     31-55 


4.  Pleasures  of  the  Morning  : 

(a)  The  lark's  song 

(6)  Other  sights  and  sounds  of  the 
glorious  sunrise  (Allegro  be 
ing  not  unseen  and  out-of- 
doors) 41-68 


4.  Pleasures  of  the  Evening : 

(a)  The  nightingale's  song. 

(b)  Other  sights  and  sounds  of  the 

moonlit  evening  (Penseroso 
being  unseen  and  i.  out-of- 
doors,  then  ii.  in-doors.  56-84 


5.  Pleasures  of  the  bright  Noon-day 

and  Afternoon  : 
(a)  The  landscape. 
(6)  Country    employments     and 
enjoyments.   . . 


Social  pleasures  of  the  Evening — 
tales  told  by  the  fireside. 

100-116 


7.  Pleasures  of  the  Midnight-hour, 
while  others  sleep '. 

(a)  The  reading  of  old  Romances. 

(b)  The  reading  of  Comedy. 

117-134 


8.  Music  lulls  him  to  sleep  : 

(«)  The  music  suited  to  his  mood; 

(6)  Melting  music  associated  with 

sweet  thoughts.  135-150 


[9.  L'Allegro  does  not  look  beyond 
these  delights.] 


10.  Acceptance  of  Mirth. 


5.  Pleasures  of  the  'Midnight-hour': 

(a)  The  study  of  Philosophy. 

(b)  The    study    of   Tragedy  and 

other  serious  literature. 

85-120 


6.  Lonely  pleasures  of  the  stormy 
Morning 121-130 


7.  Pleasures  of  the  '  flaring '  Noon 
day  (but  only  in  the  shade), 
until  sleep  comes.  131-150 


8.  Music  wakes  him  from  sleep  : 
(a)  The  music  suited  to  his  mood. 
(li)  The  '  pealing  organ '  associated 
with  the  'studious  cloister." 
151-166 


9.  II  Penseroso's  aspirations.  167-174 
151-152       10.  Acceptance  of  Melancholy.  175-176 


NOTES.  49 


L'ALLEGRO. 

1.  Hence:  adverbs,  when  thus  used  to  convey  a  command, 
have  the  meaning  of  a  whole  sentence,  e.g.  hence  =  go  hence; 
compare  the  imperative  use  of  away  !  up  !  down  !  etc.     '  Hence ' 
represents  an  A.S.    word   heon-an,    wnsre    the    suffix    denotes 
'from';  see  note  on  Arcades,  3. 

loathed  =  loathsome,  hateful ;  the  adjectival  use  of  the  past 
participle  is  frequent  in  Milton,  and  in  Elizabethan  English  it 
conveyed  meanings  now  generally  expressed  by  adjectives  with 
such  terminations  as  -able,  -some,  -ful,  etc.;  see  note  on  1.  40. 
Contrast  the  epithet  here  applied  to  Melancholy  with  that  used 
in  II  Penseroso,  12. 

2.  Having  personified    Melancholy,   Milton   turns   to   ancient 
mythology  to  find   a   parentage  for   her.      He  makes  her  the 
daughter  of  Night,  for  '  melancholy*  means  literally  'black  bile,' 
that  humour  of  the  body  which  was  formerly  supposed  to  be  the 
3ause  of  low  spirits  ;    in   Burton's  Anatomy  of  Melancholy  we 
read  :  ''The  night  and  darkness  makes  men  sad,  the  like  do  all 
subterranean  vaults,  dark    houses   in   caves  and  rocks,    desert 
places  cause  melancholy  in   an  instant, "     Melancholy  being  thus 
associated   with   darkness,    it   was   natural  that  Milton  should 
make  her  the  offspring  of  '  blackest  Midnight.'     But  in  classical 
mythology  (Nyx)  Night  is  the  wife  of  Erebus  or  Darkness,  and 
their  children  are  ^Ether  (Sky)  and  Hemera  (Day).     Milton  dis 
regards  this  relationship,  and  rightly  feels  that  he  may  alter  the 
ancient  tales  to  suit  his  own  purpose ;  what  can  be  more  natural, 
therefore,  than  to  justify  the  epithet  '  loathed '  by  making  Melan 
choly  the  offspring  of  the  loathsome  monster  Cerberus?    To  have 
derived  her  from  Night  and  Darkness  would  merely  have  intensi 
fied  the  notion  of  blackness,  and  would  not  have  implied  anything 
necessarily  abhorrent. 

Cerberus  was  the  dog  that  guarded  the  gates  of  Hell,  usually 
described  as  a  monster  with  three  heads,  with  the  tail  of  a 
serpent,  and  with  serpents  round  his  neck. 

3.  Stygian  cave  :  the  den  of  Cerberus  was  on  the  further  bank 
of  the  river  Styx,  at  the  spot  where  the  spirits  of  the  dead  were 
landed  by  Charon.     Virgil  in  A  en.  vi.  makes  Charon  say  : 

' '  This  is  the  place  for  the  shadows,  for  Sleep  and  slumberous  Night, 
The  bodies  of  the  living  may  not  be  ferried  in  my  Stygian  bark." 

The  Styx,  literally  'the  abhorred,'  was  the  chief  river  of  the 
lower  world,  around  which  it  flowed  seven  times.  To  swear  by 
Styx  was  regarded  as  the  most  solemn  of  oaths. 

forlorn,  desolate  :  now  used  only  as  an  adjective.    This  is  the 
D 


50  L'ALLEGRO. 

past  participle  of  the  old  verb  forleosen,  to    lose   utterly  ;   the 
prefix  for  has  an  intensive  force,  as  in  forswear. 

4.  'Mongst,  common  in  poetry  for  'amongst,'  as  "midst'  for 
'  amidst.'     '  A '  is  a  prefix  =  in,  and  '  amongst '  is  literally  '  in  a 
crowd,'  as  'amidst'  is  'in  the  middle.'     The  adverbs  in  st,  as 
amongst,  amidst,  whilst,  are  derived  from  obsolete  forms  in  s,  as 
amonges,  amiddes,  whiles,  which  again  come  from  the  original 
adverbs  among,  amid,  while. 

horrid  shapes,  etc.  Burton,  in  Anat.  of  Mel.,  associates 
'  terrors  and  affrights '  with  melancholy.  '  Shape '  may  be  used 
here  in  the  sense  of  Lat.  umbra,  a  mere  shape  or  shadow,  a 
departed  spirit.  Comp.  II  Pens.  6.  '  Unholy  '  =  impure. 

5.  some  uncouth  cell,  i.e.  some  unknown  and  horrible  abode. 
Radically,    'uncouth'  means   'unknown':     A.S.  un,  not ;   and 
cuth,   the  past  participle  of  cunnan,   to   know.      Its  secondary 
meaning  is  '  ungraceful '  or  '  ugly,'  and  in  all  the  cases  in  which 
Milton  uses  this  word   it   seems   probable   that   he   has   taken 
advantage  both  of  its  primary  and  its  later  senses  :  see  Lye.  186, 
Par.  Lost,  ii.  827,  v.  93,  vi.  362.      In  early  English   'couth' 
occurs  as  a  present,  a  past,  and  a  participle,  and  it  still  survives 
in  the  word  '  could '  and  in  the  Scotch  '  unco  '  =  strange.    Similar 
changes  of  meaning  have  occurred  to  the  words  'quaint,'  'bar 
barous,'  'outlandish,'  etc.,  because  that  which  is  unfamiliar  is 
apt  to  be  regarded  unfavourably. 

The  word  '  cell'  is  used  in  a  similar  connection  in  II  Pens.  169. 

6.  "Where  Darkness  covers  the  whole  place  as  with  its  wings. " 
Darkness  is  here  personified,   so  that  '  his '  does  not  stand  for 
'  its  ' ;  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  word  '  brooding '  is  to  be  taken 
literally,  we  should  have  expected  '  her '  to  be  used  instead  of 
'  his.'     The  explanation  probably  is  that  Milton  makes  Darkness 
of  the  male  sex,  like  the  Lat.  Erebus,  and  that  '  brooding '  is  not 
used  literally,  but  =  covering.       In  the  following  passage  the 
word  seems  to  partake  of  both  meanings  : — 

"  On  the  watery  calm 

His  brooding  wings  the  Spirit  of  God  outspread, 
And  vital  virtue  infused. " — Par.  Lost,  vii.  243. 

In  Tennyson's  Two  Voices  we  have  "brooding  twilight."     The 

primary  sense  of  ' brood '  is  'to  sit  upon  in  order  to  Ireed ' ; 

hence  a  person  is  said  to  brood  over  his  injuries  when  his  desire 

is  to  obtain  vengeance. 

jealous  wings  :    '  darkness  is  very  properly  associated  with 

jealousy  or  suspicion,'  and  there  may  be  also  an  allusion  to  the 

watchful  care  of  the  brooding  fowl.     '  Jealous '  and  '  zealous '  are 

radically  the  same. 

7.  night-raven :    in   V Allegro  night  is  associated  with    the 
raven,  in  II  Pens,  with  the  nightingale.    The  raven  was  formerly 


NOTES.  5i 

regarded  as  a  bird  of  evil  omen  and  of  prophetic  powers :  Shelley, 
in  Adonais,  speaks  of  the  "obscene  raven."  In  Marlowe's  Jewe 
of  Malta  we  read — 

"  Like  the  sad-presaging  raven  that  tolls 

The  sick  man's  passport  in  her  hollow  beak  "  ; 
and  in  Macbeth,  i.  4 — 

"  The  raven  himself  is  hoarse 
That  croaks  the  fatal  entrance  of  Duncan 
Under  my  battlements. " 

sings,  radically  =  rings  or  resounds,  applied  by  Milton  to 
the  strong  notes  of  the  raven,  as  by  Shakespeare  to  the  noise  of 
a  tempest :  "We  hear  this  fearful  tempest  sing,"  Rich.  II,  II.  i. 
Comp.  '  rings,' 1.  114. 

8.  There,  i.e.  in  the  "uncouth  cell";  an  adverb  depending  on 
dwell,  line  10. 

ebon  shades,  shades  as  black  as  ebony,  i.e.  total  darkness. 
'  Ebon '  is  the  adjectival  form,  spelt  '  heben '  in  Spenser.  Ebony 
is  a  kind  of  wood  so  called  on  account  of  its  hardness  (Heb.  eben, 
a  stone),  and  as  it  is  usually  black,  the  name  has  come  to  be 
used  as  a  synonym  both  for  hardness  and  blackness. 

low-browed,  overhanging  or  threatening  :  comp.  II  Pens.  58. 
A  person  with  prominent  brow  is  called  'beetle-browed,'  i.e. 
'  with  biting  brows,'  brows  which  project  like  an  upper  jaw. 

9.  ragged :   Milton  represents  Melancholy  with  her  hair  di 
shevelled,  and  her  fit  abode  amongst  rugged  and  disordered  rocks. 
In  the  English  Bible  '  ragged '  occurs  in  the  sense  of  '  rugged ' : 
Isaiah,  ii.  21. 

10.  In  dark  Cimmerian  desert,  i.e.  in  some  desert  shrouded 
in  Cimmerian  darkness.      "  In  the  Odyssey  the  Cimmerians  are  a 
people  dwelling  beyond  the  ocean-stream  in  a  land  of  perpetual 
darkness ;   afterwards  the  name  was  given  to  a  people  in  the 
region  of  the  Black  Sea  (whence  Crimea)."     (Masson.)     The 
phrase  "Cimmerian  darkness"  is  common  in  English  poetry,  and 
Milton  can  hardly  be  accused  of  tautology  in  speaking  of  a 
"dark  Cimmerian  desert";  he  intensifies  the  notion  of  darkness. 

The  student  should  note  by  what  means,  in  the  first  ten  lines 
of  the  poem,  Milton  creates  so  repugnant  a  picture  of  Melancholy 
that  the  reader  turns  with  relief  and  delight  to  the  representa 
tion  of  Mirth  which  follows  :  these  means  are  : — 

1.  Accumulation  of  words  conveying  associations  of  horror, 

e.g.  blackest  Midnight,  cave  forlorn,  shrieks,  etc. 

2.  Imagery  that  intensifies  the  horror  of  the  picture,  e.g. 

Stygian  cave,  brooding  Darkness,  etc. 

3.  Irregular  metre,  the  rest  of  the  poem  being  in  octosyllabic 

couplets  whose  tripping  sweetness  pleases  the  ear  after 


52  L'ALLEGRO. 

the  rougher  cadence  of  lines  1-10.  The  separateness  of 
these  lines  is  further  marked  (both  in  IS  Allegro  and  77 
Penseroso)  by  the  peculiar  arrangement  of  the  rhymes  : 
the  formula  is  abbacddeec. 

11.  fair  and  free  :  both  adjectives  are  frequently  found  together 
in  English  poetry  to  denote  beauty  and  gracefulness  in  woman. 
We  find  in  Chaucer's  Knightes  Tale:  "Of  fayre  young  Venus, 
fresh  and  free  "  ;  and  the  words  occur  in  the  same  sense  even 
before  Chaucer's  time.     Tennyson  applies  them  to  a  man  :  comp. 
"  Lord  of  Burleigh,  fair  and  free." 

12.  yclept,  named  :  past  participle  of  the  verb  '  to  clepe,'  from 
A.S.  clipian,  to  call     In  English  the  past  participle  of  all  verbs 
of  the  strong  conjugation  was  originally  formed  by  the  suffix  en 
and  the  prefix  ge.     The  suffix  en  has  now  disappeared  in  many 
cases  and  the  prefix  ge  in  all.     The  y  in  '  yclept  '  is  a  corrup 
tion  of  ge,  as  in  yfallen,  yfounde,  ygo,  ylent,  yshape,  ywritten, 
all  of  which  are  found  in  Chaucer.     The  y  also  took  the  form  i  in 
Early  English,  as  imaked,  ispoken,  iknowen,  etc.     Shakespeare 
has  yclept,  yclad,  etc.     Milton  in  one  case  prefixes  y  to  a  present 
participle.     See  note  on  On  Shakespeare,  4. 

Euphrosyne  (the  light-hearted  one),  one  of  the  three  Graces 
of  classical  mythology,  the  others  being  Aglaia  (the  bright  one) 
and  Thalia  (the  blooming  one).  They  were  represented  as 
daughters  of  Zeus,  and  as  the  goddesses  who  purified  and 
enhanced  all  the  innocent  pleasures  of  life.  Milton  desires  to 
signify  their  service  to  man  more  clearly  by  giving  them  another 

,  and  hi 


genealogy  ;  he  suggests  two  alternatives,  and  himself  prefers  the 
latter  :  —  (1)  That  they  are  the  offspring  of  Venus  (love)  and 
Bacchus  (good  cheer),  or  (2)  of  Zephyr  (the  *  frolic  wind  ')  and 
Aurora  (the  goddess  of  the  morning).  From  these  parents 
Euphrosyne  is  begotten  in  the  month  of  May,  i.e.  "it  is  the 
early  freshness  of  the  summer  morning  that  best  produces  Cheer 
fulness  "  (Masson). 

13.  heart-easing  Mirth:  Burton,  in  Anat.  of  Mel.,  prescribes 
"  Mirth  and  merry  company  "  to  ease  the  heart  of  the  melancholy. 
With  '  heart-easing  '  (compounded  of  a  participle  preceded  by  its 
object)  compare  such  adjectives  as  heart-rending,  tale-bearing, 
soul-stirring,  etc. 

14.  at  a  birth,  at  one  birth  :  the  words  *  a,'  '  an,-'  and  *  one  '  are 
all  derived  from  the  same  Anglo-Saxon  word  :  comp.  the  phrase 
'  one  at  a  time.  ' 

16.  ivy  -crowned  :  the  ivy  was  sacred  to  Bacchus,  the  god  of 
wine. 

17.  There  is  a  change  in  the  construction  here,  there  being  no 
preceding  *  whether  '  answering  to  *  whether  '  in  this  line  :  the 


NOTES.  53 

meaning  is,   '  Whether  lovely  Venus  bore  thee,  or  whether  the 
frolic  wind, '  etc. 

some  sager  sing,  i.e.  some  poets  have  more  wisely  written. 
Poets  are  often  called  'singers,'  but  it  is  not  known  to  what 
poets  Milton  can  be  referring :  probably  he  merely  chose  this 
way  of  modestly  recommending  his  own  view. 

18.  frolic  wind,  i.e.   frolicsome  wind.     The  word    'frolic'  is 
now  used  only  as  a  noun  and  a  verb,  never  as   an   adjective. 
Yet  its  original  use  in  English  is  adjectival,  and  its  form  is  that 
of  an  adjective  :  it  is  radically  the  same  as  the  German  frohlich, 
so  that  lie  in  frolic  corresponds  exactly  to  the  suffix  ly  in  cleanly, 
ghastly,  etc.    By  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  it  came  to  be 
used  as  a  noun,  and  its  attributive  sense  being  forgotten,  a  new 
adjective  was  formed — frolicsome,  from  which  again  came  a  new 
noun — frolicsomeness.     In  Comus  59  it  is  used  as  an  adjective : 
''ripe  and  frolic." 

breathes  the  spring  :  this  transitive  use  of  the  verb  is  fre 
quent  in  Milton,  with  such  objects  as  'odours,'  'flowers,'  'smell, 'etc. 

19.  Zephyr,  the  personification  of  the  pleasant  West  wind  :  in 
Par.  Lost,  v.  16,  he  is  represented  as  wooing  Flora — 

"With  voice 
Mild  as  when  Zephyrus  on  Flora  breathes. " 

20.  'As'  here  introduces  a  clause  of  time.     'Once'  does  not 
here  denote  '  on  a  single  occasion '  as  opposed  to  the  adverb 
'often,'  but  'at  a  former  time,'  as  in  the  phrase  'once  upon  a 
time'  (Lat.  olim). 

a-Maying-,  enjoying  the  sports  suitable  to  May.  Comp. 
the  song  of  Aurora,  Zephyr  and  Flora  in  The  Penates  of  Jonson — 

' '  See,  see,  O  see  who  here  is  come  a-maying  !  "  etc. 
To  which  May  answers  : 

"  All  this  and  more  than  I  have  gift  of  saying 

May  vows,  so  you  will  oft  come  here  a-maying." 
Also  see  Song  on  May  Morning,  5. 

Even  in  ancient  times  there  were  May  sports,  when  the 
Roman  youth  engaged  in  dancing  and  singing  in  honour  of  Flora, 
the  goddess  of  fruits  and  flowers.  Formerly  throughout  England 
the  sports  and  customs  connected  with  May-day  were  observed 
with  the  greatest  zest. 

'  A-Maying '  =  on  Maying  :  in  0.  E  writers  after  the  Norman 
Conquest  the  verbal  noun  with  the  preposition  '  on '  was  used 
after  verbs  of  motion,  e.g.  '  he  wente  on  hunting ' ;  afterwards  on 
was  corrupted  into  a.  '  Maying '  is,  therefore,  not  a  participle 
used  as  a  noun,  but  the  verbal  noun  or  gerund.  The  participle 
originally  ended  in  ende  or  inde  and  the  noun  in  wig  ;  but  both 
now  end  in  ing,  and  hence  they  are  often  confused. 


54  L' ALLEGRO. 

21.  There,  i.e.  where  Zephyr  met  Aurora :  an  ;adverb  modi 
fying  'filled.'   The  nom.  to  '  filled'  is  'wind,'  line  18. 

22.  fresh-blown  is  compounded  of  a  participle  and  a  simple 
adverb,  '  fresh  '  being  equal  to  '  freshly  '  :  the  common  adverbial 
suffix  in  Anglo-Saxon  was  e,  the  omission  of  which  has  reduced 
many  adverbs  to  the  same  form  as  the  adjectives  from  which 
they  were  derived.     See  note,  //  Pens.  66. 

roses  washed  in  dew :  a  similar  phrase  occurs  in  Shake 
speare — 

"  I  '11  say  she  looks  as  clear 
As  morning  roses  newly  washed  in  dew." 

Tammy  of  the  Skreiv,  ii.  1.  173. 
Comp.  also — 

'*Her  lips  like  roses  overwasht  with  dew." — Greene,  Arcadia. 

24.  buxom,   lively.      The  spelling  of  this  word  disguises  its 
origin;  it  is  buck- some,  which  arose  out  of  the  A.S.  bocsum  or 
buhsum  =  'easily  bowed,'  'flexible'  (A.S.  buyan,  to  bow,    and 
the  suffix  sum,  'like,'  as  in  *  darksome,'  etc.).     So  that  the  word 
first  meant  'pliable,'  then  'obedient,'  then  ' good-hunloured '  or 
'  lively,'  and  finally  '  handsome.'    It  is  now  used  ordinarily  of  the 
handsomeness  of  stout  persons.      In   its  primary  sense  it  was 
applied  to  unresisting  substances,  e.g.  "the  buxom  air"  (Par. 
Lost,  II.  842),  and  the  transition  to  the  sense  of  '  obedient '  is 
a  natural  one  :  comp.  Spenser's  F.  Q.  iii.  4 — 

"  For  great  compassion  of  their  sorrow,  bid 

His  mighty  waters  to  them  buxome  be." 
In  Shakespeare's  Per.  i.  1  we  find— 

"A  female  heir 

So  buxom,  blithe,  and  full  of  face  "  ; 
.and  Milton  seems  to  have  recollected  this  passage. 

debonair,  elegant,  courteous :  this  word,  when  broken  up, 
is  seen  to  be  a  French  phrase— de  bon  aire,  literally  '  of  a  good 
mien  or  manner ' :  de  =  of,  bon  is  from  Lat.  bonus,  good,  and 
aire  =  manner.  Comp.  the  use  of  'air'  in  the  phrase  '  to  give 
one's  self  airs,'  i.e.  to  be  vain.  '  Debonair '  has  thus  been  formed 
out  of  three  words  by  mere  juxtaposition.  See  note,  II  Pens.  32. 

25.  Haste  thee.    In  such  phrases  the  pronoun  may  be  said  to 
be  used  reflectively  :    comp.   '  sit  thee  down, '   '  fare  thee  well. ' 
In,  Early  English,  however,    the  pronoun  was  in  the  dative, 
marking  that  the  agent  was  affected  by  the  action,  but  not  that 
lie  was  the  direct  object  of  it :  such  a  dative  is  called  the  ethic 
dative.     In  Elizabethan  writers  the  use  of  thee  after  verbs  in  the 
imperative  is  so  common  that  in  many  cases  its  original  sense 
seems  to  have  been  lost  sight  of,  and  the  pronoun  consequently 
seems  to  be  a  mere  corruption  of  the  nominative  thou. 


NOTES.  55 

•  25.  Nymph,  maiden  :  the  word  denotes  literally  'a  bride.'  In 
Greek  mythology  the  goddesses  haunting  mountains,  woods,  and 
streams  were  called  nymphs  ;  see  line  3tt. 

bring  here  governs  the  following  words  : — Jest,  Jollity, 
quips,  cranks,  wiles,  nods,  becks,  smiles,  Sport,  and  Laughter,  all 
of  which  are  the  names  of  Mirth's  companions.  They  are  per 
sonifications  of  the  attributes  .of  happy  youth. 

26.  Jollity,    from    the    adjective    '  jolly,'    light-hearted  :    its 
original  sense  is  'festivity.'     It  is  not  etymologically  connected 
with  '  joviality  '  (from  Jove,  the  joyful  planet),  though  its  mean 
ing  is  similar.     See  note,  Son.  i.  3. 

27.  Quips,  sharp  sayings,  witty  jests.     Compare  "This  was  a 
good  quip  that  he  gave  unto  the  Jewes  "  (Latimer).     The  word  is 
radically  connected  with  whip,  '  that  which  is  moved  smartly,' 
and  a  diminutive  from  it  is  quibble. 

cranks,  i.e.  turns  of  wit.  '  Crank  '  is  literally  a  crook  or 
bend  ;  hence  the  word  is  applied  to  an  iron  rod  bent  into  a  right 
angle  as  in  machinery,  and  to  a  form  of  speech  in  which  words 
are  twisted  away  from  their  ordinary  meaning.  Shakespeare 
uses  'crank'  in  the  sense  of  a  winding  passage,  Cor.  i.  1.  141,  and 
(as  a  verb)  =  to  wind  about,  i.  Hen.  Iv.  i.  98  ;  and  Milton  has, 
"  To  show  us  the  ways  of  the  Lord,  straight  and  faithful  as  they 
are,  not  full  of  « ranks  and  contradictions."  Whenever  language 
is  distorted  or  used  equivocally  we  have  a  crank  in  the  sense  of 
the  above  passage. 

wanton  wiles,  playful  tricks.  'Wile  '  is  really  the  same 
word  as  'guile,'  which  in  Earlier  English  was  written  'gile.' 
Compare  ward  and  guard,  wise  and  guise,  warden  and  guardian  ; 
the  forms  in  '  gu  '  were  introduced  into  English  by  the  Normans . 

28.  Nods  and  becks,  signs  made  with  the  head  and  the  finger. 
The  word  '  beck  '  is  generally  applied  to  signs  made  in  either  of 
these  ways,  though  Milton  here  distinguishes  them  ;  it  is  a  mere 
contraction  of  '  beckon,'  to  make  a  sign  to,  cognate  with  '  beacon.' 

wreathed  smiles,  so  called  because,  in  the  act  of  smiling  or 
laughing,  the  features  are  wreathed  or  puckered.  A  wreath  is 
literally  that  which  is  '  writhed '  or  twisted.  Compare  'wrinkled 
care,'l.  31. 

29.  This  line  and  the  next  are  attributive  to  '  smiles.'     '  Such  ' 
qualifies  '  smiles,'  and  the  clause  introduced  by  'as,'  is  relative. 
As  after  such  is  generally  regarded  as  a  relative  pronoun.     .Milton 
is  fond  of  this  construction  ;  see  lines  129,  138,  148. 

Hebe's  cheek :  Hebe,  in  classical  mythology,  was  the 
goddess  of  youth,  who  waited  upon  the  gods  and  filled  their  cups 
with  nectar.  Later  traditions  represent  her  as  a  divinity  who 
had  power  to  restore  youth  to  the  aged.  Compare  Comus  290  : 
"  As  smooth  as  Hebe's  their  unrazored  lipa." 


56  L'ALLEGRO. 

30.  '  And  are  wont  to  be  found  in  sleek  dimples.'    '  Dimple  '  is 
literally  a  little   '  dip  '  or  depression  :    compare  dingle,  dapple, 
etc.     For  '  sleek  '=soft  or  smooth,  see  Lye.  99. 

31.  We  speak  of  Sport  deriding  or  laughing  away  dull  care  : 
compare  Proverbs,  xvii.  22,   "  A  merry  heart  is  a  good  medicine, 
but  a  broken  spirit  drieth  up  the  bones."     See  Burton's  Anat.  of 
Mel.,  where  Care  is  said   to  be   'lean,  withered,   hollow-eyed, 
wrinkled,'  etc. 

32.  Laughter,  here  said  to  be  holding  his  sides,  just  as,   in 
popular  language,  excessive  laughter  is  said  to  be  '  side-splitting. ' 
'  Sport '  and  '  Laughter  '  are  objects  of  the  verb  '  bring,'  1.  25. 

33.  trip  it :  'to  trip  '  is  to  move  with  short,  light  steps  as  in 
dancing  ;  '  it '  is  a  cognate  accusative,  as  if  we  said  '  to  trip  a 
tripping,'  and  adds  nothing  to  the  meaning  of  the  verb.     This 
use  of  '  it '  is  extremely  common  in  Elizabethan  writers  ;  Shake 
speare  has  to  fight  it,  speak  it,  revel  it,  dance  it,  etc. ,  where  (as 
Abbott  suggests)  the  pronoun  seems  to  indicate  some  pre-existing 
object  in  the  mind  of  the  person  spoken  of.     In  other  cases,  such 
as  queen  it,  foot  it,  saint  it,  sinner  it,  etc.,  the  pronoun  seems  to 
be  added  to  show  that  the  words  have  the  force  of  verbs. 

34.  light   fantastic   toe :    the   toe    (or   foot)    is    called    '  fan 
tastic  '  because  in  dancing  its  movements  are  unrestrained  or 
'  full  of  fancy. '     '  Fantastic '  is  now  used  only  in  the  sense  of 
'  grotesque  '  or  '  capricious,'  but  in  the  time  of  Shakespeare  and 
Milton  fane//  and  fantaxy  (which  are  radically  the  same  word) 
had  not  been  desynonymised  :  this  explains  why  an  event  that 
had  merely  been  imagined  or  '  fancied '  is  described  by  Shake 
speare  as   'fantastic.'     'To  trip  the  light  fantastic  toe'   is  a 
phrase  now  ordinarily  used  as  = '  to  dance. '     Compare   Comus, 
144,  962  :   "  light  fantastic  round." 

36.  Liberty  is  here  naturally  associated  with  Mirth  :  in  Bur 
ton's  Anat.  of  Mel.  there  is  a  chapter  on  "Loss  of  liberty  as  a 
cause  of  Melancholy."     She  is  here  called  a  motfft£"*n-nymph, 
because  mountain  fastnesses  have  always  given  to  their  possessors 
a  certain  amount  of  security  against  invasion  and  oppression, 
and  because  nowhere  is  the  love  of  liberty  more  keen.     Comp. 
Cowper's  lines — 

"  'Tis  liberty  alone  that  gives  the  flower 
Of  fleeting  life  its  lustre  and  perfume ;" 
And  Wordsworth — 

"  Two  voices  are  there — one  is  of  the  sea, 
One  of  the  mountains — each  a  mighty  voice  ; 
In  both  from  age  to  age  thou  didst  rejoice, 
They  were  thy  chosen  music,  Liberty,"  etc. 

37.  due  :  see  note  on  II  Pens.  155. 


NOTES.  57 

38.  crew,  formerly  spelt  crue,  is  common  as  a  sea-term  (being 
applied  to  the  company  of  sailors  on  a  ship)  ;  and,  like  many  other 
sea- terms  in   English,  is  of   Scandinavian   origin.     Its  original 
sense  is  '  a  company  '  and  it  is  used  here  by  Milton  in  this  unre 
stricted  sense.     The  word  is  common  in  his  poems,  but  in  every 
other  case  he  uses  it  in  a  bad  sense,  applying  it  to  evil  spirits  or 
hateful  things.     '  To  admit  of '  is  'to  make  a  member  of. ' 

39.  her,  i.e.  Liberty. 

40.  unreproved  pleasures  free,    free  and  innocent  pleasures. 
This  is  a  favourite  arrangement   of  words   in  Milton — a  noun 
between   two   adjectives  :    it    generally  implies    that   the   final 
adiective  qualifies  the  idea  conveyed  by  the  first  adjective  and 
noun  together ;  comp.  "hazel  copses  green,"  Lye.  42;  also  "  native 
wood-notes   wild,"   1.    134.     Unreproved  =  unreprovable  ;  comp. 
'  unvalued  '   for  '  invaluable'  in  Milton's  Lines  On  Shakespeare, 
Jl.     In   Shakespeare  we   find    *  unavoided '   for    'unavoidable,' 
'imagined'  for  'imaginable,'  '  unnumbered  '  for  '  innumerable,' 
etc.  (see  Abbott's  Shak.  Grammar,  §  375).    The  passive  participle 
is  often  used  to  signify,  not  that  which  was  and  is,  but  that 
which  was  and  therefore  can  be  hereafter.}     In  much  the  same 
way  we  still  speak  of   '  an  untamed   steed, '   '  an  unconquered 
army,'  'a  dreaded  sound.'     See  also  note,  Lye.  176. 

41.  To  hear,  like  '  to  live  '  in  1.  38,  is  an  infinitive  of  purpose 
dependent  upon  the  verb  '  admit.' 

42.  startle  is  an  infin.  dependent,  along  with  '  begin,'  upon  '  to 
hear. '    Warton  notes  that  there  is  a  peculiar  propriety  in  ' startle;' 
the  lark's  is  a  sudden  shrill  burst  of  song,  which  is  often  heard 
just   before   sunrise   and  may  therefore  be  said  to  scare  away 
the  darkness.     Comp.  Par.  h'eg.  ii.  279. 

43.  watch-tower  :    the  lark  sings  high  up  in  the  air,  so  high 
that,  though  it  may  be  filling  one's  ears  with  its  melody,  it  is 
often  impossible  to  see  the  songster.     Hence  Shakespeare  speaks 
of  it  as  singing  "  at  heaven's  gate,"  and  Shelley  likens  it  to  a 
"  high-born  maiden  in  a  palace  fairer." 

44.  dappled,   i.e.    having  the   sky   covered  with   small  grey 
clouds  :  literally,  it  means  '  marked  with  small  dips '  or  hollows  ; 
it  has  no  connection  with  dab.     See  note  on  1.  30.     '  Till '  here 
introduces  a  clause  in  the  indicative  ;  in  line  99  the  verb  is  in  the 
subjunctive  mood  :  see  note  on  II  Pens.  44. 

45.  Then  to  come,  etc  :   dependent,  like   'startle,'  upon  the 
verb  'to  hear'  in  1.  41.     It  refers  to  the  lark  which  is,  at  day 
break,  to  appear  at  L'Allegro's  window  to  bid  him  good  morning. 
This  is  a  fancy  frequent  in  poetry — that  the  morning  song  of  birds 
is  a  friendly  greeting  to  those  who  hear  them.     The  only  diffi 
culties  connected  with  this  interpretation  are  ( 1 )  that  in  making 
the  lark  alight  at  the  window  of  a  human  dwelling  Milton  seems 


58  L'ALLEGRO. 

to  be  forgetful  of  a  lark's  habits;  the  ordinary  poetical  condeit 
does  not  apply  to  this  bird,  which  does  not  seek  man's  company, 
and  is  a  "  bird  of  the  wilderness  "  :  (2)  that  the  verb  '  hear '  is 
usually  followed  by  an  infinitive  without  '  to, '  whereas  in  this 
case  '  to  come '  is  used.  These  difficulties  disappear  if  we  re 
member  that  Milton's  references  to  nature  are  not  always  strictly 
accurate  (see  notes  passim] ;  and  that  '  to  come '  follows  at  some 
distance  from  '  hear, '  thus  rendering  the  introduction  of  '  to ' 
necessary  as  a  sign  of  the  infinitive. 

Prof.  Masson,  however,  rejects  this  view  as  nonsense  :  he  says  : 
' '  The  words  '  Then  to  come '  in  line  45  refer  back  to,  and  depend 
upon,  the  previous  words  'Mirth,  admit  me'  of  line  38."  On 
this  view,  it  is  not  the  lark,  but  L' Allegro  himself,  that  comes  to 
his  own  window  and  bids  his  friends  good  morning.  This  avoids 
the  two  difficulties  above  noticed,  but  raises  others.  The  ques 
tion  is  referred  to  here  merely  because,  in  order  to  appreciate  the 
arguments,  the  student  must  thoroughly  master  the  syntax 
of  lines  37-48. 

45.  in  spits  of  sorrow,  i.e.  in  order  to  spite  or  defy  sorrow. 
'  Spite '  is  a  contracted  form  of  '  despite, '  and  is  cognate  with 
'despise.'     This  is  a  peculiar  use  of  the  phrase  'in  spite  of; 
ordinarily,  when  a  person  is  said  to  do  something  in  spite  of 
sorrow,  it  is  implied  that  he  did  it  although  lie  was  sorrowful. 
This  is  obviously  not  the  meaning  in  this  passage,  for  there  is  no 
sorrow  in  the  heart  of  the  lark  (or  of  L 'Allegro  himself). 

46.  bid :  see  note  on  Lye.  22. 

47.  sweat-briar  (also  spelt  brier),  a  prickly  and  fragrant  shrub, 
the  wild-rose  or  eglantine. 

48.  twisted  eglantine.      Etymologically    '  eglantine '    denotes 
something  prickly  (Fr.  aiguille,  a  needle),  but  since  Milton  has 
just  named  the  sweet-briar,  which  is  commonly  identified  with 
the  eglantine,  and  calls  the  eglantine  '  twisted '  (which  it  is  not), 
it  is  probable  that  he  meant  the  honeysuckle.      'Twisted'  may 
properly  be  applied  to  creeping  or  climbing  plants. 

49.  cock.     The  crowing  of  the  cock  is  universally  associated 
with  the  dawn ;  hence  Milton  speaks  of  this  bird  as  scattering 
the  last  remnants  of  darkness  by  his  crowing.    So  in  Shakespeare 
we  have  a  reference  to  the  superstition  that  spirits  vanished  at 
c:>ck-crow.     In  classical  times  the  cock  was  sacred  to  Apollo, 
the  god  of  the  sun,  because  it  announced  sunrise.     Comp.  the 
Eastern  proverb,   used  to  a  person  to  intimate  that  the  speaker 
can  dispense  with  his  services— -"  Do  you  think  there  will  be  no 
dawn  if  there  is  no  cock  ?  " 

The  adjective  '  thin  '  may  be  taken  as  qualifying  '  rear ' :  so  we 
speak  of  the  thin,  or  straggling  rear  of  an  army  as  distinct  from 
its  close  and  serried  van. 


NOTES.  59 

52.  Stoutly  struts  his  dames  before,  walks  with  conscious  pride 
in  front  of  the  hens.     In  Latin  we  find  the  cock  described  as  the 
gallus  rixosus,  pugnacious  fowl.     Cowper  speaks  of  the  .'  wonted 
strut '  of  the  cock.     '  Before,'  in  this  line,  is  a  preposition  govern 
ing  '  dames ':   '  dame '  is  from  Lat.  domina,  a  lady. 

The  bold  step  of  the  cock  is  well  expressed  by  the  rhythm  of 
this  line  in  contrast  with  that  of  the  preceding  one. 

53.  listening:  this  word  refers  to  L' Allegro  himself  :  it  intro 
duces  another  of  his   'unreproved  pleasures'   of  the  morning. 
The  word  '  oft '  shows  that  the  poet  is  not  recounting  the  plea 
sures  of  one  particular  morning,  but  morning  pleasures  in  general. 

54.  '  The  sounds  made  by  the  barking  hounds  and  the  hunts 
man's  horn  joyfully  awaken  the  morning.'     Similarly  in  Gray's 
Elegy  the  cock-crow  and  the  "  echoing  horn  "  are  both  referred 
to  as  morning  sounds.     Gray  was  (as  -Lowell  notes)  greatly  in 
fluenced  by  a  study  of  Milton's  poetry. 

cheerly,  cheerily  or  cheerfully  :  in  the  phrase  'be  of  good 
cheer,'  we  see  the  primary  sense  of  the  word  'cheer,'  which  is 
from  a  French  word  meaning  '  the  face. '  A  bright  face  is  the 
index  of  a  cheerful  spirit. 

55.  hoar.     This  may  imply  that  the  hill  appears  gray  through 
the  haze  of  distance,  or,  more  literally,  that  it  is  white  with  frost 
or  rime,  the  hunters  being  astir  before  the  rising  sun  has  melted 
the  frozen  dew  (hoar-frost).     In  A  re.  98  Milton  applies  '  hoar '  to 
a  mountain  in  the, more  usual  sense  of   'old':    comp.    'hoary- 
headed.  ' 

56.  high  wocd,  because  on  the  side  of  a  hill.     'Echoing'  here 
qualifies  'hounds  and  horn.' 

shrill.  In  modern  English  the  use  of  adjectival  forms  as 
adverbs  is  common  ;  in  many  cases  they  represent  the  old  adverb 
ending  in  -e  (see  note  on  1.  22).  It  must  not  be  supposed,  how 
ever,  that  wherever  an  adjective  is  used  with  a  verb  its  force  is 
that  of  an  adverb  :  e.g.  "through  the  high  wood  echoing  shrill," 
or  "Hope  springs  eternal  in  the  human  breast."  Here  it  is  not 
correct  to  say  that  '  shrill '  merely  means  '  shrilly,'  and  '  eternal ' 
means  '  eternally ' ;  the  adjectives  have  a  distinct  use  in  pointing 
to  a  quality  of  the  agent  rather  than  of  the  act. 

57.  Sometime,  i.e.  'for  some  time,'  or  'at  one  time  or  other.' 
The  genitive  form  '  sometimes '  has  a  different  meaning  —  occa 
sionally.  : 

not  unseen:  see  Analysis  and  note  II  Pens.  65;  "Happy 
men  love  witnesses  of  their  joy;  the  splenetic  love  solitude." 
Burton,  in  Anat.  of  Mel. ,  says  of  the  melancholy  :  "They  delight 
in  floods  and  waters,  desert  places,  to  walk  alone  in  orchards, 
gardens,  private  walks,"  etc. 


60  L'ALLEGRO. 

58.  elms.     Warton  notes  that  the  elm  seems  to  have  been 
Milton's  favourite  tree,  judging  from  its  frequent  mention  both 
in  his  Latin  and  English  poems.      The  scenery  in  the  neighbour 
hood  of  Horton  may  account  for  this,  though  it  must  not  be 
supposed  that  Milton  is  in  this  poem  describing  any  actual  scene. 
Masson  says  :   "A  visit  to  Horton  any  summer's  day  ...  to  stroll 
among  the  meadows  and  pollards  by  the  banks  of  the  sluggish 
Colne,  where  Milton  must  have  so  often  walked  and  mused,  may 
be  recommended  to  lovers  of  Literature  and  of  English  History." 

59.  This  line  is  dependent  on  '  walking  '  :  '  right '  is  an  adverb 
modifying   the   preposition    'against.'      Comp.     'He    cut    right 
through  the  enemy,'  'I  have  got  half  through  my  work,'  etc. 
'  Against '  implies  that  L' Allegro  is  walking  with  his  face  turned 
directly  to  the  rising  sun. 

the  eastern  gate,  a  favourite  image  in  poetry  for  that  part 
of  the  sky  from  which  the  sun  seems  to  issue.  In  classical 
mythology  the  god  of  the  sun  was  represented  as  riding  in  a 
chariot  through  the  heavens  from  East  to  West,  and  in  one  of 
his  Latin  poems  (Eleg.  iii.)  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.  "  Hark,  hark  !  the  lark  at  Heaven's 
gate  sings,"  Cymbeline  II.  iii. 

60.  begins  his   state,   begins  his  stately  march  towards   his 
'  other  goal '  in  the  west.     Cornp.  Arc.  81,  note. 

61.  amber  light,  amber-coloured  light :  noun  used  as  adjective. 

62.  '  The  clouds  (being)  arrayed  in  numerous  colours. '     Gram 
matically,  '  clouds '  is  here  used  absolutely.     In  Latin  a  noun  or 
pronoun  in  the  ablative  along  with  a  participle  was  often  used  as 
a  substitute  for  a  subordinate  clause,  and  Milton  is  fond  of  this 
construction.      Here,   line  62  is  an  adverbial  clause  modifying 
'begins.'      In  English,   the  noun  is   generally  said  to  be  the 
nominative  absolute,  but  in  the  case  of  pronouns,  the  form  shows 
whether  the  nom.   or  obj.   is  used.      Milton  uses  both  ;    comp. 
"  Him  destroyed,  for  whom  all  this  was  made. "  and  "  Adam  shall 
live  with  her,  /  extinct. "     Modern  writers  prefer  the  nom.  case 
both  for  nouns  and  pronouns.      In  Anglo-Saxon  the  dative  was 
used. 

liveries  here  refers  to  dress,  as  when  we  speak  of  a  servant's 
livery.  Its  primary  sense  was  more  general — anything  d'l'uic-red 
or  served  out,  whether  clothes,  food,  or  money  :  a  peer  was  even 
said  to  have  livery  of  his  feudal  holdings  from  the  king.  As  the 
livery  of  a  servant  is  generally  of  some  distinctive  colour, 
Milton  applies  the  word  to  the  many-hued  clouds.  It  may  also 
imply  that  the  clouds,  as  servants,  attend  their  master,  the  Sun, 
in  his  stately  march. 


NOTES.  61 

62.  flight,  a  nearly  obsolete  word  =  arrayed :  comp.  II  Pens.  1 59. 
It  is  a  short  form  of  dighted,  from  the  verb  '  to  dight '  (A.  S. 
dihtan,  to  set  in  order),  which,  as  Masson  remarks,  still  sur 
vives  in  the  Scottish  word  dicht,  to  wipe  or  clean. 

65.  blithe  :  see  note  on  1.  56. 

67.  tells  his  tale -counts  his  sheep,  in  order  to  find  if  any 
have  gone  amissing  during  the  night.  '  Tale '  is  thus  used  in 
the  sense  of  '  that  which  is  told  or  counted,'  which  was  one  of  its 
meanings  in  Early  Eng. :  A.S.  talu,  a  number.  In  the  Bible 
'  tell '  and  '  tale '  are  frequently  used  in  this  sense,  Gen.  xv.  5, 
Psalms  xxii.  17,  kxod.  v.  18  ;  and  in  the  works  of  writers  nearly 
contemporary  with  Milton  the  words  are  used  of  the  counting  of 
sheep. 

'  To  tell  a  tale '  may  also  mean  '  to  relate  a  story,'  and  the 
shepherds  may  be  supposed  to  sit  and  amuse  themselves  with 
simple  narratives.  But,  as  Milton  in  the  previous  lines  refers  to 
such  rural  occupations  as  are  suited  to  the  early  morning,  and 
represents  each  person  as  engaged  in  some  ordinary  duty,  it 
seems  likely  that  in  this  line  also  some  piece  of  business  is 
meant,  and  not  a  pastime.  The  morning  hours  are  not  usually 
those  devoted  to  story-telling. 

69.  Straight,  straightway,  immediately.      ' '  There  is,  in  my 
opinion,  great  beauty  in  this  abrupt  and  rapturous  start  of  the 
poet's  imagination,  as  it  is  extremely  well  adapted  to  the  sub 
ject,  and  carries  a  very  pretty  allusion  to  those  sudden  gleams  of 
vernal  delight  which  break  in  upon  the  mind  at  the  sight  of  a 
fine  prospect "  (Thyer).     See  note,  Univ.  Carrier,  ii.  10. 

70.  Whilst-  it   (i.e.   the  eye)  measures  the  landscape  round  ; 
sweeps  over  the  surrounding  scene.     Landscape,  spelt  by  Milton 
landslip,    which    resembles   the  A.S.    form,    landscipe  ='  land- 
shape,'  the  aspect  or  general  appearance  of  the  country.     The 
word  is  borrowed  from  the  Dutch  painters,  who  applied  it  to 
what  we   now  call  the   background   of   a  picture.      '  Scape '  is 
radically  the  same  as  the  suffix  -ship,  seen  in  ladyship,  worship, 
friendship,  etc. ,  where  it  serves  to  form  abstract  nouns.     '  Round ' 
is  an  adverb  modifying  '  measures, '  =  around. 

71.  Eusset  lawns,  and  fallows  grey  :  '  lawn '  is  always  used  by 
Milton  to  denote  an  open  stretch  of  grassy  ground,  whereas  in 
modern  usage  it  is  applied  to  a  smooth  piece  of  grass-grown 
land  in  front  of  a  house.     The  origin  of  the  word  is  disputed, 
but  it  seems  radically  to  denote  '  a  clear  space  ' ;  it  is  said  to  be 
cognate  with  llau  used  as  a  prefix  in  the  names  of  certain  Welsh 
towns,  f.fj.  Llandaff,   Llangollen.     Comp.    Lye.    2-\     Tallow' 
literally  denotes  'pale-coloured,'  e.g.  tawny  or  yellow:    hence 
applied  to  land  ploughed  but  not  bearing  a  crop,  as  it  is  gene 
rally  of  a  tawny  colour  ;  and  finally  to  all  land  that  has  been 


62  L'ALLEGRO. 

long  left  unsown  and  is  therefore  grass-grown.  It  is  in  this  last 
sense  that  Milton  uses  it,  and  as  the  Word  has  lost  all  signifi 
cance  of  colour  (when  applied  to  land)  he  adds  the  adjective 
'grey'  to  distinguish  it  from  those  fields  that  are  'russet'  or 
reddish-brown  :  the  former  are  more  distant,  the  latter  nearer 
at  hand.  See  note  1.  55. 

72.  stray  :  comp.  Lat.  errare,  to  wander. 

73.  Mountains,    along    with    '"lawns,'    'fallows,'    'meadows,' 
'  brooks,'  and  '  rivers,'  is  in  apposition  to  '  new  pleasures,'  1.  69. 

74.  labouring  clouds,  so  called  because  they  bring  forth  rain 
and  storms.     The  image  of  clouds  resting  on  the  mountain-top  is 
well  expressed  by  Shelley  : — 

"  I  sift  the  snow  on  the  mountains  below, 

And  their  great  pines  groan  aghast ; 
And  all  the  night  'tis  my  pillow  white, 
While  I  sleep  in  the  arms  of  the  blast." 

The  Cloud. 

75.  trim:  comp.   'trim  gardens,'  11  Pens.  50,  'daisies  trim,' 
Com.  120.     The  student  should  note  the  prevailing  position  of 
the  adjectives  in  lines  71,  75,  76,  126,  etc.     Where  contrast  is 
intended,  as  in  line  76,  the  two  nouns  are  placed  together  and 
the  adjectives  apart ;  so  in  Latin  frequently. 

pied,  variegated.  The  word  literally  means  '  variegated 
like  a  magpie ' ;  it  is  a  common  epithet  in  poetry  and  is  applied 
by  Shakespeare  to  daisies  (L.  L.  L.  v.  ii.).  It  is  therefore 
probable  that  in  this  passage  also  '  pied  '  qualifies  '  daisies  ' ; 
otherwise  it  might  be  taken  as  an  attribute  of  '  meadows. ' 
Comp.  piebald,  applied  to  animals. 

77.  Towers  and  battlements  it  (i.e.  the  eye)  sees.     This  thought 
may  have  been  suggested  to  Milton  by  the  fact  that  his  eye,  in 
taking  in  the  landscape  around  Horton,  would  often  light  on  the 
towers  of  Windsor  Castle  in  the  distance  :  comp.  Com.  935. 

78.  Bosomed,  embosomed. 

79.  Where  perhaps  some  beautiful  lady  dwells,  a  centre  of 
attraction.     Lines  79  and  80  form  an   attributive  adjunct  to 
'  towers  and  battlements. ' 

beauty  :  see  note  on  Lye.  166. 

lies = dwells ;  comp.  Lye.  53,  and  Shakespeare,  '  When 
the  court  lay  at  Windsor  '  (M.  W.  of  W.  ii.  2). 

80.  cynosure,   now  applied  generally  to  an  object  of  great 
interest :    so  called  because  the  Cynosura,  the  stars  composing 
the  tail  of  the  constellation  of  the  Lesser  Bear,  was  the  mark  by 
which  the  Phoenician  sailors  steered  their  course  at  sea.      '  Cyno 
sure  '  is  from  the  Greek  kynos  ovra,  a  dog's   tail :   comp.   Com. 
342  :  "  Tyrian  Cynosure."     A  star  by  which  sailors  steer  is  also 


NOTES.  63 

called  a  '  lode-star,'  a  word  which  is  used  metaphorically  in  the 
same  way  as  'cynosure';  comp.  "  Your  eyes  are  lode-stars,"  M. 
N.  D.i.  1. 

neighbouring:  'neighbour'  is  radically  'near-dweller* 
(A.S.  neak-bur). 

81.  Hard    by,    near    at    hand:    '  by  '  =  alongside,    an   adverb 
modifying  '  smokes ' ;  '  hard '  is  an  adverb  of  degree  modifying 
'  by.'     Comp.  the  sense  of  '  by  '  In  the  phrases  dose  by,  fast  by, 
to  put  a  thing  by  (i.  e.  aside). 

82.  From :    a  preposition  may,  as  here,  govern  an  adverbial 
phrase. 

83.  Where,  in  which  cottage.      Corydon,  Thyrsis,   Thestylis 
occur  frequently  in  pastoral  poetry  as  the  names  of  shepherds, 
and   Phyllis   as  the   name  of  a  female.     See  Virgil's  Bucolics, 
Theocritus,  Spenser,  etc. 

met :  '  having  met  together,  they  are  seated  at  their 
savoury  dinner  of  herbs  and  other  country  dishes.' 

85.  messes,   dishes  of  food.     '  Mess '  originally  meant  some 
thing  placed  on  a  table  (Lat.  missum) :    the  word  here  has  no 
connection  with  'mess,'  a  disordered  mixture,  which  is  a  variant 
of  mash. 

86.  neat-handed :    '  neat '  is  a  kind  of    transferred  epithet, 
referring  not  to  the  woman's  hands  but  to  the  appearance  of  the 
food  prepared  by  her.      So  a  skilful  carpenter  may  be  called 
'neat-handed,'  a  good  needlewoman  'neat-fingered,'  etc. 

97.  bower,  here  refers  to  the  cottage.  A  'bower'  is  strictly 
something  built,  a  dwelling-place  :  it  came  to  be  applied  to  the 
inner  chamber  occupied  by  a  lady. 

With  Thestylis:  'with'  here  means  'in  company  with,'  a 
woman  being  generally  employed  at  harvest-time  to  assist  in 
binding  the  corn  into  sheaves. 

89.  Or.     The  construction  is  :  '  Either  she  leaves  her  bower  to 
bind  the  sheaves,  or  (she  goes)  to  the  tanned  haycock.'     This  is 
evidently  the  meaning ;  '  she  goes '  being  implied  in  the  previous 
verb  '  leaves.'    This  construction,  by  which  two  nouns  or  phrases 
are  connected  with  one  verb  which  really  suits  only  one  of  them, 
is  common  in  Milton,  and  is  called  zeugma. 

earlier  season,  because  the  hay-harvest  is  earlier  than  the 
grain-harvest. 

90.  tanned  haycock,  a  pile  of  dried  hay.    The  word  '  cock '  (by 
itself)  means  a  '  small  pile  of  hay ' :  it  is  radically  distinct  from 
the  word  '  cock '  in  any  other  sense. 

mead,  meadow.  The  form  in  -ow  (comp.  arrow,  sparrow, 
marrow,  sorrow)  is  due  to  an  A.S.  suffix  -we. 


64  L' ALLEGRO. 

91.  secure,   free  from  care,   not  fearing  harm.      This  is  the 
primary  sense  of  the  word  [Lat.  se  (for  sine)  =  free  from,  cura  = 
care] :    it   therefore   corresponds   exactly  to   the   English  word 
'  care-less. '    It  is  used  in  this  sense  in  the  Bible  and  in  such 
passages  as — 

' '  Man  may  securely  sin,  but  safely  never. " 

In  Latin  securus  is  sometimes  applied  to  that  which  frees  from 
care.  In  modern  English  'secure'  means  'safe,'  actually  free 
f  rofn  danger. 

92.  "Milton  again  notes  a  paragraph  in  the  poem,  changing 
the  scene.     It  is  now  past  mid-day  and  into  the  afternoon  ;  and 
we  are  invited  to  a  rustic  holiday  among  the  '  upland  hamlets ' 
or  little  villages  among  the  slopes  "  (Masson). 

upland  hamlets :  as  the  poet  here  introduces  us  to  the 
primitive  amusements  and  superstitions  of  village  life  we  may 
tako  'upland'  to  mean  'far  removed  from  large  cities.'  The 
word  '  uplandish '  was  formerly  used  in  the  sense  of  '  rude '  or 
f  unrefined, '  because,  in  the  uplands,  the  refinements  of  town-life 
were  unknown.  Comp.  note  on  1.  5.  '  Hamlet '  =  ham-let,  a 
little  home  (A.S.  ham) :  comp.  the  affix  in  the  names  of  certain 
towns — Nottingham,  Birmingham,  etc. 

invite  :  the  object  of  this  verb  is  not  expressed. 

94.  jocund,  merry  :  from  the  Lat.  jucundus,  pleasant.     (It  has 
no  radical  connection  with  the  words  joke,  jocidar,  as  is  some 
times  stated.) 

rebecks.  The  rebeck  was  a  three-stringed  fiddle,  played 
with  a  bow.  The  name  is  the  same  as  the  Persian  rabdb,  applied 
to  a  two-stringed  instrument  said  to  have  been  introduced  into 
Europe  by  the  Moors.  The  modern  violin  has  four  strings. 

95.  many  a  youth.     '  Youth '  =  young-th,  the  state  of  being 
young ;  it  is  now  used  both  in  its  abstract  and  concrete  senses  : 
in  the  latter  it  applies  properly,  as  here,  to  a  young  man. 

'  Many  a '  is  a  peculiar  idiom,  which  has  been  explained 
variously.  One  theory  is  that  '  many '  is  a  corruption  of  the 
French  mesnie,  a  train  or  company,  and  '  a '  a  corruption  of  the 
preposition  '  of,'  the  singular  noun  being  then  substituted  for  the 
plural  through  confusion  of  the  preposition  with  the  article.  A 
more  correct  view  seems  to  be  that  '  many '  is  the  A.  S.  manig, 
which  was  in  old  English  used  with  a  singular  noun  and  without  the 
article,  e.g.  manig  mann  =  many  men.  In  the  thirteenth  century 
the  indefinite  article  began  to  be  inserted,  thus  mony  enne  thing 
=  *  many  a  thing,'  just  as  we  say  '  what  a  thing,'  '  such  a  thing  ' 
This  would  imply  that  '  a '  is  not  a  corruption  of  '  of,'  and  that 
there  is  no  connection  with  the  French  word  mesnie. 


NOTES.  65 

96.   chequered  shade.     The  meaning  may  be  illustrated  by  a 
passage  from  Shakespeare-  • 

"  The  green  leaves  quiver  with  the  cooling  wind, 
And  make  a  chequered  shadow  on  the  ground." 

Titus  Andron.  ii.  4. 

Comp.     "a    shadow  -  chequer'd    lawn,"    Tennyson's    Eecoll.    of 
ibii 


The  radical  meaning  of  '  chequered  '  or  '  checkered '  is  '  marked 
with  squares  '  (like  a  chess-board) ;  hence  it  is  here  applied  to  the 
ground  marked  in  dark  and  light.  The  game  of  draughts  which 
is  played  on  a  chess-board  is  sometimes  called  '  checkers. '  The 
word  '  check '  is  derived,  through  the  French,  from  the  Persian 
shah,  a  king,  the  name  given  to  the  principal  piece  on  the  chess 
board  :  '  chess '  is  merely  a  corruption  of  the  plural  '  checks. ' 

97.  'And  (to)  young  and  old  (who  have)  come  forth  to  play.' 
'  Come '  is  the  past  participle  agreeing  with  '  young  and  old.' 

to  play  :  infinitive  of  purpose  after  a  verb  of  motion  ;  in 
early  English  the  gerund  was  used,  preceded  by  the  preposition 
to. 

98.  sunshine  holiday  :  comp.  Com.  959.     '  Sunshine '  is  a  noun 
used  as  an  adjective.     Milton  wrote  'holy day,'  which  shows  the 
origin  of  the  word.      The  accent  in  such  compounds  (comp.  blue 
bell,  blackbird,  etc. )  falls  on  the  adjective  ;  it  is  only  in  this  way 
that  the  ear  can  tell  whether  the  compounds  (e.g.  h61iday)  or  the 
separate  words  (e.g.  h61y  day)  are  being  used. 

99.  livelong,  longlasting :  see  On  Shakespeare,  8,  note.      For 
'fail,'  the  subjunctive  after  'till,'  compare  1.  44. 

100.  We  have  here  to  supply  a  verb  of  motion  before  '  to,'  e.g. 
*  they  proceed' :  comp.  lines  90  and  131. 

spicy  nut-brown  ale,  a  drink  composed  of  hot  ale,  nutmeg, 
sugar,  toast,  and  roasted  crabs  or  apples.  It  was  called  Lamb's 
wool  from  its  frothy  appearance,  and  Shakespeare  refers  to  it  as 
"gossip's  bowl,"  while  another  Elizabethan  writer  calls  it  "the 
spiced  wassel  bowl. ' 

101.  feat,    exploit,  wonderful   deed.      'Feat,'   like   'fact,'  is 
radically  'something  done'  (Lat.  factum).      For  'many  a,'  see 
1.  95. 

102.  Faery  Mafo.     Mab  was  the  fairy  who  sent  dreams,  and 
hence  a  person  subject  to  dreams  is  said  to  be  'favoured  with 
the  visits  of  queen  Mab. '     See  an  account  of  her  powers  in  this 
respect  in  fiomeo  and  Juliet,  1.  iv.     Ben  Jonson  alludes  to  the 
liking  of  the  fairies  for  cream  : — 

£ 


66  L' ALLEGRO. 

"  When  about  the  cream-bowls  sweet 
You  and  all  your  elves  do  meet. 
This  is  Mab,  the  mistress-fairy, 
That  doth  nightly  rob  the  dairy. 
She  that  pinches  country  wenches, 
If  they  scrub  not  clean  their  benches. ' 

Milton's  spelling  '  faery '  comes  nearer  to  the  early  English  word 
'faerie,'  which  meant  'enchantment.' 

junkets,  also  spelt  juncates.  The  original  sense  is  'a 
kind  of  cream-cheese  served  up  on  rushes '  (Ital.  giunco,  a  rush) : 
it  was  then  applied  to  various  kinds  of  delicacies  made  of  cream, 
then  to  any  delicacy,  and  finally  to  a  'merrymaking.'  Hence 
the  verb  'to  junket,'  i.e.  to  revel.  Milton  here  means  'dainties.' 

eat :  here  past  tense  =  ate. 

103.  She  ...  he,  etc.     One  of  the  girls  tells  how  she  was  pinched 
in  her  sleep  by  the  fairies  (the  popular  superstition  being  that 
only  lazy  servants  were  treated  in  this  way),  and  then  a  young  man 
tells  his  experience  :  at  one  time  he  was  led  astray  by  the  ignis 
fatuus,  and  at  another  time  he  had  suffered  from  the  tricks  of 
Robin  Goodfellow. 

104.  The    construction    is    awkward :    we    may  read  either 

(1)  '  And  he  (was)  led  by  Friar's  lantern  ;  (he)  tells  how '  etc.,  or 

(2)  '  And  he,  (having  been)  led  by  Friar's  lantern,  tells  how  '  etc. 
The  former  reading  is  preferable  as  it  separates  the  two  stories 
regarding  the  '  Friar's  lantern  '  and  the  '  drudging  goblin,'  but  it 
leaves  the  verb  '  tells  '  without  a  subject.     This,  however,  occa 
sionally  happens  in  Milton.     The  other  reading  is  grammatically 
easy,  but  confuses  the  two  stories.     A  third  suggestion  is  to  read 
Tales  for  Tells  in  line  105,  putting  a  colon  at  led. 

Friar's  lantern.  This  refers  to  the  nickering  light  often 
seen  above  marshy  ground  and  liable  to  be  mistaken  by  the 
belated  traveller  for  the  light  of  a  lamp.  It  is  popularly  called 
Jack  o'  lantern  or  Will  o'  the  Wisp.  This  explains  Milton's  use 
of  the  word  '  lantern, '  but  it  does  not  explain  why  he  should  call 
it  '  Friar's  '  lantern.  He  may  refer  to  a  spirit  popularly  called 
Friar  Rush,  who,  however,  neither  haunted  fields  nor  carried  a 
lantern,  but  played  pranks  in  houses  during  the  night ;  he  is 
therefore  distinct  from  Jack  o'  lantern.  '  Friar  '  is  a  member  of 
a  religious  order  (Lat.  frater,  Fr.  frere,  a  brother). 

105.  drudging  goblin  :  sometimes  called  Robin  Goodfellow  or 
Hobgoblin  (or  Puck  as  in  Shakespeare).     Comp.  Anat  of  Mel.  I. 
ii. :  'A  bigger  kind  there  is  of  them  (i.e.  terrestrial  demons)  called 
with  us  hobgoblins  and  Robin  Goodfellows,  that  would  in  those 
superstitious  times  grind  corn  for  a  mexs  of  milk,  cut  wood,  or  do 
any  manner  of  drudgery  work,  ...  to  draw  water,  dress  meat, 


NOTES.  67 

or  any  such  thing. '  It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  individuality  of 
these  familiar  spirits  is  often  not  very  clear.  Milton  confuses 
Jack  o'  lantern  and  Friar  Rush,  while  keeping  Robin  Goodfellow 
distinct ;  Shakespeare  does  not  distinguish  Robin  Goodfellow, 
Jack  o'  lantern,  and  Puck  (see  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  ii.  1); 
while  Burton  makes  Robin  Goodfellow  a  house  spirit  and  speaks 
of  men  being  "  led  round  about  a  heath  with  a  Puck  in  the  night. " 
Scott  makes  the  same  mistake  as  Milton,  and  Ben  Jonson  in  The 
Sad  Shepherd  introduces  '  Puck-hairy  '  or  '  Robin  Goodfellow,'  a 
hind.  See  note  on  II  Pens.  93. 

'  To  drudge  '  is  to  perform  hard  and  humble  work.  '  Gob 
lin,'  a  supernatural  being,  generally  represented  as  of  small  size 
but  great  strength  ;  sometimes  mischievous,  sometimes  kindly 
disposed.  In  the  form  hob-goblin  '  hob  '  is  a  corruption  of  Robin  ; 
hence  Robin  Goodfellow  and  Hobgoblin  are  the  same. 

105.  sweat;    here    past    tense  of    a   strong  verb   (O.E.   swat 
or  swot)  ;  it  is  now  treated  as  a  weak  verb,  and  the  past  tense  is 
siveated.     Comp.  such  weak  verbs  as  creep,  leap,  quake,  swell, 
wash,  weep,  of  which  the  old  preterites  were  crop,  leep,  quoke, 
swal,  wesh,  wep. 

106.  To  earn  :  infin.  of  purpose. 

duly  set,  i.e.  placed  as  the  goblin's  due  :  'set'  qualifies 
'  cream-bowl. ' 

107.  ere  :  comp.  1.  114  and  Lye.  25.     '  Ere  '  =  before,  now  used 
only  as  a  conjunction  or  preposition  :  in  A.S.  aer  was  an  adverb 
as  well,  and  not  a  comparative  but  a  positive  form  =  soon. 

108.  shadowy  flail ;  being  wielded  by  a  spirit,  the  flail  is  here 
called  '  shadowy '  =  invisible.     '  Flail '  is  from  Lat.  flayellum,  a 
scourge. 

hath  :  Milton  always  used  this  older  inflexion,  and  never 
the  form  has. 

109.  end.     The  goblin  performed  in  one  night  a  task  that  ten 
labourers  working  a  whole  day  could  not  have  completed  ;  end= 
complete.     Notice  that    '  end '  and    '  fiend '    (pron.  fend)   here 
rhyme  together. 

110.  Then  the  lubber  fiend  lies  (him)  down.     Comp.   'haste 
thee,'  1.  25  and  note  ;  '  him  '  is  here  reflective. 

lubber  fiend  :  '  lubber  '  is  generally  applied  to  a  big  clumsy 
fellow,  whereas  Robin  Goodfellow  was  a  small  and  active  fairy, 
who  could  scarcely  be  "  stretched  out  all  the  chimney's  length." 
Milton  may  have  referred  to  '  Z/ofr-lie-by-the-fire,  the  giant  son 
of  a  witch  mentioned  in  Fletcher's  Knight  of  the  Burning  Pestle. 
Shakespeare  calls  Puck  a  '  lob  of  spirits. ' 

111.  chimney's  length,  i.e.  the  width  of  the  fireplace  or  hearth. 
'Chimney'    in    the    sense    of    fireplace    is    obsolete    except    in 


68  L'ALLEGRO. 

^ 

compounds,  e.g.  chimney-piece,  chimney-corner.  It  now  means 
'  flue '  or  passage  for  smoke  ;  as  such  passages  did  not  exist  in 
Roman  houses,  the  Lat.  caminus  (from  which  chimney  is  derived) 
meant  a  furnace,  brazier,  or  fireplace. 

112.  Basks  ...  strength.     'To  bask'  is  to   'lie   exposed  to  a 
pleasant  warmth.'     The  word  is  here  used  transitively,  its  object 
being  '  strength,'  and  its  meaning  '  to  expose  to  warmth.' 

hairy:  an  epithet  transferred  from  the  person  to  an 
attendant  circumstance;  comp.  'dimpled  mirth,'  'wrinkled 
care,'  'pale  fear,'  'gaunt  hunger.'  Ben  Jonson  speaks  of  Puck 
as  being  hairy,  and  strength  is  often  associated  with  abundant 
growth  of  hair  :  see  Samson  Agonistes,  passim. 

113.  crop-full,  with  well-filled   stomach.     The  'crop'   is  the 
first  stomach  of  fowls. 

flings,  i.e.  flings  himself,  darts.  This  verb  is  one  of  a 
number  that  may  be  used  reflectively  without  having  the  reflec 
tive  pronoun  expressed:  comp.  'he  pushed  into  the  room,'  'he 
has  changed  very  much,'  etc. 

114.  first  cock  ;  because  one  cock  sets  the  others  a-crowing. 

matin,  morning  call  (Fr.  matin,  morning)  ;  comp.  Par. 
Lost,  v.  7,  "  The  shrill  matin-song  of  birds  on  every  bough."  In 
Par.  Lost,  vi.  526,  it  occurs  as  an  adjective,  and  in  Hamlet 
Shakespeare  uses  it  as  a  noun  =  morning  :  ' '  The  glow-worm 
shows  the  matin  to  be  near."  The  word  matins  is  now  used  for 
morning  prayers. 

115.  Thus  done  the  tales.     Absolute  construction  (as  in  1.  62) 
=  The  tales  (being)  thus  done,  they  (i.e.  the  villagers)  creep  to 
bed. 

116.  lulled = being  lulled,  attributive  to  <  they.' 

117.  Towered  cities  ...  then.       'Then'  does  not  here  denote 
'afterwards'  as  it  does  in  line  100;  it  marks  a  transition  from 
mirth  in  the  country  to  mirth  in  the  city,  and  the  poet  now 
recounts  the  entertainments  of  city  life,  as  L'Allegro  might  read 
of  them  in  romances  and  tales  of  chivalry.     This  explains  the 
allusions  to   'throngs  of    knights,'   contests  of   'wit   or   arms,' 
'  antique  pageantry,'  etc.     These  are  not  the  events  of  one  day 
except  in  the  sense  that  L'Allegro  might,  on  his  return  from  the 
village  rejoicings,  retire  to  his  own  room  to  read  about  them. 

'Towered, 'having  towers  (Lat.  turrita,  an  epithet  which  Milton 
himself  applied  to  London  in  one  of  his  Latin  Elegies).  Comp. 
Arc.  21.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  poet,  during  his  stay  at 
Horton,  paid  occasional  visits  to  London,  and  Wartoii  infers 
from  expressions  in  the  first  Elegy  that  he  had  in  his  youth 
enjoyed  the  theatre. 


NOTES.  69 

118.  hum,  nominative,  along  with  'cities,'  to  'please.' 

119.  knights  and  barons  :  it  is  interesting  to  note  the  original 
meaning  of  these  and  other  words  that  are  now  titles  of  rank. 
'  Knight '= A.  S.  cniht,  a  youth  ;   '  baron  '  meant  at  first  no  more 
than    '  man  '   or    '  husband  ' ;    '  duke  '  =  Lat.    dux,    a    '  leader ' ; 
'  count '  is  really  Lat.  comes,  a  companion ;  and  '  earl '  is   Old 
Saxon  erl,  a  man. 

120.  weeds,  garments.     Comp.  the  use  of  the  word  by  Shake 
speare — 

"  I  have  a  woman's  longing 
To  see  great  Hector  in  his  weeds  of  peace." 

Tr.  and  Ores.  iii.  3. 

'  Weeds  of  peace '  denotes  the  ordinary  dress  as  opposed  to 
'weeds  of  war,'  i.e.  armour,  etc.  The  use  of  the  word  is  now 
generally  confined  to  the  phrase  '  a  widow's  weeds,'  i.e.  a  widow's 
mourning  dress.  Comp.  Comus,  16,  189,  390. 

high  triumphs,  grand  public  entertainments,  such  as 
masques,  pageants,  processions,  tournaments,  etc.  Comp.  Sams. 
Agon.  1312  and  Bacon's  Essay  Of  Masques  and  Triumphs.  Such 
exhibitions  were  extremely  popular  from  the  time  of  Henry  VIII. 
to  Charles  I..  See  Arcades,  introductory  note. 

121.  store  of  ladies,  many  ladies.     The  word  '  store  '  is  found 
in  this  sense  in  Sidney,  Spenser,  and  others.     It  is  now  applied 
only  to  inanimate  objects  to  denote  abundance. 

122.  Rain,  pour  forth.      '  To  rain '  in  the  sense  of  '  to  pour 
forth  in  abundance  '  is  a  common  expression  :  comp.  '  to  stream,' 
'  to  shower,'  '  to  overflow.' 

influence.  This  word  is  now  chiefly  used  in  the  sense  of 
'  power '  or  '  authority,'  but  a  trace  of  its  original  meaning  still  re 
mains  in  such  phrases  as  '  magnetic  influence,'  '  the  influence  (i.e. 
inspiration)  of  the  Spirit. '  Its  literal  meaning  is  a  flowing  in  (Lat. 
in,  andfluere,  to  flow),  and  in  this  sense  it  was  used  in  astrology 
to  denote  "a  flowing  in,  an  influent  course  of  the  planets,  their 
virtue  being  infused  into,  or  their  course  working  on,  inferior 
creatures. "  This  was  originally  the  only  meaning  of  the  word, 
and  in  this  sense  Milton  and  Shakespeare  employ  it :  in  this 
passage  it  implies  that  the  bright  eyes  of  the  ladies  were  like  the 
stars  in  '  working  on '  those  upon  whom  their  glances  fell. 

Burton,  in  Anat.  of  Mel.,  says:  'Primary  causes  are  the 
heavens,  planets,  stars,  etc.,  by  their  influence  (as  our  astrologers 
hold)  producing  this  and  such  like  effects.'  It  is  well  to  re 
member  how  strong  a  hold  the  belief  in  astrology  had  (and  still 
has)  on  the  human  mind  ;  up  to  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century  the  almanacs  in  common  use  in  England  were  full  of 
astrological  rules  and  theories,  and  even  an  astronomer  like 


70  L'ALLEGRO. 

Kepler  was  not  entirely  free  from  belief  in  such  matters.  It  is 
not  surprising,  therefore,  that  the  science  of  astrology  has  left 
its  traces  on  the  language  in  such  words  as  'influence,'  'disas 
trous,'  '  ill- starred,'  'ascendency,'  etc.  Comp.  notes  on  Arc.  52, 
II  Pens.  24. 

judge  the  prize,  adjudge  or  award  the  prize.  We  may 
take  '  eyes '  as  nominative  to  both  of  the  verbs  '  rain '  and 
'judge,'  the  ladies  showing  by  their  eyes  whom  they  regard  as 
the  victor.  But  Milton  occasionally  connects  two  verbs  rather 
loosely  with  one  noun,  just  as  he,  on  the  other  hand,  makes  one 
verb  refer  by  zeugma  to  two  nouns  in  different  senses.  We  may 
therefore  read,  '  who  judge,'  the  relative  being  implied  in 
'  whose,'  1.  121.  Comp.  II  Pens.  155,  Lye.  89. 

123.  Of  wit  or  arms  :  comp.    '  gowns,  not  arms,'  Son.  xvii. 
The  contests  of  wit  in  which  ladies  were  the  judges  may  be  those 
'  Courts  of  Love  '  which  were  so  popular  in  France  until  the  end 
of  the  fourteenth  century  and  had  so  great  an  influence  on  the 
poetical  literature  both  of  France  and  England.     The  contests  of 
arms  may  refer  to  those  tournaments  in  which  mounted  knights 
fought  to  show  their  skill  in  arms,  the  victor  generally  receiving 
his  prize  at  the  hands  of  some  fair  lady.     Comp.  11  Pens.  118. 

124.  her  grace  whom,  i.e.  the  grace  of  her  whom.     The  rela 
tive  pronoun  here  relates,  not  to  the  noun  preceding  it,  but  to 
the  substantive  implied  in  the  possessive  pronoun.   His,  her,  etc. 
being  genitives  =  of  him,  of  her,  etc. ,  they  have  here  their  full 
force  as  pronouns,  and  are  not  pronominal  adjectives  (as  they 
are  sometimes  called).     The  same  idiom  is  found  in  Latin,  e.g. 
mea  scripta  timentis,  '  my  writings  who  (I)  fear '  =  the  writings  of 
me  who  am  in  fear.     Comp.  Arc.  75,    Son.  xviii.  6.     Grace  = 
favour. 

125.  Hymen  ...  in  saffron  robe.     Hymen,  being  the  god  of  mar 
riage,  Milton  here  refers  to  elaborate  marriage  festivities  which 
often    included    masques    and    other     spectacles :    comp.    Ben 
Jonson's  Hymenaei,  where  Hymen  enters  upon  the  stage  '  in  a 
saffron-coloured  robe,  his  under  vestures  white,  his  socks  yellow, 
a  yellow  veil  of  silk  on  his  left  arm,  his  head  crowned  with  roses 
and  marjoram,  in  his  right  hand  a  torch  of  pine-tree.'     Comp; 
Milton's  fifth  Elegy,  105  : 

Exulting  youths  the  Hymeneal  sing, 
With  Hymen's  name,  roofs,  rocks,  and  valleys  ring  ; 
He,  new  attired,  and  by  the  season  drest 
Proceeds,  all  fragrant,  in  his  saffron  vest. 

( Co  ivper's  transla  tion) . 

In  works  of  art,  Hymen  is  represented  as  a  youth  bearing  a 
torch.  Milton  uses  '  taper,'  now  restricted  to  a  small  wax- 


NOTES.  71 

candle  ;  from  this  use  we  get  the  adjectives  '  taper '  =  taper-like, 
long  and  slender,  and  '  tapering.'  The  radical  sense  of  'taper'  is 
'  that  which  glows  or  shines. ' 

125.  appear :  after  the  verb  let  the  simple  infinitive  without 
to  is  used  :  let  Hymen  (to)  appear.' 

127.  pomp  and  feast  and  revelry  :  these  words  depend  upon 
the  verb  '  let. '     Milton  here  used  the  word  '  pomp '  in  its  classi 
cal  sense  (Greek  pompe)  =  an  imposing  procession.     Comp.  Sams. 
Agon.  1312,  and  note  on  1.  120. 

128.  mask  :  see  introductory  note  on  Arcades. 

antique  pageantry,  representations  or  emblematic  spec 
tacles  in  which  mythological  characters  were  largely  introduced. 
'  Pageantry '  is  an  interesting  word.  The  suffix  -ry  has  a  collec 
tive  or  comprehensive  force  (which  has  gained  in  some  cases  an 
abstract  sense)  as  in  cavalry,  infantry,  poetry,  etc.  Pageant 
meant  (1)  a  moveable  platform  ;  then  (2)  a  platform  on  which 
plays  were  exhibited;  hence  (3)  the  play  itself;  and  (as  the  plays 
first  exhibited  in  this  way  made  large  use  of  spectacular  effect) 
(4)  a  spectacle  or  show. 

'  Antique,'  belonging  to  earlier  times  (Lat.  antiquus,  also  spelt 
anticus).  This  word  has  gone  through  changes  of  meaning 
similar  to  those  of  the  word  '  uncouth'  (see  1.  5),  viz.  (1)  old,  (2) 
old-fashioned  or  out  of  date,  and  hence  (3)  fantastic :  there  is, 
however,  this  difference — that  while  '  uncouth '  has  had  all  three 
senses,  '  antique '  has  had  only  the  two  first,  the  third  being 
taken  by  the  form  '  antic. ' 

129.  Such  sights,  etc.     These  words  stand  in  apposition  to 
'pomp/   'feast,'  etc.     Some  suppose  that  Milton  here  refers  to 
the  early  works   of   Ben  Jonson,  who  was  a  prolific  writer  of 
masques.      But  surely  they  have   a   deeper   significance ;    they 
imply  that  the  imagery  of  the  poem  is  not  that  of  mere  recol 
lection,   but  the  product  of  a  youthful  nature,  full  of  joyous 
emotion,   and  affected  by  circumstances  of  time  and  place.     A 
youthful  poet,  a  haunted  stream,  and  a  summer  evening  form  a 
combination  that  does  not  lead  to  mere  description. 

131.  Then  to  the  well-trod  stage,  sc,  'let  me  go' :  this  means 
that  L'Allegro  turns  from  the  stories  of  chivalry  to  the  comedies 
of  Shakespeare  and  Jonson:  comp.  note  1.  117.     By  calling  the 
stage  '  well-trod '  Milton  may  hint  at  the  abundance  of  dramatic 
literature. 

anon,  soon  after  (A.S.  on  an,  in  one  moment)  :  an  adverb 
modifying  the  verb  of  motion  understood. 

132.  Jonson's  learned  rock.     Ben  Jonson  (1574-1637)  was  alive 
when  Milton  paid  him  this  compliment.     There  is  no  doubt  that 
Milton  must  have  admired  Jonson  for  his  classical  learning  and 
for  his  lofty  sense  of  the  poet's  task.     He  calls  him  '  learned '  on 


72  I/ALLEGRO. 

account  of  the  profuse  display  of  classical  knowledge  and  dramatic 
art  in  his  comedies  and  masques.  On  this  point  he  is  often  con 
trasted  with  Shakespeare.  Hazlitt  says:  "Shakespeare  gives 
fair  play  to  nature  and  his  own  genius,  while  the  other  trusts 
almost  entirely  to  imitation  and  custom.  Shakespeare  takes  his 
groundwork  in  individual  character  and  the  manners  of  his  age, 
and  raises  from  them  a  fantastical  and  delightful  superstructure 
of  his  own  ;  the  other  takes  the  same  groundwork  in  matter-of- 
fact,  but  hardly  ever  rises  above  it."  Fuller  compares  Jonson 
to  a  Spanish  galleon  and  Shakespeare  to  an  English  man-of-war : 
' '  Master  Jonson,  like  the  former,  was  built  far  higher  in  learn 
ing  ;  solid  but  slow  in  his  performances.  Shakespeare,  like  the 
latter,  lesser  in  bulk,  but  lighter  in  sailing,  could  turn  with  all 
tides,  and  take  advantage  of  all  winds,  by  the  quickness  of  his 
wit  and  invention." 

sock  :  here  used  as  emblematic  of  comedy  in  general,  as 
'  buskin '  is  used  of  tragedy  (comp.  11  Pens.  102).  The  sock  (Lat. 
soccus)  was  a  kind  of  low  slipper  worn  by  actors  in  the  comedies 
of  ancient  Rome.  '  Sock  '  here  cleverly  refers  to  Jonson's  liking 
for  the  classical  drama  :  it  was,  less  fittingly,  used  by  Jonson 
himself  of  Shakespeare. 

133.  Or  (if)  sweetest  Shakespeare,  Fancy's  child,  etc.  Milton 
speaks  of  Shakespeare  with  reference  only  to  his  comedies 
and  to  that  aspect  of  them  that  would  appeal  most  readily  to 
the  cheerful  man.  A  comedy  like  Measure  for  Measure  could 
hardly  be  adequately  characterised  as  '  native  wood-notes  wild,' 
but  such  a  comedy  would  no  more  accord  with  the  mood  of 
L'Allegro  than  the  tragedy  of  Hamlet.  Milton's  language  here  is 
sufficiently  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  he  is  contrasting 
Shakespeare  as  master  of  the  romantic  drama  with  Jonson  as 
master  of  the  classical  drama,  that  he  is  paying  a  tribute  to  his 
striking  natural  genius  ('  native  wood-notes  '),  and  that  he  regards 
him  as  indeed  a  poet,  being  'of  imagination  all  compact' 
('Fancy's  child').  L'Allegro  cannot  be  expected  to  use  the 
language  of  the  lines  On  Shakespeare  :  he  represents  a  special 
mood  of  the  human  spirit,  a  mood  with  which  Milton  is  not  so 
fully  in  sympathy  as  that  of  II  Penseroso.  '  Fancy '  (Phantasy) 
is  here  used  in  a  less  restricted  sense  than  now  :  we  would  jnow 
use  '  Imagination. '  The  student  should  note  the  pleasing  rhythm 
and  alliteration  of  lines  133,  134. 

135.  against  eating  cares,  to  ward  off  gnawing  anxiety.  It  is 
a  common  figure  to  speak  of  care  or  sorrow  eating  into  the  heart 
as  rust  corrodes  iron.  Comp.  Lat.  curas  edaces,  Horace,  Odes, 
ii.  11  ;  mordaces  sollicitudines,  Odes,  L  18.  The  preposition 
'  against,  from  the  notion  of  counteraction  implied  in  it,  has  a 
variety  of  uses  :  comp.  '  he  fought  against  (in  opposition  to)  the 
enemy  ' ;  '  he  toiled  against  (in  provision  for)  my  return.' 


NOTES.  73 

136.  Milton  now  refers  to  the  delights  of  music,  and  it  is  well 
to  notice  how  he  'marries '  the  sound  to  the  sense  by  the  recur 
rence  of  the  liquid  or  smooth-flowing  consonants  (1,  in,  n,  r)  in 
lines  136-144. 

Lap  me,  let  me  be  wrapped  or  folded  :  '  lap '  is  a  mere 
corruption  of  'wrap.'  Comp.  Comus,  257  :  "lap  it  in  Elysium." 

Lydian  airs,  soft  and  sweet  music.  "Of  the  three  chief 
musical  modes  or  measures  among  the  ancients,  the  Dorian, 
Phrygian,  and  Lydian,  the  first  was  majestic  (Par.  Lost,  i.  550), 
the  second  sprightly,  the  third  amorous  or  tender."  Comp. 
Lye.  189. 

137.  Married  to,  associated  with.     Comp.  Wordsworth — 
"Wisdom  married  to  immortal  verse." — Excurs.  viii. 

Shakespeare  (Sonnet  cxvi. )  speaks  of  '  the  marriage  of  true  minds.' 
By  a  similar  metaphor  we  say  that  a  person  is  wedded  to  a  habit 
or  a  theory. 

"  Immortal  verse  "  is  poetry  which,  like  that  of  Milton  himself, 
"the  world  should  not  willingly  let  die"  ;  see  Comus,  516. 

138.  'Such  as  may  penetrate  the  soul  that  meets  it  or  sympa 
thises  with  it. '     Comp.  Cowper — 

"  There  is  in  souls  a  sympathy  with  sounds, 
And  as  the  mind  is  pitched,  the  ear  is  pleased 
With  melting  airs  or  martial,  brisk  or  grave." 
In  this  line  '  pierce '  rhymes  with  '  verse. ' 

139.  bout,  a  turn  or  bend,  referring  here  to  the  melody.     '  Bout ' 
is  another  form  of  '  bight, '  and  is  cognate  with  '  bow. ' 

140.  long  drawn  out :  the  scansion  of  this  line  will  show  its 
appropriateness   to   the  sense.       'Long,'   an   adverb    modifying 
'  drawn  out. ' 

141.  wanton  heed  and  giddy  cunning:  the  music,  in  order  to 
be  expressive,  must  be  free  or  unrestrained,  yet  correctly  and 
skilfully  rendered.     '  Wanton  heed '  and   '  giddy  cunning '  are 
examples   of    oxymoron.       '  Cunning  '  =  skill   (A.S.    cunnan,   to 
know,  be  able),  now  used  in  the  restricted  sense  of  'wiliness.' 
Comp.   the  similar  degradation  of  meaning  in  craft,  originally 
'  strength ' ;  artful ;  designing  ;  etc. 

142.  voice,    here    absolute    case    along    with    the    participle 
'  running '  :  conip.  1.  62,  note.     For  the  sense  of  '  melting '  comp. 
II  Pens.  165. 

mazes,  the  intricate  or  difficult  parts  of  the  music. 

143.  Untwisting  all,  etc. :  comp.  note  on  Arc.  72.     The  har 
mony  that  is  in  the  human  soul  is  generally  deadened  or  im 
prisoned,  and  it  is  only  by  sweet  music  or  some  other  stimulus 
that  touches  a  chord  within  us  that  the  hidden  harmony  of  the 
soul  reveals  itself.     See  Shakespeare,  Mer.  of  Venice,  v.  1.  61. 


74  L'ALLEGRO. 

145.  That,  so  that :  the  use  of  '  that '  instead  of  '  so  that '  to 
introduce   a  clause  of   consequence,  is  common   in   Elizabethan 
writers  and  in  Milton  himself. 

Orpheus'  self :  '  Orpheus  himself '  we  should  now  say. 
'  Self '  was  originally  an  adjective  =  '  same,'  in  which  sense  it  is 
still  used  with  pronouns  of  the  third  person  (as  himself,  herself). 
Then  it  came  to  be  regarded  as  a  substantive,  and  was  preceded 
by  the  possessive  pronouns  or  by  a  noun  in  the  possessive  case  (as 
myself,  ourselves,  Orpheus'  self).  In  the  latter  sense  it  is  not 
used  with  pronouns  of  the  third  person  :  we  cannot  say  his-self, 
but  him-self. 

Orpheus,  "in  the  Greek  mythology,  was  the  unparalleled 
singer  and  musician,  the  power  of  whose  harp  or  lyre  drew 
wild  beasts,  and  even  rocks  and  trees,  to  follow  him.  His  wife 
Eurydice  having  died,  he  descended  into  Hades  to  recover  her  if 
possible.  His  music,  charming  even  the  damned,  prevailed  with 
Pluto  (the  god  of  the  lower  world),  who  granted  his  prayer  on 
condition  that  he  should  not  look  on  Eurydice  till  he  had  led  her 
completely  out  of  Hades  and  into  the  upper  world.  Unfor 
tunately,  on  their  way  upwards,  he  turned  to  see  if  she  was 
following  him  ;  and  she  was  caught  back  "  (Masson).  Comp.  11 
Pens.  105,  Lye.  58. 

heave,  raise,  lift  up  :  comp.  Comus,  885  :  ' '  heave  thy  rosy 
head." 

1 46.  golden  slumber.    *  Golden '  may  here  mean  simply  '  happy, ' 
or  it  may  be  used  because  Orpheus  is  amongst  the  gods.     Homer 
often  applies  '  golden '  to  that  which  belongs  to  the  gods.     Comp. 
aurea  quies,  in  Milton's  Eleg.  iii. 

147.  Elysian  flowers  :  Elysium  was  the  abode  of  the  spirits  of 
the  blessed,  where  they  wandered  amidst  flowers  and  beauties  of 
every  kind.     Comp.  Com.  257,  996. 

148.  '  Such  music  as  would  have  moved  Pluto  to  set  Eurydice 
completely  free.'     In  Quint.  Nov.   23,  Milton  calls  Pluto  sum- 
manus,  chief  of  the  dead. 

149.  to  have  quite  set  free  :  '  to  have  set '  is  here  infinitive  of 
result,  and  the  perfect  tense  denotes  something   that   had  not 
been  accomplished  and  is  no  longer  possible  :  comp.  the  meanings 
of  ' he  hoped  to  be  present '  and  '  he  hoped  to  have  been  present.' 
Quite  —  unconditionally  or  completely. 

150.  Eurydice  :  see  note  on  1.  145  above  ;  also  II  Pens.  105. 

151.  These  delights,  etc.  :  the  last  two  lines  of  the  poem  recall 
the  closing  lines  of  Marlowe's  Passionate  Shepherd — 

"  If  these  delights  thy  mind  may  move, 

Then  live  with  me  and  be  my  love. " 

Milton  here  accepts  the  mood  of  Mirth,  but  only  on  the  condition 
that  its  pleasures  are  such  as  he  has  enumerated. 


NOTES.  75 


IL  PENSEROSO. 

1.  Hence  :  comp.  note  on  U 'Allegro  1.    The  opening  lines  recall 
certain  lines  by  Sylvester — 

"Hence,  hence,  false  pleasures,  momentary  joyes, 

Mocke  us  no  more  with  your  illuding  toyes  !  " 
vain  deluding  Joys  :  '  vain '  is  the  Lat.  vanus,  empty,  which 
is  always  opposed  to  vera,  true.  In  L' Allegro  the  poet  has 
described  true  mirth  ;  and  now  '  to  commendation  of  the  true ,  he 
joins  condemnation  of  the  false.'  'Deluding'  is  deceitful,  not 
what  it  appears  to  be. 

2.  These  *  Joys '  are  said  to  be  the  brood  (*.  e.  breed  or  off 
spring)  of  Folly  by  no  father,  in  order  to  imply  that  they  are  the 
product  of  pure  or  absolute  foolishness  ;    they  are  by  nature 
essentially  and  altogether  foolish.     So  the  goddess  Night,  one  of 
the  first  of  created  beings,  is  said  by  Greek  poets  to  have  given 
birth  without  a  husband  to  Death,  Dreams,  Sleep,  etc. 

Notice  the  use  of  the  cognate  words  '  brood '  and  '  bred '  in  the 
same  line. 

3.  How  little  you  bested  ;  of  how  little  avail  you  are.     *  Bested' 
is  the  present  indicative,  but  the  past  participle  is  the  only  part 
of  the  verb  now  in  common  use,  as  in  the  phrase  'to  be  hard 
bestead,'  i.e.  to  be  in  sore  need  of  help.     'To  stead'  occurs  fre 
quently  in  Shakespeare  in  a  transitive  sense  =  to  profit,  to  assist, 
but  the  word  '  stead '  now  occurs  only  in  phrases,  e.g.  'to  stand 
in  good  stead,'  and  in  compounds,  e.g.  steadfast,  steady,  home- 
stead;    bedstead,    instead,     etc. :    comp.    names    of    places,    e.g. 
Hampstead,  Kronstadt,  etc.    Its  root  is  the  verb  'stand,'  and  its 
literal  sense  is  '  place. ' 

4.  fill  the  fixed  mind :  satisfy  the  thoughtful  or  sober  mind ; 
comp.  Spenser's  F.  Q.  iv.  7. 

toys,  trifles.     In  the  A  nat.  of  Mel.  we  read  of  persons  who 
"  complain  of  toys,  and  fear  without  a  cause." 

5.  idle  brain,  foolish  mind.     The  Old  Eng.  idel  means  '  empty 
or  vain';   in  this  sense  we  speak  of   'an  idle  dream.'     'Brain' 
may  be  used  here  for  mind,  but  it  may  be  noted  that,  just  as 
melancholy  was  supposed  to  be  due  to  a  certain  humour  of  the 
body,  so  '  a  cold  and  moist  brain  '  was  believed  to  be  an  insepar 
able  companion  of  folly. 

6.  fancies  fond,  foolish  imaginations.      'Fond'  has  here  its 
primary  sense  of  l  foolish,' fonned  being  the  past  participle  of  an 
old  verbfonnen,  to  be  foolish.     It  is  now  used  to  express  great 
liking  or  affection,  the  idea  of  folly  having  been  almost  lost, 
except  in  certain  uses  of  the  word  in  the  north  of  England  and 
in  Scotland.     Chaucer  uses  fonne  —  a  fool,  and  fondling  is  still 


76  IL  PENSEROSO. 

used  either  as  a  term  of  endearment  or  to  denote  a  fool.  It  may 
be  noted  that  in  a  similar  way  the  word  dote  originally  meant 
'  to  be  silly  '  and  now  '  to  love  excessively.'  Comp.  Lye.  56,  Son. 
xix.  8,  Sams.  Agon.  1686. 

6.  possess,  occupy,  fill :  '  occupy  the  imaginations  of  the  foolish 
with  gaudy  shapes  or  appearances.'     In  the  English  Bible  we 
read  of  "a  man  possessed  of  a  devil,"  i.e.  occupied  by  an  evil 
spirit. 

For  'shapes,'  comp.  UAlleg.  4. 

7.  thick,  abundant,   close  together,  here  qualifying  '  shapes ' : 
comp.    "thick-coming  fancies,"   Macbeth.   \.    3.      The  different 
senses  of  the  word  are  seen  in   'thick  as  hail,'   'thick  fluid,' 
'  thickly  populated,'  'thick-head,'  thick-skinned,'  'a  thick  fog,' 
'  a  thick  stick,'  etc. 

8.  motes,  particles  of  dust :  here  called  '  gay  '  because  dancing 
in  the  sunbeam.     See  Matt.  vii.  3. 

people  the  sun-beams.  The  specks  of  dust  are  said  to 
people  or  occupy  the  sunbeams  because  it  is  chiefly  in  the  direct 
rays  of  the  sun  that  they  become  visible.  By  using  the  verb  '  to 
people'  Milton  strengthens  the  comparison  between  them  and 
the  shapes  or  images  that  occupy  the  idle  imagination. 

9.  likest,  adj.  superlative  degree,  qualifying  'shapes.'     'Like' 
is  now  an  exception  to  the  rule  for  the  formation  of  the  compara 
tive  and  superlative  forms  of  monosyllabic  adjectives  :    we  say 
'more   like,'    'most   like.'      But,    in   Milton's   time,    there  was 
greater  grammatical  freedom,  and  in  Comus,  57  he  uses  ' '  more 
like. "  He  also  has  such  forms  as  resolutest,  exquisitest,  elegantest, 
moralest,  etc. ,  which  according  to  present  usage  are  inadmissible. 
In  such  phrases  as  '  like  his  father,'  '  like  '  has  come  to  have  the 
force  of  a  preposition,  but  in  the  phrase  '  likest  hovering  dreams,' 
the  noun  is  governed  by  '  to '  understood,   as  in  Latin  it  would 
be  in  the  dative  case. 

10.  fickle  pensioners  ...train,   inconstant  attendants  of  sleep. 
Morpheus,  the  son  of  Sleep  and  the  god  of  Dreams  :  the  name 
means   literally   'the  shaper,'   he  who  creates  those  shapes  or 
images  seen  in  dreams.      Morpheus  was  generally  represented 
with  a  cup  in  one  hand  and  in  the  other  a  bunch  of  poppies,  from 
which  opium  is  prepared  :  hence  the  word  '  morphia. ' 

'Pensioners,'  followers.  Queen  Elizabeth  had  a  bodyguard  of 
handsome  young  men  of  noble  birth,  whom  she  styled  her 
Pensioners.  A  '  pensioner '  is  strictly  one  who  receives  a  pen 
sion,  and  hence  a  dependent.  'Train,'  something  drawn  along 
(Lat.  traho,  to  draw) ;  hence  train  of  a  dress  (line  34),  of  carriages, 
of  followers. 

See  note  on  L' Allegro,  10,  regarding  the  imagery  and  metre  of 
the  first  ten  lines  of  this  poem. 


NOTES.  77 

11.  hail !  an  old  form  of  salutation,  meaning  'may  you  be  in 
health ' :  the  word  is  cognate  with  hale,  heal,  etc. 

12.  divinest.      The  superlative  degree  of  adjectives  is  often 
used  in  Latin  to  mark  a  high  degree  of  a  quality,  when  the  thing 
spoken  of  is  not  compared  with  the  rest  of  a  class.     This  is  the 
absolute  use  of  the  superlative,  as  here. 

13.  visage,  face,  mien  (Lat.  visum,  'that  which  is  seen').    The 
word  is  now  mostly  used  to  express  contempt. 

14.  To  hit  the  sense,  etc.  :   to  be  distinguishable  by  human 
eyes.     It  is  a  fact  that  light  may  be  of  such  intensity  that  the 
sense  of  sight  loses  all  discriminative  power.     So  we  speak  of  a 
'  blinding '  flash  of  light.     For  the  use  of  the  verb  '  hit '  compare 
Arcades,  77  ;  in  Antony  and  Clcop.  ii.  2  Shakespeare  speaks  of  a 
perfume  hitting  the  sense  of  smell.     The  expression  is  obsolete. 

15.  weaker  view,  feeble  power  of  vision.     '  Weaker '  is  used 
absolutely:  comp.  '  divinest,'  1.  12,  and  '  profaner, '  1.  140.     This 
is  also  a  Latin  usage. 

16.  O'erlaid,  overlaid,  covered,  in  order  to  reduce  the  intensity 
of  the  brightness  of  Melancholy's  face.     Milton  thus  skilfully 
converts  the  association  of  blackness  and  melancholy,  which  in 
L 'A  llegro  makes  her  repulsive,  into  an  expression  of  praise,  and 
at  the  same  time  connects  Melancholy   with   Wisdom — one   of 
the   purposes   of   the   poem.      In  the  Anat.  of  Mel.  there  is  a 
reference  to  the  disputed  question  whether    'all   learned   men, 
famous  philosophers,  and  lawgivers  have  been  melancholy. ' 

Comp.  Exodus,  xxxiv.  29,  where  Moses  is  said,  after  having 
been  in  God's  presence,  to  have  covered  his  face  with  a  veil  in 
order  that  the  children  of  Israel  might  be  able  to  look  upon  him. 

staid,  steady,  sober,  grave  :  the  root  is  '  stay. ' 

17.  Black,  but  etc.     There  is  an  ellipsis  here,  the  construction 
being  :    (It  is  true  that  she  is)  black,  but  (it  is)  such  black  as 
might  become  a  beautiful  princess  like  Prince  Memnon's  sister. 

such  as  :  see  note  on  L'Allerj.  29  :  comp.  lines  106,  145. 

in  esteem,  in  our  estimation.  '  Esteem '  as  a  verb  is  now 
used  only  to  express  high  regard  for  a  person;  but  the  noun, 
though  chiefly  used  in  the  same  sense,  may  be  used  along  with 
adjectives  which  convey  a  contrary  meaning,  e.g.  poor  esteem, 
low  esteem,  etc.  'Esteem,'  'aim,'  and  'estimate'  are  cognate 
(Lat,  aestimo). 

18.  Prince  Memnon's  sister  :  Memnon,  the  son  of  Tithonus  and 
Eos  (Aurora),  was  king  of  the  Ethiopians,  and  fought  in  aid  of 
Priam  in  the  Trojan  war  ;  he  was  killed  by  Achilles.      Though 
dark-skinned,    he   was   famous   for   his  beauty,   and   his   sister 
(Hemera)  would  presumably    be    even    more    beautiful.      The 


78  IL  PENSEROSO. 


be  the 


morning  dew-drops  were  said  by  the  ancient  Greeks  to  be 
tears  of  Aurora  for  her  dead  son,  Memnon. 

18.  beseem,  suit,  become.     This  is  the  original  sense  of  the 
simple   verb   seem;    compare   the    adjective   seemly  =  becoming, 
decent.     '  Beseem  '  here  governs  '  sister '  and  '  queen.' 

19.  starred  Ethiop  queen  :  Cassiopea,  wife  of  Cepheus,  king  of 
Ethiopia.     According  to  one  version  of  her  story,   she  boasted 
that  the  beauty  of  her  daughter  Andromeda  exceeded  that  of  the 
Nereids ;   according  to  another  version  (adopted  by  Milton)  it 
was  her  own  beauty  of  which  she  boasted.     For  her  presumption 
Ethiopia  was  ravaged  by  a  sea-monster,  from  whose  jaws  Andro 
meda  was  saved  by  her  lover  Perseus.     After  death  both  mother 
and  daughter  were  starred,  i.  e.  changed  into  stars  or  constella 
tions.     This  is  probably  why  Milton  calls  the  former  'starred':  it 
might,   however,    mean   'placed    amongst  the    stars,'  or  even 
'adorned  with  stars,'  as  she  was  so  represented  in  old  charts  of 
the  heavens. 

20.  1.  above  the  Sea-Nymphs  :  this  is  an  instance  of  elliptical 
comparison   (comparatio    compendiaria),    the    full    construction 
being,    '  to   set  her  beauty's  praise   above   (that  of)   the   Sea- 
Nymphs.  ' 

21.  'And  (by  so  doing)  offended  their  powers.'     '  Powers '  = 
divinities  (Lat.  numina). 

22.  higher  far  descended,  far  more  highly  descended.    '  Higher' 
is  an  adverb  modifying  '  descended. '     '  To  be  of  high  descent '  = 
'to  be  of  noble  birth.' 

23.  Thee  is  the  object  and  Vesta  the  nom.  of  'bore.' 
bright-haired :    with  this   compound    adjective    compare 

neat-handed,  smooth-shaven,  civil-suited,  dewy-feathered,  wide- 
watered,  fresh-blown,  high-embowed,  etc.,  all  of  which  occur  in 
these  poems.  They  consist  of  an  adjective  and  a  participle,  the 
adjective  representing  an  adverb. 

Vesta.  As  in  the  case  of  Mirth,  Milton  gives  Melancholy 
that  genealogy  which  he  thinks  best  suited  to  his  purpose. 
Vesta,  among  the  Romans,  was  the  goddess  of  the  domestic 
hearth ;  every  dwelling  was,  therefore,  in  a  sense  a  temple  of 
Vesta.  Her  symbol  was  a  fire  kept  burning  on  her  altar  by  the 
Vestals,  her  virgin  priestesses  ;  and  by  making  her  the  mother 
of  Melancholy,  Milton  signifies  that  the  melancholy  of  II  Pen- 
seroso  is  not  the  gloominess  of  the  misanthrope  nor  the  unhappi- 
ness  of  the  man  of  impure  heart,  but  the  contemplative  disposi 
tion  of  a  pure  and  sympathetic  soul. 

long  of  yore,  long  years  ago.  '  Of  yore '  is  an  adverbial 
phrase  like  'of  old'  and  is  modified  by  'long.'  The  original 
sense  of  '  yore '  is  '  of  years,'  i.e.  in  years  past. 


NOTES.  79 

24.  solitary  Saturn.    The  Romans  attributed  the  introduction  of 
the  habits  of  civilized  life   to  Saturn,  the  son  of  Uranus  and 
Terra,  and  it  seems   to  be  for  this  reason  that  Milton  makes 
Vesta,   the  pure  goddess  of  the  hearth,   his  daughter.     He  is 
called  '  solitary '  either  because  he  devoured  his  own  offspring  or 
because  he  was  dethroned  by  his  sons  ;  in  either  case  it  is  clear 
that  Milton  signifies  that  Melancholy  comes  from  Solitude  or 
Retirement.     In  astrology  the   planet  Saturn  was  supposed,  by 
its   influence,    to   cause   melancholy,  and  persons   of  a  gloomy 
temperament  are  said  to   be   Saturnine ;   in  the  old  science  of 
palmistry  also,  there  was  a  line  on  the  palm  of  the  hand  called 
the  Saturnine  line,  which  was  believed  to  indicate  melancholy. 

25.  His  daughter  she  ;    she  was  his  daughter.     Some  editors 
read  'she  (being)  his  daughter,'  making  the  construction  abso 
lute.     But  it  must  be  remembered  that  in  Latin  the  noun  or 
pronoun  in  the  absolute  clause  cannot  be  the  subject  or  object  of 
the   principal   clause,   as  it  would  be  here ;   and,  further,  the 
punctuation  favours  the  view  that  '  his  daughter  she '  is  to  be 
taken  as  an  independent  clause. 

26.  was  not  held  a  stain,  was  not  considered  to  be  a  reproach. 
Mythological  genealogies  are  apparently  governed  by  no  law. 
'  Held  '  is  here  a  verb  of  incomplete  predication. 

27.  Oft,  original  form  of  'often,'  which  was  at  first  used  only 
before  vowels  or  the  letter  h:  comp.  L' Allegro,  53. 

glimmering  ...  glades.  'Glimmer'  is  a  frequentative  of 
'  gleam,'  i.e.  gleaming  at  intervals.  '  Glade  '  is  an  open  space  in 
a  wood. 

29.  -woody  Ida.     This  probably  refers  to  Mt.  Ida  in  the  island 
of  Crete  ;   Zeus  or  Jupiter  was  said  to  have  been  brought  up  in  a 
cave  in  that  mountain,  though  some  traditions  connect  his  name 
with  Mt.   Ida  in  Asia  Minor.     Here  Saturn  met  Vesta  before 
Jove   (i.e.   Jupiter)   was   born.     Saturn's  reign  was  called  the 
Golden  Age  of  Italy. 

30.  yet,    as  yet,   up  to  that  time.     In  modern  English  we 
cannot  omit  '  as  '  before  '  yet '  when  '  yet '  precedes  the  verb  ;  if 
we  do,  the  meaning  of  '  yet '  would  be  changed  to  '  nevertheless. ' 
In  Shakespeare  this  omission  of  '  as  '  before  '  yet '  is  common  in 
negative  clauses. 

fear  of  Jove.  Saturn  was  dethroned  by  his  sons,  and  his 
realm  distributed  by  lot  between  Jupiter,  Neptune,  and  Pluto. 
See  Comus  20,  and  Keats'  Hyperion. 

31.  pensive,  thoughtful :   comp.  Lye.  147.      It  is  from  Lat. 
pendo,  to  weigh  :  so  we  speak  of  a  person  weighing  his  words. 

Nun,  a  woman  who  devotes  herself  to  celibacy  and  seclu- 


80  .  IL  PENSEROSO. 

sion  ;  hence  the  word  is  well  applied  to  the  daughter  of  pure 
Vesta  and  solitary  Saturn  :  comp.  1.  103. 

31.  devout ;  radically  the  same  word  as  '  devoted  ' ;  the  former 
is  used  in  the  general  sense  of  '  pious, '  applied  to  those  given  up 
or  vowed  to  religious  exercises  ;  while  the  latter  is  used  of  strong 
attachment  of  any  kind, — to  God,  to   any   sacred   purpose,  to 
friends,  etc. 

32.  steadfast,  constant,  resolute:  comp.  *  staid,'  line  16  ;  and 
'  bested,'  line  3.     The  suffix  -fast  means  '  firm,'  as  in  the  phrases 
'fast  bound,'    'fast    asleep,'  'fast   colour,'   and  in  the  words 
'  fasten '  and  '  fastness. ' 

demure,  modest.  Trench  points  out  that  this  is  the 
primary  meaning  of  the  word,  though  it  now  implies  that  the 
modesty  is  assumed.  It  is  from  the  French  de  (bons)  meurs,  i.e. 
of  good  manners.  The  Latin  word  mores  (manners)  was  used  in 
the  sense  of  '  character' ;  hence  our  word  moral.  For  the  form  of 
the  word,  comp.  'debonair,'  L'Alleg.  24. 

33.  All :  this  may  be  taken  as  an  adverb  modifying  the  phrase 
'  in  a  robe  of  darkest  grain. '     Comp.  '  all  in  white  '  (Son.  xxiii. )  ; 
all  =  from  head  to  foot. 

grain,  purple  colour.  It  is  interesting  to  trace  the  various 
uses  of  this  word  to  its  primary  sense  '  a  small  seed. '  It  came  to 
be  applied  to  any  small  seed-like  object,  then  to  any  minute 
particle  (e.g.  grains  of  sand) ;  it  was  thus  used  of  the  small 
cochineal  insects,  whose  bodies  yield  a  variety  of  red  dyes,  and 
finally  to  the  dyes  so  obtained.  Hence  '  grain,'  as  used  here, 
denotes  a  dark  purple,  sometimes  called  Tyrian  purple.  But,  as 
these  dyes  were  very  durable,  '  to  dye  in  grain '  came  to  mean 
'  to  dye  deeply '  or  '  to  dye  in  fast  colours  '  ;  and,  more  generally 
still,  we  speak  of  a  habit  or  a  vice  being  '  ingrained  '  in  a  person's 
character.  Comp.  Com.  750,  Par.  Lost,  v.  285,  xi.  242,  and 
Chaucer's  Squire's  Tale — 

"  So  deep  in  grain  he  dyed  bis  colours." 

(The  word  'grain,'  from  its  sense  of  'particle,'  is  applied  also  to 
the  arrangement  of  particles  or  the  texture  of  wood  or  stone, 
and  even  of  cloth. ) 

35.  And  (in)  sable  stole  of  cypress  lawn,  in  a  black  scarf  of  fine 
linen  crape. 

'  Sable, '  here  used  in  the  sense  of  '  black, '  this  being  the  colour 
of  the  best  sable  fur.  The  stole  (Lat.  stola)  worn  by  Roman 
ladies  was  a  long  flounced  robe,  reaching  to  the  feet,  short- 
sleeved,  and  girded  round  the  waist.  Milton,  however,  means 
a  hood  or  veil,  which  was  first  passed  round  the  neck  and  then 
over  the  face  :  such  a  stole  was  worn  to  denote  mourning.  The 
word  is  now  used  only  of  a  long  narrow  scarf,  fringed  at  both 
ends,  and  worn  by  ecclesiastics. 


NOTES.  81 

'  Cypress'  (often  spelt  ci/prm)  by  itself  denotes  'crape,'  a  word 
which  is  probably  from  the  same  root  (Lat.  crispus,  curled) ; 
when  combined  with  '  lawn,'  it  denotes  crape  of  the  finest  kind. 
The  spelling  gave  rise  to  the  theory  that  '  cypress '  was  so  called 
because  first  made  in  the  island  of  Cyprus  (which  has  given  a 
name  to  copper),  but  this  is  doubtful. 

'  Lawn '  is  really  a  sort  of  fine  linen :  a  bishop's  surplice  is 
made  of  it.  Comp.  Pope's  line — 

"  A  saint  in  crape  is  twice  a  saint  in  laivn." 

36.  decent  shoulders.    The  Latin  decens  meant  either  *  graceful ' 
or  '  becoming. '     Milton  uses  the  word  in  the  former  sense  else 
where,  and  may  also  do  so  here.     If  it  is  used  in  the  latter  sense 
it  is  proleptic,  the  stole  being  drawn  over  the  shoulders  so  as  to 
be  becoming. 

37.  wonted  state,  usual  stately  manner.     Here  '  state '  refers 
to  the  dignified  approach  of  the  goddess  :  in  A  re.  81  it  has  its 
older  and  more   restricted  sense  =  seat  of  honour.      '  To  keep 
state  '  was  to  occupy  the  seat  of  honour. 

'  Wonted '  =  accustomed.  This  is  apparently  the  past  par 
ticiple  of  a  verb  to  wont  (see  Com.  332) ;  but  the  old  verb  wonen, 
to  dwell  or  to  be  accustomed,  had  woned  or  ivont  for  its  participle. 
The  fact  that  '  wont '  was  a  participle  was  forgotten,  and  a  new 
form  was  introduced — '  wonted '  ( —  won-ed-ed).  The  two  forms 
have  now  distinct  uses  :  '  wont '  is  used  as  a  noun  =  custom,  or 
as  a  participial  adjective  with  the  verb  'to  be '  (see  line  123) ; 
'  wonted  '  is  used  only  as  an  adjective,  never  predicatively. 

38.  musing  gait,  contemplative  manner  of  walking.     '  Gait '  is 
cognate  with   '  gate '  =  a  way,  perhaps  the  same  word :  it  is  a 
mistake   to  connect  either  of  these  words  radically  with  the 
verb  'go.' 

39.  And   (with)   looks   commercing,  etc.      Milton  may  mean 
not  only  that  the  looks  of  the  goddess  were  turned  to  heaven, 
but  also  that  she  was  communing  with  heaven  :  this  would  give 
additional  significance  to  1.  40.     The  use  of  the  word  '  commerce ' 
has  been  restricted  in  two  ways — (1)  by  being  applied  only  to 
trade,  whereas  Shakespeare,  Milton,  and  others  use  it  of  any 
kind  of  intercourse,  and  (2)  by  being  used  only  as  a  noun,  whereas 
Milton  used  it  as  verb  and  noun.     He  also  accents  it  here  on  the 
second  syllable.     The  Latin  commercium  was  of  general  applica 
tion  :  comp.  Ovid's  Tristia,  v.  10,  "  Exercent  illi  socise  commercia 
linguae. " 

40.  rapt,  enraptured  :  to  be  rapt  in  thought  is  to  be  so  occupied 
with  one's  thoughts  as  to  become  oblivious  to  what  is  around,  as 
if  the  mind  or  soul  had  been  carried  away  (Lat.  raptus,  seized)  : 
comp.   'ecstasies,'  1.  165  and  note,  and  Com.  794.     Milton  also 
used  the  word  of  the  actual  snatching  away  of  a  person  :  '  What 

F 


82  IL  PENSEROSO. 

accident  hath  rapt  him  from  us,'  Par.  Lost,  ii.  40.  (The  student 
should  note  that  there  is  a  participle  'rapt'  from  the  English 
verb  'rap,'  to  seize  quickly;  from  this  root  comes  'rape,'  while 
'rapine,'  'rapid,'  'rapacious,'  etc.,  are  from  the  Latin  root.) 

40.  soul,  nominative  absolute.     On  the  expressiveness  of  the 
eye,  comp.  Tennyson's  line — 

"  Her  eyes  are  homes  of  silent  prayer." 

41.  There,  in  that  position. 

held  in  holy  passion  still,  held  motionless  through  holy 
emotion.  '  Passion '  (Lat.  patior)  is  here  used  in  its  primary 
sense  of  '  feeling  or  emotion ' :  it  is  used  in  this  sense  in  the  Bible 
(Acts,  xiv.  15,  Jas.  v.  17).  It  was  then  applied  to  pain  or  suffer 
ing,  as  in  the  phrase  '  Passion  week. '  The  word  is  now  used 
chiefly  of  anger  or  eager  desire.  There  are  two  cognate  adjec 
tives,  patient  and  passive. 

Forget  thyself  to  marble,  become  as  insensible  as  a  marble 
statue  to  all  around.  Comp.  On  Shakespeare,  14.  The  same  idea 
occurs  in  the  phrase  '  to  be  petrified  with  astonishment. ' 

43.  With  a  sad  leaden,  etc. :  with  the  eyes  cast  down  towards 
the  earth  as  if  in  sadness  or  deep  thought.     "Leaden-coloured 
eye-sockets  betoken  melancholy,   or  excess  of  thoughtfulness  " 
(Masson).     The  poet  Gray  has  the  same  idea  :  "  With  leaden  eye 
that  loves  the  ground." 

44.  fix,  subjunctive  after  '  till,'  because  referring  to  the  future. 
The  subjunctive  mood  after  '  till '  and  '  when '  is  now  generally 
superseded  by  the  indicative  :  comp.  lines  44,  122,  173. 

as  fast,  as  steadfastly  (as  they  were  before  fixed  on  the 
skies)  :  see  note  on  1.  38. 

46.  Spare  Fast.    Frugality  of  life  is  here  personified  and  repre 
sented  as  lean.      Milton,  in  his  writings,   frequently  associates 
plain  living  with  high  thinking,  and  in  his  own  habits  he  was 
extremely  frugal  and  abstemious.     In  his  sixth  Elegy  he  declares 
that,  though  the  elegiac  poets  may  be  inspired  by  good  cheer, 
the  poet  who  wishes  to  sing  of  noble  and  elevated  themes  (to 
'  diet  with  the  gods ')  must  follow  the  frugal  precepts  of  Pytha 
goras  :  '  the  poet  is  sacred ;  he  is  the  priest  of  heaven,  and  his 
bosom  conceives,  and  his  mouth  utters,  the  hidden  god.'     This 
is  the  idea  conveyed  in  lines  47,   48.      See  Comus  764  for  the 
praises  of  temperance,  and  also  Son.  xx. 

doth  diet  And  hears.  There  is  here  a  change  of  gram 
matical  construction  due  to  change  of  thought :  we  should  say 
either  'doth  diet  and  (doth)  hear'  or  '  diets  and  hears.' 

47.  Muses :    the  goddesses  who  presided  over  the  different 
kinds  of  poetry  and  the  arts  and  sciences  were  daughters  of 
Jupiter,  and  lived  on  Mount  Olympus. 


NOTES.  83 

48.  Aye,  ever,  always.     '  Sing,'  'infinitive  after  'hears.' 

50.  trim,  well-kept,  and  pleasing  to  the  eye :  comp.  U  Alley. 
75.      In   Milton's   time   the  style  of   gardening  was  extremely 
artificial.     Shakespeare  and  Milton  both  have  the  word  '  trim ' 
in  the  sense  of  '  adornment. ' 

Ms,  is  not  here  used  for  its,  Leisure  being  personified. 

51.  first  and  chiefest.  above  all.     According  to  modern  usage 
the  form  '  chiefest '  would  be  a  double  superlative,  but,  as  Milton 
avoids  double  comparatives  and  superlatives,  it  is  probable  that 
'  chief '  is  not  to  be  taken  in  its  strict  sense,  but  merely  as  de 
noting  a  high  degree  of  importance  ;  it  would  therefore  admit 
of   comparison.      Shakespeare,    on   the   contrary,    often  used   a 
double  comparative  or  superlative  merely  for  emphasis. 

52.  yon,    yonder,    an    adverb ;    in   Milton  it  is  generally  an 
adjective:   comp.  Arc.  36.    It  is  now  used  only  as  an  adjective, 
and  '  yonder '  as  an  adjective  or  adverb. 

soars  on  golden  wing,  etc.  "A  daring  use  of  the  great 
vision,  in  Ezekiel,  chap.  x. ,  of  the  sapphire  throne,  the  wheels  of 
which  were  four  cherubs,  each  wheel  or  cherub  full  of  eyes  all 
over,  while  in  the  midst  of  them,  and  underneath  the  throne,  was 
a  burning  fire.  Milton,  whether  on  any  hint  from  previous 
Biblical  commentators  I  know  not,  ventures  to  name  one  of  these 
cherubs  who  guide  the  fiery  wheelings  of  the  visionary  throne. 
He  is  the  Cherub  Contemplation.  It  was  by  the  serene  faculty 
named  Contemplation  that  one  attained  the  clearest  notion  of 
divine  things, — mounted,  as  it  were,  into  the  very  blaze  of  the 
Eternal"  (Masson).  In  Com.  307  Milton  makes  Contemplation 
the  nurse  of  Wisdom. 

'Cherub'  and  'Contemplation'  are  in  apposition  to  'him,' 
1.  52.  '  Contemplation '  is  to  be  pronounced  here  as  a  word  of 
five  syllables. 

55.  hist  along :   imperative  of  the  verb   '  to  hist '  =  to  bring 
silently  along,  or  to  call  to  in  a  whisper.     The  word  is  here  very 
expressive  ;  Silence  is  summoned  by  the  word  which  is  used  to 
command  silence.     There  is  no  doubt  that  'hist,'  'hush,'  and 
'  whist '  are  imitative  sounds  all  used  originally  as  interjections  ; 
they  were  afterwards  used  as  verbs,  their  past  participles  being 
hist,  hushed,  and  whist.     Hence  Skeat  thinks  that  '  hist '  in  the 
above  line  is  a  past  participle  =  hushed,  i.e.  "bring  along  with 
thee  the  mute,  hushed  Silence."     This  is  an  improbable  render 
ing.     '  Hist '  is  now  used  only  as  an  interjection,  and  '  whist ' 
only  as  an  interjection  and  the  name  of  a  game  at  cards. 

It  may  be  noted  that  as  Silence  is  here  personified,  there  is  no 
tautology  in  describing  her  as  '  mute. ' 

56.  'Less,  unless.      'Un'  in  the  word    'unless'    is    not  the 
negative  prefix,  but  the  preposition  'on.' 


34  IL  PENSEROSO. 

56.  Philomel,    the    nightingale    (Greek    Philomela  =  lover    of 
melody).     According  to  legend,  she  was  a  daughter  of  Pandion, 
King  of  Attica,  and  was  changed  at  her  own  prayer  into  a  night 
ingale  to  escape  the  vengeance  of  her  brother-in-law  Tereus.    See 
Son.  i.  and  notes. 

deign  a  song,  be  pleased  to  sing  (Lat.  dignor  =  to  think 
worthy). 

57.  plight,  strain.     There  are  two  words  'plight'  of  diverse 
origin  and  use,  and  editors  of  Milton  differ  as  to  which  is  used 
here.     ( 1 )   '  Plight '  =  something  plaited  or   interwoven,   and  so 
applicable  to  a  strain  of  sounds  interwoven,  as  in  the  nightingale's 
song:    Milton,   in  this  sense,  speaks  of   the   'plighted  clouds,' 
Com.  301 .     (2) '  Plight/  =  something  promised ,  a  duty  or  condition, 
now  chiefly  used  to  signify  an  unfortunate  condition  (A.S.  pliht, 
danger).      The  former  is  probably  the  meaning  here. 

58.  Smoothing  the  rugged  brow  of  Night,  i.e.   softening  the 
stern  aspect  of  night.     See  the  same  idea  of  the  power  of  music 
repeated  in  Com.  251  — 

"Smoothing  the  raven  down 
Of  darkness  till  it  smiled." 

'  Smoothing '  qualifies  '  Philomel. ' 

59.  While  Cynthia,  etc. :  the  nightingale's  song  being  so  sweet 
that  the  moon  in  rapture  checks  herself  in  her  course  in  order  to 
listen. 

Cynthia,  a  surname  of  the  Greek  Artemis,  the  goddess  of  the 
moon,  as  Cynthius  was  of  her  brother  Apollo,  the  god  of  the  sun  ; 
both  were  born  on  Mount  Cynthus  in  the  isle  of  Delos.  The 
Romans  identified  their  goddess  Diana  with  Artemis,  and  in  this 
character  she  rode  in  a  chariot  drawn  by  four  stags.  Milton, 
however,  here  and  elsewhere,  speaks  of  dragons  being  yoked  to 
her  chariot :  this  applies  rather  to  Ceres,  the  goddess  of  plenty. 
Shakespeare  refers  frequently  to  the  "  dragons  of  the  Night." 

On  '  check,'  see  note  on  L' Alley.  96. 

60.  the  accustomed  oak,  the  oak  where  the  nightingale  was 
accustomed  to  sing,  and  where  the  poet  perhaps  had  often  listened 
to  it.     He  may  refer  (as  Masson  suggests)  to  some  particular  oak 
over  which  he  had  himself  often  watched  the  moon,  thus  giving  a 
personal  touch  to  his  bold  fancy.     The  use  of  the  definite  article 
'  the '  favours  this  view. 

61.  shunn'st  the  noise  of  folly,  avoidest  the  revels  of  the  foolish. 
'Noise,'  in  Elizabethan  writers,  has  often  the  sense  of  'music,' 
and  it  is  used  by  Ben  Jonson  and  Shakespeare  to  denote  '  a  com 
pany  of  musicians.'     The  'noise  of  folly'  might  thus  mean  'a 
company  of  foolish  singers  or  revellers.' 


NOTES.  85 

62.  Most  musical,  most  melancholy  !     As  in  1.  57  the  poet 
associated  sweetness  and  sadness,  so  also  in  this  line,  almost  as  if 
music  and  melancholy  were  causally  related.     Comp.  Shelley,  To 
a  Skylark — 

"  Our  sincerest  laughter 

With  some  pain  is  fraught ; 
Our  sweetest  songs  are  those  that  tell  of  saddest  thought. " 

63.  I  often  woo  thee,  chauntress,  among  the  woods  in  order  to 
hear  thy  even-song.      'Chauntress,'  the  feminine  of  'chaunter,' 
one  who  chants  or  sings.     '  To  enchant '  is  to  charm  by  song. 

65.  missing  thee,  if  I  miss  thee,  i.  e.  if  I  do  not  hear  thy  song. 

unseen  :  see  note  on  'not  unseen,'  L' A  lief/.  57.  It  has  been 
argued  from  these  words  that  //  Pcnseroso  must  have  been  written 
before  L' Allegro. 

66.  smooth-shaven  green,  where  the  grass  has  been  newly  cut. 
'  Green '  as  a  noun  applies  to  '  a  flat  stretch  of  grass-grown  land.' 
For  the  form  of  the  compound  adjective  see  note  on  L'Alleg.  22, 
and  comp.  'wide- watered,'  'civil-suited,'  'high-embowed,'  etc. 

67.  -wandering  moon.     The  epithet  'wandering '  is  frequently 
applied  to  the  moon  in  Latin  and  Italian  poetry  :  "  raga  luna," 
Horace,  Sat.  i.  8 ;  "  errantem  lunam,"  Virgil,  ^En.  i.  742. 

68.  noon :   here  used  in  its  general  sense  =  highest  position  ; 
comp.  the  general  use  of  the  word  'zenith.'     Ben  Jonson  speaks 
of  the  "noon  of  night,"  and  Milton  in  Sams.  Agon,  applies  it  to 
men — "  amidst  their  highth  of  noon."  The  word  is  in  prose  usually 
restricted  to  the  sense  of  '  mid-day  ' ;  it  is  derived  from  the  Lat. 
nmiuK,  ninth,  and  the  church  services  held  at  the  ninth  hour  of 
the  day  (3  P.M.)  were  called  nones.     When  these  were  changed  to 
midday,  the  word  '  noon '  was  used  to  denote  that  hour,  and  hence 
its  present  use. 

Some  interpret  '  highest  noon '  as  implying  that  the  moon  is 
nearly  full. 

69.  Like  one  :  see  note  on  1.  9.     '  Like '  is  an  adjective  ;  '  one ' 
is  governed  by  '  to '  understood. 

72.  Stooping:    Keightley's  note  on  this  is:   "He  alludes  here 
to  that  curious  optical  illusion  by  which,  as  the  clouds  pass  over 
the  moon,  it  seems  to  be  she,  not  they,  that  is  in  motion.     This 
is  peculiarly  observable  when  the  wind  is  high,  and  the  clouds 
are  driven  along  with  rapidity. "     '  Stooping '  and  '  riding '  are 
co-ordinate  attributes  of  '  moon. ' 

73.  plat  of  rising  ground,  'level  top  of  some  hillock.'     'Plat 
is  a  plot  or  small  piece  of  level  ground  :  plot  is  the  A.S.  form  of 
the  word.     Its  relation  etymologically  with  fiat    vlate,  etc.,  is 
doubtful,  though  commonly  taken  for  granted. 


86  IL  PENSEROSO. 

74.  curfew    sound.        '  Curfew '    (Fr.    couvre-feu  =  fire-cover), 
the  bell  that  was  rung  at  eight  or  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening  as 
a  signal  that  all  fires  and  lights  were  to  be  extinguished.    As  this 
custom  was  still  in  force  in  Milton's  time  the  sound  would  be 
familiar  to  him,  though  he  is  not  here  closely  detailing  his  own 
experiences.      It   must   be  remembered   also   that    '  curfew '    or 
'  curfew  bell '  was  sometimes  used  in  the  more  general  sense  of 
'  a  bell  that  sounded  the  hours. '     '  Sound,'  infinitive  after  '  hear'; 
'  to '  (the  so-called  sign  of  the  infinitive)  being  omitted  after  such 
verbs  as  make,  see,  hear,  feel,  bid,  etc. 

75.  some  wide-watered  shore,  the  shore  of  some  wide  *  water. ' 
These  words  do  not  show  whether  the  poet  refers  to  a  lake,  a 
river  (e.g.   the   Thames),    or    even  the  sea-shore,  for  the  word 
water  may  be  used  of    any  of    these,  and   shore  may  be   em 
ployed   in   its   primary  sense  of    '  boundary '  or   '  edge. '      It  is 
pointed  out  by  Masson  that  in  every  other  case  in  which  Milton 
uses  the  word  '  shore '  he  refers  to  the  sea  or  to  some  vast  expanse 
of  water.     *  Some '  shows  that  the  poet  is  describing  an  ideal 
scene,  not  an  actual  one. 

76.  Swinging  slow  :  this  would  be  an  apt  description  of  the 
sound  of  the  distant  sea,  but  it  more  probably  refers   to   the 
curfew.     Shakespeare  has  '  sullen  bell '  (King  Henri/  IV.  Pt.  II. 
i.  1).     Notice  the  effect  of  the  rhythm  and  alliteration  of  this 
line  in  bringing  out  the  meaning. 

77.  air,  weather,  state  of  the  atmosphere. 

78.  Some  still  removed   place,  some  quiet  and   retired   spot 
(comp.    1.    81).     The   Latin   participle  remotu*  (=moved  back) 
meant  either  '  retired '  or  '  distant '  :  Milton  here  uses  '  removed  ' 
in  the  former  sense,  and  Shakespeare  has  the  same  usage,  em 
ploying   also   the   noun   *  removedness  '  =  solitude.      In   modern 
English,  when  '  remote '  is   used  without   any  qualification,    it 
almost  always  denotes  distance,  either  in  time  or  place. 

will  fit,  will  be  suited  to  my  mood.  In  lines  77,  78,  we 
find  a  future  tense  both  in  the  principal  and  conditional  clauses. 
This  sequence  of  tenses  is  allowable  in  English,  but  the  tense  of 
the  conditional  clause  may  be  varied,  e.g.  : 

(1)  Fut.  Indie.  "  If  the  air  will  not  permit,"  etc. 

(2)  Pres.  Indie.  "  If  the  air  does  not  permit,"  etc. 

(3)  Pres.  Subjunc.  "  If  the  air  do  not  permit,"  etc. 

The  first  form  is  the  least  common,  though  many  Indian  students 
use  it  invariably  :  it  is  a  good  rule  to  avoid  it. 

79.  through  the  room ;  adverbial  phrase  modifying  c  to  counter 
feit.' 

80.  Teach  light,  etc.  :  the  red-hot  ashes  merely  serve  to  make 
the  darkness  visible.     It  will  be  observed  that  the  poet  has  now 


NOTES.  87 

shifted  the  scene  from  the  country  to  the  town,  or  at  least  from 
out-of-doors  to  indoors. 

81.  This  line  qualifies  'place,'  line  78. 

82.  Save  =  except.     The  meaning  is  that  the  room  would  be 
perfectly  quiet  except  for  the  chirping  of  the  cricket  on  the 
hearth  or  the  cry  of  the  night-watchman.     The  cricket  is  an 
insect  somewhat  resembling  a  grasshopper,  which  makes  a  chirp 
ing  noise. 

83.  bellman's  drowsy  charm.     The  watchman  who,  before  the 
introduction  of  the  modern  police  system,  patrolled  the  streets  at 
night,  calling  the  hours,  looking  out  for  fires,  thieves,  and  other 
nocturnal  evils.     He  was  accustomed  to  drawl  forth  scraps  of 
pious  poetry  to  '  charm  '  away  danger.     The  word  '  drowsy  '  may 
imply  that  these  guardians  of  the  night  were  of  little  use,  being 
often  half  or  wholly  asleep. 

84.  nightly  harm  :  comp.  note  on  Arcades,  48. 

85.  let  my  lamp.     "  Evidently  we  are  now  back  in  the  country, 
in  the  turret  of  some  solitary  mansion,  where  there  are  books, 
and  perhaps  astronomical  instruments.     How  fine,  however,  not 
to  give  us  the  inside  view  of  the  turret-room  first,  but  to  imagine 
some  one  far  off  outside  observing  the  ray  of  light  slanting  from 
its  window  !  "  (Masson).     The  construction  is,  *  Let  (you)   my 
lamp  (to)  be  seen  :  '  '  let  '  is  imperative,  with  an  infinitive  com 
plement. 

87.  outwatch  the  Bear.  '  Out  '  as  a  prefix  here  means  beyond 
or  over,  as  in  outweigh,  outvote,  outwit,  outrun,  etc.  ;  and 
'  watch  '  =  wake.  "To  outwatch  the  Bear"  is  therefore  to  re 
main  awake  till  daybreak,  for  the  constellation  of  the  Great  Bear 
does  not  set  below  the  horizon  in  northern  latitudes,  and  only 


vanishes  on  account  of  the  daylight.      Watch  and  wake  are  cog 

ale, 
where  the  maker  of  the  wonderful  brass  horse  is  said  to  "  have 


nate  with  wait:  hence  Chaucer's  allusion  in  the  Squire's  Tale, 
where  the  maker  of  the  wonderful  brass  horse  is  said  to  "  have 
waited  many  a  constellation  Ere  he  had  done  this  operation." 

88.  With  thrice  great  Hermes,  i.e.  reading  the  books  attributed 
to  Hermes  Trismegistus  (i.e.  *  thrice-great  ').  He  was  an  ancient 
Egyptian  philosopher  named  Thot  or  Theut,  whom  the  Greeks 
identified  with  their  god  Hermes  (the  Latin  Mercury)  ;  the  new 
Platonists  regarded  him  as  the  source  of  all  knowledge,  even 
Pythagoras  and  Plato  having  (it  was  pretended)  derived  their 
philosophy  from  him.  A  large  number  of  works,  really  composed 
in  the  fourth  century  A.D.,  were  ascribed  to  him,  the  most  imp6r- 
tant  being  the  Poemander,  a  dialogue  treating  of  nature,  the 
creation  of  the  world,  the  deity,  the  human  soul,  etc. 

or  unsphere  The  spirit  of  Plato,  "  or  may  bring  back  the 
spirit  of  Plato  from  heaven,"  i.e.  may  search  out  the  doctrines  of 


88  IL  PENSEROSO. 

Plato  by  a  careful  study  of  his  writings.  '  Unsphere '  is  a  hybrid 
(English  and  Greek)  ;  the  verbal  prefix  denotes  the  reversal  of 
an  action  as  in  unlock,  urilo&d,  etc.,  and  is  distinct  from  the 
negative  prefix  in  ?mtrue,  tmcouth,  etc.  '  Unsphered '  is  obsolete, 
so  is  '  insphered  '  (Com.  3-6)  :  we  still  speak,  however,  of  a  per 
son's  sphere  or  rank,  but  without  the  literal  reference  which  the 
word  always  has  in  Milton's  writings. 

89.  to  unfold  What  worlds  :  infinitive  of  purpose  =  to  unfold 
those  worlds  which,  etc.  The  allusion  is  to  one  of  Plato's 
dialogues,  the  Phaedo,  in  which  he  discusses  the  state  of  the  soul 
after  the  death  of  the  body.  Comp.  Comus  463-475. 

91.  forsook,  forsaken.      'Forsook,'  a  form  of  the  past  tense, 
here  used  as  a  past  participle.     It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the 
word  ''  forsaken  '  did  not  exist.     Milton,  like  Shakespeare  (Othello 
iv.  2),  deliberately  uses  a  form  of  the  past  tense  :  comp.  Arc.  4. 

92.  Her  mansion  in  this  fleshly  nook,  her  temporary  abode  in 
the  body.     Trench  points  out  that  '  mansion '  in  our  early  litera 
ture  is  frequently  used  to  denote  a  '  place  of  tarrying,'  which 
might  be  for  a  longer  or  a  shorter  time  :  this  is  evidently  the 
sense  here  :  comp.  Comus  2.     The  '  fleshly  nook  '  is  the  body,  so 
called  in  order  to  contrast  it  with  the  '  immortal  mind. '     Locke 
calls  the  body  the  '  clay  cottage  '  of  the  mind,  and  in  the  Bible  it 
is  sometimes  compared  to  a  temple  or  tabernacle  (2  Cor.  v.   1, 
2  Pet.  i.  13)  :  comp.  'earthy,'  Son.  xiv.  3. 

The  use  of  the  possessive  '  her '  in  this  line  may  be  explained 
by  the  fact  that  the  Lat.  mens  (the  mind)  is  feminine  :  it  must  be 
remembered  also  that  it*  was  not  yet  in  general  use  and  that 
Milton  is  fond  of  the  feminine  personification  :  comp.  1.  143. 

93.  And  of  those  demons.     This,  like 'worlds,' depends  gram 
matically  upon  'unfold,'  but  as  'to  unfold  of  is  an  awkward 
construction  we  may  here  supply  some  verb  like  '  tell. '     This  is 
an  instance  of  zeugma. 

In  Plato's  Timaeus,  Phaedo,  Critias,  etc.,  we  find  references 
to  the  Greek  daimona  —  spirits,  who  were  not  necessarily  bad  ;  in 
fact  it  was  a  subject  of  discussion  with  some  of  the  Platonists 
whether  there  were  bad,  as  well  as  good,  spirits.  During  the 
Middle  Ages  the  different  orders  and  powers  of  demons  or  spirits 
were  very  variously  stated  :  one  writer  (quoted  in  Anat.  of  Mel.) 
gives  six  kinds  of  sublunary  spirits — "fiery,  aerial,  terrestrial, 
watery,  and  subterranean,  besides  fairies,  satyrs,  nymphs,  etc." 
Milton  here  refers  to  four  of  these  classes,  each  being  conversant 
with  one  of  the  four  elements — fire,  air,  water,  earth.  This 
division  of  the  elements  or  elemental  forms  of  matter  dates  from 
the  time  of  the  Greek  philosopher  Empedocles  (B.C.  470). 

95.  consent;  the  demons  are  in  sympathetic  relation  with 
certain  planets  and  elements  ;  e.g.  one  writer  made  "  seven  kinds 


NOTES.  89' 

of  aethereal  spirits  or  angels,  according  to  the  number  of  the- 
seven  planets,"  and  in  Par.  Keg.  ii.  Milton  represents  the  fallen 
angels  as  presiding,  under  Satan,  as  powers  over  earth,  air,  fire, 
and  water,  and  causing  storms  and  disasters. 

'  Consent '  is  here  used  in  its  radical  sense  (L.  con,  with,  and 
sen  tire,  to  feel),  an  exact  rendering  of  the  Greek  sym-pathy. 
Comp.  1  Henry  VI.  i.  1. 

97.  Sometime,  on  some  occasion  :  comp.  L' Alley.  57.     II  Pen- 
seroso  here  passes  to  the  study  of  the  greatest  and  most  solemn1 
tragic  writers. 

98.  sceptred  pall,  kingly  robe.     Both  the  pall  and  the  sceptre 
were  insignia  of  royalty,   and  in  ancient  Greek  tragedies  the 
kings  and  queens  wore  a  sleeved  tunic  (chiton)  falling  to  the  feet, 
and  over  this  a  shawl-like  garment  called  by  the  Romans  pa'la. 
Prof.  Hales  suggests  that '  in  sceptred  pall '  may  here  mean  '  with 
pall  and  with  sceptre,'  i.e.   two  things  are  expressed  by  one  : 
comp.  11.  75  and  146. 

99.  Presenting  Thebes,   etc.      'Present'  is  here  used   in  its 
technical  sense,   '  to  represent ' ;  we  now  speak  of  a  theatrical 
'representation.'     Comp.  Arcades,  sub-title. 

Aeschylus  has  a  drama  called  Seven  against  Thebfs  ;  this  city 
is  also  referred  to  in  the  Antigone  and  CEdipus  of  Sophocles,  and 
the  Bacchae  of  Euripides.  Pelops  (from  whom  the  Peloponnesus 
is  said  to  have  derived  its  name)  was  the  father  of  Atreus  and 
great-grandfather  of  Agamemnon  ;  his  name  was  so  celebrated 
that  it  was  constantly  used  by  the  poets  in  connection  with  his 
descendants  and  the  cities  they  inhabited.  And  the  '  tale  of 
Troy  divine'  (i.e.  the  story  of  the  Trojan  war)  is  dealt  with  in 
various  plays  by  Sophocles  and  Euripides.  Troy  is  here  called 
'  divine  '  because,  during  its  long  siege,  the  gods  took  the  keenest 
interest  in  the  contest. 

101,  102.  These  lines  certainly  refer  to  Shakespeare's  great 
tragedies,  and  the  words  '  though  rare '  probably  express  Milton's^ 
sense  both  of  Shakespeare's  superiority  over  his  contemporaries,, 
and  of  the  comparative  barrenness  of  the  English  tragic  drama 
until  Shakespeare  arose.  (Comp.  the  preface  to  Sams.  Agon.) 
We  thus  see  clearly  that  the  language  applied  to  Shakespeare  in 
L' Allegro,  13,3,  referred  to  one  aspect  of  the  poet ;  here  we  have 
the  other. 

buskined  stage,  the  tragic  drama.  '  Buskin '  (Lat. 
cothurnus)  was  a  high-heeled  boot  worn  by  Greek  tragic  actors 
in  order  to  add  to  their  stature,  and  so  to  their  dignity  :  comp. 
L'Alleg.  132.  The  words  'buskin'  and  'sock'  came  to  denote 
the  kinds  of  drama  to  which  they  belonged  ;  and  even  to  express 
certain  styles  of  composition :  thus  Quintiliaii  says,  "  Comedy 
does  not  strut  in  tragic  buskins,  nor  does  tragedy  step  along  in 


90  IL  PENSEROSO. 

the  slipper  of  comedy."  Grammatically,  'what'  is  nom.  to 
'hath  ennobled,'  its  suppressed  antecedent  being  obj.  of  'pre 
senting.  ' 

103.  sad  Virgin,  i.e.  Melancholy:  comp.  1.  31. 

that  thy  power,  etc.  :  'would  that  thy  power,'  or  'I 
would  that  thy  power.'  This  construction  (which  has  all  the 
force  of  an  interjection)  is  often  used  to  express  a  wish  that 
cannot  be  realized.  '  Raise  '  (1.  104),  '  bid '  (1.  105),  and  '  call ' 
{1.  109)  are  all  co-ordinate  verbs. 

104.  Musaus,  like    Orpheus,   a  semi-mythological   personage, 
represented   as   one  of  the  earliest  Greek  poets.     Milton  here 
expresses  a  wish  that  his  sacred  hymns  could  be  recovered.     For 
*  bower,'  comp.  Son.  viii.  9. 

105.  For  the  story  of  Orpheus,  see  note  on  U Allegro,  145. 

106.  warbled  to  the  string,  sung  to  the  accompaniment  of  a 
stringed  instrument :  see  note  on  Arc.  87. 

107.  Drew  iron  tears.     This  expresses  the  inflexible  nature  of 
Pluto,  the  god  of  the  lower  world.     In  the  same  way  we  speak 
of  an  '  iron  will,'  '  iron  rule,'  etc. 

109.  him  that,  etc.:  Chaucer,  who  left  his  Squire's  Tale  un 
finished.  In  this  tale  (one  of  the  richest  of  the  Canterbury 
Tales)  we  read  of  the  Tartar  king,  Cambus  Khan.  Chaucer,  like 
Milton,  writes  the  name  as  one  word,  but,  unlike  Milton,  and 
more  correctly,  he  does  not  accent  the  penult.  The  following 
extracts  (from  Tyrwhitt's  edition  of  Chaucer)  explain  the  allu 
sions — 

This  noble  king,  this  Tartar  Cambuscan, 
Had  two  sonnes  by  Elfeta  his  wife, 
Of  which  the  eldest  son  hight  Algarsife, 
That  other  was  ycleped  Camballo, 
A  daughter  had  this  worthy  king  also, 
That  youngest  was,  and  highte  Canace  .... 
In  at  the  halle  door  all  suddenly 
There  came  a  knight  upon  a  steed  of  brass, 
And  in  his  hand  a  broad  mirr6r  of  glass  ; 
Upon  his  thumb  he  had  of  gold  a  ring 
And  by  his  side  a  naked  sword  hanging. 

The  king  of  '  Araby  and  Ind  '  had  sent  the  horse  as  a  present  to 
Cambuscan,  and  the  mirror  and  ring  to'  Canace.  Milton  may 
have  included  Chaucer  amongst  the  '  great  bards  '  in  whom  II 
Penseroso  delighted,  because  the  thought  of  the  earliest  Greek 
poets  suggested  Chaucer,  "  the  well  of  English  undefiled,"  or  (as 
Masson  thinks)  because  the  reference  to  the  lost  poems  of  Greece 
suggested  the  unfinished  poem  of  Chaucer.  Milton  was  well 
acquainted  with  the  Squire's  Tale  and  with  subsequent  continua 
tions  of  it  (e.g.  by  Spenser). 


NOTES.  91 

112.  who  had  Canace  to  wife  :  (of  him)  who  was  Canace 's  hus 
band.     Chaucer  does  not  mention   his  name   (except  where  he 
mistakenly  calls  him  Camballo)  :  Spenser  makes  her  the  wife  of 
Triamond.     '  To  wife ' ;  in  such  phrases  '  to '  seems  to  denote 
the  end  or  purpose. 

113.  That,  rel.  pronoun,  antecedent  Canace. 

virtuous,  full  of  power  or  efficacy.  The  Lat.  virtus = 
manly  excellence.  In  the  English  Bible  '  virtue  '  is  used  in  the 
sense  of  strength  or  power  (comp.  Com.  165),  and  we  still  say 
'  by  virtue  of  '—by  the  power  of.  But  the  adjective  '  virtuous  ' 
now  denotes  only  moral  excellence. 

The  ring  referred  to  above,  when  worn  on  the  thumb  or 
carried  in  the  purse,  enabled  the  wearer  to  understand  the 
language  of  birds  and  the  healing  properties  of  all  herbs.  The 
glass  or  mirror  enabled  its  owner  to  look  into  the  future  and  into 
men's  hearts. 

114.  of  the  wondrous  horse,  sc.  the  story.      Readers  of  the 
Arabian  Rights  Entertainment  will  remember  the  story  of  the 
enchanted  horse,  regarding  which  Warton  says  :  "The  imagina 
tion  of  this  story  consists  in  Arabian  fiction,  engrafted  on  Gothic 
chivalry.    Nor  is  this  Arabian  fiction  purely  the  sport  of  arbitrary 
fancy  ;  it  is,  in  a  great  measure,  founded  on  Arabian  learning. 
The  idea  of  a  horse  of  brass  took  its  rise  from  the  mechanical 
knowledge  of  the  Arabians,  and  their  experiments  in  metals." 

116.  if  aught  else,  whatever  else.     This  is  a  Latinism  :  many 
clauses  in  Latin  introduced  by  si  quid,  si  quando,  etc.  are  best 
introduced  in  English  by  such  words  as   'whatever,'   'when 
ever,'  etc. 

great  bards  beside,  other  great  bards.  The  poets  referred 
to  are  such  as  Ariosto,  Tasso,  and  Spenser,  in  whose  romances 
Milton  was  well  read.  In  one  of  his  prose  works  he  says  :  "I 
may  tell  you  whither  my  younger  feet  wandered.  I  betook  me 
among  those  lofty  fables  and  romances  which  recount  in  solemn 
cantos  the  deeds  of  knighthood."  'Beside'  as  an  adverb  is 
now  almost  displaced  by  the  later  form  'besides.' 

117.  sage  and  solemn  tunes,  wise  and  dignified  verse,  as  that 
of  the  Spenserian  stanza.     For  '  solemn '  see  Arc.  7,  note. 

118.  turneys.     'Turney,' a  form  of  'tourney'  (Fr.  toumay),  a 
mock-fight,  so  called  from  the  swift  turning  of  the  horses  in  the 
combat.     '  Tournament '  is  merely  a  Latinised  form  of  the  word ; 
comp.  L' Alley.  123. 

trophies  hung.  These  were  arms  or  banners  taken  from  a 
defeated  enemy  and  hung  up  as  memorials.  The  word  is  from 
the  Greek  trope,  a  turning,  i.e.  causing  the  enemy  to  turn. 

119.  enchantments,  use  of  magic  arts.     Radically,  'enchant- 


92  IL  PENSEROSO. 

mentf  =  magic  verses  sung  when  it  was  desired  to  place  a  person 
under  some  spell  (Lat.  incantare,  to  repeat  a  chant) :  comp.  lines 
63,  83,  and  Lye.  59. 

120.  Where  more  is  meant,  etc.  :  in  which  poetry  there  is  a 
deeper  meaning  than   is  apparent  on  the  surface.      The  poets 
referred  to  in  1.  116  had  generally  a  high  moral  purpose  in  their 
writings ;  e.g.  Spenser's  Faerie  Queene  is  a  noble  spiritual  allegory, 
the  particular  references  in  it  being  "  secondary  senses  lying  only 
on  the  surface  of  the  main  design."     The  same  is  true  of  Tasso's 
Enchanted  Forest. 

121.  Thus,  Night,  etc. :  'thus  let  me  be  often  seen  by  thee,  O 
Night,  in  thy  pale  course.' 

pale  career.     Contrast '  pale '  with  the  epithets  applied  by 
poets  to  the  dawn,  e.g.  'ruddy,'  'rosy-fingered,'  etc. 

122.  civil-suited  Morn.     In  U Allegro  the  Sun  appears  in  royal 
robes  and  surrounded  by  his  liveried  servants  ;  in  //  Penseroso 
Morning  comes  clad  in  the  garb  of  a  simple  citizen  and  attended 
by  wind  and  rain. 

'  Civil,'  from  Lat.  civis,  a  citizen,  is  here  used  in  its  primary 
sense.  It  is  opposed  to  military  or  ecclesiastical,  as  in  'civil 
engineer,'  'civil  service.'  It  has  also  the  meaning  of  'polite  '  or 
'well-mannered,'  as  contrasted  with  boorish  or  rustic  manners; 
but  it  has  lost  (as  Trench  points  out)  all  its  deeper  significance  : 
"  a  civil  man  once  was  one  who  fulfilled  all  the  duties  and  obliga 
tions  flowing  from  his  position  as  a  ciois. " 

123.  tricked  and  frounced  :  literally,  '  adorned  with  fine  clothes 
and  having  the  hair  frizzled  or  curled.'    In  Lycidas,  170,  the  sun 
is  said  to  trick  his  beams :  the  verb  is  cognate  with  the  noun 
'  trick, '  something  neatly  contrived. 

'  Frounced ' :  the  word  originally  meant  '  to  wrinkle  the  brow,' 
and  there  is  an  old  French  phrase,  fronser  le  front,  with  this 
meaning.  The  present  form  of  the  word  is  '  flounce.' 

as,  in  the  manner    in  which.     For  '  wont '  see  note  on 
line  37. 

124.  Attic  boy ;  the  Athenian  youth  Cephalus,  beloved  by  Eos 
(Aurora),  the  goddess  of  the  dawn.     It  was  while  he  was  stag- 
hunting  on  Mount  Hymettus  in  Attica  that  she  fell  in  love  with 
him. 

125.  kerchieft,  having  the  head  covered.    '  Kerchief '  is  exactly 
similar  in  form  to    '  cur-few  '  (q.  v.  line  74) ;  it  is  from  Fr.  couvre- 
chcf,   head-cover.      The  original  meaning  being   overlooked  we 
have  now    such    compounds   as    'hand-kerchief,'    'neckerchief,3 
'  pocket-handkerchief.' 

comely,  becoming  :  comp.  Merry   Wives  of  Windsor,  iii. 
3.  26. 


NOTES.  93 

126.  piping,  whistling  :  'loud,'  used  adverbially. 

127.  ushered,  introduced  (Lat.  ostium,  an  entrance).    The  word 
here  qualifies  '  Morn. '    '  Still '  is  an  adjective  qualifying  '  shower ' : 
notice  Milton's  fondness  for  this  word. 

128.  hath  blown  his  fill,  has  exhausted  itself,  has  ceased.     As 
there  is  no  personification  here,  his  =  Us  :  in  none  of  the  poems 
in  this  volume  does  the  word  its  occur.     In  fact,  it  is  almost 
entirely  ignored  by  Milton,  being  used  only  three  times  in  the 
whole  of  his  poetry  ;  this  arose  from  the  fact  that  its  was  then  a 
new  word,  and  also  because  he  did  not  seem  to  feel  the  need  for 
it,  its  place  being  taken  in  his  involved  syntax  by  the  relative 
pronoun  and  other  connectives,  or  by  his,  her,  thereof,  etc.     The 
word  its  does  not  occur  in  the  language  till  the  end  of  the  six 
teenth  century,  the  possessive  case  of  the  neuter  pronoun  it  and 
of  the  masculine  he  beiflg  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 
generally  adopted. 

Grammatically  '  his  fill '  denotes  the  extent  to  which  '  the  gust 
hath  blown,'  and  is  therefore  an  adverbial  adjunct.  Some,  how 
ever,  would  explain  it  as  a  cognate  objective. 

129.  Ending  . . .  With  minute-drops  ;  the  end  of  the  shower  being 
marked  by  drops  falling  at  intervals.      '  Minute '  (accent  on  first 
syllable)   is  applied   as  an  adjective  to  something  occurring  at 
short  intervals,  once  a  minute  or  so,  e.g.  'minute-guns,'  'minute- 
bells/  etc.     Minute  (accent  on  second  syllable)  =  very  small. 

130.  eaves,  projecting  edge  of  the  roof.     This  word  is  singular, 
though  often  regarded  as  plural :  the  final  '  s '  is  part  of  the  root, 
and  the  plural  properly  should  be  eaveses  (which  is  not  used). 
An  '  eaves-dropper '  is  strictly  one  who  stands  under  the  drops 
that  fall  from  the  eaves,  hence  a  '  secret  listener. ' 

132.  flaring,  glittering  or  flashing  ;  generally  applied  to  a  light 
whose  brightness  is  offensive  to  the  eye,  and  is  so  used  here  to 
suit  the  mood  of  II  Penseroso.      '  Flare '  is  cognate  with  '  flash.' 

me,  Goddess,  etc.;  i.e.  Melancholy,  bring  me,  etc. 

133.  twilight  groves  and  shadows  brown,  groves  with  such  half- 
light  as  there  is  in  the  twilight,  when  the  shadows  cast  on  the 
ground  are  not  deep  black,  but  (as  Milton  says)  'brown.'    Comp. 
Par.  Lost,  iv.  254— 

"  Where  the  unpierced  shade 

Jmbrowned  the  noon-tide  bowers." 
Also  Par.  Lost,  ix.  1086— 

"  Where  highest  woods,  impenetrable 
To  star  or  sunlight,  spread  their  umbrage  broad, 
And  brown  as  evening  !  " 


94 


IL  PENSEROSO. 


The  Italians  express  the  approach  of  evening  by  a  word  meaning 
'  to  embrown. ' 

134.  Sylvan  :  Sylvanus,  the  god  of  fields  and  forests.    '  Sylvan  ' 
is  a  misspelling  of  '  silvan '  (Lat.  silva,  a  wood) ;  the  spelling  in 
y  was  made  in  order  to  assimilate  silva  to  the  Greek  hyle,  a  wood, 
but  the  radical  connection  is  doubtful. 

135.  monumental  oaX.     The  obvious  meaning  of  '  monumental ' 
is,   as  Masson  suggests,    'memorial,'   'old,'   'telling  of  bygone 
years.      An  aged  oak  is  a  memorial  of  the  flight  of  time ;   it 
suggests  also  massiveness. 

136.  rude  axe  with   heaved   stroke.     This  is  an  example  of 
chiasmus,  the  epithet  '  rude  '  belonging  to  '  stroke,'  and  'heaved' 
to  '  axe. '     '  Heaved  '  —  uplifted. 

137.  nymphs,  i.e.  wood  nymphs  :  confp.  line  154. 

daunt,  to  frighten  (from  Lat.  domitare,  to  subdue  ;  hence 
'  indomitable  '—not  able  to  be  daunted). 

138.  hallowed  haunt,  abode  sacred  to  them. 

139.  covert,    sheltered  spot,  thicket :  a  '  covert '  is  strictly  a 
'  covered  place. ' 

140.  no  profaner  eye,  no  unsympathetic   eye.     'Profaner'= 
somewhat  profane  ;  on  this  Latin  use  of  the  comparative  see  1. 
15,  note.     '  Profane'  (Lat.  pro,  before,  and  fanum,  a  temple)  was 
applied  to  those  who,  not  being  initiated  into  the  sacred  rites, 
were  compelled  to  wait  outside  the  temple  during  the  sacrifices  ; 
hence  it  came  to  mean  ( 1 )  '  not  sacred, '  as  in  the  phrase  '  profane 
history,'  and  (2)  '  impure,'  as  in  profane  language.'     II  Penseroso 
applies  it  to  those  not  in  sympathy  with  his  mood. 

141.  day's  garish  eye.     Milton  frequently  speaks  of  the  '  eye 
of  day '  (comp.  Son.  i.  5,  Com.  978,  Lye.  26).     '  Garish  '  =  staring 
or  glaring,  generally  used,  as  here,   to   express  dislike,  though 
some  Elizabethan  writers  use  it  in   a  good  sense.     There  is  an 
old  English  verb  gare  =  to  stare,  formed,  by  the  change  of  s  to  r, 
from  A.S.  gasen. 

142.  honeyed  thigh.     If  this  means  that  the  bee  collects  honey 
on  its  thigh,  it  is  a  mistake  ;  it  is  the  pollen  or  flower-dust  that 
is  thus  collected,  while  the  honey  is  sucked  into  the  animal's 
body.     Virgil,   however,    who  probably  knew  more   about  bees 
than  Milton  did,  uses  a  similar  expression  (Ed.  i.  56). 

143.  her  :  see  notes  on  lines  92  and  128. 

sing,  hum  :  the  verb  sing  is  very  variously  used  by  Eliza 
bethan  writers. 

145.  consort,  other  sounds  of  nature  that  accompany  the  hum 
ming  of  the  bee,  etc*  '  Consort '  is  here  used  concretely,  and  in 
its  original  sense  (Lat.  consors,  a  partner).  Old  writers  fre- 


NOTES.  95 

quently  confused  it  with  '  concert '  =  harmony,  but  the  words 
are  quite  distinct,  and  in  modern  English  they  are  never  con 
fused. 

146.  Entice  :  the  nominatives  of  this  verb  are  '  bee '  and 
'waters.'  Its  meaning  is  'to  induce  to  come';  by  a  common 
metaphor  sleep  is  represented  as  shy,  as  easily  frighted,  a& 
requiring  to  be  wooed  or  enticed.  Comp.  2nd  Henry  IV.  iii.  1. 

dewy-feathered  Sleep.  We  have  here  one  of  those  com 
pound  epithets  (so  frequent  in  Milton)  which  have  been  described 
as  poems  in  miniature.  In  most  of  these  the  first  word  qualifier 
the  second,  so  that  '  dewy-feathered  sleep '  may  mean  '  Sleep 
with  dewy  feathers.'  The  god  of  Sleep  (1.  10)  was  represented 
as  winged,  and  he  may  be  supposed  to  shake  dew  from  his  wings 
as  the  Archangel  in  Par.  Lost  v.  286  diffused  fragrance  by  shaking 
his  plumes. 

It  is  common,  however,  for  poets  to  speak  of  the  dew  of  sleep 
(comp.  Richard  III.  iv.  1,  Julius  Caesar  ii.  1)  without  any 
reference  to  its  being  winged  :  we  might  therefore  take  '  dewy- 
feathered  '  to  have  the  force  of  two  co-ordinate  adjectives  '  dewy ' 
and  '  feathered  '  :  see  note  on  1.  98. 

147-150.  This  passage  is  a  difficult  one  :  Prof.  Masson  reads  it 
thus,  '  Let  some  strange  mysterious  dream  wave  (i.  e.  move  to 
and  fro)  at  his  (i.e.  Sleep's)  wings  in  airy  stream,'  etc.  It  is 
customary  for  poets  to  speak  of  Dreams  as  the  messengers  of 
Sleep  (see  1.  10)  ;  here  a  dream  is  borne  on  the  wings  of  Sleep 
and  hovers  over  the  poet  in  an  airy  stream  of  vivid  images 
portrayed  upon  his  mental  eye. 

Some,  however,  take  '  his  wings '  to  denote  the  Dream's  wings, 
in  which  case  at  is  difficult  of  explanation  :  one  editor  therefore 
suggests  that  it  be  struck  out,  and  that  '  wave '  be  regarded  as  a 
transitive  verb  !  The  previous  view  is  preferable.  (It  is  pos 
sible  also  to  hold  that  the  Dream's  wings  are  displayed  (i.e. 
reflected)  in  the  airy  stream,  and  that  he  waves  at  this  reflection, 
as  we  say  a  dog  barks  at  its  shadow  reflected  in  a  pool  of  water. ) 

149.  lively  has  its  radical  sense  of  '  life-like' ;  so  we  speak  of 
a  'life-like  portrait,'  a  vivid  picture  (Lat.  vivus,  living). 

151.  breathe:  a  verb  in  the  imperative  addressed  to  the 
goddess  Melancholy,  as  '  bring,'  '  hide,'  and  '  let '  in  the  preced 
ing  lines.  (Some  would  take  it  as  an  infinitive  depending  on 
'let.') 

153.  to  mortals  good,  good  to  mortals.     '  Good '  =  propitious  ; 
comp.  Lye.  184.     In  this  line  '  Spirit '  is  to  be  pronounced  as  a 
monosyllable. 

154.  Genius,  guardian  spirit:  see  Arcades  and  Comus  regard 
ing  the  duties  of  such  spirits. 

155.  due  feet,  my  feet  that  are  due  at  the  places  of  worship . 


•96  IL  PENSEROSO. 

and  learning.     Due,  duty,  and  debt  are  all  from  the  Lat.  debitus, 
owed  ;  the  last  directly,  the  others  through  French. 

156.  To  walk  is  here  a  transitive  verb = to  frequent,  to  tra 
verse. 

studious  cloister's  pale  ;  the  precincts  or  enclosure  of 
some  building  devoted  to  learning  and  (as  the  next  line  shows) 
to  religious  services.  '  Cloister '  is  a  covered  arcade  forming 
part  of  a  church  or  college  :  Milton  may  have  been  thinking  of 
his  life  at  Cambridge,  though  the  details  of  the  description  do 
not  apply  to  any  particular  building.  The  radical  sense  of  the 
word  is  a  closed-in  place  (Lat.  clausus,  shut). 

'  Pale '  is  a  noun  =  enclosure  ;  etymologically,  a  place  shut  in 
by  pales  or  wooden  stakes  ;  hence  our  words  jialing,  impale,  and 
palisade.  We  still  speak  of  the  pale  of  the  Church,  the  English 
pale  in  Ireland,  the  pale  of  a  subject,  etc. 

157.  love  the  high-emfoowed  roof.     The  poet  here  passes  from 
the  cloister  to  the  inside  of  some  church  :  (it  may  be  the  college- 
chapel  that  is  in  Milton's  thoughts,  or  even  St.  Paul's  Cathedral 
or    Westminster    Abbey).      '  High-embowed,'    i.e.    arched    or 
vaulted,  as  in  the  Gothic  style  of  architecture,  which  Milton, 
with  all  his  Puritanism,  never  ceased  to  love.     "Observe  that 
only  at  this  point  of  the  poem  is  Penseroso  in  contact  with  his 
fellow-creatures.     Throughout  the  rest  he  is  solitary  "  (Masson). 

The  grammatical  construction  is  peculiar :  we  cannot  say, 
'  let  my  due  feet  never  fail  to  love ' ;  it  is  better  therefore  to 
read,  'let  (me)  love,' etc.,  me  being  implied  in  'my  feet.'  See 
note  on  L'A/leg.  122. 

158.  antique :  see  UAtteg.  128,  note. 

massy  proof :  proof  against  the  great  weight  of  the  stone 
roof,  because  they  are  massive.  Shakespeare  and  Milton  use 
'  proof '  in  the  sense  of  '  strong,'  and  '  massy  '  is  an  older  form  of 
the  adjective  than  '  massive,'  occurring  in  Spenser  and  Shake 
speare  as  well  as  here.  Similar  examples  are  'adamantean 
proof '  applied  to  a  coat  of  mail,  not  because  it  is  proof  against 
adamant,  but  because,  being  made  of  adamant,  it  is  proof  against 
assailants  (Sams.  Agon.  134);  also  virtue-proof  =  strong  against 
temptation,  because  virtuous  (Par.  Lost,  v.  384).  The  introduc 
tion  of  a  hyphen  (' massy -proof '),  which  does  not  occur  in  the 
first  and  second  editions,  has  caused  some  editors  to  interpret 
the  words  as  '  proof  against  the  mass  they  bear ' :  in  those  cases, 
however,  in  which  that  against  which  the  object  is  proof  is  men 
tioned,  the  first  part  of  the  compound  is  a  noun,  e.g.  star-proof, 
shame-proof,  sunbeam-proof  (Arc.  88).  The  first  interpretation 
is  therefore  more  probably  correct. 

159.  storied  windows,  windows  of  stained  glass  with  stories 
from  Scripture   history  represented   on  them.      '  Story '  is  an 


NOTES.  97 

abbreviated  form  of  '  history,'  the  latter  being  directly  from 
Lat.  historia,  the  other  through  the  French.  It  has  no  connec 
tion  with  'story'  (=part  of  a  house),  which  means  something 
built  (comp.  store). 

159.  dight :  see  IS  Alley.  62,  note. 

160.  religious  light,  such  a  light  as  is  suited  to  a  place  of 
worship,  and  tending  to  prevent  one's  thoughts  from  being  dis 
tracted.     'Religious,'  like  'studious'  (line  156),  is  a  transferred 
epithet. 

161.  pealing  organ,  loud-sounding  organ.     Milton  has  several 
references  to  the  organ  (comp.   Par.    Lost,  i.  708,  xi.  560) — an 
instrument  upon  which  he  could  himself  play.     '  Blow, '  used  in 
a  semi-passive  sense,  and  applied  to  wind-instruments  (such  as 
the  organ).     Line   163  depends  on   'blow,'  giving  the  circum 
stances  of  the  action. 

1 62.  quire,  band  of  singers  or  choristers.     '  Quire '  is  another 
spelling  of  '  choir '  (Lat.  chorus,  a  band  of  singers,  Greek  choros, 
a  band  of  singers  and  dancers).     A  '  choir '  is  now  a  body  of  trained 
singers  who  lead  the  voices  of  a  congregation  :  the  name  is  also 
applied  to  the  part  of  the  church  in  which  they  are  seated.     The 
'  quire  below '  here  means  '  the  choir  below  the  organ-gallery. ' 
'Quire,'  denoting  a  collection  of  sheets  of  paper,  is  an  entirely 
different  word,  being  cognate  with  the  French  cahier,  a  small 
book  (or,  more  probably,  with  the  Lat.  quatuor,  four).    See  note, 
Epitaph  on  M.  of  W.  17. 

163.  anthems,    sacred  music.     'Anthem'  is  a  contraction  of 
the  A.S.  antefn,   which  is  corrupted  from  the  Lat.   antipkona 
(Greek  anti,   in   return,  and  ph6ne,  the  voice) ;   it  is  therefore 
radically  the  same  as  the  English  word  antiphon,  which  denotes 
music  sung  by  choristers  alternately,  one  half  of  the  choir  re 
sponding  to  the  other. 

clear,  may  mean  'clearly  sung,'  or  (as  in  Lye.  70)  'pure' 
or  'noble.' 

164.  As,  relative  pronoun,  the  antecedent '  such '  being  omitted, 
as  is  usual  in  Chaucer  and  other  old  writers. 

165.  166.  Dissolve  me  into  ecstasies.      The  meaning  of  these 
beautiful  lines  cannot  be  adequately  expressed  in  prose.     The 
poet  desires  to  hear  music  that  will  so  melt  his  soul,  so  carry 
him  out  of  himself,  that  he  may  almost  learn  the  secrets  of  divine 
things.     With  'dissolve'  comp.  'melting  voice'  (L'Alhg.  142), 
and  with  '  ecstasies  '  comp.  '  rapt  soul '  (line  40,  note). 

'  Ecstasy '  is  the  Greek  ekstasis,  standing  or  being  taken  out  of 
one's  self,  as  in  a  trance.  It  came  afterwards  to  denote  madness, 
as  we  say  of  madmen  that  they  are  '  beside  themselves  ';  but  its 
present  meaning  is  enthusiasm  or  very  strong  feeling. 

G 


98  IL  PENSEROSO. 

168.  peaceful  hermitage.     This  is  a  fitting  conclusion  to  the 
life  of  II  Penseroso,  thus  alluded  to  by  Scott  (Marmion,  ii. ) — 

"Here  have  I  thought  'twere  sweet  to  dwell, 
And  rear  again  the  chaplain's  cell, 
Like  that  same  peace/id  hermitage, 
Where  Milton  long'd  to  spend  his  age." 

In  old  romances  there  is  constant  mention  of  hermits,  men  who 
had  retired  from  society  and  were  supposed  to  devote  their  lives 
to  philosophic  thought  or  religious  contemplation.  Burton,  in 
Anat.  of  Mel. ,  says:  "Voluntary  solitariness  is  that  which  is 
familiar  with  melancholy."  'Hermitage':  in  this  word  the 
suffix  -age  denotes  place,  as  in  '  parsonage ' ;  '  her-mit,'  formerly 
written  *  eremite,'  is  derived,  through  French  and  Latin,  from 
Greek  eremos,  solitary,  desert. 

In  line  167  we  have  an  example  of  the  jussive  subjunctive,  i.e. 
the  subjunctive  expressing  a  wish  or  desire,  'And  may  ...  find,' 
etc. :  this  corresponds  to  a  Latin  subjunctive  introduced  by  quod 
or  quod  utiiiam. 

169.  hairy  gown,  garment  of  coarse  shaggy  cloth.      In  the 
English  Bible  we  read  of  raiment  of  camel's  hair  worn  by  Elijah 
and  John  the  Baptist.     '  Gown '  and  '  cell '  are  objects  of  the  verb 
'find.' 

170.  spell,  read  slowly  and  thoughtfully.    We  talk  of  '  spelling 
out'  the  meaning  of  a  difficult  passage,  as  a  child  names  the 
letters  of  a  word,  giving  each  its  proper  power.     In  the  same 
way  the  poet  would  learn  the  nature  and  powers  of  the  stars  and 
herbs   (comp.   Son.   xvii.   6) :    A.S.   spel,   a  story,  as  in  gospel. 
Milton  refers  to  this  knowledge  of  the  virtues  of  herbs  in  Com. 
620-640,  and  Epit.  Damon.  150-154. 

171.  Of,  concerning.     In  this  line  '  shew  '  rhymes  with  '  dew ' : 
this  points  to  the  fact  that,  though  the  pronunciation  show  was 
familiar,  it  was  not  universal ;  the  Avord  is  to  be  pronounced  here 
like  shoe:  comp.  Son.  ii.,  where  'sheweth  '  rhymes  with  'youth.' 

173.  There  may  be  a  reference  here  to  the  old  astrologers  who 
claimed  the  power  of  predicting  events  from  the  study  of  the 
stars,  but  such  a  power  was  not  the  ambition  of  Milton :    he 
rather  means  that  wise  experience  of  the  aged,  which  enables 
them,  through  their  knowledge  of  the  past,  to  judge  the  probable 
results  of  different  lines  of  action. 

do  attain  :  subjunctive  after  'till' :  comp.  1.  44. 

174.  strain,  utterance  :  we  speak  of  a  cheerful  or  a  sad  strain 
of  speech  or  music,  probably  with  a  metaphorical  allusion  to  the 
notes  of  a  stringed  instrument :   '  strain '  is  literally  something 
stretched. 


NOTES.  99 

175.  These  pleasures,  etc.  :  comp.  note  on  UAlleg.  151.  It 
will  be  noticed  that  the  conditional  nature  of  Milton's  acceptance 
of  Melancholy  is  not  so  distinctly  expressed  as  that  of  Mirth. 


ARCADES. 

The  sub-title  of  this  piece  fully  explains  the  occasion  of  its 
production.  Arcades,  or  ''The  Arcadians,"  was  a  masque  of 
which  only  the  words  contributed  by  Milton  have  come  down  to 
us.  It  was  probably  written  in  1633,  the  year  before  the  pro 
duction  of  Comus,  which  was  composed  for  another  member  of 
the  same  family. 

The  lady  before  whom  Arcades  was  'presented,'  i.e.  repre 
sented,  was  Alice  Spencer,  Countess-Dowager  of  Derby,  then 
over  seventy  years  of  age.  She  is  the  '  rural  queen '  of  the 
entertainment.  She  had  been  married,  when  young,  to  Lord 
Strange,  afterwards  fifth  Earl  of  Derby.  It  was  to  her  that  the 
poet  Spenser  dedicated  his  Tears  of  the  Muses  in  1591,  and  after 
her  husband's  death  in  1594  he  referred  to  her  as  Amaryllis  in 
Colin  Clout's  come  Home  again  (1595).  She  was  now  Countess- 
Dowager  of  Derby,  a  title  she  retained  until  her  death.  In  1600 
she  married  Sir  Thomas  Egerton,  who  was  afterwards  Lord 
Chancellor  and  Viscount  Brackley.  Next  year  she  and  her  hus 
band  purchased  the  estate  of  Harefield  in  Middlesex,  and  here 
they  mainly  resided.  Viscount  Brackley  died  in  1616-17,  and 
his  widow  survived  him  for  twenty  years.  She  was  often  visited 
by  her  grandchildren,  and  on  some  occasion  when  they  wished  to 
entertain  her  with  a  masque — then  a  fashionable  form  of  enter 
tainment — they  applied  to  Henry  Lawes,  one  of  the  King's  private 
musicians,  to  manage  it  for  them.  He  applied  to  his  friend 
Milton  for  the  words,  and  these  we  now  have  in  the  form  of  three 
short  songs  and  eighty-three  lines  of  blank  verse.  This  was 
Milton's  first  attempt  at  masque-writing. 

1.  Look,  nymphs  and  shepherds.  The  scene  opens  with  a  group 
of  young  men  and  women  moving  towards  the  seat  occupied  by 
the  Countess-Dowager  of  Derby.  As  they  advance  one  of  the 
company  addresses  his  companions  in  song. 

3.  from  hence:  see  note,  L'Atteg.  1.  'Hence'  means  'from 
this  place,'  so  that  in  the  phrase  'from  hence  '  the  force  of  the 
preposition  is  twice  introduced.  Such  idioms  arise  from  forget- 
fulness  of  the  origin  of  words. 

descry,  make  out,  discover  by  the  eye.  '  Descry '  is  radically 
the  same  as  '  describe ' :  both  are  from  Lat.  describere,  to  write 
fully,  to  trace  out ;  the  one  directly,  the  other  through  French. 
Comp.  such  pairs  of  words  as  secure  and  sure ;  fact  and  feat ; 


100  ARCADES. 

pauper  and  poor;   tradition  and   treason;  potent  and  puissant 
(I.  60). 

4.  Too  divine  to  be  mistook.    Comp.  Jonson's  Alchemist,  iv.  1 — 

"  A  certain  touch  or  air, 
That  sparkles  a  divinity,  beyond 
An  earthly  beauty." 

'  Mistook ' :  a  form  of  the  past  tense  used  as  a  past  participle  : 
comp.  1.  47,  and  see  note,  On  Shakespeare,  12. 

5.  This,  this  is  she.     Comp.  the  Fairies'  song  in  The  Satyr,  in 
reference  to  the  queen  of  James  I. — 

"  This  is  she,  this  is  she 

In  whose  world  of  grace 

Every  season,  person,  place, 

That  receive  her  happy  be. " 

The  whole  of  the  first  song  in  Arcades  shows  that  Milton  must 
have  read  some  of  Jonson's  masques  with  care. 

6.  vows,  desires  :  comp.  Lye.  159.     The  Latin  votum  means  (1) 
a  solemn  promise,  (2)  a  wish  or  desire.     See  note,  Son.  ix.  8. 

bend,  are  directed. 

7.  solemn,  devout.     The  word  is  from  Lat.  sollus,  complete ; 
and  annus,  a  year ;  hence  its  primary  sense  is  '  recurring  at  the 
end  of  a  completed  year.'     Hence  it  came  to  mean  'usual,'  and 
(as  religious  festivals  recur  at  stated  periods)  *  religious ' ;  finally, 
it  was  applied  to  anything  that  was  not  to  be  lightly  or  hastily 
undertaken,  i.e.  serious  or  grave. 

8.  Fame  :  object  of  the  verb  'may  accuse.' 

to  raise  :  an  infinitive  of  purpose.  See  Lye.  70,  where  Fame 
is  used  with  the  verb  raise,  as  here. 

9.  erst,  formerly,  at  first.      This  is  the  superlative   of  Old 
English  er  (ere) :  see  note,  L'Alleg.  107. 

lavish  and  profuse.  These  words  have  radically  the  same 
sense  :  '  lavish  '  is  from  an  obsolete  verb  '  lave,'  to  pour  out ;  and 
'  profuse '  is  from  Lat.  profundere,  to  pour  out. 

12.  Less  than  half.     Comp.  the  words  of  the  Queen  of  Sheba 
regarding  Solomon  :  "  Behold  the  one  half  of  the  greatness  of  thy 
wisdom  was  not  told  me,"  2  Chron.  ix.  5. 

13.  Envy  bid  conceal  the  rest,  i.e.  Envy  commanded  the  rest  to 
be  concealed.     Comp.  Thomson's  Seasons — 

"  Base  envy  withers  at  another's  joy, 
And  hates  that  excellence  it  cannot  reach." 

'  Bid  '  is  the  past  tense,  a  form  which  has  arisen  out  of  the  past 
participle  '  bidden ' :  the  past  in  ordinary  use  is  '  bade. '  This  is 
one  of  those  verbs  after  which  the  simple  infinitive  (without  to)  is 


NOTES.  101 

used  :  comp.  Son.  viii.  10,  xiv.  13.  Such  omission  of  to  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.  speken,  to  speak  ;  he  can  speken).  The 
infinitive,  being  used  as  a  noun,  had  a  dative  form  called  the 
gerund  which  was  preceded  by  to ;  and  confusion  between  this 
gerundial  infinitive  and  the  simple  infinitive  led  to  the  general 
use  of  to. 

14.  radiant,  sending  forth  rays  or  beams  of  light.     Radius  and" 
ray  are  radically  the  same  word. 

state:  comp.  1.  81.  "In  the  phraseology  of  this  stanza 
there  is  perhaps  a  reference  to  the  actual  surroundings  of  the 
Countess  in  the  masque — devices  of  bright  light,  silver  rays 
seeming  to  shoot  from  her  throne  "  (Masson).  If  so,  '  state '  may 
here  mean  the  canopy  over  the  throne,  or  its  adornments.  Comp. 
Jorison's  Hymenaei,  where  Juno  is  represented  as  seated  on  a 
throne — 

"  And  see  where  Juno  .   .  . 

Displays  her  glittering  state  and  chair, 

As  she  enlightened  all  the  air  !  " 

20.  Might  she,  etc,  she  might  well  be. 

the  wise  Latona.  Latona  was  the  wife  of  Jupiter  before 
Juno,  and  mother  of  Apollo  and  Diana  (see  Son.  xii.).  She  was 
generally  worshipped  as  a  goddess  in  conjunction  with  her 
children,  and  this  may  explain  why  Milton  introduces  her  name 
here. 

21.  towered  Cybele.     Cybele  is  here  referred  to  as  the  mother 
of  the  gods  in  order  to  compliment  the  Countess  on  her  distin 
guished  family.     In  works  of  art  she  is  usually  represented  as 
seated  on  a  throne,  adorned  with  a  mural  crown  to  signify  that 
she  first  taught  men  the  art  of  fortifying  cities  :  hence  the  epithet 
'  towered. '     In  Elet/if  v.  Milton  speaks  of  her  as  the  goddess  of 
fertility  and  crowned  with  a  tower  of  pines.     Ovid  calls  her  tur- 
rita  mater,  and  Spenser  writes — 

"  Old  Cybele,  arrayed  with  pompous  pride, 
Wearing  a  diadem  embattled  wide 
With  hundred  turrets,  like  a  turban. "     F.  Q.  iv. 

She  was  the  wife  of  Saturn  and  mother  of  Jupiter,  Juno,  Nep 
tune,  Pluto,  Vesta  and  Ceres. 

23.  Juno  dares  ...  odds,  i.e.  Juno,  in  a  contest  of  beauty,  would 
not  venture  to  compete  with  her  on  equal  terms.     This  implies 
another  compliment  to  the  Countess. 

24.  Who  had  thought :    who  would  have  thought  (that)  etc. 
Comp. — 


102 


ARCADES. 


( '  0  had  his  powerful  destiny  ordained 
Me  some  inferior  angel,  I  had  stood 
Then  happy  :  "  (i.e.  I  would  have  stood). 

24.  clime,  region  :  see  note,  Son.  viii.  8. 

25.  so  unparalleled.     Strictly,  unparalleled  cannot  have  its 
meaning  modified  by  an  adverb  of  degree  :  it  is  here  used,  how 
ever,  merely  to  denote  a  high  degree  of  excellence  or  beauty. 
Comp.  chiefest,  II  Pens.  51,  note. 

The  student  should  note  the  art  with  which  the  arrangement  of 
rhymes  is  varied  in  the  different  stanzas  of  this  song.  Certain  of 
the  rhymes  are  imperfect,  and  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  Milton 
in  his  poetry  used  imperfect  rhymes  freely  :  see  lines  2,  3,  9,  10, 
30,  38,  42,  62,  68.  Allowance  must,  however,  be  made  for 
doubtful  pronunciation. 

26.  The  Genius  of  the  Wood  now  speaks.     The  introduction  of 
a   genius   or   guardian  spirit  is  a  common   device   in   Jonson's 
masques  :    this  form  of  composition  depends  more  largely  upon 
supernatural  agency  than  the  ordinary  drama.     When  Arcade* 
was  first  performed  Henry  Lawes  probably  acted  the  part  of  the 
€enius  (see  Son.  xiii.) :  he  first  addresses  the  gentlemen,  then  the 
ladies  of  the  masque  (1.  32). 

gentle,  well-born,  noble.  This  is  the  original  sense  of  the 
word  :  in  Scott  we  find  the  word  '  gentle  '  used  to  denote  persons 
of  rank,  a  usage  still  common  in  Scotland.  The  genius  here  ex 
plains  why  he  called  the  performers  '  gentle  ' :  "  I  call  you  gentle 
because,  in  spite  of  your  disguise,  I  see,"  etc.  Comp.  Par.  Lost, 
ii.  11. 

27.  I  see  bright  honour,  etc.     Comp. 

"  Yet  well  I  know  you  come  of  royal  race, 
I  see  such  sparks  of  honour  in  your  face." 

Hist,  of  King  Leir. 

The  object   of   '  see '   is  complex,    consisting    of  a  substantive 
('  honour ')  and  an  infinitive  ('  sparkle  '). 

28.  Arcady,  Arcadia.     For  the  form  of  the  word  comp.  Araby 
for  Arabia,  Italy  for  Italia,  family  for  familia,    etc.,  in  all  of 
which  y  represents  Lat.  ia. 

Arcadia  was  a  country  in  Peloponnesus  (peninsular  Greece)  of 
which  the  inhabitants  were  chiefly  engaged  in  pastoral  pursuits  ; 
they  were  simple  in  their  manners,  and  retained  their  primitive 
habits  long  after  the  rest  of  Greece.  Hence  writers  of  pastoral 
poetry  often  laid  the  scene  of  their  poems  in  Arcadia,  and  the 
characters  in  pastoral  dramas  were  represented  as  Arcadians  (Lat. 
Arcades),  and  described  as  '  swains  '  or  '  shepherds.'  Sir  Philip 
Sidney  wrote  a  pastoral  romance  called  Arcadia  (1590).  The 
phrase  '  Arcadian  simplicity  '  has  passed  into  a  proverb. 


NOTES.  103 

- 

29.  flood ;  often  used  in  poetry  for  '  river.' 

sung,    celebrated    in    poetry,    e.g.   by  Virgil.      See    also 
Shelley's  Arethusa  for  a  subsequent  reference  to  this  'flood.' 

30.  Alpheus,  pronounced  Al-phe-us.     A  river-god  who  pursued 
the  nymph  Arethusa ;  she  was  changed  by  Diana  into  the  fountain 
of  Arethusa  in  the  island  of  Ortygia  at  Syracuse,  but  the  god 
continued  to  pursue  her  under  the  sea,  and  attempted  to  mingle 
his  stream  with  the  Ortygian  fountain.     This  story  arises  from 
the  fact  that  the  Alpheus,  a  river  which  rises  in  Arcadia,  flows 
for  some  distance  underground  before  falling  into  the  Ionian  Sea. 
The  Arcadians  believed  that  an  object  thrown  into  the  Alpheus 
would  reappear  in  the  fountain  of  Arethusa.     See  Lye.  85,  132. 

sluice,  passage,  flood-gate.     A   'sluice'  is  literally  some 
thing  that  excludes  (Lat.  excludere,  to  shut  off). 

31.  Stole.     From  this  verb  comes  '  stealth  '  :  see  Com.  503. 
Arethuse  :  see  note,  1.  30  above. 

32.  breathing  roses  :  here  applied  to  the  lady  performers,  so 
that  '  breathing  '  may  mean  simply  '  animated. '     But  Milton  so 
often  uses  the  word  '  breathe  '  in  cases  where  fragrance  or  sweet 
ness  is  signified,  that  it  m^y  here  be  interpreted  in  this  sense. 

33.  silver-buskined.     Diana  and  her  wood-nymphs  wore  light 
boots  reaching  to  the  calf  of  the  leg  :  such  boots  were  therefore 
different   from    the    buskins    worn    by    tragic    actors ;    see    II 
Pens.  102. 

as  great  and  good,  i.e.  as  the  swains  addressed  previously, 
1.  26. 

34.  intent,  purpose,  that  towards  which  the  mind  is  stretched 
(Lat.  intendere,  to  stretch  out).     See  note,  Son.  xiia.  9.     For  the 
use  of  'free  '  comp.  note,  L'Alleg.  11. 

35.  Was  ...  meant.     The  subject  of  this  verb  consists  of  two 
nouns,  quest  and  intent,  which  together  express  one  idea :   the 
verb  is  therefore  singular.     Comp.  Lye.  7. 

all,  entirely  :  an  adverb  of  degree  modifying  '  meant. ' 

36.  yon,  that  in  the  distance.     In  the  oldest  English  yond  was 
a    preposition =beyond,    or    an    adverb  =  yonder.      In   II   Pens. 
52  yon  is  an  adverb,  here  it  is  an  adjective.     Shakespeare  uses 
yond  as  an  adverb  and  an  adjective. 

shrine,  place  sacred  to  a  divinity. 

37.  low  reverence,  humble  reverence. 

38.  comply,   aid.     It  is  radically  the  same  as  complete  ;  '  to 
comply  'is  'to  complete '  or  fulfil.     It  has  no  connection  with 
pill  or  pliant,  as  is  often  supposed. 

39.  glad  solemnity.     This  looks  like  a  verbal  contradiction, 


104  ARCADES. 

» 

but  see  note  on  1.  7  :  a  solemnity  is  merely  a  serious  or  important 
duty  or  function.     Thus  we  speak  of  solemnising  a  marriage. 

40.  lead  ye,  i.e.  (I  will)  lead  you.     In  this  line  ye  occurs  twice, 
once  as  nominative,  once  as  object.     In  line  101  it  is  used  as  a 
dative  (=  to  you).      "  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  distinc 
tion  is  very  carefully  observed,   but  in  the  dramatists  of  the 
Elizabethan  period  there  is  a  very  loose  use  of  the  t\vo  forms  " 
(Morris)  :  it  is  the  same  in  Milton.     It  is  to  be  noticed  that  ye 
can  be  pronounced  more  rapidly  than  you,  and  is  therefore  gen 
erally  used  when  an  unaccented  syllable  is  wanted  (as  in  the 
above  passage) :  see  1.  81. 

41.  This   line  is  the  grammatical  object  of  the  verb  'may 
behold.' 

shallow-searching :  comp.  1.  12  and  Lijc.  70.  Nothing 
distinguishes  Milton  from  other  writers  so  much  as  the  force  of 
his  epithets ;  the  liberty  with  which  he  forms  compounds, 
whether  hybrid  or  not,  is  also  remarkable.  See  II  Pens.  66, 
note. 

42.  Which  :  the  antecedent  is  expres§ed  by  1.  41. 

full  oft:  'full,'  an  adverb  of  degree,  modifying  'oft.' 
'Alone'  is  an  adjective  qualifying  'I.' 

43.  sat :  the  past  tense  of  sit  takes  either  of  the  forms  sat  and 
sate  ;  the  former  is  more  common. 

44.  by  lot  from  Jove,  i.  e.  by  Jupiter's  tillotment. 

the  Power,  i.e.  the  guardian  spirit,  genius  loci.  Each  spot, 
according  to  Roman  mythology,  had  a  spirit  of  its  own,  and  Varro 
says  that  in  Latium  there  were  as  many  gods  as  trees. 

45.  oaken  bower :  see  note,  Lye.  33,  on  oaten. 

46.  curl  the  grove  :  applied  to  the  foliage  of  the  trees,  as  in  the 
following  passage  from  Sylvester's  Du  Bartas — 

"  When  through  their  green  boughs  whistling  winds  do  whirl, 

With  wanton  puffs,  their  waving  locks  to  curl." 
The  expression  is  a  common  one  in  the  poetry  of  the  time  (see 
Todd). 

47.  With  ringlets,  etc.      Observe  the  alliteration  of  this  line  : 
five  words  in  it  contain  the  w  sound.     '  Wove '  =  woven  ;  '  inter 
twined  with  quaint  ringlets  and  wanton  windings.'     There  are 
two  forms  of  the  participle,  wove  and  woven;   comp.  trod  and 
trodden  (U Alley.  131). 

quaint,  neat,  exact.  In  modern  English  it  means  '  odd ' 
or  old-fashioned.  The  word  is  from  Lat.  coijnitus,  '  known '  or 
remarkable ;  and  Chaucer  uses  it  in  the  sense  of  '  famous. '  In 


NOTES.  105 

French  it  became  coint,  which  was  treated  as  if  from  Lat. 
cotnptus,  neat,  ingenious.  This  explains  how  the  word  obtained 
the  meaning  Milton  gives  it.  Its  present  meaning  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  what  is  in  one  age  designed  with  too  great  attention  to 
art  is  liable,  in  a  later  age,  to  seem  whimsical  and  odd.  See  note 
on  uncouth,  UAlleg.  5. 

48.  nightly,  nocturnal,  pertaining  to  night :  comp.  II  Pens.  83. 
Nightly  is  here  an  adjective,  though  its  force  is  that  of  an  adverb 
=  at  night :  comp.  Wordsworth — 

"  The  nightly  hunter  lifting  up  his  eyes  " 

=  The  hunter  lifting  up  his  eyes  at  night.  The  usual  sense  of 
the  word  is  '  from  night  to  night. '  The  two  uses  are  due  to  the 
fact  that  ID  is  both  an  adjectival  and  an  adverbial  suffix. 

49.  noisome,  injurious.      The  word   is  noi-some,  which  is  a 
contraction  of  annoy-some :  '  some '  is  the  adjectival  suffix.     The 
word  has  therefore  no  connection  with  noise  or  noxious. 

blasting1  vapours  chill :  comp.  Com.  269,  845,  where  the 
Genius  performs  similar  duties.  Burton,  in  Anat.  of  Mel.,  speaks 
of  spirits  that  "hurt  and  infect  men  and  beasts,  vines,  corn, 
cattle,  plants,"  etc. 

50.  brush  off  the  evil  dew  :  comp.  Tempest,  i.  4 — 

"  As  wicked  dew  as  e'er  my  mother  brushed, 
With  raven's  feather,  from  unwholesome  fen." 

51.  Another  alliterative  line,  showing  the  same  arrangement 
of  adjectives  as  line  49  :  see  note,  UAlleg.  40. 

thwarting  thunder.  '  Thunder '  is  here  used  for  '  light 
ning,'  Lat.  fidmen  ;  this  explains  the  epithets  'blue'  and  'thwart 
ing  '  (shooting  obliquely  through  the  sky).  Thwart  was  originally 
an  adverb ;  then  it  was  used  as  an  adjective,  and  finally  as  a  verb 
(to  cross),  as  in  the  phrase  "  As  a  shooting  star  in  autumn 
thwarts  the  night "  (Par.  Lost,  iv.  557).  It  is  now  used  also  as  a 
noun  to  denote  the  seats  for  rowers  placed  athicart  a  boat. 

52.  cross,  adverse,  unfavourable  :  see  L'Alleg.  122,  note, 
dire-looking    planet    strikes.       '  Dire-looking '  =  of    evil 

aspect ;  comp.  Lye.  138.  The  planet  referred  to  is  Saturn,  which 
in  astrology  and  chiromancy  was  an  unlucky  star.  For  the  use 
of  '  strike '  comp.  Hamlet — 

"  The  nights  are  wholesome  ;  then  no  planets  strike, 
No  fairy  takes,  nor  witch  hath  power  to  harm." 

53.  worm  . . .  venom,  the  canker-worm.     '  Canker  '  is  radically 
the  same  as  cancer,  an  eating  or  spreading  sore  :  comp.  '  taint- 
worm,'  Lye.  46. 

54.  fetch  my  round,  go  my  round.     The  verb  has  this  sense  as 
it  is  cognate  with  foot :  compare  "From  thence  fetching  a  com- 


106  ARCADES. 

pass  (i.e.  making  a  detour)  we  came  to  Rhegium,"  Acts,  xxviii. 
13. 

56.  early:  an  adverb  modifying  'haste,'  1.  58. 
ere,  see  note,  U Alley.  107. 

odorous  breath  of  morn,  fragrant  morning  breezes.     Com 
pare  Gray's  Elegy :  "the  breezy  call  of  incense-breathing  morn." 

57.  tasselled  horn,  i.  e.  huntsman's  horn  which  had  tassels  hung 
to  it :  comp.  L'Alleg.  53-56. 

58.  high  thicket,  i.e.  thicket  on  the  hill-side. 

all  about :  all  modifies  about,  which  again  modifies  haste. 

59.  ranks,  rows  of  trees  and  plants. 

60.  puissant,  potent;  powerful  (in  preventing  the  effects  of  the 
'evil  dew,'  etc.).     See  note  on  'descry,'  line  3,  for  explanation 
of  the  relation  between  potent  and  puissant.      Comp.   The  Al 
chemist,  iv.  1  — 

"  I  will  be  puissant,  and  mighty  in  my  talk  to  her." 
murmurs  made  to  bless,  in  opposition  to  the  incantations 
or  spells  of  evil  spirits  which  were  either  sung  or  murmured  over 
the  doomed  object :  comp.  Comus  525  : 

"  By  sly  enticement  gives  his  baneful  cup, 
With  many  murmurs  mixed. " 

61.  But  else,  i.e.  when  not  thus  employed. 

deep  of  night :  comp.  the  phrase  '  dead  of  night. ' 

62.  mortal  sense,  i.e.  the  senses  of  human  beings.     The  mean 
ing  is,  '  When  all  human  beings  are  asleep,  I  listen,'  etc.     See 
Lye.  78,  note. 

63.  calestial  Sirens'  harmony,  etc.     In  these  lines  Milton  refers 
(1)  to  the  Pythagorean  doctrine  of  the  music  of  the  spheres;  (2) 
to  that  system  of  astronomy  developed  by  Eudoxus,  Plato,  Aris 
totle,  Hipparchus,  Ptolemy,  and  others,  which  is  usually  called 
the  Ptolemaic  system;  and  (3)  to  Plato's  theory  of  the  relation  of 
the  Fates  or  ' '  (laughters  of  Necessity  "  to  that  system. 

(1)  Pythagoras  (B.C.  580),  having  remarked  that  the  pitch  of 
notes  depends  on  the  rate  of  vibration,  and  also  that  the  planets 
move  with  different  velocities,  was  led  to  extend  the  same  re 
lation  to  the  planets  and  to  suppose  that  they  emit  sounds  pro 
portional  to  their  respective  distances  from  the  Earth,  thus  form 
ing  a  celestial  concert  too  melodious  to  affect  the  gross  ears  of  man 
kind.     This  is  what  is  meant  by  the  music  or  harmony  of  the 
spheres.     Plato  supposes  this  harmony  to  be  produced  by  Sirens. 

(2)  According  to  the  Ptolemaic  system  of  astronomy  the  Earth 
was  the  centre  of  our  universe,  and  the  apparent  motions  of  the 
other  heavenly  bodies  were  due  to  the  fact  that  they  were  fixed 
in  transparent  spheres  enclosing  the  central  Earth  at  different 


NOTES. 


107 


distances.  Plato  recognised  only  eight  of  such  spheres,  the 
outermost  being  that  of  the  Fixed  Stars.  Later,  two  more 
spheres  were  added — the  crystalline  sphere  outside  of  that  of  the 
fixed  stars,  and,  beyond  all,  the  Tenth  Sphere,  called  the  Primum 
Mobile  or  'first  moved,'  which  contained  all  the  others.  In  the 
above  passage  Milton  speaks  of  the  music  of  the  spheres  as  being 
produced  by  the  nine  Muses  that  sit  upon  the  nine  inner  spheres. 
(3)  Milton  seems  to  have  had  in  view  a  passage  in  Plato's 
Republic  (bk.  x.).  Fate  or  Necessity  has  on  her  knees  a  spindle 
of  adamant,  and  the  turning  of  this  spindle  directs  the  motions 
of  the  heavenly  bodies.  "  The  spindle  turns  on  the  knees  of 
Necessity  ;  and  on  the  upper  surface  of  each  circle  is  a  siren  who 
goes  round  with  it,  hymning  a  single  sound  and  note.  The 
eight  together  form  one  harmony,  and  round  about  at  equal 
intervals  there  is  another  band,  three  in  number,  each  sitting 
upon  her  throne  :  these  are  the  Fates,  daughters  of  Necessity, 
who  are  clothed  in  white  raiment  and  have  crowns  of  wool  upon 
their  heads,  Lachesis  and  Clotho  and  Atropos,  who  accompany 
with  their  voices  the  harmony  of  the  sirens."  In  Hesiod  the 
three  Fates  are  thus  distinguished  :  Clotho  spins  the  thread  of 
human  life  ;  Lachesis  guides  it  and  thus  assigns  his  fate  to  every 
man  ;  and  Atrtfpos  is  the  fate  that  cannot  be  avoided.  The  last 
is  usually  represented  with  some  cutting  instrument. 

65.  vital  shears  :   the  shears  held  by  Atropos,  who  cuts  the 
thread  of  life.     Comp.  Lye.  75,  where  they  are  called  "abhorred 
shears  " :  see  also  Epitaph  on  M.  of  W.  28. 

66.  adamantine  spindle.    '  Adamantine '  is  from  the  Greek,  and 
means  '  that  which  is  unconquerable.'     The  word  '  diamond '  is 
cognate.     Milton  signifies  thus  that  resistance  to  the  course  of 
Fate  is  useless.     '  Spindle,'  the  pin  or  stick  from  which  a  thread 
is  spun. 

68.  sweet  compulsion.     There  is  a  kind  of  verbal  contradiction 
or  oxymoron  in  these  words  which  renders  them  very  striking  : 
comp.  Son.  xxiii.  14 ;  Par.  Lost,  ix.  47  ;  also  1.  39  above. 

69.  daughters  of  Necessity :  see  notes  above,  1.  63. 

70.  unsteady  Nature,    i.e.    Nature  that  would   otherwise   be 
unsteady  or  not  subject  to  law.      '  Unsteady '  does  not  occur  else 
where  in  Milton's  poems. 

71.  low  world,  the  mundane  or  terrestrial  world  ;  in  Comus  it 
is  "  this  dim  spot  which  men  call  Earth."     It  may  be  noted  here 
that  '  mundane '  means  literally  '  ordered  '  or  subject  to  law. 

measured  motion  :  comp.  Jonson : — • 
"  Nature  is  Motion's  mother,  as  she's  yours. 

The  spring  ivhence  order  flows,  that  all  directs, 

And  knits  the  causes  with  the  effects." 

Mercury  Vindicated. 


108  ARCADES. 


72.  After  the  heavenly  tune,  i.e.  in  accordance  with  the  m 
of  the  spheres. 

which  none  can  hear  :  the  construction  is,  '  which  none  of 
human  mould  can  hear.'  This  is  an  idea  which  occurs  repeatedly 
in  Milton's  prose  and  poetry — that  the  music  of  the  spheres  might 
possibly  be  audible  to  human  beings  if  they  lived  pure  and 
spiritual  lives.  The  Genius  of  the  wood  could  hear  it  because  he 
was  a  good  spirit. 

73.  mould,  shape  or  form. 

with  gross  unpurged  ear :  comp.  Comus.  458,  997  ;  also 
Mid.  -N.  D.  iii.  1— 

"  And  I  will  purge  thy  Crossness  so,     , 

That  thou  wilt  like  an  airy  spirit  go." 

'  Gross '  =  dense  or  coarse  ;    '  unpurged '  =  impure.     See  also 
Mer.  of  Ven.  v.  1. 

74.  blaze :   a  favourite  word  of  Milton's  with  reference  to  a 
person's  fame  or  '  praise ' ;  see  Lye.  74. 

75.  her  immortal  praise  Whose,  i.  e.  the  immortal  praise  of  her 
whose  :  see  note,  L'Alleg.  124. 

76.  for  her  most  fit,  i.e.  (such  music  were)  most  suitable  for  her 
to  hear  :  comp.  bejits,  1.  92. 

77.  hit,  produce.     Contrast  its  sense  in  II  Pens.  14. 

79.  lesser,    inferior :    a   double    comparative.       See    note,    II 
Pens.  51. 

80.  assay,  attempt,  try.     In  this  general  sense  we  now  use 
essay,  which  is  radically  the  same  word.     Assay  is  now  used 
chiefly  of  the  trial  or  testing  of  metals. 

81.  And  so  attend  ye,  i.e.  'and  thus  I  will  escort  you  towards 
her  glittering  seat  of  state.'     See  note  on  1.  40. 

state  :  see  note  on  1.  14. 

82.  all,  that  are  of  noble  stem.    This  does  not  mean,  '  all  of  you 
that  are  of  noble  stem ' :  the  words  may  be  rearranged  thus, 
'  Where   ye,    that   are   all  of   noble  stem,   may  approach, '  etc. 
'  Stem '  =  family  •  by  a  similar  figure  of  speech  we  speak  of  '  the 
branches  of  a  family,'  '  a  family  -tree, '  etc. 

83.  This  line  is  often  referred  to  as  harsh,  owing  to  the  number 
of  sibilants  introduced.     This  is  here  mentioned  in  order  that  the 
student  may  observe  how  few  such  lines  are  in  Milton's  poetry. 

84.  enamelled,  bright.     This  is  the  radical  sense  of  the  word, 
and  that  in  which  Milton  uses  it.     As  enamelling  is  generally 
in  colours  the  word  has  acquired  a  secondary  sense,  '  variegated. ' 
'  Enamel '  is  literally  a  '  molten-like  or  glass-like  coating ' :  it  is 
cognate  with  melt.     See  Lye.  139. 


NOTES.  109 

85.  print  of  step,  foot-print,  Comp.  Com.  897,  'printless 
feet. ' 

87.  warbled  string.  *  Warbled '  may  be  taken  either  in  an 
active  sense  ( =  warbling),  or  in  a  passive  sense  ( =  made  to  warble 
or  trill).  The  participle  would,  in  the  latter  case,  be  used 
proleptically,  denoting  the  result  of  the  action  implied  in  the 
verb  'touch.'  Comp.  Com.  854:  " warbled  song. " 

89.  branching,  wide-spreading;  see  note  on  L 'Alley.  58. 

star-proof,  with  foliage  so  dense  that  no  light  can  pene 
trate.  Comp.  Par.  Lost,  ix.  1086,  "where  highest  woods  im 
penetrable  to  star  or  sunlight,"  etc.  :  also  Shelley's  Cloud, 
"Sunbeam-proof,  I  hang  like  a  roof."  For  Milton's  use  of 
'proof  see  note,  II  Pens.  158.  It  has  been  objected  that  the 
elm  is  not  'star-proof,'  its  foliage  being  far  from  close.  The 
references  to  the  elm  and  the  idea  implied  in  'star-proof  are 
both  so  common  in  Milton  that  he  may,  by  a  poetical  privilege, 
have  brought  the  two  ideas  together  without  recalling  the  actual 
appearance  of  the  tree 

91.  bring  you  where,  i.e.  'bring  you  (to  the  pfoce)  where.' 

93.  deity  :  comp.  lines  4,  25. 

94.  Such  a  rural  Queen,  etc.  :  no  such  queen  has  ever  ruled  in 
Arcadia.     '  Rural '  is  here  used  in  its  strict  sense  =  of  the  country 
(Lat.  rus,  the  country  as  opposed  to  the  town). 

06.  That  part  of  the  entertainment  which  intervened  between 
the  second  song  (sung  by  the  Genius)  and  the  third  song  (sung 
by  the  company)  is  lost  to  us.  The  final  words  of  both  songs  are 
the  same,  as  if  implying  that  the  promise  made  by  the  spirit  had 
been  fulfilled  to  the  satisfaction  of  all. 

97.  sandy  Ladon's  lilied  banks.    Ladon  was  a  river  of  Arcadia, 
and  the  epithet '  sandy  '  has  been  applied  to  it  both  by  Latin  and 
English  writers.     Ovid  speaks  of  the  Ladon  and  the  Tiber  as 
sandy  (arenosiis),  as  Browne  and  Sidney  do  of  the  former. 

'  Lilied,'  overgrown  with  lilies  :  adjectives  in  fd  are  formed 
from  nouns  in  two  ways;  (1)  when  the  noun  (as  here)  has  a 
verbal  signification,  the  participle  being  used  as  an  adjective ; 
(2)  where  there  is  no  verbal  significance,  the  suffix  being  added 
to  the  noun,  e.g.  ragged,  wretched,  left-handed,  etc. 

98.  old  Lycssus :  a  lofty  mountain  in  Arcadia,  and  one  of  the 
chief  seats  of  the  worship  of  Zeus.     Pan,  the  chief  seat  of  whose 
worship  was  in  Arcadia,  had  a  temple  on  this  mountain.     Hence 
both  Pan  and  Zeus  are  surnamed  Lycaeus. 

Cyllene  hoar :  the  highest  mountain  in  Peloponnesus,  on 
the  borders  of  Arcadia  ;  it  was  sacred  to  Mercury.  The  word  is 
here  a  dissyllable  ;  in  Greek  it  is  a  trisyllable. 


110  ARCADES. 

99.  Trip,  dance  :  comp.  UAlleg,  33. 

twilight  ranks.  'Twilight'  is  here  used  as  an  adjective 
(A.S.  twi,  double) :  the  word  strictly  denotes  'double  light,'  but 
it  is  used  rather  in  the  sense  of  '  half  light.'  Comp.  II  Pens. 
133. 

100.  Though  Erymanth.     Erymanthus,  a  tributary  of  the  river 
Alpheus  (see  1.  30) :   the  mountain  in  which  it  rose  was  of  the 
same  name,  but  it  is  so  usual  in  poetry  to  speak  of  streams  as 
weeping  that  we  may  suppose  the  river  to  be  referred  to  here. 

Grammatically  the  line  is  a  concessive  clause,  and  the  verb  is 
in  the  subjunctive  because  it  refers  to  the  future ;  see  '  shall 
give,'  next  line. 

101.  give  ye  thanks  :  the  meaning  is,  '  A  more  fertile  soil  will 
reward  you  for  your  coming,  by  pasturing  your  flocks.'     For  the 
use  of  '  ye '  see  note,  1.  40. 

102.  Msenalus,  a  mountain  of  Arcadia,   so  celebrated  that  in 
Roman  poetry  the  adjective  Maenalis  is  often  used  as  equivalent 
to  Arcadian.     Pan,  whose  favourite  abode  it  was,  is  called  "  the 
Maenalian  god." 

104.  grace.  The  word  may  be  used  here  with  something  of 
the  sense  of  Lat.  gratiam  hnbere,  to  be  grateful:  "it  will  be  a 
more  thankful  task  to  serve  the  queen  of  this  place  than  to 
continue  to  dwell  in  Arcadia." 

106.  Syrinx  :  an  Arcadian  nymph,  who,  being  pursued  by  Pan, 
fled  into  the  river  Ladon,  and  at  her  own  request  was  changed 
into  a  reed,  of  which  Pan  then  made  his  flute  (or  syrinx).  Milton 
implies  that  even  Syrinx  might  serve  this  "rural  Queen, "- 
a  great  compliment  to  the  Countess  of  Derby,  seeing  that 
Jonson  in  The  Satyr  had  likened  Queen  Anne  to  Syrinx,  and 
that  Spenser  had  addressed  Queen  Elizabeth  as  the  daughter  of 
Syrinx.  Jonson's  masque  had  been  "presented"  by  the  father 
of  the  Countess,  so  that  she  may  possibly  have  seen  it. 

Pan's  mistress.  Pan  was  the  god  of  flocks  and  shepherds 
among  the  Greeks :  as  the  god  of  every  thing  connected  with 
pastoral  life  he  was  fond  of  music,  and  the  inventor  of  the 
shepherd's  flute.  He  was  dreaded  by  travellers  to  whom  he 
appeared,  startling  them  with  sudden  terror.  Hence  extreme 
fright  was  ascribed  to  Pan,  and  called  a  Panic  fear ;  this  is 
the  origin  of  the  word  panic. 

'  Mistress, '  a  woman  loved :  formed  from  manter  by  the  suffix 


NOTES. 


LYCIDAS. 

This  poem  was  written  in  November,  1637,  and  appeared  in  a 
volume  of  memorial  verses  published  at  Cambridge  in  1638  as  a 
tribute  to  Mr.  Edward  King.  King,  a  son  of  Sir  John  King, 
Secretary  for  Ireland,  had  been  admitted  to  Christ's  College, 
Cambridge  in  1626,  so  that  he  was  a  fellow-student  of  Milton's. 
He  was  made  a  Fellow  in  1630,  and  seems  to  have  become 
extremely  popular.  He  was  a  young  man  of  'hopeful  parts,' 
and  had  shown  some  skill  in  poetical  composition.  In  1633  he 
took  his  degree  of  M.A.,  and  remained  at  Cambridge  to  study  for 
the  Church,  fin  the  vacation  of  1637  he  sailed  from  Chester  on  a 
visit  to  his  friends  in  Ireland  :  the  ship  was  wrecked  off  the 
Welsh  coast  and  King  went  down  with  it.  His  death  was  much 
lamented  by  his  college  friends  and  they  got  together  a  collection 
of  tributary  verses  to  which  Milton  contributed  Ly 


\bycidas  is  a  pastoral  elegy,  i.e.  thejroet  speaks  as  a  shepherd 
bewailing  the  loss  of  a  fellow-shepherdj  The  subjoined  analysis 
will  guide  the  student  in  reading  it.  We  do  not  look  in  the  poem 
for  the  keen  sense  of  personal  loss  that  we  find  in  Tennyson's  In 
Memoriam  or  in  Milton's  own  Epitaphium  Damonis,  nor  Jfor  the 
sustained  scorn  that  animates  Shelley's  Adonais  ;  but  in  [ts  tender 
regret  for  a  dead  friend,  in  its  sweet  ''touches  of  ulealised 
rural  life,"  in  its  glimpses  of  a  suppressed  passion  that  was  soon 
to  break  forth,  and  in  its  mingling  of  a  truly  religious  spirit  with 


to  the  quite  other  Milton,  who,  after  twenty  years  of  hot  party 
struggle,  returned  to  poetry  in  another  vein,  never  to  theJLwoods 
and  pastures  '  of  which  he  took  a  final  leave  in  Lycidas^JCPsitti- 
son.) 

ANALYSIS. 

I.  The  pastoral  proper  (the  poet  sings  as  shepherd) : 

1.  Occasion  of  the  poem, 

2.  Invocation  of  the  Muses,  -  ...        15-22 

3.  Poet's  personal  relations  with  Lycidas,    -         -       23-36 

4.  Strain   of   sorrow  and   indignation ;    the  loss 

great  and  inexplicable  : — 

(1)  Poet's  own  sense  of  loss,       -  37-49 

(2)  The  guardian  Nymphs  could  not  prevent  it,        50-57 

(3)  The    Muse   herself    could    not   prevent   it, 

though  he  was  her  true  son,    -         -         -       58-63 
[First  rise  to  a  higher  mood :  the  true  poet  and  the 

nature  of  his  reward]     ------       64-84 


112  LYCIDAS. 

(4)  Neptune  was  not  to  blame  for  the  loss,         -     85-102 

(5)  Camus,  representing  Cambridge,  bewails  his 

loss, 103-107 

(6)  St.  Peter,  the  guardian  of  the  Church,  sorely 

misses  Lycidas  as  a  true  son,  -         -         -    108-112 
[Second  rise  to  a  higher  mood:  The  false  sons  of  the 

Church  and  their  coming  ruin,]     ....    113-131 

(7)  All  nature  may  well  mourn  his  loss,     -         -    132-151 

(8)  Sorrow  loses  itself  in  "false  surmise,"  and 

Hope  arises, 152-164 

5.  Strain  of  joy  and  hope  ;  Lycidas  is  not  dead,  -    165-185 
II.  The  Epilogue  (the  poet  reviews  the  shepherd's  song),    186-193 


NOTES. 

Monody :  an  ode  in  which  a  single  mourner  bewails  (Greek 
monos,  single  :  ode,  a  song  or  ode).  Lycidas  is  a  typical  example 
of  the  Elegy,  with  much  of  the  intense  feeling  peculiar  to  the 
less  sustained  Ode  proper  ;  but  its  form  is  that  of  the  Pastoral, 
and  its  varied  metrical  structure  is  totally  unlike  that  of  the 
modern  elegiac  stanza. 

height :  so  spelt  in  both  the  editions  published  in  Milton's  life 
time,  though  his  usual  spelling  is  '  highth. ' 

1 .  Yet  once  more.     These  words  have  reference  to  the  factjihat 
Mjjf.nn  haclwT'ittfin  no  English  verse  f or  thrce^rears^  and^thalTEe 
'did  not  yet  consider  himself  sufficiently  matured  for  the  poet's 
^task.   JThe  words  do  not  imply  that  he  is  once  more  to  write  an 
jelegiac  poem,  as  if  he  were  referring  back  to  his  poems,  On  the 
"^deathoja  Fair  Infant  and  Kpltaph  on  the  Marchioness  of  Winches 
ter  :  he  is  thinking  of  Comus  (written  in  1634). 

laurels,  etc.     L^relsjl_myjttles  juKMyy  are  here  addressed 

associated  with 


/Ehe  time  of  the  Greeks,  who  belieyefl  that  it^olmnunicatedjthe_ 
^poetic  spiritXffi^PJOa^  sacred  to  Apollo.    Comp. 

Son.  xvi.  9. 

2.  myrtles  brown.  '  Rrown '  ja  a  classical  epithet  of  the 
myrtlejin  one  of  his  Odes  Horace  contrasts  the  brown  myrtle 
^itJLJJ*6  glgEg^g n  ivv-  **  was  8acretLto  V-£nusr  and  at.  Greek 
^Banquets  each  singer  held  a  myrtle  bough. 

ivy  never  sere,  evei^reenJvgLj_iiLB^ag^sacred  toBaccliiisT and 
in  Virgil  we  read  of7|lre^urer<^vi(rbory^ being  twmed~with  the 
1yy77  Horace  also  speaks"ot  i\ry^as_bging_iif;!M  t^>  rt.fid£_l!l±J}rj^Wi£_ 
of  .theTearne^.;  in  Cliristia'ir~a'rt  it  is  the  symbol  of  everlasting 
life. 


NOTES.  113 

'  Sere  '  =  dry,  withered  ;  the  same  word  as  sear  (A.S.  Marian, 
to  dry  up),  and  cognate  with  the  verb  '  to  sear,'  i.e.  to  burn  up. 

3.  I  come,  etc.     "I  come  to  make  a  poet's  garland  for  myself," 
i.e.  to  write  a  poem. 

harsh  and  crude,  bitter  and  unripe,  because  plucked  before 
their  due  time  !  this  refers  to  the  poet's  own  unripeness,  not  to 
that  of  Lycidas.  Milton's  '  mellowing  year  '  had  not  yet  come  ; 
his  opinion  was  that  poetry  was  a  "  work  not  to  be  raised  from 
the  heat  of  youth  .  .  but  by  devout  prayer  to  that  eternal 
Spirit  who  can  enrich  with  all  utterance  and  knowledge." 
'Crude'  is  literally  'raw';  hence  'unprepared,'  as  'crude 
salt  '  ;  and  hence  '  undeveloped,'  e.g.  — 

"  Deep  versed  in  books,  and  shallow  in  himself, 
Crude,  or  intoxicate,  collecting  toys." 

Par.  Reg.  iv. 
*  Cruel  '  (Lat.  crudelis)  is  from  the  same  root. 

4.  forced  fingers  rude.     On  the  order  of  the  words  compare 
note  on  L'Alleg.  40.      'Forced  '  =  unwilling,  not  because  the  poet 
vvas  unwilling  to  mourn  his  friend's  loss,  but  unwilling  yet  to 
turn  again  to  poetry.      'Rude  '  :  comp.  II  Pens.  136. 

5.  Shatter  your  leaves.     '  Shatter  '  is  a  doublet  of  scatter,  and 
here  (as  in  Par.  Lost,  x.  1063)  the  former  is  used  where  we  should 
now   use   the   latter.      '  Shatter  '    suggests   the   employment   of 
force,  and  therefore  agrees  with  the  sense  of  the  preceding  line. 

mellowing  year  :  time  of  maturity.  '  Mellow  '  has  here  an 
active  sense,  i.e.  'making  mellow.'  The  word  originally  means 
'  soft  '  like  ripe  fruit,  and  hence  its  present  use  :  it  is  cognate 
with  melt  and  mild.  Warton  objects  to  the  phrase  here  used  as 
inaccurate,  because  the  leaves  of  the  laurel,  myrtle,  and  ivy  are 
not  affected  by  the  mellowing  year:  the  poet,  however,  is  in 
fluenced  by  the  personal  application  of  the  words,  and  is  thinking 
of  the  poetical  fruit  he  was  himself  to  produce. 

-  6.  sad  occasion  dear  :  see  note  on  1.  4.     TJie^ngmaj_seiise_of 

A       *  dear  '  is  '  precious^L^S^-^Qre^  and  hence  its  present  meanings 
in^I&igEilklviz-   "'costly'  and"n5eTovecl.  '     But  it  Ts  usecQjy 
and  Milton  in  an  entirely 


_ 

*"comp.  '  my  dearesTfoe,'  '  hatedT  his  father  aearfy,1~li"dearperi\^ 
"e?c.  Some  would  say  that  '  dear^ls  here  a  corruption  oidire, 
but  this  is  a  mere  assumption,  though  the  sense  is  similar.  fCraik 
suggests  '  '  that  the  notion  properly  involved  in  it  of  love,  having 
first  become  generalised  into  that  of  a  strong  affection  of  any 
kind,  had  thence  passed  on  to  that  of  such  an  emotion  the  very 
reverse  of  love.  "  The  fact  seems  to  be  that  '  dear  '  as  '  precious  ' 
came  to  denote  close  relation,  and  henqe^was  applied  generally  to 
whatever  intimately  concerned  a  person. 


114  LYCIDAS. 

7.  Compels  :  the  verb  is  singular,  though  there  are  two  nomina 
tives,  for  both  together  convey  the  one  idea  that,  but  for  the 
occasion  of  Lycidas'  death,  the  poet  would  not  have  been  con 
strained  to  write. 

to  disturb  your  season  due  :  to  pluck  you  before  your  proper 
season.  On  *  due '  see  II  Pens.  155.  '  Season '  is  often  used  to 
denote  '  the  usual  or  proper  time' ;  e.g.  we  speak  of  fruit  as  being 
'  in  season,'  when  it  is  fit  for  use,  and  the  adjective  '  seasonable  ' 
=  occurring  in  good  time  :  comp.  Son.  ii.  7. 

8.  ere  his  prime:    see  note  on  UAlleg.   107.      'Prime'  here 
denotes  '  the  best  part  of  life ' :  contrast  its  meaning  in  Son.  ix.  1. 

9.  peer,  equal  (Lat.  par) :  see  Arc.  75. 

/  1 0.   Who  WOUld  not  Sing,  etc.  :  j^rhetoj j nal  qn eatinn^Qii j va.1  p.nf. 

7s*  to  '  No  one  could  refuse  to  sing, '  etc. :  comp.  '  Neget  quis  carmina 
Gallo  ? '  Virgil,  Kcl.  x.  3.  The  name  Lycidas  occursjn  *h«>  p^- 
torals  of  Theocritus  and  in  Virgil's  ninth  Eclogue. 

knew  Himself  to  sing,  was  himself  able  to  s^'rig,  *  *  ^Vflia  g 

?v  jKjeL-  Comp.  Horace's  phrase,  "  Keddere  qui  voces  jam  stit  puer." 
11.  build  the  lofty  rhyme:  comp.  the  Lat.  phrase  "condere 
carmen,"  to  build  up  a  song  (Hor.  Epis.  i.  3).  '  Build  '  has  refer 
ence  to  the  regular  structure  of  the  verse  :  it  may  also  allude  to 
the  fact  that  King  had  written  several  short  poetical  pieces  in 
Latin.  '  Rhyme  '  is  here  used  for  '  verse ' ;  the  original  spelling 
was  'rime,'  and  'rhyme'  does  not  occur  in  English  before  1550 : 
there  is  now  a  tendency  to  revert  to  the  older  and  more  correct 
spelling.  The  A.S.  rim  meant  'number,'  and  rimcraft,  arith 
metic  ;  then  the  word  was  applied  in  a  secondary  sense  to  verse 
having  regularity  in  the  number  of  its  syllables  and  accents,  and 
finally  to  verse  having  final  syllables  of  like  sound.  The  change 
of  i  to  ?/,  and  the  insertion  of  k  is  due  to  confusion  with  the  Greek 
word  rhythmos,  measured  motion.  Shakespeare  has ''rime  ' ;  and 
Milton  in  his  prefatory  remarks  on  the  verse  of  Par.  Lost  uses 
the  spelling  'rime,'  and  speaks  of  it  as  the  "jingling  sound  of 
like  endings. " 

13.  welter,  roll  about :  in  Par.  Ldst,  i.  78,  Milton  speaks  of 
Satan  as  weltering  in  Hell,  in  which  case  the  use  of  the  word  more 
nearly  accords  with  modern  usage. 

to,  here  seems  to  have  the  sense  of  *  in  accordance  with  ' : 
comp.  lines  33,  44.  The  use  of  the  prepositions  in  Elizabethan 
writers  is  extremely  varied.  (  13) 

V  [  It  will  be  noticed  that  there  is  no  rhyme  to  this  line  ;  so  with 
I  lines  1,  15,  22,  39,  51,  82,  91,  92,  161.-trBut  though  these  lines 
have  no  rhymes  adjacent  to  them,  they  do  not  detract  from  the 
music  of  the  verse :  there  are  only  about  sixty  different  endings 
in  the  whole  poem,  and  if  assonantal  rhymes  be  admitted  the 
number  is  still  further  reduced.  Besides,  though  line  1  has  no 


• 
/    T 


NOTES. 

adjacent  rhyme,  similar  final  sounds  occur  in  lines  61,  63,  165, 
167,  182,  183,  just  as  lines  2,  5,  6,  9,  12,  14  rhyme  together. 
This  partly  explains  the  resonance  and  beauty  of  the  verse. 

14.  meed,  recompense:  comp.   "  A  rosy  garland  is  the  victor's 
meed."     Tit.  Andron.  i.  2. 

^r  melodious  tear,  tearful  melody,  an  elegiac  poem.^    Comp. 

A.  the  title  of  Spenser's  Tears  of  the  Muses;  also  EpilapJTon  M.  of 
W.  55. 

15.  Sisters  of  the  s«,cred  well,  the_jijn^  M.us£aT,  daughters  of 
^ve^JJie^jare^pften  mentioned  in  Greek  poetry  a&thejryrnphs  of^ 
Heliconj^because^MpuifE  HeTfetSfiTtn  Boeotia  watTgne  *^f  frbelf' 
favourite'  haunts  ;"  on  this  mouTitam^eriB~twQToimtainR 

ilton's  i  allusion  to  'th<LPflprpd 
of  the  " 


of  the  mighty  son^of  Kronos. 
explainsjbhe  allusion  to  "the  seat  of  Jove  "  £^les).-_A     simplex 


._ 
JjTpIanation  is  that  thesacred  well  is  the  l^ierian  fountain  at  the 

feot  of  Mouny  Olympus,  wHer^  the  Muses  wereborn?  and 
^the  '  seat  of  Jove  'is  Mount 


17.  somewhat  loudly,  not  too  softly. 

sweep  the  string,  strike  the  lyre.  Elsewhere  Milton  calls 
music  "  stringed  noise." 

18.  Hence:  see  note  L'Alleg.  1. 

coy  excuse.  '  Coy  '  =  hesitating  :  the  word  is  generally 
applied  only  to  persons  in  the  sense  of  '  shy  '  ;  it  is  the  same  word  as 
'  quiet,'  both  being  from  Lat.  quietus,  the  former  through  French. 
Shakespeare  uses  it  as  an  intrans.  verb,  and  it  also  occurs  in 
Elizabethan  English  in  the  sense  of  '  to  allure.  ' 

19.  Muse,  poet  inspired  bv  theMuse  ;  hence  the  pronoun  *  he  * 
'    in'l.  21_i  app..<&m   i    13lTintfi.  "TmgrTTno  2'2  form  a  parenthesis  ; 

L  23  resumes  the  main  tlieine. 

20.  lucky  words,  words  of  good  luck,  words  expressing  a  good 
wish  :  see  note,  Epitaph  on  M.  of  W.  31. 

>/  my  destined  urn.    |Fhe  sense  is  :  "  As  /  now  write  a  poem 

?^>  to  the  memory  of  Lycidas,  so  may  some  one,  when  /  am  dead, 
write  kindly  words  about  we."  *  Destined  urn  '  =  the  death  that 
I  am  destined  to  die  :  '  urn  '  is  the  vessel  in  which  the  Romans 
deposited  the  ashes  of  their  dead,  sometimes  inscribed  with  the 
name  and  history  of  the  dead:]  comp.  'storied  urn,'  Gray's 
Elegy,  41. 

21.  as  he  passes,  in  passing  :  comp.  Gray's  Elegy,  20,  'passing 
tribute  of  a  sigh.' 

'  Turn,'  i.e.  may  turn,  co-ordinate  with  '  may  favour  and  (may) 
'bid,'  optative  mood.  » 


116  LYCIDAS. 


22.  bid  fair  peace,  etc. :   '  pray  that  sweet  peace  may  rest  upon 


me  in  death.'  'Bid,'  in  the  sense  of  'pray,'  has  probably  no 
radical  connection  with  '  bid  '  =  to  command,  and  is  nearly  obso 
lete  :  '  to  bid  beads '  was  originally  '  to  pray  prayers '  (A.S.  bed, 
a  prayer).  The  word  bead  was  then  applied  to  the  little  balls  used 
for  counting  the  prayers,  and  is  now  used  of  any  small  ball.  '  Be ' 
is  infinitive  :  see  note  on  Arc.  13. 

sable  shroud:  'the  darkness  in  which  I  am  shrouded,' 
previously  referred  to  figuratively  as  'my  destined  urn.'  Some 
interpret  the  words  literally  =  '  my  black  coffin. '  Etymologically 
'  shroud '  is  something  cut  off,  and  is  allied  to  '  shred ' ;  hence  used 
of  a  garment.  In  Par.  Lost,  x.  1063,  Milton  uses  it  in  this  sense, 
and  in  Comus,  147,  in  the  general  sense  of  a  covering  or  shelter.  Its 
present  uses  as  a  noun  are  chiefly  restricted  to  '  a  dress  for  the 
dead '  and  (in  the  plural)  to  part  of  the  rigging  of  a  vessel. 

W         23.  nursed,  etc. :  a  pastoral  way  of  saying  that  they_had  been 
members  of  th_e_same"  cTollege  at  Cambridge,  viz.  Christ's 

24.  Fed  the  same  flock,  employed  ourselves  in  the  same  pur 
suits. 

25.  the  high  lawns  :  comp.  L'Atteg.  71. 

26.  Under  the  opening  eyelids,  etc.,   i.e.  at  dawn.     Morn  is 
here  personified:  comp.  Jo1),  iii.  9,   "Neither  let  it  behold  the 
eyelids  of  the  morning  " ;  Shakespeare's  Romcp  an<l  Juliet,  ii.  3, 
"the  grey-eyed  morn"  ;  see  also  Son.  i.  5.    (The  poet  represents 
himself  and  Lycidas  as  spending  the  whole^Iay^together,  from 
dawn  to  sultry  noon,  and  from  noon  to  dewy  evej|  As  Warton 
points  out,  Milton  was  a  very  early  riser,  both  in  winter  and 
summer,  and  the  sunrise  had  great  charm  for  him.    In  this  poem, 
however,  he  may  refer  to  the  fixed  hours  of  college  duty. 

27.  We  drove  a-field.     The  prefix  a  is  a  corruption  of  on,  the 
noun  and  preposition  being  fused  together  in  one  adverb  :   see 
L'Alleg.  20.     'We'  is  in  agreement  with  'both, '1.27;  and  the 
verb  '  drove '  may  be  regarded  as  transitive,  its  object  '  the  same 
flock '  being  understood. 

heard  What  time,  etc.  There  are  two  possible  renderings 
of  this  passage:  (1)  'heard  at  what  time  the  grey-fly,'  etc.,  the 
object  of  '  heard '  being  the  whole  of  line  28 ;  or  (2)  '  heard  the 
grey-fly  at  what  time  (she)  winds,'  etc.  The  latter,  though  it 
makes  the  object  of  the  principal  verb  also  the  subject  of  the 
dependent  verb,  is  preferable,  for  in  Latin  it  frequently  happens 
that  words  belonging  to  the  principal  clause  are  drawn  into  the 
relative  clause. 

23.  grey-fly,  the  trumpet-fly,  so  called  from  the  sharp  humming 
sound  produced  by  it,  generally  in  the  heat  of  the  day ;  hence 
the  allusion  to  its  ' '  sultry  horn. " 


NOTES.  117 

29.  Battening,    sc.     'and    afterwards.'      Battening  =  feeding, 
making  fat :    here  used  transitively,  though  generally  intran 
sitive  —  to  grow  fat.     The  same  root  is  seen  in  better.     In  this 
line  with  =  along  with,  at  the  time  of. 

30.  Oft  till  the  star,  etc.     'Oft'  modifies  'battening.'    The 
star  here  referred  to  is  Hesperus,  an  appellation  of  the  planet 
Venus  :  see  note,  Song  on  May  Morning,  1.     In  Comus,  93,  it  is 
"  the  star  that  bids  the  shepherds  fold." 

31.  sloped  his  westering  wheel:  similarly  in  Comus,  98,  the 
setting  sun  is  called  '  the  slope  sun, '  and  we  read  of  '  his  glowing 
axle '  just  as  here  we  read  of  the  star's  *  wheel '  or  course  in  the 
heavens.    '  Westering '  =  passing  towards  the  west :  now  obsolete. 

32.  rural  ditties  :fpastoral  language  for  the  early  poetic  efforts 
of  Milton  and  King.     '  Ditty '  (Lat.  dictatum,  something  dictated) 
originally  meant  the  words  of  a  song  as  distinct  from  the  musical 
accompaniment ;  now  applied  to  any  little  poem  intended  to  be 
sung^Tcomp.  "am'rous  ditties,"  Par.  Lost,  i.  447. 

33.  Tempered,  attuned,  timed  (Lat.  temperare,  to  regulate) ;  the 
word  qualifies  ditties,  and  hence  the  semi-colon  at  end  of  1.  33. 
Masson  has  a  semi-colon  at  end  of  1.  32 ;  '  tempered '  would  then 
be  absolute  construction,  or  it  would  qualify  '  Satyrs,' 

to  the  oaten  flute.  '  To ' ;  see  note  1.  13.  [The  oaten  flute 
is  the  flute  or  pipe_made  of  reeds,  and  the  favourite  instrument- 
in  pastoral  poetry^ \  in  Latin  it  is  avena  (  =  oats,  a  straw,  and 
hence  a  shepherd's*  pipe) :  comp.  lines  86,  88.  rjOaten ' ;  the  ter^ 
mination  '  en '  denotes  '  made  of ' :  modern  Englisn"  has  a  tendency 
to  use  the  noun  as  an  adjective  in  such  casesTje.gr.  a  gold  ring. 
Most  of  the  adjectives  in  '  en '  that  still  survivedo  not  now  denote 
the  material,  but  simply  resemblance,  e.g.  'golden  hair '  =  hair  of 
the  colour  of  gold.  Such  adjectives  as  birchen,  beechen,  firen, 
glasseii,  hornen,  treen,  thornen,  etc.,  are  now  obsolete. 

34.  Satyrs  ...  Fauns  ; [pastoral  language  for  the  men  attending 
Cambridge  at  the  same  Time  as  Milton  and  King.     The  Satyrs  of 
Greek  mythology  were  the  representatives  of  the  luxuriance  of 
nature,  and  were  always  described  as  engaged  in  light  pleasures, 
such  as  dancing,  playing  on  the  lute,  or  syrinx  (see  Arc.  106), 
etc.      The  Romans  confounded  them  with  their  Fauni,  repre 
sented  as  half  men,  half  goats  (Lat.  semicaper),  with  cloven  feet 
and  horns ;  the  chief  was  Faunus,  whom  the  Romans  identified 
with  PanJ(see  Arc.  106). 

36.  old  Damoetas  :fthis  pastoral  name  occurs  in  Virgil,  Theo 
critus,  and  Sidney  :  iFhere  probably  refers  to  Dr.  W.  Chappell, 
the  tutor  of  Christ's  College  in  Milton's  timeT)  Masson  thinks  it 
may  be  "Joseph  Meade  or  some  other  weir-remembered  Fellow 
of  Christ's." 


118  LYCIDAS. 

38.  Now  thou,  etc.,  i.e.  now  that  thou  art  gone  =  seeing  that 
thou  art  gone  :  comp.  Son.  xx.  2. 

must  return  :  '  must '  here  expresses  certainty  with  regard 
to  the  future  =  thou  wilt  certainly  never  return.  In  ordinary 
use  it  implies  either  compulsion,  e.g.  '  He  must  obey  me,'  or  per 
mission,  e.g.  'You  must  not  come  in' :  the  latter  is  the  original 
sense  of  the  A.  S.  verb  motan  (past  tense  moste). 

39.  Thee  :  object  of  'mourn,'  1.  41.     Ovid  (Met.  xi.)  similarly 
represents  birds,  beasts,  and  trees  as  lamenting  the  death  of 
Orpheus. 

40.  gadding,  straggling.      To  gad  is  to  wander  about  idly  : 
Bacon  calls  Envy  a  gadding  passion,  and  in  the  Bible  we  find — 
"  Why  gaddest  thou  about  so  much  to  change  thy  way,"  Jer.  ii. 
Cicero  uses  the  word  erraticus  (wandering)  in  connection  with 
the  vine. 

41.  their  echoes,  i.e.  of  the  caves :   comp.  Song  to  Echo  in 
Comus.     In  Shelley's  Adonais  the  same  idea  occurs — 

"  Lost  Echo  sits  amid  the  voiceless  mountains, 

And  feeds  her  grief  with  his  remembered  lay. '' 
42    hazel  copses  green.     See  note  L'All?g.  40. 
'Copse,'  a  wood  of  small  growth,  is  a  corruption  of  coppice 
(Fr.  couper,  to  cut). 

44.  Fanning :  moving  their  leaves  in  unison  with  the  music : 
with  t  to '  in  this  line,  comp.  'to'  in  lines  13  and  33. 

45.  Lines  45  to  48  are  in  apposition  to  'such,'  line  49:  thus 
'  Thy  loss  to  shepherd's  ear  was  such  '  =  '  Thy  loss  to  shepherd's 
ear  was  as  killing  as, '  etc.    The  word  '  such  '  is  redundant,  being 
rendered  necessary  by  the  separation  of  the  words  'as  killing' 
from  the  rest  of  the  principal  clause. 

killing,  deadly,  terrible. 

canker:  see  Arc.  53;  the  more  definite  form  'canker- 
worm  '  is  often  used,  just  as  '  taint- worm '  is  used  in  the  next 
line.  Warton  notes  that  Shakespeare  is  fond  of  this  simile. 

46.  taint-worm,  also  called  the  'taint.'     "There  is  found  in 
summer  a  spider  called  a  taint,  of  a  red  colour,  and  so  little  that 
ten  of  the  largest   will   hardly   outweigh   a  grain."     Browne, 
Vulgar  Errours.    '  Taint '  is  cognate  with  tint,  tinge,  and  tincture. 

weanling  herds,  young  animals  that  have  just  been  weaned 
from  the  mother's  milk.  Ling  is  the  diminutive  suffix,  as  in 
yearling,  d&rling,  foundling.  '  To  wean '  (A.S.  wenian)  is  strictly 
'to  accustom  to,'  but  is  now  used  only  in  the  sense  of  'to  dis 
accustom  to.'  The  connection  between  the  two  meanings  is 
obvious.  '  Weanling '  also  occurs  as  '  yeanling '  or  '  eanling.' 

47.  gay  wardrobe,  bright  and  varied  colours.     By  metonymy 


NOTES.  H9 

*  wardrobe,'  in  which  clothes  are  kept,  is  applied  to  its  contents : 
the  flowers  are  here  said  to  clothe  themselves  in  gay  colours. 
'  Wardrobe '  =  guard-robe  (Fr.  garde-robe)  :  the  usual  law  in 
such  compounds  is  that  the  first  word  denotes  the  purpose  for 
which  the  thing  denoted  by  the  second  is  used,  e.g.  inkstand, 
teaspoon,  writing-desk. 

48.  white-thorn,  hawthorn  :    the  flower  is  sometimes  called 
"  May  blossom." 

49.  to  shepherd's  ear,  sc.  '  when  heard  by  him. '    The  use  of 
'  killing '  is  here  an  instance  of  syllepsis  :  as  applied  to  the  herds, 
etc.,  it  means  literally  'deadly';  as  used  in  this  line  it  means 
'dreadful.' 

/  50.  Where  were  ye,  etc.  ["This  is  imitated  from  the  first  Idyll 

NU  of  Theocritus,  and  the  tentJTEclogue  of  Virgil,  "but  with  the 
substitution  of  West  British  haunts  of  the  Muses  for  their  Greek 
haunts  in  those  classic  passages.  ^1 

remorseless  deep, junpitymg  or  cruel  sea;  an  instance  of 
the  pathetic  fallacy  whichattributes  human  feelings  to  inanimate 
objects^ 

52.  neither.  This  answers  to  'nor'  in  line  55,  so  that  the 
sense  is  "You  were  playing  neither  on  the  steep  ...  nor  on  the 
shaggy  top."  x_ 

the  steep)  'the  mountain  where  the  Druidic  bards  are 
buried.'  JMilton'^pfobably  refers  to  a  mountain  in  Carnarvon, 
v.  called  Penmaenmawr,  or  to  Kerig-i-Druidion  in  Denbigh,  where 
there  was  a  burying-place  of  the  Druids.  The  Druids  were  the 
minstrels,  priests,  and  teachers  among  the  ancient  Celts  of 
BritainT^  in  his  History  of  England  Milton  calls  them  "our 

C1  'losophers,  the  Druids."     The  word  'your'  implies  that  the 
ds  were  followers  of  the  Muses. 

54.  shaggy  top  of  Mona  high :  jthe  high  interior  of  the  island 
v/        of  Anglesey  (known  by  the  Romans  as  Mona),  once  the  chief 

haunt  of  the  \Velsh  DruidjQ  The  island  was  once  thickly  wooded : 
Selden  says,  "  The  BritishDruids  took  this  isle  of  Anglesey,  then 
well-stored  with  thick  wood  and  religious  groves ;  in  so  much 
that  it  was  called  Inis  Dowil,  'The  Dark  Isle,'  for  their  chief 
residence."  This  explains  the  allusion  in  the  words  'shaggy 
top.'  ^ 

55.  Deva  ...  wizard  stream,  Jthe  river  Dee,  on  which  stands 
Chester,  the  port  from  which  King  sailed  on  his  ill-fated  voyage.^ 
(in  his  poem  At  a  Vacation  Exercise,  Milton  calls  it  "ancient 
Tiallowed   Dee."      Spenser  also  speaks    of    it    as    haunted    by 
magicians,  and  Drayton  tells  how,  being  the  ancient  boundary 
between  England  and  Wales,  it  foreboded  evil  fortune  to  that 
country  towards  which  it  changed  its  course  and  good  to  the 
other.     The  word  '  wizard '  is  therefore  very  appropriately  used 


120  LYCIDAS. 

hereM  In  fact  these  lines  (52-55)  are  interesting  for  two  r 
(1)  their  appropriateness  to  the  subject,  seeing  that  King  was 
drowned  off  the  Welsh  coast ;  (2)  their  evidence  that  Milton  had 
already  been  engaged  in  careful  reading  of  British  legendary 
history  with  a  view  to  the  composition  of  an  epic  poem  pn  some 
British  subject — the  first  hints  of  which  are  conveyed  in  the 
Latin  poems  Mansus  (1638)  and  Epitaphium  Damonis  (1639).  In 
the  former  of  these  we  find  reference  to  the  Druids,  and  in  the 
latter  to  King  Arthur. 

'  Wizard '  is  one  of  the  few  survivals  in  English  of  words  with 
the  termination  ard  or  art,  e.g.  sluggard,  braggart :  the  suffix 
had  an  intensive,  and  also  a  somewhat  contemptuous  force, 
though  here  'wizard'  merely  denotes  'magical.' 

56.  Ay  me  !   this  exclamatory  phrase  =  ah  me  !     Its  form  is 
due  to  the  French  aymi  =  '  ah,  for  me  ! '  and  has  no  connection 
with  'ay'  or  'aye'  =  yes.     Comp..Lat.  me  miserum. 

fondly,  foolishly  :  comp.  11  Pens.  6  and  Son.  xix.  8. 

57.  JThere  is  an  anacolouthon  or  break  in  the  construction  in 
the  middle  of  this  line.     The  poet,  in  addressing  the  nymphs,  is 
about  to  say,    'Had  you  been  there,   you  might  have  saved 
Lycidas' ;  but,  recollecting  that  their  presence  could  have  done  no 
good,  he  adds,  '  for  what  could  that  have  done  VJ 

58.  the  Muse  herself :  Calliope,  the  Muse  of  epic  poetry,  and 
mother  of  Orpheus,  who  is  here  called  'her  enchanting  son'  (see 
L'Alleg.  145,  note).     His  grief  for  the  loss  of  Eurydice  led  him 
to  treat  the  Thracian  women  with  contempt,  and  in  revenge  they 
tore   him   in  pieces   in   the   excitement   of    their   Bacchanalian 
festivals  (here  called  '  the  hideous  roar ').     His  head  was  thrown 
into  the  river  Hebrus,  and,  being  carried  to  the  sea,  was  washed 
across  to  Lesbos,  an  island  in  the  ^Egean  Sea.     His  lyre  was  also 
swept  ashore  there.     Both  traditions  simply  express  the  fact  that 
Lesbos  was  the  first  great  seat  of  the  music  of  the  lyre. 

60.  universal  nature,  all  nature,  animate  and  inanimate  :  see 
note  on  line  39. 

61.  rout,  a  disorderly  crowd  (as  explained  above).     The  word 
is  also  used  in  the  sense  of  '  a  defeat ' ;  and  is  cognate  with  route, 
rote,  and  rut.     The  explanation  is  that  all  come  from  the  Lat. 
ruptus,  broken  :   a  '  rout '  is  the  breaking  up  of  an  army,  or  a 
crowd  broken  up ;  a  '  route '  is  a  way  broken  through  a  forest ; 
a  'rote'  is  a  beaten  route  or  track,  hence  we  say  "to  learn  by 
rote  "  ;  and  a  '  rut '  is  a  track  left  by  a  wheel. 

62.  visage  ;  see  note  on  II  Pens.  13. 

63.  swift  Hebrus :  a  translation  of  Virgil's  volucrem  Hebrum 
(JEn.  i.  321),  supposed  to  be  a  corrupt  reading,  as  the  river  is 
not  swift. 


NOTES.  121 

64.  what  boots  it,  etc.  :  '  Of  what  profit  is  it  to  be  a  poet  in 
these  days  when  true  poetry  is   slighted  ?     Would   it  not   be 
better,  as  many  do,  to  give  one's  self  up  to  trifling. '     The  pas 
sage  is  of  interest,  because  (1)  it  illustrates  Milton's  high  aspira 
tions,  and  (2)  it  directs  our  attention  to  the  historical  fact  that 
the  literary  outburst  which  began  in  1580  was  over.     The  poets 
who  were  alive  in  1637  were  such  as  Wither,  Herrick,  Shirley, 
May,   Davenant,   Suckling,   Crashaw,    etc.  :   they  could  not  be 
compared  with  Spenser,   Shakespeare,    Marlowe,    Ben  Jonson, 
Beaumont,  Fletcher,  and  others. 

The  word  '  boot'  (A.S.  b6t  =  profit)  is  now  chiefly  preserved  in 

the  adjective  bootless  =  profitless,  and  in  the  phrase  to  boot  =  in 

•  addition  (where  '  boot '  is  a  noun  governed  by  the  preposition 

'to,'  not  the  infinitive):    from  this  noun  comes  the  A.S.  verb 

betan,  to  amend,  to  make  better. 

uncessant,  incessant.  The  tendency  of  modern  English  is 
to  use  a  prefix  belonging  to  the  same  language  as  the  body  of  the 
word,  so  that  'cessant,'  which  is  of  Latin  origin,  takes  the  Lat. 
negative  prefix  in.  This  rule  was  not  recognised  in  older  Eng 
lish  ;  hence  in  Milton  we  find  such  forms  as  '  unactive,'  '  unces 
sant,'  and  in  other  writers,  '  unpossible, '  '  unglorious,'  *un- 
patient,'  '  unhonest,'  etc.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are 
anomalies  in  our  present  English  that  did  not  exist  in  the 
Elizabethan  literature,  e.g.  'uncertain'  (formerly  and  more 
regularly  *  incertain '),  'unfortunate,"  etc.  :  comp.  1.  176. 

65.  tend  :  the  trans,  verb  (as  here)  is  a  short  form  of  '  attend. ' 
'Tend,'  to  move  in  a  certain  direction,  is  intransitive. 

homely,  slighted,  etc.    [These  adjectives  qualify  '  trade, 
not  'shepherd.'     'Trade'  here  denotes  the  practice  of  poetry. 
In  lines   113-120  the   shepherd's   trade  is  not  poetry,  but  the 
work  of  the  Church.     The  former  application  of  the_words  is 
found  in  all  pastoral  poetry,  the  latter  in  the  Scriptures^ 
In  Com.  748,  Milton  gives  the  derivation  of  '  homely   ; 
for  homely  features  to  keep  home  '  ;  comp.  £on.  xn  a.  20,  note. 
Spenser,    in  his  Shepherd's    Calendar,   speaks  of  the  'homely 
shepherd's  quill. ' 

66.  strictly,  rigorously,  devotedly. 

meditate  the  thankless  Muse:[^ply  one's  self  to  the 
thankless  task  of  writing  poetry^ 

'  Meditate '  is  here  used  transitively  like  the  Lat.   meditoi , 
which  does  not  mean  merely  to  ponder  or  think  upon,  but  i 
apply  one's  self  with  close  attention  to  a  subject,      ihe  phi 
occurs  in  Virgil  (Ed  i.  2  ;  vi.  8).     As  a  transitive  verb,     me<h- 
tate'  has  now  the  meaning  of  'purpose';   e.g.  he  med 
revenge. 


122  LYCIDAS. 

'  Thankless,' as  applied  to  the  Muse,'  is  'ungrateful': 
Virgil,  JEn.  vii.  425. 

67.  Were  it  not,  etc.  :  subjunctive  mood. 

use,  are  accustomed  (to  do).  The  present  tense  of  the 
verb  '  to  use '  is  obsolete  in  this  sense  :  we  can  say  '  he  used  to 
do  this,'  but  not  'he  uses  to  do  this.'  The  present  tense  is 
found  in  the  following  passage  :  "  They  use  to  place  him  that 
shall  be  their  captain  upon  a  stone  always  reserved  for  that 
purpose." — Spenser.  Compare  such  words  as  ought,  must,  durst, 
wot,  wont,  etc. ,  all  originally  past  tenses  :  see  note,  II.  Pens.  37. 

68.  Amaryllis  . . .  Neaera's  hair.    £These  are  the  names  .«of  ima 
ginary  shepherdesses  from  the  Greek"  and  Latin  pastoralsTj  (See 
Virgil's  first  three  Eclogues.)     Milton  expresses,  in  one  of  his 
prose  works,  great  fondness  for  the  'smooth  elegiac  poets,'  but 
in  the  last  of  his  Latin  Elegies  he  announces  his  intention  of 
turning  his  miiid  to  other  subjects — 

.  .  .   "  Learning  taught  me,  in  his  shady  bower, 

To  quit  Love's  servile  yoke,  and  spurn  his  power. " 

Cowper's  Translation. 

Warton  thinks  that  the  allusion  to  Amaryllis  and  Nesera  is 
made  with  special  reference  to  certain  poems  by  Buchanan  in 
which  he  addresses  females  by  these  names. 

69.  tangles,  locks  or  curls ;  comp.  Peele's  David  and  Bethsabe — 

"  Now  comes  my  lover  tripping  like  the  roe, 
~        And  brings  my  longings  tangled  in  her  hair." 

70.y?ame  is  the  spur  that  incites  the  noble  mind  to  high 
effortsj  comp.  Par.  Keg.  iii.  25 — 

"  Glory,  the  reward 

That  sole  excites  to  high  attempts  the  flame 
Of  most  erected  spirits,  most  tempered  pure 
Ethereal,  who  all  pleasures  else  despise, 
All  treasures  and  all  gain  esteem  as  dross, 
And  dignities  and  powers,  all  but  the  highest." 
Also  Spenser  :  "  Due  praise,  that  is  the  spur  of  doing  well." 

clear,  in  the  sense  of  Lat.  clams,  noble,  pure.  '  Spirit '  is 
the  object  of  '  doth  raise.' 

71.  tThis  bracketed  line  is  in  apposition  to  '  Fame,'  though  in 
reality  it  is  not  fame  that  is  meant  but  the  love  of  f amel  which, 
as  Massinger  says,  is  '  the  last  weakness  wise  men  put  "off. '  The 
idea  is  found  in  Tacitus:  "  Etiam  sapientibus  cupido  gloriae 
novissima  exuitur  "  ;  and  by  the  use  of  the  word  that  in  line  71, 
Milton  seems  to  signify  that  he  regarded  the  expression  as  a  well- 
known  one. 

72.VThis  line  states  the  high  efforts  to  which  the  love  of  fame 


NOTES.  123 

will   incite  men,   viz.,    "to  scorn  delights  and  live  laborious 


73.  guerdon,  reward:   grammatically,   object  of  'find.'    The 
formation  of  this  word  is  peculiar  ;  the  second  part  is  from  Lat. 
domnn,  gift  ;  and  the  first  part  from  an  old  High  German  word 
meaning   'back,'  and  corresponding  to  the  Lat.  prefix  re   in 
?'eward,  etc. 

74.  blaze  :  comp.  Arc.  74  and  Par.  Req.  iii.  47  :  "  For  what  is 
glory  but  the  blaze  of  fame  ?  "     The  whole  of  the  passage  in  Par. 
Reg.,   like   this  part  of  Lycidas,    has  a  certain    biographical 
interest,   for  we  see  here   Milton's  estimate  of  the  worth  of 
popular  applause. 

75.  blind  Fury  ;  nomin.  to  verb  '  comes.  '    ' 

[The  three  goddesses  of  vengeance  were  called  Furies  by  the 
N  Romans,  but  Milton's  reference  to  '  the  abhorred  shears  '  shows 
that  he  is  thinking  of  one  of  the  Fates  (see  Arc.  65,  note),  viz. 
Atropos.  She  is  here  said  to  be  blind  because  she  is  no  respecter 
of  personsT]  Milton  probably  used  the  word  Fury  in  a  general 
sense  as  signifying  the  cruelty  of  Fate,  or  he  may  mean  to  denote 
Destiny  :  comp.  Shak.  King  John,  iv.  2,  "  Think  you  I  have  the 
shears  of  Destiny." 

76.  thin-spun  life,  [i.e.  the  thin-spun  or  fragile  thread  of  life, 
in  allusion  to  the  uncertainty  of  human  life  as  shown  in  the  case 
of  Edward  KingTl  For  the  form  of  the  adjective  comp.  11  Pens. 
66. 

/  "  But  not  the  praise."  [Phoebus  (i.e.  Apollo),  as  the  god  of 

A.  song^  here  checks  the  poet,  reminding  him  that  though  Fate  may 
deprive  ther>oet  of  life  it  cannot  deprive  him  of  his  due  meed  of 
true  praiseTj  The  construction  is,  "  Fate  slits  the  thin-spun  life, 
but  does  not  slit  the  praise  "  :  there  is  therefore  a  zeugma  in 
'  slits  '  ;  it  is  applied  to  life  in  its  literal  sense  'to  cut,'  and  to 
praise  in  the  sense  of  '  to  intercept.' 

77.  touched  my  trembling1  ears,  i.e.  touched  the  ears  of  me 
trembling  :  comp.  note  on  U  Alley.  124.     Masson's  acute  note  on 
this  is  :  "A  fine  poetical  appropriation  of  the  popular  super 
stition  that  the  tingling  of  a  person's  ears  is  a  sign  that  people 
are  talking  of  him.     What  Milton  had  been  saying  about  poetic 
fame  might  be  understood,  he  saw,  as  applicable  to  himself." 
Comp.   Virgil's   Eclog.   vi.   3.      The  rhymes   of  lines  70-77  are 
ababacac. 

78.  '  Fame  is  not  found  in  this  life,  and  dwells  neither  in  the 
glittering  leaf  displayed  in  the  world,  nor  in  the  wide-spread 
rumour.  ' 

mortal  soil,  this  earth.     The  epithet  mortal  is  transferred 
from  life  to  the  scene  of  life.     '  Mortal  '  here  denotes  '  associated 


124  LYCIDAS. 


ath' 


with  death ' ;  Milton  also  uses  it  in  the  senses  of  '  causing  dea 
=  fatal,  and  '  human. ' 

79.  Nor  ...  nor,  neither  ...  nor  :  common  in  poetry, 
glistering ;    from  the  same  base  as  glisten,  glitter,   glint, 

gleam,  glow. 

foil,  applied  to  a  leaf  or  thin  plate  of  shining  metal,  placed 
under  a  gem  to  increase  its  lustre  (Lat.  folium,  a  leaf) :  [so  Fame 
is  not  a  gem  that  requires  to  be  set  off  by  the  use  of  some  foil ;  it 
shines  by  its  own  Hght^  '  Set  off'  qualifies  ' Fame,'  not  '  foil.' 

80.  lies,  dwells  ;  as  often  in  Old  English.     Comp.  L'Alleg.  79. 

81.  by,  by  means  of,  i.e.  because  it  is  perceived  by.     Comp, 
"God  is  of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold  iniquity." 

82.  perfect  witness,  searching  and   infallible   discrimination. 
The  old  spelling  of  this  word  (which  is  found  in  Milton)  is  perfet, 
the  French  form  being  parfait  (Lat.  perfectus,  done  thoroughly). 

83.  pronounces  lastly,  decides  finally :  see  Son.  xxi.  3,  note. 

84.  meed :  see  line  14,  note.  (jThis  ends  the  sublime  strain  of 
Phoebus,  which  (as  Milton  saysjji  line  87)  "was  of  a  higher 
mood  "  than  the  ordinary  pastoralTj  He  now  returns  again  to  his 
'oaten. pipe'  (see  Anali/sis).         _ 

85.  Arethuse :   see  Arc.  30.  [_The  poet  invokes  the  fountain 
of  Arethusa  in  the  island  of  Ortygia,  off  Sicily,  because  Theocritus 
was  a  Sicilian;  hence  the  words  "Sicilian  Muse,"  1.   133.     He 
also  invokes  the  Mincius,  which  falls  into  the  river  Po,  below 
Mantua  in  North  Italy,  because  Virgil  was  a  native  of  MantuaTT 
Hence  jthe  significance  of  the  words  '  honoured  flood '  and  '  vocal 
reedsTI 

88Tmy  oat,  my  pastoral  muse.  The  construction  is  peculiar, 
'oat'  being  apparently  nominative  to  'proceeds'  and  'listens.' 
We  may  either  take  the  nominative  /  out  of  the  possessive  my, 
or  suppose  that  the  Muse  listens ;  but  see  note  on  L'Alleg.  122, 
"judge  the  prize." 

89.  the  Herald  of  the  Sea  :  [Triton,  represented  by  the  Romans 
as  bearing  a  '  wreathed  horn '  or  shell,  which  he  blew  at  the  com-  - 
mand  of  Neptune  in  order  to  still  the  waves  of  the  sea.     He  is 
here  supposed  by  Milton  to  appear  'in  Neptune's  plea,'  i.e.  to 
defend  him  from  the  suspicion  of  having  caused  Lycidas'  deat^L 
by  a  storm,  and  to  discover  the  real  cause  of  the  shipwreckTj 
'  Plea '  and  '  plead  '  are  cognate  words. 

91.  felon,  here  used  attributively.  The  origin  of  the  word  is 
doubtful ;  its  radical  sense  is  probably  '  treacherous '  (as  in  this 
passage).  In  the  MS.  the  poet  wrote  fellon,  but  this  is  not,  as 
some  think,  a  different  word,  though  it  may  be  cognate  with 
ftll  =  fierce. 


X 


NOTES.  125 

92.  The  mark  of  interrogation  at  the  end  of  this  line  and  the 
use  of  the  present  perfect  tense  '  hath  doomed, '  show  that  it  gives 
the  actual  words  of  Triton's  question  ;  otherwise  the  dependent 
verb  (by  sequence  of  tenses)  would  have  been  'had  doomed.' 

mishap  :  see  note,  Epitaph  on  M.  of  W.  31. 

93.  of  rugged  wings,  'rugged- winged,'  having  rugged  wings, 
i.e.  tempestuous. 

94.  each  beaked  promontory,  each  pointed  cape.     Observe  the 
proximity  of  the  words  every  and  each,  where  we  might  have 
expected  every  ...  every,  or  each  ...  each:  comp.  Com.  19  and  311. 
'  Every '  is  radically  —  ever  each  (Old  English  everoelc) :  it  de 
notes  each  without  exception,  and  can  now  only  be  used  with 
reference  to  more  than  two  objects ;  '  each '  may  refer  to  two  or 
more. 

95.  [They  (*.  c.  the  waves  and  winds)  knew  nothing  of  the  fate 
of  Lycidas.     Observe  the  double  or  feminine  rhymes, — promon 
tory,  story^ 

s.  96t4|age  Hippotades ;  the  wise  ruler  of  the  winds,  ^Eolus,  son 
df  Hijjpotes  :  he  brings  the  answer  of  the  win^a  to  the  effect 
"  that  not  a  blast  was  from  its  dungeon  stray ed.^J '  Hippotades ' 
is  a  Greek  patronymic,  formed  by  the  suffix  -des,  seen  in 
Boreades,  son  of  Boreas;  Priamides,  son  of  Priam,  etc.  Comp. 
Homer's  Odyssey,  x.  2. 

97.  was  ...  strayed  :  Jin  modern  English  we  say  ' had  strayed ' ; 
/  the  auxiliary  '  have '  being  now  more  common  than  '  be.^J  See 

note,  Son.  ii.  6,  and  comp.  'was  dropt,*  1.  191. 

his  dungeon :  [the  j^inds  are  probably  here  personified, 
hence  the  pronoun  VnTsjj;but  see  note,  77  Pens.  128).  Milton's 
language  here  is  evidently  suggested  by  Virgil's  picture  of  the 
winds  (JZn.  i.  50),  where  they  are  represented  as  confined  within 
a  vast  cave  :  Virgil  there  speaks  of  /Eolia  as  the  '  fatherland '  of 
the  winds,  thus  poetically  endowing  them  with  personality. 
'Dungeon,'  prison,  literally  'the  chief  tower':  it  is  another 
form  of  the  old  French  word  donjon,  from  Lat.  dominionem,  and 
therefore  cognate  with  'dominion,'  'domain,'  etc. 

98.  level  brine,  the  placid  sea.  Li  Brine'  denotes  salt  water, 
and  by^Jigure  of  speech  is  applied  to  the  ocean  whose  waters 
are  salt./ 

99.  Panope  and  her  sister,  (the  daughters  of  Nereus,  hence 
called  Nereids:   in  classical, mythology  they  were  the  nymphs 
who  dwelt  in  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  distinct  from  the  fresh 
water  nymphs,  and  the  nymphs  of  the  great  Ocean.!  Their  names 
and  duties  are  given  in  the  Faery  Queene,  iv.  ILJ  49 ;  see  also 
Virgil,  Oeorg.  i.  437. 


126  LYCIDAS. 

100.  fatal  and  perfidious  bark, /the  ill-fated  and  treacherous 
ship  in  which   King   sailed :    it  went   down   in  perfectly  calm 
weather,  and  hence  the  force  of  Triton's  plea  on  Neptune's  behalf. 
'  Bark,'  also  spelt '  barque,'  is  etymologically  the_same  as  '  barge' ; 
but  the  latter  is  now  only  used  of  a  kind  of  boatj    '  Fatal '  =  ap 
pointed  by  fate  ;    '  perfidious  '  =  faithless  (Lat.  per,  away  ;  and 
fides,  faith). 

101.  Built  in  the  eclipse  :  [this  circumstance  is  imagined  by  the 
poet  in  order  to  account  for  tHe  wreck  of  the  ship,  eclipses  being 
popularly  supposed  to  bring  misfortrme  upon  all  undertakings 
begun  or  carried  on  while  they  lasted/]  The  moon's  eclipse  was 
specially  unlucky,  but  in  Shakespeare's  Hamlet  we  read  also  of 
"disasters  in  the  sun,"  and  similarly  in  Par.  Lost,  i.  597.     An 
eclipse  was  supposed  to  be  a  favourite  occasion  for  the  machina 
tions  of  witches  :  in  Macbeth,  iv.  1  we  read  that   "  slips  of  yew 
slivered  in  the  moon's  eclipse  "  formed  one  of  the  ingredients  in 
the  witches'  cauldron. 

rigged  with  curses  dark.  To  rig  a  ship  is  to  fit  it  with 
the  necessary  sails,  ropes,  etc.  ;  and  by  a  bold  figure  the  poet 
says  that  King's  vessel  was  fitted  out  with  curses  ;  at  least  this 
is  the  sense  if  '  with  '  be  taken  to  mean  '  by  means  of. '  Some 
prefer  to  interpret  'with'  as  'in  the  midst  of,'  the  sense  being 
that  the  ship  was  cursed  by  the  witches  while  it  was  being  rigged. 

102.  That  sunk:   'that,'  relative  pronoun,  antecedent  'bark.' 
'  Sunk  '  =  sank ;    for  the  explanation  compare  Morris's  English 
Accidence — "  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. " 

that  sacred  head  of  thine.  This  is  a  pleonastic  expression : 
it  will  be  noticed  that  when  the  noun  denotes  the  possession  of 
one  object  only,  this  form  is  inadmissible  unless  preceded  by  a 
demonstrative  (as  here),  e.g.  we  can  say  '  that  body  of  yours,' 
because  a  person  has  only  one  body,  but  we  cannot  say  '  a  body 
of  yours,'  as  this  word  would  imply  that  one  of  a  number  was 
referred  to. 

'Sacred':  etymologically  signifies  the  same  as  'consecrated,' 
'set  apart,'  and  hence  'devoted':  it  may  be  used  here  of  Lycidas 
as  devoted  to  death  :  comp.  Par.  Lost,  iii.  208 — "To  destruction 
sacred  and  devote. " 

103.  Camus  :  ]^,the  genius  of  the  Cam  River  and  of  Cambridge 
University  was   naturally  one   of   the  mourners  for  Lycidas  " 
'  Reverend  sire '  is  an  allusion  to  the  antiquity  of  the  University./ 
Sire,  sir,  senior,  seignior,  and  signor  all  owe  their  origin  to  the 
nomin.  or  accus.  form  of  the  Lat.  senior,  elder. 


NOTES. 


127 


went  footing  slow,  passed  slowly  along,  wended  his  way 
slowly.  As  Camus  comes  forward  to  bewail  Lycidas  we  should 
naturally  read  'came'  in  this  line  instead  of  'went,'  because  in 
modern  English  the  meanings  of  '  go '  and  '  come '  are  opposed. 
But  it  is  not  so  here  :  went  is  radically  the  past  tense  of  wend 
(A.S.  wendan,  to  turn),  but  is  now  used  in  place  of  the  obso 
lete  past  of  go ;  so  that  it  has  become  necessary  to  make  a 
new  form  for  the  past  tense  of  '  wend,'  viz.  wended.  The  original 
past  tense  of  '  go  '  was  '  yode.'  Wend  is  the  causal  form  of  wind, 
and  is  therefore  peculiarly  appropriate  to  the  winding  Cam.  It 
is  now  nearly  obsolete  except  in  the  phrase  'to  wend  one's  way.' 
'  Foot '  as  a  verb  is  generally  followed  by  the  cognate  accusative 
'  it, '  but  it  then  denotes  sprightly  movement,  and  is  therefore 
unsuitable  here  (see  L'Alleg.  33).  'Slow-footing'  occurs  in 
Spenser  as  a  compound  adjective. 

104.  His  mantle  hairy,  etc.  Here  '  mantle '  and  '  bonnet '  are 
in  the  absolute  case.  (The  '  hairy  mantle '  is  the  hairy  river- weed 
that  is  found  floating  on  the  Cam,  and  the  ^bonnet '  is  the  sedge 
that  grows  in  the  river  and  along  its  edggj  In  his  first  Elegy 
Milton  alludes  to  the  reedy  or  sedgj^Cam  (arundiferum  Camum, 
juncosas  Cami  paludes).  {j  Bgnnet^Jnow  generally  applied  to  a 
head-dress  wornby  women,  jhere  denotes  (as  it  still  does  in  Scot 
land)  a  man's  cap.l 


105.  Inwrought  with  figures  dim,  having  indistinct  markings 
worked  into  it.     '  Inwrought '  is  a  participial  adjective  (as  if  from 
a  verb  inwork,  which  is  not  in  use),  qualifying  '  bonnet ' :  to.  work 
in  figures  into  cloth,  etc.,  is  to  embroider  or  adorn.    [Milton 
refers  to  the  peculiar  natural  markings  seen  on  the  leaves  of 
sedge,  especially  when  they  begin  to  witherT\ 

The  edge  of  the  '  sedge  bonnet '  of  the  Cam  is  said  to  be 
like  the  edge  of  the  hyacinth  because  it  is  marked  :  the  hyacinth 
was  fabled  by  the  ancients  to  have  sprung  from  the  blood  of  the 
Spartan  youth  Hyacinthus,  and  the  markings  on  the  petals  were 
said  to  resemble  the  words  6.1  dl  (alas  !  alas  !)  or  the  letter  T,  the 
Greek  initial  of  Hyacinthus  :  hence  the  significance  of  the  words 
'  sanguine  '  and  '  inscribed  with  woe. '  The  poet  Drummond  calls 
the  hyacinth  "  that  sweet  flower  that  bears  in  sanguine  spots  the 
tenor  of  our  woes."  Similarly  Milton  fancies  that  the  markings 
on  the  sedge  may  signify  the  grief  of  Cambridge  for  the  death  of 
Lycidas. 

106.  Like  to  that  sanguine  flower.     Here  the  preposition  'to 
is  expressed  after  'like':  see  note  on  II  Pens.  69.     'Sanguine,' 
bloody,  an  illustration  of  Milton's  fondness  for  the  primary  sense 
of  words  (Lat.  sanguis,  blood)  :  its  present  meaning  is  'hopeful,' 
and  the  connecting  link  between  the  two  meanings  is  found  in 
the  old  theory  of  the  four  humours  of  the  body,  an  excess  of  the 


128  LYCIDAS. 

bloody  humour  making  persons  of  a  hopeful  disposition.     In  the 
primary  sense  we  now  use  '  sanguinary. ' 

107.  reft :  see  note  on  'bereft,'  Son.  xxii.  3. 

quoth  he,  he  said  :  this  verb  always  precedes  its  nomina 
tive,  and  is  used  only  in  the  first  and  third  persons  :  it  is  really 
a  past  tense  (though  occasionally  used  as  a  present),  and  the 
original  present  is  seen  only  in  the  compound  be-queath. 

pledge,  child :  comp.  Lat.  pignus,  a  pledge  or  security, 
also  applied  (generally  in  the  plural)  to  children  or  relations. 

108.  Last  came  ...  did  go  :  see  note  on  II  Pens.  46. 

y  109.  The  Pilot  of  the  Galilean  Lake  :  jSt.  Peter,  here  introduced 

/\  as  Heajdxjf  the  Church,  because  King  nad  been  intended  for  the 
ChurcnT^St.  Peter  was  at  first  a  fisherman  on  the  SeadP  Galilee 
(Matt.  fv7  18)  and  became  one  of  the  disciples  of  Christ.^  It  was 
of  him  that  Christ  said  :  "  Upon  this  rock  will  I'miild  my 
ohurch ;  and  the  gates  of  Hades  shall  not  prevail  against  it.  I 
will  give  unto  thee  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. "  ( Matt.  xvi. 
18.  JR.  V.)  It  was  he  also  whom  Christ  constituted  the  Shepherd 
of  the  Christiaiyflock  by  his  parting  charge  :  "Feed  my  lambs." 
(John  xxi.  15  )  [in  both  of  his  capacities,  as  Head  and  Shepherd 
of  the  Christian  Church,  he  mourns  the  death  of  one  who 
promised  to  be  a  true  disciple,  unlike  the  falsA  shepherds 
"who  crept  into  the  Church  "for  their  bellies'  sake.^J 

VllO.  Two  massy  keys :  [the  keys  that  St.  Peter  carried  as  the 
symbol  of  his  power  are  usually  spoken  of  as  two  in  number 
(though  there  is  no  such  statement  in  the  Scriptures.),  because  he 
had  power  both  in  heaven  and  hell,  the  goldenone  opening  the 
gates  of  heaven,  and  the  iron  one  forcibly  closing  them  I:  comp. 
-Com.  13: 

"  that  golden  key 
That  opes  the  palace  of  eternity. " 

'Massy,'  massive  :  see  note  II  Pens.  58. 

of  metals  twain,  made  of  two  different  metals :  twain 
•(cognate  with  two)  is,  in  older  English,  used  (1)  predicatively,  (2) 
when  it  follows  the  noun  (as  here),  and  (3)  as  a  noun. 

111.  amain,  with  force  :   a  is  here  the  usual  adverbial  prefix 
(see  note  1.  27) ;  main  =  strength  or  force,  as  in  the  phrase  '  with 
might  and  main.'     The  adjective  main,  =  principal,  is  only  in 
directly   connected   with   it,    being    from   Lat.    magnut,   great. 
'  Ope '  for  '  open '  is  found  in  poetry,  both  as  verb  and  adjective. 

112.  mitred  locks,  locks  crowned  with  a  bishop's  head-dress, 
St.  Peter  being  regarded  as  the  first  bishop  of  the  Church. 

stern  bespake,  said  with  indignation.  Milton  sometimes 
used  the  verb  bespeak  as  a  transitive  verb  =  to  address  (a  person); 


NOTES. 


129 


in  modern  English  both  these  senses  are  obsolete  and  it  now  de 
notes  '  to  speak  for,'  'to  engage  beforehand.' 

113.  [Here  for  the  second  time  the  poem  rises  far  above  the 
ordinary  pastoral  strain  and  Milton  puts  into  the  mouth  of  St. 
Peter  his  first  explicit  declaration  of  his  sympathy  with  the 
Puritans  in  their  opposition  to  the  attempt  of  Archbishop  Laud 
to  introduce  changes  in  the  ritual  of  the  English  and  Scottish 
Churches,  an  attempt  which  hastened  the  downfall  of  Charles  I. 
and  Laud  himselff  see  notes  on  Son.  xiia.,  xv.,  xvi.  As  early  as 
1584,  Spenser  Had  also  written  in  vehement  strain  against  the 
corruptions  of  the  Church,  and  there  is  a  faint  echo  of  Spenser's 
language  here  and  there  throughout  Milton's  indignant  lines. 
(See  Analysis). 

spared  for  thee,  etc.,  i. e./given  upl  in  return  for  you, 
an  ample  number  of  the  corrupt  clSrgy^ 

~  1 14.  Enow  :  here  used  as  in  Early  English  to  denote  a  number  ; 
it  is  also  spelt  anow,  and  in  Chaucer  ynowe,  and  is  the  plural  of 
enough.  It  still  occurs  as  a  provincialism  in  England. 

such  as  :  see  L'Alleg.  29. 

for  their  bellies'  sake  :   comp.  Son.  xvi.   14,  where  the 
reference  is  to  the  Presbyterian  clergy  ;  here  he  means  the  Epis-  r 
copalian  ministers.  LJ«3ri (vA  *^" 

115.  The   Church   is   a  sheepfold    into  which   tlm"  hireling 
wolves  ^see  Son.  xvi.  14),^e.  the  corrupt  clergy,  intrude  them 
selves  ;  their  only  care  being  to  share  the   endowments  of  the 
Church^/  One  of  Milton's  pamphlets  was  entitled   The  likeliest 
Means  to  remove  Hirelings  out  of  the  Church.     Comp.  Par.  Lost, 
iv.  192,  and  John,  x.  12. 

116.  "They  make  little  reckoning  of  any  care  other  than," 
etc. 

117.  scramble :  (this  word,  and  'shove'  in  the  next  line,  ex 
press  the  eager  ancl  rude  striving  for  those  church  endowments 
that  are  here  called  'the  shearers'  feast.'     The  'worthy  bidden 
guest '  denotes  the  conscientious  and  faithful  clergyT! 

119.  Blind  mouths  !  a  figure  of  speech  into  whicn  Milton  con 
denses  the  greatest  contempt.      '  Mouths  '  is  put  by  synecdoche 
for  'gluttons,'  and  'blind'  is  therefore  quite  applicable.     They 
are  blind  guides  "whose  Gospel  is  their  maw"  (Son.  xvi.  14). 
^3y  saying  that  they  scarcely  know  how  to  hold  a  sheep-hook  or 
crook  (which  is  the  symbol  of  the  shepherd's  task)  the  poet  signi 
fies  their  unfitness  for  'the  faithful  herdman's  art, '  i.e.  for  psstoral 
dutyj 

120.  the  least,  may  be  regarded  as  an  adverbial  phrase  modi 
fying  '  belongs,  '= in  the  least ;  or  it  may  be  attributive  to  '  aught.' 


130  LYCIDAS. 

121.  herdman  :[this  spelling,  which  occurs  in  the  Bible,  is  not 
now  in  use,  nor  is  it  that  of  Milton's  manuscript ;  he  wrote  '  herds 
man,'  which  is  current  in  the  restricted  sense  of  '  one  who*herds 
cattle.'     Milton,  applies  it  to  a  shepherd,  the  word  being  then 
used  generally/^     'SfC     {VAV     Jfcf^-. 

122.  What  recks  it  them  ?  =  what  does  it  reck  them  ?  =  what  do 
they  care  ?     Here  we  have  an  old  impersonal  use  of  the  verb  '  to 
reck,'  which  still  survives  in  the  adjective  reck' ess. 

They  are  sped,  they  have  sped  =  they  have  gained  their 
object.  For  the  use  of  the  auxiliary  '  are  '  instead  of  '  have,'  see 
note  on  1.  97.  One  of  the  early  meanings  of  speed  is  '  success,'  and 
to  speed  is  to  be  successful  (as  in  this  line)  :  comp.  Par.  Lost,  x. 
39.  It  occurs  in  older  English  both  of  good  and  ill  success,  and 
also  in  the  sense  of  '  to  assist '  (Shakespeare  has  '  God  speed  the 
Parliament '),  'to  send  away  quickly,'  'to  destroy,'  etc. 

123.  when  they  list,  when  it  pleases  them.     The  verb  list  is,  in 
older  English,  generally  used  impersonally,  and  in  Chaucer  we 
find  '  if  thee  lust  'or  'if  thee  list  '  =  if  it  please  thee.     It  is  derived 
from  A.S.  lint,  pleasure,  and  survives  in  the  adjective  listless,  of 
which  the  older  form  was  lustless.     The  noun  lust  has  lost  the 
meaning  it  had  in  A.S.  and  still  has  in-German,  and  now  signifies 
'  longing  desire. ' 

lean  and  flashy  songs :  [pastoral  language  for  '  their 
teaching,  which  is  without  subsumce  or  nourishment  to  their 
hearers?^}  '  Flashy '  =  showy  but  worthless:  comp.  Dry  den, 
"flashy  wit";  and  Bacon,  "  distilled  books  are  ...flashy  things." 

124.  Grate,  etc.  jLj.sound  harshly  on  their  weak  and  wretched 
oaten  pipes  ' — a  description  in  pastoral  language  of  the  preaching 
of  the  careless  clergy.      '  Gr.ate '  and  '  scrannel '  are  here  skilfully 
chosen  to  express  contempt^  '  Grate  ' :  the  nominative  of  this 
verb  is  '  songs,'  the  sense  being  intermediate  between  the  active 
form  'they  grate  their  songs,'  and  the  passive,    '  their  songs  are 
grated.'     Hence  some  would  regard  this  as  a  middle  voice.       In 
Latin  and  Greek  the  passive  voice  arose  from   the   middle   or 
reflective  verb.     Comp.  //.  Pens.  161. 

scrannel,  not  found  in  English  dictionaries,  being  a  pro 
vincialism  =  '  lean ' :  the  harsh  sound  of  the  word  also  suits  the 
passage.  Comp.  Virgil's  Eel.  iii.  26. 

125.  The  hungry  sheep, {the  neglected  congregations^  Compare 
Milton's  Kpitaph  Damon. — 

"  "Nor  please  me  more  my  flocks  ;  they,  slighted,  turn 
Their  unavailing  looks  on  me,  and  mourn." 

Coivper's  Translation. 

126.  swoln  with  wind,  etc.fwith  minds  filled  with  unsound  and 
unwholesome  teaching! 


NOTES.  131 

rank  =  coarse,  foul :  *  draw  '  =  inhale,  e.g.  to  draw  breath  : 
comp.  Par.  Lost,  viii.  284,  "  From  where  I  first  drew  air."  The 
Lat.  haurio  has  the  same 


127.  Rot  inwardly,  ete.£have  their  hearts  corrupted,  and  dis- 
seminate  false  doc£rines._\ 

128.  Besides.   She  meaning  is  :  "While  all  this  injury  to  the 
Church  is  taking  place,  there  is  another  source  of  loss  to  which 
the  English  clergy  seem  to  be  indifferentT-.viz.  the  desertions  to 
the  Church  of  Rome  that  are  so  frequent. "  \ 

the  grim  wolf,  the  Church  of  Rome  :  comp.  Matt.  vii.  16, 
"Beware  of  false  prophets  which  jjome  to  you  in  sheep's 
clothing,  but  inwardly  are  ravening  wolves."  Also  Acts,  xx.  29, 
"Grievous"  wolves  shall  enter  in  among  you,  not  sparing  the 
flock."  '  Privy '  =  secret.  '  Apace '  .-  rapidly,  at  a  great  pace  : 
comp.  notes  on  amain,  a -field. 

129.  and  nothing  said.     Milton  may  here  refer  to  Archbishop 
Laud's  leaning  towards  Popery.      Grammatically,  there  would 
seem  to  be  a  confusion  here  between  two  constructions  :  (1)  'and 
nothing  (is)   said,'  and  (2)   'nothing    (being)  said.'     The  latter 
would  be  the  absolute  construction,  and  in  Shakespeare  it  some 
times  happens  that  a  noun  intended  to  be  used  absolutely  is 
diverted,  by  a  change  of  thought,  into  a  subject ;  the  opposite 
process  may  have  taken  place,  here. 

130.  two-handei  engine.  |_T_he  sense  is.  "  But  the  instrument  of 
retribution  is  reudy  and  punishment  will  swiftly  fall  upon  the 
corrupt  Church.^J  '  Engine '  =  instrument,  its  literal  sense  being 
'  something  skilful '  (Lat.  ingenium,  skill)  :  it  is  therefore  cognate 
with  ingenious,  ingenuity,  and  has  been  corrupted  into  gin  =  a 
snare.     Comp.  Par.  Lost,  i.  749,  "Nor  did  he  'scape  by  all  his 
engines'  (i.e.  schemes). 

'  Two-handed  '  is  applied  to  swords,  axes,  etc. ,  that  require  to 
be  wielded  with  both  hands.  Cite  nature  of  the  instrument  that 
is  here  called  a  '  two-handed  enginejjhas  been  much  discussed  ; 
the  various  interpretations  are: — 

( 1 )  That  it  denotes  the  axe  by  which  Laud  was  afterwards  to 
be  beheaded  in  1 645,  Milton's  words  being  thus  prophetic.  This 
view  may  be  set  aside  :  it  certainly  did  not  occur  to  any  one  at 
the  time  of  the  publication  of  Lycidas,  when  the  power  of  Laud 
was,  at  its  height. 

(j(2)  That  the  axe  is  that  alluded  to  metaphorically  in  the  Scrip 
tures  as  the  instrument  of  reformation:  see  St.  Matt.  iii.  JO, 
"And  now  the  axe  is  laid  to  the  root  of  the  tree  ;  therefore  £yery 
tree  which  bringeth  not  forth  good  fruit  is  hewn  downhill  In 
Milton's  treatise  Of  Reformation  in  England  he  speaks  of  "the 
axe  of  G&d's  reformation  hewing  at  the  old  and  hollow  trunk  of 
Papacy .^3  Tnis  view  is  both  the  most  obvious  and  the  most  prob 
able. 


1 32  LYCIDAS. 

(3)  That  there  is  an  allusion  to  the  "  two-edged  sword  "  which 
proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Living  One  (see  Rev.  i.  16). 

(4)  That  the  poet  refers  to  the  powers  of  the  pure  Gospel  as 
contained  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 

(5)  That    the    English   Parliament    with   its    two    Houses    is 
meant,  "the  agency  by  which,  three  or  four  years  afterwards, 
the  doors  of  the  Church  of  England  were  dashed  in." 

(6)  That  it  denotes  civil  and  ecclesiastical  power.     See  note  on 
Son.  xvij,  12. 

132.  \The  poet  again  descends  to  the  level  of  the  ordinary 
pastoralTthough  it  should  be  observed  that  in  lines  113-131  he 
has  skilfully  adapted  pastoral  language  to  an  unusual  theme. 
The  * '  dread  voice  "  is  the  voice  of  St.  Peter,  and  it  is  to  this 
passage  that  Milton  refera_in  the  sub-title  to  the  poem  prefixed 
on  its  republication  in  1645.J  "  In  1638  it  had  been  bold  enough 
to  let  the  passage  stand  in  the  poem,  as  published  in  the  Cam 
bridge  memorial  volume,  without  calling  attention  to  it  in  the 
title  "  (Masson). 

Alpheus  :  see  Arc.  30,  notg. 

13,2*  That  shrunk  thy  streams,  [z^e.  which  silenced  my  pastoral 
museT)  The  figure  is  a  Scriptural  one  :  "  The  waters  stood  above 
the  mountains ;  at  thy  rebuke  they  fled ;  at  the  voice  of  thy 
thunder  they  hasted  away,"  Psalm,  civ.  7.  'Shrunk'  is  here 
used  in  an  active  or  causal  sense  =  made  to  shrink,  as  in  the 
phrase  '  to  shrink  cloth.j 

Sicilian  Muse,  phe^  muse  of  pastoral  poetry] :  see  note  on 
1.  85. 

134.  hither  cast,  i.e.  come  hither  and  cast.     Compare  the  Lat. 
idiom,  se  in  silvas  abdiderunt,    "they  hid  themselves  into  the 
woods,"  i.e.  "they  went  into  the  woods  and  hid  there,"  Ovid. 
See  also  1.  139. 

135.  bells,   bell-shaped   blossoms.       Plants   with    bell-shaped 
flowers  are  technically  called  '  campanulate '  (Ital.  campana,  a 
bell). 

flowerets  :  *  floweret '  is  diminutive  of  '  flower.' 

136.  use,  dwell,  frequent.     The  verb  is  quite  obsolete  in  this 
sense:  comp.  note,  1.  67.     In  Spenser  we  find,  "In  these  strange 
ways,  where  never  foot  did  use. " 

137.  The  construction  is,  "  Where  the  mild  whispers  of  shades, 
and  wanton  winds,  and  gushing  brooks,  dwell. " 

138.  lap  ;  by  a  common  figure  we  speak  of  'the  lap  of  earth,' 
'the  earth's  bosom,'  etc.  :  comp.  Gray's  Elegy,  "Here  rests  his 
head  upon  the  lap  of  earth";  also  Rich.  II.  v.  2,  "  the  green  lap 
of  the  new-come  spring."     The  word  has  no  connection  with 
'lap'  =  wrap  (U Alleg.  136). 


NOTES.  133 

the  swart  star  sparely  looks,  i.e.  "where  the  influence  of 
the  burning  dog-stacks  scarcely  felt, "  the  flowers  being  therefore 
fresh  and  bright.  [The  swart  star  is  Sirius  or  Canicula,  a  star 
just  injLhe  mouth  of  the  constellation  Canis,  hence  called  the 
dpg-staP](Lat.  cam's,  a  dog).  Hence  also  the  term  "dog  days." 
fFc£.the  Greeks  and  Romans  this  star  appeared  at  the  hottest  time 
01  the  year,  and  was  by  them  regarded  as  the  cause  of  the  great 
heat.  It  is  therefore  here  called  '  swart,'  i.e.  swart-making, 
because  by  exposure  to  heat  the  face  becomes  swarthy  or  brown7 
Milton  frequently  transfers  an  epithet  from  the  object  of  "an 
action  to  the  agent :  comp.  "  oblivious  pool "  =  pool  that  makes 
one  oblivious  (Par.  Lost,  i.  266),  "forgetful  lake,"  etc.  There 
are  four  forms  of  the  adjective  :  the  earliest  is  swart,  then  swarty, 
swarth,  and  finally  swarthy  :  all  four  forms  occur  in  Shakespeare. 
For  the  technical  sense  of  'looks,'  comp.  Arc.  52.  It  may  be 
noted  that  in  Epit.  Damon.  Milton  speaks  of  the  evil  influence  of 
the  planet  Saturn  upon  the  fortunes  of  shepherds. 

139.  quaint  enamelled  eyes,j l  i.e.  blossoms  neat  and  bright. 
The  centre  of  a  blossom  is  sometimes  called  an  '  eye ' ;  Jhe  name  is 
also  given  to  a  tender  bud  or  even  to  a  flower  (as  here).^:   Milton's 
use  of  the  word  '  enamelled '  is  illustrated  in  Arc.  84,~aiid  his  use 
of  'quaint'  in  Arc.  47;   see  notes.     Comp.  Peele's  David  and 
Bethsabe  :  "  May  that  sweet  plain  ...  be  still  enamelled  with  dis 
coloured  (i.e.  variegated)  flowers." 

140.  honeyed  showers,Weet  and  refreshing  rain.     '  Honeyed ' 
is  here  used  figurativeljTJ  comp.    ' '  honeyed  words  "  =  flattery. 
It  is  sometimes,  but  legs  correctly,  spelt  '  honied ' :   comp.  II 
Pens.  142. 

141.  purple,  here  used  as  a  verb.     The  meaning  is  that  the 
spring  flowers  are  so  abundant  that  they  give  the  green  turf  a 
purple  tint:  comp.  Par.  Lost,  vii.  28,  "  When  morn  jmrples  the 
east."     In  Latin  purpureus  is  common  in  the  sense  of  '  dazzling.' 

vernal,  pertaining  to  Spring  (Lat.  ver). 

142.  ^Lines  142-151  form  (as  Masson  says)  "  the  most  exquisite 
flower-and-colour  passage  in  all  Milton's  poetry.     His  manuscript 
shows  that  he  brought  it  to  perfection  by  additions  and  after 
thoughts"      "For   musical  sweetness   and   dainty   richness   ol 
floral  colour,  it  beats  perhaps  anything  else  in  all  Milton.     It  is 
the  call  upon  all  valleys  of  the  landscape,  and  the  banks  of  all 
the  secret  streamlets,  to  yield   up  their  choicest   flowers,   and 
those  dearest  to  shephejris  that  they  may  be  strewn  over  the 
dead  body  of  Lycidas/fl  A  similar  fancy  is  found  in  Shake 
speare  :    "  With  fairesfnowers  ...  I  '11  sweeten  thy  sad  grave." 
Cymb.  iv.  2. 

[Tnose  critics  who  judge  the  beauty  of  any  poetical  reference 
to  nature  by  its  fidelity  to  actual  fact  may  readily  object  that 


134  LYCIDAS. 

Milton  would  here  bring  together  flowers  that  are  never  found  in 
bloom  at  the  same  time  of  the  year.  But  the  season  of  the  year 
does  not  enter  into  Milton's  thoughts  except  in  so  far  as  it 
enables  him  to  characterize  some  of  the  flowers.  His  only  con 
cern  is  to  honour  the  grave  of  his  fellow-shepherd  by  heaping 
upon  it  a  rich  offering  of  nature's  fairest  and  sweetest  flowers — 
flowers  that,  by  their  purity  or  their  "  sad  embroidery,"  are  well 
fitted  to  "  strew  the  laureate  hearse  where  Lycid  lies.^_J 

In  connection  with  this  passage  Mr.  Buskin  writes: — "In 
Milton  it  happens,  I  think,  generally,  and  in  the  case  before  us 
most  certainly,  that  the  imagination  is  mixed  and  broken  with 
fancy,  and  so  the  strength  of  the  imagery  is  part  of  iron  and  part 
of  clay."  Lines  142,  145,  and  147  he  considers  'imaginative'; 
lines  144  and  146  'fanciful';  line  143  'nugatory';  and  line  148 
*  mixed.' 

rathe,  early :  the  root  of  this  word  survives  in  the  com 
parative  rather :  comp.  ' '  The  rather  lambs  be  starved  with 
cold  "  (Spenser),  where  rather  is  an  adjective.  Tennyson  has : 
"  the  men  of  rathe  and  riper  years  "  (In  Mem.  ex.).  Rather  is 
now  used  only  as  an  adverb,  except  perhaps  in  'the  phrase  '  I  had 
rather ' ;  in  '  I  would  rather '  it  is  certainly  an  adverb.  The 
Old  English  rath  =  early  (adj.)  ;  rathe  =  soon  (adv.). 

that  forsaken  dies,iLe.  'that  dies  because  it  is  forsaken 
by  the  sun-light,'  a  reference  to  the  fact  that  it  is  often  found  in 
shady  places7\  Milton  at  first  wrote  '  un wedded,'  showing  that 
he  had  in  mind  Shakespeare's  words,  "  Pale  primroses  that  die 
unmarried,  ere  they  can  behold  Bright  Phoebus  (i.e.  the  sun)  in 
his  strength  "  :  Winter's  Tale,  iv.  4.  See  Song  on  M.  M.  4. 

143.  tufted  crow-toe.  This  plant  is  more  commonly  called 
"crow-foot,"  both  names  having  reference  to  the  shape  of  the 
flower  :  comp.  '  bird's  foot  trefoil,'  belonging  to  the  same  order  of 
plants.  Another  similar  plant  is  the  tufted  vetch,  and  this 
epithet  correctly  describes  the  appearance  of  all  these  plants 
when  in  flower. 

pale  jessamine.  '  Jessamine  '  or  jasmine,  a  plant  which 
belongs  originally  to  the  East;  hence  the  name,  from  Persian 


144.  pink,  a  flower  which  has  given  name  to  a  particular 
colour  ;  similarly  the  colour  called  '  violet '  receives  its  name 
from  the  flower,  and  'mauve'  is  the  colour  of  the  'mallow.' 
The  reverse  process  is  seen  in  'carnation,'  this  flower  having 
received  its  name  from  its  fleshy  colour  (Lat.  caro,  flesh).  Some 
varieties  of  the  pink  are  white.^ 

pansy  freaked  with  jet&a^pecies  of  violet  having  gene 
rally  dark  spots  in  the  centre  of  its  blossoms.  '  Freaked  '  = 
spotted  or  marked ;  this  word  is  now  little  used  except  in  the 


NOTES.  135 

diminutive  freckles  =  small  dark  spots  (as  those  on  some  face*,}. 
Shakespeare  speaks  of  the  '  freckled  cowslip. ' 

146.  well-attired    woodbine,   i.e.    the    honey-suckle  with   its 
clusters  of  flowers.     '  Well-attired '  does  not  here   mean  well- 
clothed  or  covered  with  leaves,  but  '  having  a  beautiful  head 
dress  of  flowers. '      '  Tire  '  (the  prefix  being  dropped)  occurs  in  the 
same  sense.     The  word  is  now  extended  to  the  whole  dress  : 
comp.  On  Time,  21. 

147.  hang  the  pensive  head  :  '  pensive '  is  here  used  prolepti- 
cally,  i.e.  it  denotes  the  result  of  the  action  expressed  by  the 
verb  'hang'  :  comp.  Arc.  87. 

148.  sad  embroidery ;   or,  as  Milton  originally  wrote,  "  sor 
row's  livery,"  i.e.  colours  suited  to  mourning.     'To  embroider  ' 
is  strictly  to  adorn  with  needlework,  hence  used  in  the  sense  of 
4  to  ornament,'  and  finally  '  to  diversify  by  different  colours.' 

149.  amaranthus,  a  j^ant  so  called  because  its  flowers  last 
long  without  withering.     In  Par.  Lost  it  occurs  as  'amarant,' 
the  adjective  being  *  amarantine,'  which  comes  directly  from  the 
Greek  amarantos,  unfading.     The  word  is  cognate  with  '  am 
brosia,'  the  food  of  the  gods,  both  having  their  counterpart  in 
the  Sanskrit  amrita,  immortal. 

his  beauty  shed  :  '  his '  here  stands  for  '  its ' :  see  note  on 
II  Pens.  128.  '  Shed '  is  the  infinitive  after  '  bid' ;  so  is  *  fill '  in 
the  next  line. 

150.  daffadillies,  more  commonly  written  'daffodils.'    There 
is  also  a  more  colloquial  form,  daffadown-dilly,  which  occurs  in 
Spenser.     Comp.  Par.  Lost,  ix.  1040,  "Pansies  and  violets  and 
asphodel. "     '  Daffodil '  and  '  asphodel '  are  the  same,  both  name 

/      and  thing  :  the  initial  d  is  no  part  of  the  word,  and  in  earlier 

\    English  it  was  written  affodille,  which  is  from  an  old  French 

word  asphodile,   which  again  is  from  the  Greek  asphoddos,  a 

flower  of  the  lily  tribe.   [The  dew-drops  resting  in  the  hollow  of 

the  lilies  are  here  spoken  of  as  tears  shed  for  Lycidas7\ 

151.  laureate  hearse, /the  poet's  tomb.    The  word  'laureate' 
f\   here  jdgnifies  that   Lycmas  was  a  poet  and  was  lamented  by 

poetsTj  Another  interpretation  is  that  it  refers  to  the  fact  that 
King  had  obtained  an  academical  degree  :  see  note  on  Son.  xvi. 
9.  '  Hearse '  now  denotes  the  carriage  in  which  the  dead  are 
carried  to  the  grave,  and  even  the  meaning  which  Milton  here 
gives  it  is  not  the  primary  one.  The  changes  of  meaning  which 
this  word  has  shown  are:  (1)  a  harrow,  i.e.  a  frame  of  wood 
fitted  with  spikes,  and  used  for  breaking  up  the  soil ;  (2)  a  frame 
of  similar  shape  in  which  lighted  candles  were  stuck  during 
church  service  ;  (3)  a  frame  for  lights  at  a  funeral ;  (4)  a  funeral 
ceremony,  a  monument,  etc.  ;  (5)  a  frame  on  which  a  dead  body 


136  LYCIDAS. 

is  laid ;    (6)   a  carriage  for  a  dead  body  ;   comp.    Epitaph  on 
M.  of  W.  58.     'Lycid^=  Lycidas,  the  suffix  being  dropped. 

152.  [The  sense  is  :  '  Let  us  thus,  in  order  to  comfort  our 
selves  for  a  little,  please  our  weak  fancies  by  imagining  that  \ve 
actually  have  the  corpse  of  Lycidas  to  strew  with  flowers, 
while,  alas  !  his  bones  are  being  drifted  about  by  the  waves. ' 

Some  editions  read  a  comma  after  '  for,'  and  connect  '  so ' 
'to  interpose':  it  seems  better  to  read  'so'  with  'for,'  thus 
making  '  to  interpose,'  etc.,  a  clause  of  purpose. 

154.  There  is  a  zeugma  in  wash  as  applied  to  '  shores '  and 
'seas.'     Comp.  Virgil's  jEn.  vi.   362 :  "my  body  is  sometimes 
tossed  by  the  waves,  and  sometimes  thrown  on  the  shore."     The 
pathetic  allusions  in  Lycidas  to  King's  death  at  sea  may  be  com 
pared  throughout  with  Virgil's  language  on  the  death  of  the 
pilot  Palinurus,  especially  in  the  closing  lines  of  Book  v.  : 
"  O  nimium  caelo  et  pelago  confise  sereno, 
Nudus  in  ignota,  Palinure,  jacebis  harena. " 

156.  iJHebrides,  or  Western  Isles,  a  range  of  about  200  islands, 
scattered  along  the  western  coast  of  Scotland.      King  having 
been  wrecked   in  the    Irish   Sea,   his  body  may  (according   to 
Milton)  have  been  carried  far  north  to  the  Hebrides  or  far  south 
to  the  coast  of  Cornwall,  these  two  parts  being  the  extremities  of 
Great  BritairQ 

157.  whelming :  the  compound  '  overwhelming '  is  more  com 
monly  used. 

158.  the  bottom  of  the  monstrous  world,  Le.  the  bottom  of  the 
sea,    "  there   being  more  room  for  the  marvellous   among   the 
creatures  of  the  deep  than  among  the  better  known  inhabitants 
of  the  land."     '  Monstrous '  is  therefore  here  used  literally  =  full 
of  monsters.    Comp.  Par.  Lost,  ii.  624,  "  Nature  breeds,  Perverse, 
all  monstrous,  all  prodigious  things  " ;   also  Virgil's  A  en.  729, 
' '  Quae  marmores  fert  monstra  sub  aequora  pontus. " 

159.  Or  whether.     This  would  naturally  answer  to  'whether' 
in  line  156,  but  there  is  another  anacolouthon,  or  change  of  con 
struction  ;   the  first  '  whether '  introduces  an  adverbial  phrase, 
while  the  second  introduces  a  complete  sentence. 


to  our  moist  vows  denied,[/.e.  your  body  being  denied  to 
our  tearful  prayers.  '  Moist '  is  properly  applicable  to  the  eyes 
of  those  praying  for  the  recovery  of  Lycidas'  body.  There  may 
be  an  allusion  in  '  vows '  to  those  promises  of  thanksgiving  and 
offerings  made  to  Neptune  ihat  he  might  restore  the  bodies  of 
those  who  had  been  drowned.  1  Comp.  Arc.  6. 

160.  fable  of  Bellerus  oldTIe.  the  fabled  abode  of  the  old 
Cornish  giant  Bellerus.  Bellerium  was  the  Latin  name  for 
Land's  End  in  Cornwall,  and  Milton  '  fables '  this  name  to  have 


NOTES.  137 

been  derived  from  Bellerus,  though  no  such  name  occurs  in  the 
catalogue_of .the ;  old  Cornish  giantsTI There  was,  however,  a^giant" 
named  Corineus,  said  to  have  comtrttito  Britain  with  Brute,  and 
in   his   first   draft   of  the  poem   Milton  wrote   '  Corineus,'  not 
'  Bellerus '  (pron.  Bellerus). 

161.  great  Vision    of   the    guarded    mount.      The   'guarded 
mount'  is   St.   Michael's   Mount,   near   Land's   End,   on  which 
there  is  a  crag  called  St.  Michael's  Chair.     The  tradition  is  that 
the  '  vision '  (or  apparition)    of   the  Archangel   had    been  seen 
seated  on  this  crag.     Milton,  therefore,  speaks  of  the  Mount  as 
'  guarded '  by  the  Archangel. 

162.  Looks  toward  Namancos,  etc.     Namancos  is  in  the  pro 
vince   of   Gallicia,  near    Cape   Finisterre,  in    Spain  (the   name 
being  found  in  old  maps).     Bayona  is  also  in  Gallicia.       "  It  was 
a  boast  of  the  Cornish  people  that  there  was  a  direct  line  of  sea- 
view  from  Land's  End  passing  France  altogether  and  hitting  no 
European  land  till  it  reached  Spain  "  (see  map  of  Europe). 

hold  =  stronghold,  castle. 

163.  Angel, ]i.e.  St.  Michael,  who  is  here  asked  to  cease  looking 
towards  Spain  and  to  turn  his  gaze  to  the  seas  around  him,  whei  e 
the  shipwrecked  Lycidas  liesTl    Some  would  take  'Angel'  as 
addressed  to  Lycidas,  who  would,  then  be  regarded  as  a  glorified 
spirit  looking  down  upon  his  weeping  friends :   that  this  is  not 
the  meaning  is  evident  from  the  language  of  1.  164. 

ruth,  pity  :  see  note,  Son.  ix.  8. 

164.  dolphins,  sea-animals  ;  here  alluded  to  because  Arion,  an 
ancient  Greek  bard,  when  thrown  overboard  by  sailors  on  a 
voyage  to  Corinth,  was  supported  on  the  backs  of  dolphins  whom 
he  had  charmed  by  his  music. 

•waft,  a  word  generally  applied  to  winds,  sometimes  also  to 
water,  is  here  used  of  the  dolphins  to  signify  their  swift  passage 
throughihe  sea.  For  'hapless,'  see  EpU.  on  M.  of  W.  31,  note. 

165.  (jjie  poem  here  becomes  a  strain  of  joyj(see  Analysis), 
which  may  be  compared  with  that  which  closes  Milton's  other 
famous  elegy  on  the  death  of  Charles  Diodati  two  years  after 
Lycidas  was  composed.     The  following  extract  from  the  latter 
(Cowper's  translation)  will  partly  enable  the  student  to  compare 
the  two  pieces — 

"  Cease  then  my  tears  to  flow  ! 
Away  with  grief,  on  Damon  ill  bestowed  ! 
Who,  pure  himself,  has  found  a  pure  abode, 
Has  passed  the  showery  arch,  henceforth  resides 
With  saints  and  heroes,  and  from  flowing  tides 
Quaffs  copious  immortality  and  joy.  .  .  . 
Thy  brows  encircled  with  a  radiant  band, 
And  the  green  palm-branch  waving  in  thy  hand, 


138  LYCIDAS. 

Thou  in  immortal  nuptials  shalt  rejoice, 
And  join  with  seraphs  thy  according  voice, 
Where  rapture  reigns,  and  the  ecstatic  lyre 
Guides  the  blest  orgies  of  the  blazing  quire. " 

woful,  also  spelt  '  woeful. ' 

166.  your  sorrow,  object  of  your  sorrow ;  by  synecdoche  the 
name  of  a  passion  or  emotion  is  often  put  for  the  object  that 
inspires  it,  e.g.  joy,  pride,  delight,  care,  hope,  etc. 

is  not  dead,  i.e.  he  lives  in  Paradise. 

167.  watery  floor,  the  surface  of  the  sea  :  comp.  "level  brine," 
1.  98,  and  the  Lat.  aequor  (a  level  surface)  applied  to  the  sea. 
Shakespeare  calls  the  sky  the  "floor  of  heaven." 

168.  day-star,  the  sun,  which,  to  one  looking  seaward,  seems 
to  sink,  at  setting,  into  the  ocean.     Comp.  Com.  95 — 

"  And  the  gilded  car  of  day 
His  glowing  axle  doth  allay 
In  the  steep  Atlantic  stream." 

169.  anon,  after  a  short  time,  i.e.  at  sunrise.      Comp.  L'Alleg. 
131. 

repairs  his  drooping  head,  renews  his  brightness. 

170.  tricks  ;  here  used  transitively  in  the  sense  of  '  to  display': 
see  II  Pens.  123,  note. 

new-spangled  ore,  bright  golden  rays.  '  Ore '  =  metal, 
the  newly-risen  sun  being  like  a  ball  or  disc  of  gold.  '  Spangled  ' 
-  sparkling :  a  spangle  is  strictly  a.  small  plate  of  shining  metal 
used  as  an  ornament,  and  hence  in  poetry  it  is  common  to  speak 
of  the  stars  as  spangles,  and  of  the  sky  as  '  spangled  with  stars.' 
Comp.  Shakespeare's  Taming  of  the.  Shrew,  iv.  5.  :  see  also  Par. 
Lost,  xi.  128. 

172.  So.  [The  meaning  is,  'As  the  sun  sinks  into  the  sea  in 
the  eveningb"ut  rises  again  in  the  morning  with  renewed  beauty, 
so  Lycidas  sank  low  into  the  sea,  but  rose  again_through  the 
saving  power  of  Christ,  to  take  his  place  in  Paradise^ 

'  Sunk '  =  sank  :  see  1.  102,  note. 

173.  the  dear  might  of  Him,  etc.  =  the  power  of  that  dear 
Saviour  over  whom  the  waves  of  the  sea  had  no  power.     Milton 
thus  appropriately  illustrates  Christ's  power  by  a  reference  to 
that  one  of  his  miracles  which  shows  his  rule  over  the  waters. 
See  Matt.  xiv.  22. 

'  Walked ' :  here  used  transitively  ;  comp.  II  Pens.  156. 

174.  Where,  i.e.  'mounted  high  (to  that  place)  where,'  etc. 
along,  a  preposition  governing  'groves'  and  'streams.' 

175.  \His  locks  that  were  wet  with  the  sea  ooze  he  washes  with 
the  pure  nectar  of  heaven! 


Y 

f\ 


NOTES.  139 

'  Oozy,'  slimy  ;  *  ooze  '  is  the  soft  mud  found  at  the  bottom  of 
the  sea.  '  To  ooze  '  is  to  flow  gently,  as  ooze  would  do. 

'Nectar,'  the  drink  of  the  gods:  in  Death  of  a  Fair  Infant, 
Milton  speaks  of  the  "  nectared  head  "  of  a  goddess,  and  in  Par. 
Lost,  he  tells  us  that  there  is  a  "nectarous  humour"  in  the  veins 
of  the  angels. 

176.  unexpressive   nuptial  song,jj.e.    inexpressible    marriage 
song  :  see  R<v.  xix.  9,  where  all  trueBelievers  are  spoken  of  as 
bidden  to  the  marriage  feast  of  the  Lamb  of  God.     In  the  two 
preceding   lines   the   language   of   Lycidas  is   that   of    classical 
mythology;   in  this  line  and  the  six  following,  the  imagery  is 
Christian;    and  then   the   poet   reverts   to   mythology.      "We 
might  say  that  these  things  are  ill-fitted  to  each  other.     So  they 
would  be,  were  not  the  art  so  fine  and  the  poetry  so  overmaster 
ing  ;  were  they  not  fused  together  by  genius  into  aodiole  so  that 
the  unfitness  itself  becomes  fascination."     (Brooke.)^ 

1  Unexpressive  '  :  both  Shakespeal^  and  Milton  use  adjectives 
with  the  termination  -ive  where  we  now  use  -ible  or  -able.  Comp. 
incomprehensive,  plausive,  insuppressive,  etc.,  occurring  in 
Shakespeare.  For  the  prefix  -un  see  note  on  1.  64  above.  The 
word  '  unexpressive  '  has  therefore,  in  modern  English,  become 
in-express-ible.  '  Nuptial  '  is  from  Lat.  nubere,  to  marry  ;  comp. 
'connubial.' 

177.  For  the  order  of  the  words  .comp.  L'Alleg.  40. 
kingdoms  meek,  abodes  of  the  meek. 

178.  'There  all  the  saints  above  entertain  him.' 

179.  sweet  societies.   [What  Milton  here  calls  '  sweet  societies  ' 
W     of  angels,  he  calls  (in  Par.  Lost,  xi.  80)  'fellowships  of  joy.' 
7\   Milton   believed   in   a   complete   angelic   system,   with   a  most 

elaborate  division  into  orders  and  degrees  of  rank—  a  system 
widely  recognised  in  mediaeval  Christian  tradition/^  In  Par.  Lost 
he  makes  large  use  of  this  belief  ;  in  this  poem  it  is  merely 
hinted  at. 

181.  The  language  of  this  line  is  taken  from  the  Scriptures: 
see  Isaiah,  xxv.  8,  and  Rev.  vii.  7,  "  God  shall  wipe  away  all 
tears  from  their  eyes.  " 

for  ever,  once  and  for  all. 

182.  This  line  is  to  be  compared  with  line  165. 

183.  the  Genius  of  the  shore  :   see  Arc.  25,  26  ;  II  Pens.  154. 
t  is  common  in  Latin  poetry  to  represent  a  drowned  person  as 
e~coming  the  genius  or  guardian  spirit  of  the  locality  where  he 

met  his  f  ate  Jhis  office  being  to  prevent  future  voyagers  from  a 
like  disaster;!  hence  Milton  saya*."  (thou)  shalt  be  good  (i.e.  pro 
pitious)  to  all  that  wander,"  etc.J  The  Latin  bonus  occurs  in  the 
sense  of  'propitious,'  Virgil's  Ed.  v.  64. 


140  LYCIDAS. 

184.  In  thy  large  recompense,  i.e.   as  a  great  recompense  to 
thee.     "  The  use  of  the  possessive  pronouns  and  of  the  inflected 
possessive  case  of  nouns  and  pronouns  was,  until  a  comparatively 
recent  period,  very  much  more  extensive  than  at  present,  and 
they  were  employed  in  many  cases  where  the  preposition  with 
the  objective  now  takes  its  place  "  (Marsh). 

185.  wander  in  that  perilous  flood,  i.e.  sail  over  that  dangerous 
sea. 

186.  JThe  epilogue  begins  herensee  analysis)  :|its  separateness 
from  the"  rest  of  the  poem  is  hraicated  by   the  Kict  that  in  it 
Milton  lays  aside  his  ' '  oaten  flute  "  and  resumes  his  own  person 
ality,  and  by  the  metrical  and  rhyming  structure  of  the  eight 
lines  of  which  it  consists^]  It  is,  in  fact,  a  stanza  in  Ottava  Rima, 
the  arrangement  of  rhymes  being  abababcc. 

uncouth:  see  note,  L'Alleg.  5. 

187.  with  sandals  grrey,|jLe.  at  the  grey  dawn.{   Comp.  "grey- 
hooded  even,"  Com.  188.     The  shepherd  had  begun  to  sing  at 
daybreak,  but  in  his  eagerness  he  had  continued  tillgyening. 

188.  He  touched  the  tender  stops  of  various  quills  jfe.  through 
out  his  song  he  had  passed  through  various  moods  ami  had  sung 
in  various  metres.]    '  Quill '  is  here  used  in  its  primary  sense,  =  a 
reed,  which  MilEon  has  already  called  '  oaten  pipe ' :  the  applica 
tion  of  this  word  to  the  feather  of  a  bird  is  secondary.     The 
'  stops '  of  a  reed  or  flute  are  the  small  holes  over  which  the 
fingers  of  the  player  are  placed,  also  called  vent-holes  or  (as  in 
Shakespeare)  'ventages':  comp.  Com.  345,  "pastoral  reed  with 
oaten  stops."     The  epithet  '  tender  '  is  here  transferred  from  the 
music  itself  to  the  stops,  from  the  effect  to  the  cause. 

189.  thought,  care  :    comp.  Matt.  vi.  25,  "  Take  no  thought  for 
your  life,"  etc. 

Doric  lay,  rpjistoral  song,  so  called  because  Theocritus, 
Bion,  and  Moschus  wrote  their  pastorals  in  the  Doric  dialect  of 
the  Greek  tonguel:  see  note  on  L'Alleg.  136. 

190.  '  The  sun,  being  low,  had  lengthened  the  shadows  of  the 
hills.'     Comp.  Virgil,  Eel.  i.  83. 

191.  was  dropt,  had  dropt  :  see  note,  1.  97,  and  Son.  ii.  G. 

192.  twitched,  plucked  tightly  around  him. 

his  mantle  blue.  [Jhe  colour  is  that  of  a  shepherd's 
dress,  hence  the  allusion.  It  is  very  improbable  that  any  alle 
gorical  sense  is  intended?] 

193.  To-morrow,  etc. :  comp.  the  Purple  Island,  by  Fletcher — 

"  Home,  then,  my  lambs  :  the  falling  drops  eschew  : 
To-morrow  shall  ye  feast  in  pastures  new." 


NOTES. 


SONNETS. 

Milton's  sonnets  are  of  interest  not  merely  from  the  circum 
stances  of  their  composition  and  from  the  subjects  of  which  thfey 
treat,  but  also  from  the  fact  that  they  are,  in  metrical  structure, 
closer  to  the  Italian  type  than  those  cf  any  other  English  poet. 
The  sonnet  came  to  us  originally  from  Italy,  and  hence  Milton 
speaks  of  it  as  the  Petrarchian  stanza.  It  is  a  poem  of  fourteen 
decasyllabic  lines,  the  first  eight  forming  the  octave,  and  the 
remaining  six  the  sestet.  The  octave  consists  of  two  quatrains, 
and  has  its  rhymes  arranged  thus — a  b  b  a,  a  b  b  a.  In  the  strict 
Italian  type,  a  pause  or  break  in  the  thought  occurs  at  the  end 
of  the  octave,  but  this  rule  is  often  disregarded  by  Milton.  The 
rhymes  of  the  sestet  are  less  strictly  governed  by  rule,  and  the 
first  three  forms  employed  by  Milton  (see  subjoined  metrical 
table)  are  all  common  in  the  sonnets  of  Petrarch,  Dante,  Tasso, 
and  Vittoria  Colonna.  Ariosto  chiefly  follows  what  is  here 
called  Milton's  first  form.  In  the  Italian  sonnet  a  final  rhyming 
couplet  was  not  allowed,  and  Milton  uses  it  only  once  (Son.  xvi.): 
in  Spenser  and  Shakespeare,  on  the  other  hand,  this  rhyming 
couplet  is  always  present.  The  sonnet  must  be  absolutely  com 
plete  in  itself  and  must  be  dignified  and  full  of  strength.  It 
must  be  the  direct  expression  of  some  real  emotion,  of  some 
incident  that  has  stirred  the  poet's  soul.  Judged  by  these 
requirements  Milton's  sonnets  are  seen  to  be  worthy  of  the 
form  in  which  they  are  cast;  they  are  not  fanciful  expressions 
of  some  simulated  feeling,  but  are  straightforward,  majestic  and 
impassioned.  Wordsworth  might  well  say  of  the  Sonnet  that,  in 
Milton's  hands,  "the  thing  became  a  trumpet,  whence  he  blew 
soul-animating  strains,— alas  !  too  few!" 

METRICAL  ANALYSIS. 

1st  form:  abba,  abba;  cdc,  dcd: — 

Sonnets  L,  viii.,  xi.,  xiv.,  xviii.,  xxii.,  xxiii. 
2nd  form  :  abba,  abba;  c  d  e,  c  d  e  :— 

Sonnets  ix.,  x.,  xvii.,  xix.,  xxi. 
3rd  form  :  a  b  b  a,  a  b  b  a  ;  c  d  e,  d  c  e  : — 

Sonnets  ii.,  xiii. 
4th  form  :  abba,  abba;  cdd,  cdc: — 

Sonnets  xii.,  xv. 
5th  form  :  abba,  abba;  cdc,  e  e  d  : — 

Sonnet  xx. 
6th  form:  abba,  abba;  cdd,  cee: — 

Sonnet  xvi. 
7th  form:  abba,  abba;  cde,  dec;  cff,  fgg  :— 

(tailed)     Sonnet  xiia. 


142  SONNETS. 

The  Italian  sonnets  (iii.-vii.)  are,  of  course,  omitted  from  this 
edition.  As  a  guide  to  the  student  we  give  a  classification'  of 
the  sonnets  according  to  the  nature  of  their  subject  (see  Stopford 
Brooke's  Milton,  Classical  Writers  series)  : — 

I.  Personal :  i.,  ii.,  viii.,  xiii.,  xix.,  xx.,  xxi.,  xxii. 
II.   To  women  :  iv.,  x.,  xiv.,  xxiii. 

III.  Controversial ;  xi. ,  xii. ,  xiia. 

IV.  Political:  xv.,  xvi.,  xvii,  xviii. 


SONNET  I. 

The  title  is  printed  in  brackets  in  the  text,  because  it  is 
not  found  in  either  of  the  two  editions  (1645  and  1673), 
superintended  by  Milton  himself:  comp.  also  Son.  ii.,  ix.,  xix., 
xx.,  xxi.,  xxii.,  xxiii.  There  is  no  means  of  dating  this  sonnet 
precisely,  but  it  is  placed  first  by  Milton  himself,  and  must  be 
referred  either  to  the  close  of  the  Cambridge  period  or  to  the 
beginning  of  the  Horton  period  (i.e.  about  1631).  It  shows  that 
Milton  had,  even  in  his  first  efforts  at  sonnet- writing,  resolved  to 
adhere  to  Italian  metrical  models. 

1.  0,  nightingale.      Milton's  fondness  for  this    bird    shows 
itself  in  //  Pens.   61-64,   Comu*,  234,  566,    and  elsewhere.     It 
arrives  in  England  about  the  middle  of  April.      Poets  generally 
(as  here)  refer  to  it  by  the  feminine  gender,  perhaps  on  account 
of  the  story  of  Philomela  (see  II  Pens.  61 ),  but  it  is  the  male 
that  is  the  song-bird  :  he  sings  on  till  the  young  are  hatched  in 
the  month  of  June. 

yon  bloomy  spray.  For  'yon'  see  note,  II  Pens.  5'?. 
'  Bloomy'  strictly  denotes  'blooming,'  i.e.  covered  with  blossom, 
but  if  it  is  objected  that  the  trees  are  not  in  blossom  in  April, 
it  may  be  interpreted  to  mean  "covered  with  buds,'  i.e.  about  to 
burst  into  blossom.  For  the  termination  y  (~A.S.  ig),  comp. 
'massy,'  II  Pens.  158.  'Spray  '  =  sprig  (which  is  radically  the 
same  word),  implies  the  breaking  up  of  a  branch  into  a  number 
of  twigs,  just  as  '  twig  '  itself  (from  the  same  root  as  two)  implies 
a  small  shoot  branching  off  from  a  larger  one. 

2.  Warblest,   art   accustomed   to  warble.     The  present   here 
denotes  not  what  is  actually  taking  place,  but  what  frequently 
takes  place. 

when  all  the  woods  are  still,  when  all  the  other  songsters 
have  ceased  :  comp.  II  Pens.  61. 

3.  fresh  hope,  i.e.  renewed  hope. 

4.  the  jolly  hours   lead,   etc.,  i.e.   'while  the  bright   hours 
herald  the  approach  of  the  happy  month  of  May.'     The  Horae 
(or  Hours)  of  classical  mythology  were  regarded  as  the  goddesses 


NOTES.  143 

of  the  Seasons,  whose  course  was  described  as  the  dance  of  the 
Horae.  The  Hora  of  Spring  accompanied  Persephone  every  year 
on  her  ascent  from  the  lower  world,  and  the  expression  "The 
chamber  of  the  Horae  opens"  is  equivalent  to  "The  Spring  is 
coming. "  The  attributes  of  Spring — flowers,  fragrance,  and  the 
bloom  of  youth — are  accordingly  transferred  to  the  Horae. 

'  Jolly ' ;  the  original  sense  is  '  festive,'  and  this  would  suit  the 
sense  here  ;  in  Com.  986,  Milton  calls  the  Hours  *  rosy -bosomed.' 
In  Chaucer,  Spenser  and  others,  '  jolly  '  is  used  in  the  sense  of 
the  French  joli,  —  pleasing,  pretty  ;  in  modern  English  it  means 
merry,  and  implies  boisterous  mirth. 

propitious  May.  May  is  here  called  propitious  (i.e.  favour 
able)  because  it  was  regarded  as  favourable  to  love,  "whose 
month  is  ever  May,"  L.  L.  L.  iv.  3.  The  literal  sense  of  'pro 
pitious  '  is  '  flying  forward,'  a  meaning  which  points  back  to  the 
time  when  the  Romans  judged  omens  to  be  good  or  bad  according 
to  the  flight  of  birds. 

5.  liquid,   smooth-flowing,  sweet.     'Notes'  is  nominative  to 
'  portend. ' 

the  eye  of  day.     The  song  of  the  nightingale  is  so  sweet  that 
it  lulls  the  day  to  sleep.     Comp.  Lye.  26,  Com.  978  ; 
"  Where  day  never  shuts  his  eye." 

6.  First  heard.     This  line  forms  a  participial  clause,    doing 
duty  for  a  temporal  clause  introduced  by  '  when. '     In  Latin  this 
construction  is  frequent. 

before  the  shallow  cuckoo's  bill,  i.e.  before  the  unmusical 
notes  of  the  cuckoo  are  heard.  '  Shallow '  here  expresses  con 
tempt,  as  in  Son.  xiia.  12  ;  in  the  'same  way  we  speak 
of  sounds  as  being  thin  or  weak.  '  Bill '  —  song  ;  by  synecdoche 
the  source  of  the  song  is  put  for  the  song  itself.  The  name  of 
the  bird  is  said  to  be  derived  from  the  sound  made  by  it :  comp. 
Lat.  cucnlus,  Sansk.  kokila,  both  imitative. 

7.  Portend,  foretell.     The  nightingale  and  the   cuckoo  were 
regarded  as  rival  heralds  of  Spring.     It  was  a  superstition  that 
to  hear  the  cuckoo  before  the  nightingale  betokened  unhappiness 
for  lovers. 

8.  have  linked;  subjunctive  mood,  as  'foretell,'  1.  10. 
amorous  power,  power  over  the  affairs  of  lovers  (Lat.  amor— 

love).  This  is  an  instance  of  transference  of  attribute  :  '  amorous' 
can  strictly  be  applied  only  to  persons. 

9.  timely  sing,  sing  in  good  time  (i.e.  be  not  too  late  as  you 
have  hitherto  been).      '  Timely '  is  now  used  as  an  adjective,  here 
it  is  an  adverb:    comp.   Com.   689,  970;    'timely  rest'  (adj.), 
'timely  tried'  (adv.). 


144  SONNETS. 

bird  of  hate.     '  Of  hate '  is  here  used  passively  =  hated. 
The  cuckoo  is  feared  and  hated  by  the  smaller  birds. 

11.  As,  since;  here  introduces  an  explanatory  clause,  giving 
the  cause  of  the  poet's  request. 

too  late  For  my  relief,  i.e.  too  late  to  be  able  to  relieve  me. 
An  adjective  preceded  by  the  adverb  too  is  often  followed  by  a 
gerundial  infinitive  or  a  prepositional  phrase,  which  is  equivalent 
to  an  adverb  and  modifies  the  adjective.  The  prepositional 
phrase  corresponds  to  the  Lat.  ad  with  the  gerund. 

12.  yet  hadst,  etc. ;  i.e.  yet  thou  hadst  no  reason  why  (thou 
shouldst  have  sung  so  late).     The  word  '  yet '  ( =  nevertheless) 
introduces  an  independent  clause,  and  marks  a  contrast.    '  Why,' 
along  with  the  understood  clause,  is  an  attribute  to  'reason.' 

13.  call,  name  :  is  here  singular  and  in  subjunctive  mood.     Its 
two  objects  are  'thee'  and  'mate.' 

Ms  mate  :  the  use  of  the  pronoun  his  implies  reference  to 
the  nightingale  by  the  feminine  gender,  as  usual ;  but  it  makes 
Muse  masculine,  which  is  unusual :  comp.  II  Pens.  47,  Lye.  19. 

14.  Both  them.     In  modern  English  both,  when  used  with  pro 
nouns,  is  treated  either  as  an  adjective  or  as  a  substantive  :  in 
the  former  case  it  follows  the  pronoun,  e.g.  them  both;  in  the 
latter  case  'of  is  inserted,  e.g.  both  of  them.     The  latter  vise  is, 
strictly  speaking,  not  logical,  for  '  of '  gives  a  partitive  meaning, 
as  in  '  six  of  them,'  '  a  few  of  them ' :  whereas  in  '  both  of  them ' 
there  is  no  reference  to  a  part,  but  to  the  whole.    This  is  avoided 
in  Latin,  where  '  all  of  us  '  is  '  we  all '  (nos  omnes),  '  how  many  of 
you  were  there  ? '  is  *  you  how  many  etc. , '  (quot  estis  ?).     When  both 
is  used  with  nouns  there  is  greater  choice  of  arrangement,  e.g.  'both 
brothers,'  'both  of  the  brothers,'  'both  the  brothers,'  and  even 
'  brothers  both. ' 

of  their  train.  For  this  use  of  of,  comp.  L'Alleg.  38,  and 
for  'train,'  see  note  on  II  Pens.  10. 


SONNET  II. 

Milton  was  twenty-three  years  old  on  the  9th  of  December, 
1631  :  this  fixes  the  date  of  the  sonnet,  the  last  he  wrote  while  at 
Cambridge.  By  the  time  he  took  his  degree  of  M.A.  (1632)  he 
had  given  up  all  intention  of  entering  the  Church,  and  on  account 
of  this  decision  a  friend  ventured  to  remonstrate  with  him.  The 
reply  was  a  letter  accompanied  by  this  sonnet,  which  Milton 
described  as  a  Petrarchian  stanza  :  in  fact,  nearly  seventy  of 
Petrarch's  sonnets  have  the  same  metrical  structure  as  this  has. 

1.  How  soon,  exclamatory,  not  interrogative. 


NOTES.  U5 

subtle  thief  of  youth.  Time  is  so  called  because  youth 
passes  away  imperceptibly  :  with  this  phrase  compare  Young's 
" procrastination  is  the  thief  of  time,"  and  Pope's  "Time,  the 
thief  of  life,"  etc. 

2.  Stolen:  the  verb  is  'hath  stolen,'  and  its  object  is  'year.' 
'  Steal '  here  implies  that  the  twenty-third  year  had  been  com 
pleted,  not,  as  some  think,  that  it  had  begun. 

three-and-twentieth :  this  is  a  compound  ordinal  numeral : 
in  such  cases  it  is  the  final  member  of  the  compound  that  takes 
the  ordinal  suffix;  comp.  'twenty-^YeT  with  '  three-and- 
tw*ntieth, ' 

3.  full  career:  comp.  the  use  of  'full'  in  the  phrases  'at full 
speed,'  '  in  full  swing,'  etc. 

4.  no  bud  or  blossom  shew'th,  i.e.  gives  no  sign  of  inward  fit 
ness.     Comp.  2  Hen.  IV.  i.  3— 

"As  in  an  early  spring 

We  see  the  appearing  bud*  which  to  prove  fruit 
Hope  gives  not  so  much  warrant  as  despair 
That  frosts  will  bite  them. 
Here  shew'th  rhymes  with  youth  :  comp.  //  Pens.  71. 

5.  my  semblance,  etc. ,  i.  e.   '  perhaps  my  outward  appearance 
belies  the  fact  that  I  have  arrived  so  near  manhood,  and  maturity 
of  mind  may  be  much  less  evident  in  me  than  in  some  more  for 
tunate  natures.'     Comp.  Par.  Reg.  iii.  131. 

6.  That  I  ...  near.     '  That '  here  introduces  a  substantive  clause 
in  apposition  to  '  truth  ' ;  in  1.  8  '  that '  is  a  relative  introducing  a 
clause  attributive  to  '  ripeness.' 

am  arrived.  It  is  more  usual  in  modern  English  to  say 
'have  arrived.'  With  some  intransitive  verbs  of  motion  (e.g.  to 
go,  come,  arrive,  enter)  either  of  the  auxiliaries  be  and  have  is 
used  ;  in  Elizabethan  writers  both  forms  are  common  :  thus  '  I 
am  arrived '  expresses  my  present  state,  while  '  I  have  arrived ' 
expresses  the  activity  which  preceded  the  present  state.  This 
distinction  of  meaning  is  not  now  strictly  observed,  and  the 
auxiliary  'have'  is  in  general  use.  (See  Abbott's  Shak.  Gram.) 

8.  timely-happy,  fortunate  with  regard  to  time.      See  note, 
Son.  i.  9. 

endu'th  =  endoweth,  of  which  it  is  an  older  spelling.  It  is 
from  Fr.  endouer  (Lat.  in-dotare],  to  give  a  gift  to:  cognate 
words  are  dowry,  endoivment.  It  has  no  connection  with  indue, 
which  means  '  to  clothe  with '  (Lat.  in-duert).  The  words  are 
often  confused. 

9.  be  it  less  or  more.     In  this  line  '  or '  occurs  three  times, 
there  being  two  pairs  of  alternatives  — '  whether  it  be  less  or 

K 


146  SONNETS. 

more,'  and  '  whether  it  be  soon  or  slow.'  In  the  first  case 
'  whether '  is  understood,  in  the  second  '  or '  =  whether  (a  cognate 
word). 

10.  It  shall  be  still,  etc. ,  it  shall  in  any  case  be  strictly  in  pro 
portion  to  the  lot  for  which  Heaven  intends  me.     We  have  here 
Milton's  deliberate  statement  of  his  intention  to  become  a  great 
poet.     The  word  '  shall '  is  emphatic. 

even,  equal,  in  proportion  to  :  an  adjective. 

11.  mean,    humble   (Ger.    gemein,    common).      The   adjective 
mean  =  middle   is  a  totally  different  word,   being   from  Lat. 
medius. 

12.  will  of  Heaven,  sc.  'leads  me.' 

13.  All  is,  etc.     This  may  mean  '  all  is  even,'  or  '  all  that  con 
cerns  me ' ;  '  my  first  consideration  is  to  use  my  powers  as  one 
who  is   conscious    that    God    constantly   sees   and   judges   my 
work. ' 

14.  Task-Master's  eye.     This  is  in  allusion  to  the  parable  of 
the  labourers  in  the  vineyard  (Matt,  xx.)  ;   in  the  letter  which 
accompanied  this  sonnet  Milton  says,  "  Those  that  were  latest 
lost  nothing  when  the  Master  of  the  vineyard  came  to  give  every 
man  his  hire."     Compare  the  closing  lines  of  Son.  xix. 

"Sonnets  iii.  to  vii.  are  in  Italian. 


SONNET  VIII. 

The  title  is  Milton's  own.  This  sonnet  is  inspired  by  his  high 
conception  of  the  poet's  task  and  of  the  power  that  lies  in  the 
name  of  a  great  poet  to  avert  disaster  and  to  requite  those  who 
honour  the  Muses.  It  was  written  in  November,  1 642.  The  battle 
of  Edgehill  was  fought  in  October  of  that  year,  and  the  royal  army 
then  marched  to  attack  London.  This  was  the  'assault'  ex 
pected,  and  Milton,  having  been  an  active  pamphleteer  on  the 
side  of  the  Parliament,  might  naturally  have  feared  that  his 
house  would  not  escape  the  Royalists  if  they  succeeded  in 
entering  the  city.  The  'assault'  never  took  place,  for  the 
royal  army  retreated  when  the  parliamentary  army,  under  the 
Earl  of  Essex,  moved  out  to  meet  it. 

1.  Colonel  is  here  a  trisyllable,  though  usually  a  dissyllable. 
It  is  from  the  Ital.  colonello,  the  leader  of  the  little  column  (i.e. 
at  the  head  of  a  regiment).    It  has  no  connection  with  Lat. 
corona,  a  crown.     (Skeat. ) 

Knight  in  Arms,  a  title  conferred  on  persons  of  high  rank  as 
a  recognition  of  military  prowess.     See  Shak.  Rich.  II.  i.  3. 

2.  Whose  chance.     This  is  a  peculiar  construction,  which  may 


NOTES.  147 

be  resolved  into  'whose  lot  it  may  be  to  seize.'  It  implies 
doubt,  not  that  the  house  will  be  seized,  but  as  to  the  particular 
officer  that  may  seize  it. 

these  defenceless  doors.  The  word  ' these '  is  used  because 
the  sonnet  was  written  as  if  to  be  affixed  to  the  door  of  Milton's 
house  ;  it  would  thus  be  a  mute  appeal  to  the  besiegers. 

3.  ever,  at  any  time,  on  any  occasion. 

4.  him  within,  etc.,  *  protect  from  injury  him  that  is  within.' 

5.  He  can  requite  thee,   i.e.   the  poet  can  reward  you  by 
rendering  you  famous  "in  his  immortal  verse."    Comp.  Shake 
speare's  Son.  81 —  • 

"  Your  monument  shall  be  my  gentle  verse." 
'Requite'  is  literally  the  same  as  'repay,'  from  re  and  quit=^ 
freed  or  discharged. 

charms,  magic  verses  :  comp.  II  Pens.  83  and  note. 

6.  call,  '  bring  down  or  bestow  fame  on  such  honourable  acts- 
as  these,'  viz.  guarding  the  poet's  house  and  protecting  him. 

8.  Whatever  clime.     These  words  are  in  apposition  to  '  lands 
and  seas.'     'Clime'  (comp.  Coin.  977)  is  radically  the  same  as 
'climate,'  and  here  used  in  its  original  sense  — a  region  of  the 
earth.     '  Climate '  has  now  the  secondary  sense  of  '  atmospheric 
conditions.' 

The  meaning  of  the  line  is,  '  Wherever  the  sun  shines.' 

9.  the  Muses'  bower,  poetical  language  for  '  the  poet's  house ' ; 
comp.  Lye.  19. 

10.  Emathian  conqueror,  Alexander  the  Great  (the  Sikander 
of  Indian  history),  king  of  Macedonia,  of  which  Emathia  was  a 
province. 

bid  spare  :  see  note  Arc.  13. 

11.  house  of  Pindarus.      Pindar  (B.C.  522-442),  the  greatest, 
lyric  poet  of  Greece,  was  said  to  have  been  born  at  Thebes  ;  this 
city  had  been  subdued  by  Philip  of  Macedonia,  the  father  of 
Alexander  the  Great,  on  whose  accession  the  Thebes  attempted 
to  recover  their  liberty  (B.C.  336).     Alexander,  to  punish  them, 
destroyed  the  whole  city  with  the  exception  of  the  temples  and 
Pindar's  house. 

temple  and  tower.     Some  legends  affirm  that  the  temples 
were  not  destroyed. 

12.  repeated  air,  i.e.  the  air  or  chorus  having  been  recited. 
The  adjective  here  is  not  a  mere  attribute,  but  has  the  force  of 
an  adverbial  clause  giving  the  circumstances  under  which  the 
event  took  place :  '  the  air  had  the  power  to  save  Athens,  became 
it  was  repeated.'     Comp.   the  Latin  use  of  participles  and  of 
clauses  with  qui  and  quippe  qui  in  such  cases. 


148  SONNETS. 

13.  sad  Electra's  poet,   Euripides  (B.C.  480-406),  here  called 
"sad  Electra's  poet"  because  in  one  of  his  tragedies  he  deals 
with   the   history   and   character   of   Electra,    the   daughter   of 
Agamemnon,   and  because  it  was  a  chorus  from   this  tragedy 
that   moved   the   Spartans   to   spare   Athens.       Euripides   (like 
Homer  and  Ovid)  was  one  of  Milton's  favourite  classical  authors. 

The  adjective  'sad'  is  sometimes  taken  as  qualifying  'poet,' 
Euripides  having  been  of  a  serious  and  austere  disposition  :  such 
an  arrangement  of  the  words  would  not  be  allowable  in  modern 
English,  though  there  would  be  no  ambiguity  in  Latin.  The 
more  obvious  reading  is  to  refer  '  sad '  to  Electra,  who,  owing  to 
the  murder  of  her  father  by  her  mother,  often  bewails  her  sad  lot. 

14.  To  save,  etc.     The  Spartans  took  Athens,  B.C.  404,  and 
deliberated  as  to  how  the  city  should  be  dealt  with.     It  was 
proposed  by  some  to  destroy  it  utterly,   but  a  Phocian  singer 
having  recited  part  of  a  chorus  from  the  Electra  of  Euripides 
while  the  decision  was  still  in  suspense,  the  hearers  were  so 
moved  that  they  agreed  it  would  be  dishonourable  to  destroy  a 
city  that  had  given  birth  to  such  great  poets. 


SONNET  IX. 

This  sonnet,  written  probably  in  1644,  has  no  title  in  Milton's 
editions ;  and  we  have  no  certain  clue  to  the  name  of  the  lady 
addressed  in  it. 

1.  Lady,  that,   etc.     The  relative  '  that '  here  introduces  an 
essential  characteristic  :  the  full  nominative  of  address  occupies 
the  first  four  lines  of  the  sonnet,  the  principal  verb  (hast  chosen) 
occurring  in  1.  6.     The  relative  occurs  four  times  in  this  sonnet, 
in  three  cases  next  to  its  antecedent,  and  in  one  case  separated 
from  it  by  being   placed   at   the  end   of   the   principal   clause : 
the  latter  is  a  frequent  arrangement  in  Milton  ;  comp.  Son.  ii. 
8;  xi.  11. 

prime.  The  words  'prime '  and  'earliest'  together  emphasise 
the  early  choice  made  by  the  lady  (Lat.  primus,  first).  '  Ear 
liest,'  very  early,  the  superlative  being  merely  intensive  (as 
often  in  Latin) :  see  note,  II  Pens.  12. 

2.  the  broad  way  and  the  green,  the  broad  and  green  way. 
'This  sonnet  is  full  of  Biblical  imagery  :   comp.   Matt.  vii.    13, 

"  Broad  is  the  way  that  leadeth  to  destruction."  By  calling  it 
green  as  well  as  broad,  Milton  signifies  that  the  way  of  the 
sinful  is  not  merely  easy  to  travel,  but  attractive. 

When  two  adjectives  refer  to  one  object,  this  arrangement  of 
words  cannot  be  imitated  :  e.g.  'the  broad  way  and  the  green ' 
would,  in  ordinary  prose,  imply  that  there  were  two  ways,  one 
.green,  the  other  broad. 


NOTES. 

3.  with  those  few,  i.  e.  in  company  with  the  few  referred  to  in 
Matt.  vii.  14,  "  Narrow  is  the  way  which  leadeth  unto  life,  and 
few  there  be  that  find  it. "     '  Those '  is  therefore  used  demon 
stratively. 

art  eminently  seen,  i.e.  thou  art  conspicuous.  '  Eminently'  is 
here  an  essential  part  of  the  predicate  ;  '  to  be  seen  eminently  * 
= '  to  be  seen  to  be  eminent '  (Lat.  eminens,  standing  out). 

4.  That  labour,  etc.     Comp.  Hamlet,  i.  3 — 

"  Do  not,  as  some  ungracious  pastors  do, 
Show  me  the  steep  and  thorny  way  to  heaven, 
While,  like  a  puff  d  and  reckless  libertine, 
Himself  the  primrose  path  of  dalliance  treads." 

5.  The  better  part,  etc.  :  i.e.  thou  hast  chosen,  as  Mary  and 
Ruth  did,  the  better  part,  viz.,  devotion  to  God  and  heavenly 
things.     The  poet  here  likens  the  lady  to  two  women  mentioned 
in  the  Scriptures  as  having  made  a  similar  choice.     Mary  and 
Martha  were  two  sisters,  of  whom  the  latter  was  troubled  about 
wordly  affairs,  while  the  former  had  "  chosen  that  good  part, 
which  shall  not  be  taken  away  from  her"  (Luke  x.).     Similarly 
Ruth,  the  Moabitess,  refused  to  leave  her  mother-in-law,  saying: 
' '  Thy  people  shall  be  my  people,  and  thy  God  my  God  "  ( Ruth,  i. ). 

6.  overween,  think  arrogantly,  think  too  highly  of  themselves. 
The  word,  though  frequent  in  Milton,  is  now  nearly  obsolete 
except   as   a   participial  adjective,    '  overweening  '  =  conceited, 
arrogant.     It  is  from  the  verb  ween,  to  suppose,  think  ;  now 
obsolete  except   in  the   parenthetical    clause   '  I  ween '   (A.  S. 
wenan,  to  imagine). 

7.  fret  their  spleen,  become  spiteful  or  ill-humoured.     The  old 
theory  of  ' '  humours  "  placed  the  seat  of  anger  and  ill-humoured 
melancholy  in  the  spleen,  a  spongy  gland   situated  above  the 
kidneys  ;  hence  a  spiteful  person  is  said  '  to  have  the  spleen '  or 
'to  be  splenetic.'     Shakespeare  uses  the  adjectives  '  splenitive,' 
'  spleenful,'  and  '  spleeny.'     So  in  Latin  stomachus  was  used  for 
ill-temper:   comp.   'melancholy,'  L'Alleg.  1.     'Fret,'  to  excite, 
literally  '  to  eat  away '  (A.S.  fretan). 

8.  No  anger  find  in  thee,  i.e.  they  do  not  excite  your  anger, 
but  your  pity. 

pity  and  ruth.  '  Ruth '  =  pity.  It  is  not  uncommon  to 
find  in  poetry  two  nouns  of  the  same  sense  thus  connected  by 
and  :  this  is  sometimes  to  give  emphasis,  and  sometimes  it  points 
to  a  usage  rendered  necessary  when  the  Normans  settled  in  Eng 
land.  It  "  sprang  out  of  the  mutual  necessity  felt  by  two  races 
of  people  and  two  classes  of  society  to  make  themselves  intel 
ligible  the  one  to  the  other.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  putting  of  colloquial 
formulae  to  do  the  duty  of  a  French-English  and  an  English- 
French  vocabulary."  '  Pity '  is  the  eld  Fr.  pile,  from  I  at.  pietas 


150  SONNETS. 

(from  which  our  word  piety  is  directly  derived).  '  Ruth,'  now 
obsolete  (except  in  poetry  and  in  the  adjective  ruthless  and  its 
derivatives),  is  from  the  verb  rite,  to  be  sorry  for  (A.S.  hreowan). 

The  word  here  rhymes  with  Ruth  in  1.  5,  an  instance  of  what  is 
called  an  identical  rhyme,  which  is  not  now  tolerated  in  English 
poetry.  Such  rhymes  occur  occasionally  in  Chaucer  and  Spenser, 
and  twice  in  Shakespeare. 

'  Pity '  and  '  ruth  '  are  objects  of  the  verb  '  find.' 

9.  Thy  care  is  fixed  :  comp.  Psalm  cxii.  7. 
zealously  :  see  note,  L'Alleg.  6. 

10.  odorous  lamp.     The  lady  is  here  likened  to  the  five  wise 
virgins   of   Scripture    (Matt*    xxv.)   who,    unlike    their    foolish 
sisters,  were  careful  to  take  oil  in  their  vessels  with  their  lamps 
when  they  went  out  to  meet  the  Bridegroom,  and  so  were  able  to 
gain  admittance  to  the  marriage  feast.     '  Odorous  '  =  fragrant. 

deeds  of  light,  i.e.  good  deeds.  Comp.  M.  of  Venice: 
"  So  shines  a  good  deed  in  a  naughty  world  "  ;  also  Matt.  v.  18, 
' '  Let  your  light  so  shine  before  men  that  they  may  see  your 
good  works." 

11.  hope,    etc.     Comp.   Romans,  v.    5,    "  Hope  maketh  not 
ashamed. " 

toe  sure  Thou,  etc.,  i.e.  be  sure  (that)  thou  hast  gained. 

12.  Bridegroom,  in  allusion  to  the  parable  of  the  Ten  Virgins 
(see  1.  10).     The  word  is  from  A.S.  bryd,  bride,  and  guma,  man  : 
the  r  in  '  groom '  is  due  to  confusion  with  A.  S.  grome,  a  groom, 
which  is  a  totally  different  word. 

feastful,  festive.  'Feastful,1  a  hybrid  word,  is  now  obsolete, 
being  one  of  a  large  number  of  adjectives  formed  by  means  of 
the  word  full  and  now  disused,  e.g.  charmful,  despairful,  excess- 
ful,  etc.  'Feast'  is  from  Lat.  festus,  joyful;  there  are  two 
derived  adjectives  in  common  use— festal  and  festive,  of  which 
the  terminations  are  of  Latin  origin. 

13.  mid-hour  of  night,  hour  of  midnight. 

14.  Hast  gained.     The  sequence  of  tenses  here  should  be  ob 
served.     In  the  dependent  clause  we  have  a  present  (passes),  and 
in  the  principal  clause  a, perfect  (hast  gained) :  the  sense  is,  'at  the 
moment  the  bridegroom  passes  to  bliss,  at  that  very  moment  thy 
entrance  is  complete  (i.e.  has  been  gained).' 


SONNET  X. 

This  was  written  in  1644  or  1645  ;  it  is  the  latest  of  the  sonnets 
printed  in  the  edition  of  1645.  Phillips,  the  nephew  and  bio 
grapher  of  Milton,  relates  that  during  the  time  the  poet  was 


NOTES.  151 

deserted  by  his  first  wife  he  "  made  it  his  chief  diversion  now  and 
then  of  an  evening  to  visit  the  Lady  Margaret  Ley.  This  lady, 
being  a  woman  of  great  wit  and  ingenuity,  had  a  particular 
honour  for  him,  and  took  much  delight  in  his  company,  as  like 
wise  Captain  Hobson,  her  husband,  a  very  accomplished  gentle 
man."  Both  she  and  her  father  are  in  this  sonnet  complimented 
on  their  political  views. 

1.  that  good  Earl :  James  Ley,  born  1552,  was  made  Lord  High 
Treasurer  of  England  in  1624,  and  Lord  President  of  the  Council 
in  1627.     Both  these  offices  are  alluded  to  in  the  sonnet.     "He 
had  been  removed  from  the  High  Treasurership  to  the  less 
laborious  office  of  President  of  the  Council,  ostensibly  on  account 
of  his  old  age,  but  really,  it  was  thought,  because  he  was  not 
sufficiently  compliant  with  the  policy  of  Charles  and  Buckingham. 
He  died  in  March,  1628-9,  immediately  after  the  dissolution  of 
Charles's  Third  Parliament ;  and,  as  the  sonnet  hints,  his  death 
was  believed  to  have  been  hastened  by  political  anxiety  at  that 
crisis  "  (Masson). 

The   construction    'Daughter  to  that  good  Earl'  should  be 
noticed  ;  the  preposition  of  is  commonly  used. 

once  President.  'Once'  is  here  an  adverbial  adjunct  to 
'President,'  for  when  a  noun  stands  in  attributive  relation  to 
another  noun,  it  may  be  modified  by  adverbs.  It  is  not  neces 
sary,  therefore,  to  explain  '  once '  as  an  adverb  modifying  '  was ' 
understood. 

2.  her,  i.e.  England's. 

3.  In  both  unstained,  i.e.  not  having,  in  either  of  these  offices, 
sullied  his  reputation  by  taking  bribes.     'Fee '  is  from  the  A.S. 
feoh,  cattle,  property,  now  used  of  the  price  paid  for  services  : 
see  note,  Son.  xii.  7. 

4.  more  in  himself  content.     This  does  not  mean  that  he  re 
signed  of  his  own  accord,  but  that,  ' '  when  dismissed,  he  went 
willingly  "  :  the  construction  is,  "  (being)  more  content  in  himself 
(than  in  the  enjoyment  of  office)." 

5.  sad  breaking.     There  is  here  a  play  upon  the  word  '  break' 
applied  in  1.  5  to  the  dissolving  of  Parliament,  and  in  1.  6  to  the 
effects  of  this  upon  the  old  Earl.     In  the  former  sense  we  speak  of 
the  breaking  up  of  an  assembly,  and  in  the  latter  of  a  person's 
spirits  or  health  being  broken.     Milton  calls  the  dissolution  of 
Charles's  third  Parliament  a  sad  one,  because  it  showed  that  the 
King  had  entered  upon  that  line  of  conduct  which  led  to  the 
Civil  War.     The  demonstrative  that  implies  that  the  Parliament 
referred  to  is  too  well  known  to  need  further  mention :  comp. 
1.  8. 

6.  as  that  dishonest  victory,  etc.,  i.e.  in  the  same  way  as  the 


152  SONNETS. 

victory  at  Chaeronea  broke  the  heart  of  Isocrates.  The  word 
'  dishonest '  is  here  used  in  the  sense  of  Lat.  inhonestus  =  dis 
honourable  :  in  the  same  way  our  word  '  honesty '  has  not  the 
high  sense  of  the  Lat.  honestas  =  all  that  is  honourable.  Milton 
calls  the  victory  dishonest  because  it  was  '  fatal  to  liberty '  :  in  it 
Philip  of  Macedon  defeated  the  combined  Athenian  and  Thebaii 
forces,  B.  c.  338,  Greece  tlms  losing  her  independence.  Chaeronea 
was  a  city  of  Boeotia. 

8.  with  report.     '  With '  =  by  means  of.     The  use  of  the  in 
strumental  with  is  not  now  so  common  as  in  earlier  English,  and 
is  never  used  to  denote  the  agent.     In  Chaucer  we  find  ' '  slain 
with  (  —  by)  cursed  Jews." 

that  old  man  eloquent ;  Isocrates,  one  of  the  most  famous 
of  Greek  orators,  who,  at  the  age  of  ninety -nine,  died  four  days 
after  hearing  the  report  of  the  disaster  at  the  Chaeronea.  So 
the  good  Earl  of  the  sonnet  died  four  days  after  the  dissolution 
of  Parliament. 

9.  Though  later  born,  etc. ,  "  though  I  was  born  too  late  to 
have  known  your  father  at  his  best,  yet,  methinks,  I  am  able 
from  seeing  you  to  judge  what  he  was  like. "     Milton  does  not 
mean  that  he  was  born  after  the  Earl's  death,  for  the  Earl  died 
twenty  years  after  Milton's  birth. 

Than  in  this  line  is  a  conjunction  introducing  an  elliptical 
clause  depending  on  later.  It  is  difficult  to  give  a  satisfactory 
syntactical  explanation  of  such  clauses  :  we  may  expand  it  into, 
'  Though  I  was  born  later  than  (I  should  have  been  in  order)  to 
have  known ' :  see  note  on  than,  Son.  xvii.  2. 

10.  by  you,  through  or  by  means  of  you. 

11.  methinks,  it  seems  to  me.     Here  me  is  the  dative,  and 
thinks  is  an  impersonal  verb  (A.  S.  thincan,  to  appear),  quite  dis 
tinct  from  the  verb  'I  think,'  which  is  from  the  A.S.  thencan,  to 
cause  to  appear.      For  a  similar  relation  compare  drink  with 
drench  (  =  to  cause  to  drink). 

yet.     In  this  line  yet  =  up  to  the  present  time ;  in  the  pre 
vious  line  yet  —  nevertheless. 

13.  That  all  both  judge  you.  That  here  introduces  a  clause  of 
consequence  in  adverbial  relation  to  well,  and  co-ordinate  with 
so:  comp.  "He  spoke  so  fast  that  I  could  not  understand." 

Both  in  this  line  is  strangely  placed  :  the  ordinary  form  would 
be  :  '  All  judge  you  both  to  relate  them  (i.e.  your  father's  virtues) 
truly,  and  to  possess  them.'  The  co-ordinate  words  are  relate 
and  possess  ;  the  one  is  preceded  by  both,  the  other  by  and. 


NOTES.  153 


SONNET  XI. 

The  two  sonnets  (xi.  and  xii.)  and  a  few  Greek  verses  are  all 
the  poetry  that  Milton  wrote  in  1645 ;  they  were  probably  written 
after  the  publication  of  the  first  edition  of  his  Minor  Poems  in 
that  year.  These  two  sonnets  breathe  the  air  of  controversy, 
into  which  Milton  had  thrown  himself  since  1641.  His  desertion 
by  his  first  wife  in  1643  had  turned  his  attention  to  the  question 
of  Divorce,  and  in  August  of  that  year  he  published  a  pamphlet 
entitled  The.  Doctrine  and  Discipline  of  Divorce  Restored.  This 
was  followed  by  other  three  tracts,  viz.  The  Judgment  of  Afartin 
Bucer  concerning  Divorce  ;  Tetrachordon,  or  Expositions  upon  the 
four  chief  places  in  Scripture  ivhich  treat  of  Marriage  ;  and  Colas- 
terion :  a  Reply  to  a  Nameless  Answer  against  the  Doctrine  and 
Discipline  of  Divorce.  Owing  to  these  pamphlets  Milton  was 
regarded  by  many  as  the  propounder  of  doctrines  that  were  cal 
culated  to  undermine  morality  and  destroy  the  beauty  of  social 
and  family  life.  The  Presbyterian  divines  were  especially  severe 
on  him,  and  from  this  time  he  was  generally  regarded  as  having 
gone  over  to  the  ranks  of  the  Independents.  His  wife  returned 
to  him  in  1645,  probably  before  these  two  sonnets  were  written, 
so  that  he  was  the  better  able  to  throw  ridicule  upon  those  who 
had  regarded  him  as  lightly  estimating  the  sanctity  of  married 
life. 

1.  writ,  written.    All  verbs  of  the  strong  conjugation  originally 
formed  their  past  participles  in  en :  owing  however  to  a  tendency 
(very  common  in  Elizabethan  writers)  to  drop  the  suffix,  many 
strong  verbs  have  now  two  forms  of  the  past  participle,  e.g.  chid, 
chidden  ;  bid,  bidden  ;  bit,  bitten  ;  writ,  written  ;  while  others 
have  lost  the  form  in  en  altogether,  e.g.  spit. 

of  late,  lately  :  comp.  the  adverbial  'of  old,'  'of  yore,'  etc. 

Tetrachordon.  This  Greek  word  means  '  four-stringed ' : 
applied  to  this  pamphlet  because  it  expounded  four  passages  of 
Scripture. 

2.  woven  close,  etc.     Here  Milton  characterises  his  own  prose 
style,   and  indicates  correctly  its   most   striking  features,   viz. 
close  reasoning  and  involved  yet  scholarly  syntax,  due  largely  to 
his  use  of  Latin  constructions.     The  '  matter '  refers  to  his  argu 
ments,  the  '  form '  to  their  arrangement,  and  the  '  style '  to  the 
diction  employed. 

both  :  strictly  speaking,  both  . . .  and  should  couple  only  two 
notions,  but  Milton  sometimes  uses  them  to  join  more  than  two  : 
comp.  "  The  God  that  made  both  sky  and  earth  and  heaven." 

3.  The  subject  new.      This  may  be  taken  absolutely :    it  is 
equivalent  to  an  adverbial  adjunct  of  cause,  the  meaning  being, 


154 


SONNETS. 


*' Because  the  subject  was  novel,  the  book  attracted  readers; 
but  when  the  novelty  wore  off,  it  was  little  read. "  The  punctu 
ation  would,  however,  justify  the  reading,  "The  subject  (was) 
new  "  :  see  note,  II  Pens.  25. 

walked  the  town  awhile,  i.e.  was  circulated  and  read 
throughout  London  for  a  time.  '  Awhile '  =  for  awhile  (A.  S. 
hwil  =  time). 

4.  Numbering,  reckoning  or  estimating:  the  Lat.  numero  is 
sometimes  used  in  this  sense.  The  meaning  is  that  the  book, 
from  the  close  texture  of  its  thought  and  language,  was  a  test  of 
the  reader's  ability. 

now  seldom  pored  on,  now  seldom  carefully  read.  In  modern 
English  we  say  '  to  pore  over,'  and  the  passive  form  is  not  used. 
'  Pored  on '  rhymes  with  '  word  on '  and  '  Gordon, '  and  line  7 
ends  in  the  middle  of  a  word  :  we  can  only  suppose  that  Milton 
takes  these  liberties  because  the  sonnet  is  written  in  a  jocular 
mood  and  with  the  intention  of  ridiculing  his  detractors.  Yet 
Dr.  Johnson  afterwards  quoted  this  piece  as  a  representative 
specimen  of  an  English  sonnet ! 

6.  some  in  file,  i.e.  some  passers-by  stand,  one  looking  over 
another's  shoulder,  so  long  that,  while  they  are  trying  to  spell 
out  the  title,  one  could  walk  to  Mile-End  Green. 

7.  false,  adverb:  comp.  'close,'!.  2;  and  note,  VAlleg.  56. 

Mile-End  Green  :  "a  locality  in  Whitechapel,  about  the 
distance  which  its  name  indicates  from  the  central  parts  of  the 
City  of  London,  and  the  common  terminus  in  Milton's  time  of  a 
staid  citizen's  walk  in  that  direction  "  (Masson). 

8.  Why,  exclamatory.     '  Is  it  harder  ? '  is  a  rhetorical  question 
meaning  'It  is  not  harder  to  pronounce,'  etc. 

Gordon,  Colkitto,  Macdonnel,  Galasp :  these,  which  are  in 
Milton's  opinion  as  '  rugged '  as  the  name  of  his  own  book,  are  all 
Scottish  names,  chosen  because  they  were  borne  by  men  who  had 
fought  under  the  Marquis  of  Montrose  on  behalf  of  King  Charles. 
George,  Lord  Gordon,  had  been  slain  in  one  of  Montrose 's  battles ; 
the  other  three  names  all  refer  to  one  person,  viz.  Alexander 
Macdonald.  son  of  Colkittoch,  son  of  Gillespie,  son  of  Alexander, 
son  of  John  Catanach.  He  was  a  powerful  Highland  chief,  called 
Colkittoch  because  he  was  left-handed  (from  a  Gaelic  word). 
Galasp  is  Milton's  corruption  of  Gillespie  ;  there  was  a  Scottish 
Presbyterian  divine  of  this  name,  and  the  poet,  as  an  Inde 
pendent,  may  have  meant  to  ridicule  him  as  well  as  the  High 
lander. 

10.  rugged.  Milton  originally  wrote  'barbarous,'  then  'rough- 
hewn.' 

our  like  mouths,  i.e.  mouths  like  ours.      In  the  former 


NOTES.  155 

phrase  *  like '  is  an  adjective,  in  the  latter  it  has  the  force  of  a 
preposition.  The  explanation  is  that  in  Latin  both  would  be 
translated  by  the  adjective  similis  =  lik.e  ;  e.g.  similis  sui  is  either 
'  like  himself '  or  'his  like.' 

grow  sleek,  lose  their  ruggedness. 

11.  made  Quintilian  stare.      This  line  forms  an  attributive 
clause  to  '  names ' :  see  note  on  Son.  ix.  1 . 

The  names  were  so  uncouth  that  Quintilian,  the  most  famous 
of  Roman  rhetoricians,  would  have  been  astonished  if  he  had 
heard  them.  Quintilian  (A.D.  40-118)  in  his  Institutes  lays  great 
stress  on  the  judicious  choice  of  words  as  an  element  of  style ; 
and  there  is  no  doubt  that  Milton  also  here  expresses  his  own 
dislike  of  the  guttural  sounds  and  other  peculiarities  of  the 
Scottish  tongue. 

12.  like  ours,  as  ours  does.      The  words  form  an  adverbial 
adjunct  to  1.  13 ;  "thy  age  did  not  hate  learning  as  ours  does." 
If  the  words  be  taken  as  qualifying  'age,'  they  must  be  equiva 
lent  to  '  unlike  ours. ' 

Sir  John  Cheek  (1514-1557).  He  was  the  first  Professor  of 
Greek  at  Cambridge,  and  afterwards  tutor  to  Edward  VI. ;  he  is 
here  mentioned  probably  because  he  had  been  a  member  of  a 
commission  appointed  by  Parliament  to  codify  church  law  (in 
cluding  the  law  of  divorce). 

13.  worse  than  toad  or  asp,  i.e.  worse  than  (it. hates)  toad  or 
asp.     Instead  of  '  hate  worse '  we  ordinarily  say  '  hate  more.' 
An  asp  is  a  venomous  serpent. 

14.  taught'st.     The  verb  to  teach  takes  two  objects  :  (1)  '  Cam 
bridge  and  King  Edward,'  and  (2)  '  Greek.' 


SONNET  XII. 

This  is  a  more  indignant,  and  less  jocular  sonnet  than  the 
preceding. 

1.  to  quit  their  clogs.     *  Their '  is  used  because  it  refers  to  the 
individuals  living  in  the  '  age '  or  period. 

'  Quit,'  to  give  up,  leave.  The  clogs  or  hindrances  referred  to 
are  the  restrictions  upon  divorce  which  Milton  wished  to  see 
removed. 

2.  By,  by  means  of. 

the  known  rules,  etc,  i.e.  "before  divorce  was  restrained  by 
ecclesiastical  and  other  laws." 

straight :  see  note,  Univ.  Carrier,  II.  10,  and  L'Alleg.  69. 
barbarous  noise,  i.e.  clamour  raised  by  vulgar  and  ignorant 


156  SONNETS. 

persons.      Comp.  the  language  of  Par.  Keg.  iii.  49,  "  And  what 
the  people  but  a  herd  confused,  A  miscellaneous  rabble,"  etc. 

4.  Of  owls  and  cuckoos,  etc.     Milton  purposely  chooses  animals 
whose  cries  are  unmusical.     One  editor  thinks  Milton  may  have 
seen  a  painting  in  which  the  Spanish  poet,  Lope  de  Vega,  is 
represented  as  calmly  engaged  in  writing  while  surrounded  by 
dogs,  monkeys,  etc.      This  sonnet  shows,  however,  that  Milton 
had  not  altogether  preserved  his  own  equanimity. 

5.  those  hinds.     The  reference  is  to  a  fable  told  by  Ovid  in  his 
Metamorphoses.     When  Leto,  called  Latona  by  the  Romans,  fled 
from  the  wrath  of  Juno,  she  took  in  her  arms  her  '  twin-born 
progeny,'  Apollo  and  Diana  :  being  fatigued,   she  attempted  to 
drink  of  the  water  of  a  small  lake  in  Lycia,  but  was  prevented  by 
rustics  who  railed  at  her.      In  her  distress  she  prayed  for  help, 
when  the  rustics  were  immediately  turned  into  frogs.      Hind  is 
from  A.S.  hiwan,  domestics. 

7.  after,  afterwards. 

held  the  Sun  and  Moon  in  fee,  Apollo  being  the  god  of  the 
Sun,  and  Diana  goddess  of  the  Moon.  Milton  may  here  hint 
that  he  also,  in  spite  of  present  detraction,  hoped  to  make  a 
great  name  for  himself.  '  To  hold  in  fee '  is  to  have  absolute 
right.  "An  estate  in  fee  simple  is  an  unqualified  inheritance  in 
land  unlimited  in  its  duration  as  to  descent."  Comp.  Words 
worth  :  "  Once  did  she  hold  the  gorgeous  East  in  fee." 

8.  this  is  got,   etc.,   i.e.    this  is  the  result  of    laying  great 
thoughts  before  the  vulgar.      Comp.  Matt.  vii.  6,  "  Give  not  that 
which  is  holy  unto  the  dogs,  neither  cast  your  pearls  before  the 
swine. "     '  Pearl '  is  here  singular,  because  used  generically. 

9.  bawl  for  freedom.     Comp.  Tennyson  : 

"He  that  roars  for  Liberty 
Faster  binds  a  tyrant's  power.  —  Vision  of  Sin. 

11.  Licence  ...  Liberty.      In  his  Tetrachordon  Milton  wrote, 
"  The  Exposition  here  alleged  is  neither  new  nor  licentious,  as 
some  now  would  persuade  the  commonalty,  although  it  be  nearer 
truth  that  nothing  is  more  new  than  those  teachers  themselves, 
and  nothing  more  licentious  than  some  known   to   be,    whose 
hypocrisy  yet  shames  not  to  take  offence  at  this  doctrine  (i.e. 
Liberty  of  Divorce)  for   Licence,    whereas  indeed  they  fear  it 
would  remove  licence  and  leave  them  few  companions. " 

12.  who  loves  that  (i.e.  Liberty),  etc.  :  in  Tenure  of  Kings, 
Milton  says,  "  None  can  love  freedom  heartily  but  good  men  ; 
the  rest  love  not  freedom  but  licence."     '  Who '  is  the  subject  of 
'loves,'  and  the  first  clause  '  who  loves  that '  forms  the  subject 
of  the  second  :  it  is  now  usual  in  such  cases  to  use  the  compound 
relative  whoever.     The  position  of  who  at  the  beginning  of  the 


NOTES.  157 

clause  is  due  to  the  fact  that  it  was  originally  used  only  as  an 
interrogative  pronoun. 

13.  rove.     To  shoot  at  rovers  was  to  shoot  without  any  partic 
ular  aim.     A  '  rover '  was  a  kind  of  arrow. 

14.  For  all  this  waste.     We  may  explain  'for'  as='in  spite 
of,'  a  meaning  which  it  often  has  when  followed  by  '  all.'     '  All,' 
however,  is  not  an  adjective  qualifying  '  waste,'  as  is  seen  by  ex 
panding  the  phrase  into  '  For  all  that  his  waste  of  wealth  could 
do.'     Comp.  Shakespeare,  "For  all  he  be  a  Roman "  ;  and  Hymn 
Xat.  73. 


SONNET  Xlla. 

This  is  a  true  sonnet  of  14  lines,  plus  a  tail  or  'coda'  of 
six  lines :  both  parts  are  constructed  according  to  the  rules 
strictly  observed  by  Italian  writers.  The  tone  of  the  piece 
is  Anti-Presbyterian.  Parliament  had  resolved  in  1642  that 
government  of  the  Church  by  archbishops  and  bishops  was  incon 
venient,  but  the  ordinance  for  the  abolition  of  these  '  prelates ' 
was  not  passed  by  the  Commons  till  October,  1646.  The  Presby 
terians  in  Parliament  then  called  for  the  suppression  of  all 
religious  sects  that  were  not  in  sympathy  with  the  Presbyterian 
form  of  Church  government,  and  Milton,  as  an  Independent, 
taunts  them  with  being  ' '  the  new  forcers  of  conscience. "  He 
regarded  religious  intolerance  as  equally  monstrous,  whether 
under  a  Presbyterian  or  an  Episcopalian  system. 

1.  Prelate  Lord,  government  of  the  Church  by  archbishops  and 
bishops.     A   'prelate'  is  strictly  one  placed  over  others  (Lat. 
prae,  before  ;  latus,  borne  or  brought). 

2.  stiff  vows,  inflexible  decisions. 

renounced  his  Liturgy,  given  up  the  Episcopal  form  of 
service.  The  Liturgy  is  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  the 
reading  of  which  was,  in  1644,  prohibited  even  in  private 
families:  severe  penalties  were  incurred  by  those  convicted 
under  this  law.  'Liturgy'  is  the  Greek  Idtourgia,  public 
service. 

3.  To  seize,  etc.,  i.e.  in  order  that  you  might  seize  upon  the 
endowments  left  vacant  by  some  of  the  clergy.     Milton  was  dis 
gusted   with   the  eagerness   with   which    Presbyterian    divines 
scrambled  for  vacant  offices  ;   it  showed,   as  he  thought,   that 
their  dislike  of  Episcopacy  arose  from  envy,  not  abhorrence. 

Plurality,  the  holding  of  more  than  one  ecclesiastical 
living  ;  one  who  does  so  is  a  pluralist.  By  the  phrase  "  widowed 
whore  "  Milton  refers  to  the  Church  as  deprived  of  its  prelates, 
and  at  the  same  time  signifies  that  the  holding  of  profitable 


offices  by  the  clergy  was  distasteful  to  him.     Comp.  Son.  xvi. 
and  Lye.  113-118.     ' 

5.   ye  ;  see  note,  Arc.  40. 

adjure  the  civil  sword,  i.e.  solemnly  call  upon  the  civil 
power  to  aid  you. 

7.  ride,  override. 

Classic  Hierarchy,  ecclesiastical  government  by  Classes, 
The  Class  or  Classis  was  the  name  given  to  the  small  Presby 
terian  court  of  each  parish,  and  when  Episcopacy  was  abolished, 
the  Presbyterians  wished  to  establish  the  Scottish  system  of  a 
gradation  of  Church  Courts.  The  Independents,  on  the  contrary, 
thought  that  each  congregation  should  be  independent.  '  Classic ' 
is  not  now  used  in  this  primary  sense  ;  in  'classic  works,'  '  Greek 
and  Roman  classics '  it  refers  to  literature  of  the  highest  class. 
'  Hierarchy/  sacred  government  (Greek  hieros,  sacred  ;  archein, 
to  rule,  seen  in  arcAbishop,  archangel,  etc. ). 

8.  mere  A.  S.  and  Rutherford.     Adam   Stewart  and   Samuel 
Rutherford,     two     Scottish     Presbyterian    pamphleteers     who 
vigorously  opposed  the   Independents.     The  former  published 
his  pamphlets  under  the  initials  A.  S.    Rutherford  was  Professor 
of  Divinity  in  the  University  of  St.  Andrews,  and  sat  in  the 
Westminster  Assembly. 

'  Mere  '  (Lat.  merus  =  unmixed,  pure).  In  Elizabethan  writers 
it  often  occurs  in  the  sense  of  'unadulterated.'  Comp.  Mas- 
singer's  Virgin  Martyr  :  "  Thou  art  a  mere  I-am-an-O,  I-am-an- 
as." 

9.  intent :  see  note  Arc.  34.     Trench  points  out  that  in  earlier 
English  '  to  intend '  meant  '  to  be  actually  and  earnestly  engaged 
in  doing,'  having  no  reference  to  the  future  as  it  now  has. 

Milton  here  takes  the  Apostle  Paul  as  his  type  of  a  good 
preacher. 

11.  heretics.     No  word  could  better  illustrate  Milton's  mean 
ing  ;  it  strictly  denotes  '  one  who  makes  a  choice, '  and  the  poet 
held  that  every  man  must  choose  for  himself  what  to  believe. 
But  the  word  has  come  to  be  applied  in  reproach  to  all  who,  in 
matters  of  religious  belief,  are  in  opposition  to  established  and 
widely-accepted  opinion.       Such   persons  are  also   said  to  be 
'heterodox,' which  originally  meant  'thinking  differently  from 
others ' ;  it  now  means  '  differing  from  the  majority, '  and  hence 
'unsound'  or  'objectionable.' 

12.  shallow  Edwards:  comp.  Son.  i.  6  and  A  re.  41 :  it  expresses 
contempt.     The  Rev.  Thomas  Edwards,  a  London  preacher,  had 
attacked  the  Independents  in  a  wretched  pamphlet  in  which 
Milton  is  branded  as  a  heretic  for  his  views  on  divorce. 

Scotch  What-d'ye-call.     The  Scotchman  here  referred  to  is 


NOTES.  159 

(Prof.  Masspn  thinks)  Robert  Baillie,  Professor  of  Divinity  in 
the  University  of  Glasgow,  who  had  in  1645  attacked  Milton  for 
his  opinions  on  divorce.  The  poet  signifies  that  the  attack  had 
made  little  impression  on  him  ;  he  cannot  even  remember  his 
opponent's  name.  He  thus  consigns  him  to  oblivion, 

14.  packing.     The  meaning  is :    The  meetings  of  the  West 
minster  Assembly  of  Divines  were  more  unfairly  constituted  by 
the  exclusion  of  Independents  than  were  those  of  the  famous 
Council  of  Trent  by  the  exclusion  of  Protestants.     The  Council 
was  held  at  Trent  in  Austria-Hungary  from  1545  to  1563  for  the 
purpose  of  taking  measures  against  the  Reformation.     We  speak 
of  a  '  packed '  meeting,  a  '  packed '  jury,  when  endeavours  are 
made  to  secure  undue  weight  for  one  side  of  a  question. 

15.  Here  follows  the  '  coda '  of  the  sonnet,  forming  one  long 
adverbial  clause  of  purpose  or  result. 

16.  with  ...  shears,  i.e.  by  depriving  you  of  your  powers,  and 
thus  restoring  the  wholesome  influence  of  toleration.     For  use  of 
1  their '  see  Son.  xii.  1. 

17.  Clip  your  phylacteries,   etc.,  i.e.   check  your  pharisaical 
pretensions  to  superior  holiness,  though  not  inflicting  upon  you 
that    physical    suffering   which    you  would    fain    inflict    upon 
'  heretics. ' 

The  phylactery  among  the  Jews  was  a  slip  of  parchment 
inscribed  with  passages  of  Scripture,  worn  on  the  left  arm  or 
forehead  :  see  Matt,  xxiii.  5. 

baulk  your  ears,  cheat  your  ears  of  their  deserts  by  sparing 
them.  The  modern  spelling  is  balk,  to  hinder,  to  cheat,  used  in 
such  phrases  as  '  to  be  balked  of  one's  design. '  Milton  hints  at 
the  fact  that  punishment  by  mutilation  was  not  uncommon  in 
his  day :  William  Prynne,  a  Presbyterian,  had  had  his  nose  and 
ears  cut  off  for  writing  against  Episcopacy  and  against  the 
theatre  in  the  time  of  Laud. 

18.  succour  our  just  fears,  relieve  us  from  the  fears  that  now, 
with  good  reason,  possess  us.      'Just '  =  justifiable.       'Succour' 
is  here  co-ordinate  with  'clip.' 

19.  they,  the  Parliament. 

in  your  charge,  in  the  charge  or  accusation  against  you,, 
when  the  party  of  toleration  comes  into  power. 

20.  New  Presbyter  ...  old  Priest.     There  is  a  double  allusion 
here :  (1)  literally,  the  word  priest  is  merely  a  contraction  of  the 
Greek    presbyteros,    elder ;     compare    such    pairs   of  words   as 
diamond  and  adamant,  fancy  and  phantasy,  palsy  and  paralysis, 
slander  and  scandal :  (2)  the  new  Presbyterian  was  characterised 
by  the  same  intolerant  spirit  as  the  Episcopalian  or  even  as. 


160  SONNETS. 

the  Roman  Catholic.     The  same  allusion  occurs  in  Areopagitica, 
written  a  year  before  this  sonnet. 

In  Com.  322  and  748  Milton  in  a  similar  way  connects  the 
meaning  of  a  word  with  its  derivation. 

writ  large.  Here  also  the  two  meanings  appear,  (1)  Pres 
byter  is  a  longer  word  than  Priest,  and  (2)  the  name  implied,  to 
Milton,  even  greater  intolerance.  For  'writ'  see  Son.  xi.  1. 


SONNET  XIII. 

This  first  appeared  as  a  recommendatory  piece  prefixed  to 
Choice  Psalms,  put  into  Music  for  Three  Voices,  composed  by 
Henry  and  William  Lawes,  Brothers,  and  Servants  to  His 
Majestic  (1648).  The  title  of  the  book  shows  that  Henry  Lawes 
was  a  Royalist,  but  this  sonnet  indicates  that  the  poet  had  not 
allowed  a  difference  of  political  opinions  to  weaken  his  friend 
ship  with  the  musician :  a  common  love  of  music  united  the 
hearts  of  the  two  men.  Moreover,  the  sonnet  was  a  spontaneous 
tribute  of  regard,  and  had  been  written  two  years  before  Lawes' 
book  was  published.  Lawes  wrote  the  music  of  Arcades  and 
Comus. 

1.  Harry.     This  familiar  form  of  address  strikes  the  key-note 
of  personal  affection. 

tuneful  and  well-measured  song.  Lawes  was  remarkable 
for  his  success  in  setting  songs  to  music:  "  He  communicated  to 
verse  an  original  and  expressive  melody  ;  he  exceeded  his  pre 
decessors  and  contemporaries  in  a  pathos  and  sentiment,  a  sim 
plicity  and  propriety,  an  articulation  and  intelligibility  which  so 
naturally  adapt  themselves  to  the  words  of  the  poet."  This 
extract  explains  the  allusions  to  Lawes'  music  in  the  sonnet,  e.g. 
*  tuneful,'  'well-measured,'  'just  note  and  accent,'  'smooth 
air,'  etc. 

2.  span,  measure. 

3.  just  note  and  accent,  the  melody  being  suited  to  the  words, 
and  the  accent  of  the  music  corresponding  to  the  accent  of  the 
language. 

to  scan  With  Midas'  ears,  i.e.  to  mismatch  the  melody  and 
the  words  in  a  stupid  manner.  The  verb  '  taught '  has  here,  as 
its  second  object,  two  infinitive  clauses — '  how  to  span '  and  '  not 
to  scan.'  See  note,  Son.  xi.  14. 

'Midas'  ears,'  i.e.  ass's  ears,  denoting  want  of  intelligence. 
This  is  in  allusion  to  Midas,  the  King  of  Phrygia,  who  had  been 
appointed  judge  in  a  musical  contest  between  Apollo  and  Pan, 
and  decided  in  favour  of  the  latter.  Apollo,  indignant,  changed 
Ms  ears  into  those  of  an  ass. 


NOTES.  161 

4.  committing  short  and  long,  bringing  together  short  and  long 
syllables  (which  correspond  roughly  to  what  we  call  unaccented 
and  accented  syllables).     Commit  has   here  the   sense  of  Lat. 
committere,  to  match,  to  bring  together  ;  it  never  really  had  this 
sense  in  English.     Shakespeare  uses  '  commit '  in  the  sense  of 
'  transgress,'  but  this  is  not  the  meaning  here. 

5.  exempts    thee,    etc.,    distinguishes    you    above    all    other 
musicians,  redeems  you  from  mediocrity.     Comp.  Horace,  Ode  i. 
1,  secernunt  populo.     '  Exempts '  is  singular,  although  the  subject 
is  '  worth  and  skill ' :  these  form  one  idea. 

6.  enough  for  Envy,  etc.,  sufficient  to  cause  the  envious  to 
turn  pale.     A  similar  idea  occurs  in  Arc.  11-13  ;   compare  also 
"wrinkled  care."  "  spare  Fast,"  etc. 

7.  shalt  be  writ :  thy  name  shall  be  handed  down  to  posterity 
as  that  of  the  man  who,  etc.     Compare  the  use  of  write  in  the 
phrase  "Write  him  down  a  traitor."     The  Lat.  scribo,  to  write, 
occurs  in  this  sense — 

"  Scriberis  Yario  fortis  et  hostium 
Victor."     Horace,  Carm.  /.  i.  32. 

8.  couldst   humour :    couldst  best    suit   your   music   to   the 
English  tongue.      To  humour  a  person  is  to  adapt  one's  mood  to 
his. 

10.  priest  of  Phcebus'  quire,  the  leader  of  the  choir  of  Phoebus 
(Apollo),  the  god  of  song  and  music,     For  'quire,'  see  II  Pens. 
162.     Poets  are  often  described  as  forming  the  choir  of  Apollo, 
Homer  having  been  inspired  by  that  -god.      'Their,'  in  1.   11, 
refers  to  the  poets  forming  his  choir  ;  Lawes  having  set  to  music 
short  poems  written  by  a  large  number  of  well-known  authors. 

11.  happiest  lines.     '  Happy '  ;=  well-expressed.     See  Epit.  on 
M.  of  W.  31,  and  comp.  Lye.  92. 

hymn  or  story.     The  story  referred  to  is  that  of  Ariadne 
by  Cartwright  (1611-1643),  set  to  music  by  Lawes. 

12.  Dante  ...  Casella.      In  his  Purgatorio,  canto  ii.,  the  poet 
Dante  tells  how,  after  emerging  from  Hell  into  Purgatory,  he 
saw  a  vessel  freighted  with  souls  come  to  be  purged  of  their  sins 
and  made  fit  for  Paradise  ;  among  them  he  recognised  one  of  his 
friends,  Casella,  a  Florentine  celebrated  for  his  skill  in  music. 

13.  -wooed  to  sing,  pleaded  with  to  sing.     Dante  asked  Casella 
to  sing  some  soothing  air  to  console  his  spirit,  and  Casella  com 
plied  by  singing  one  of  Dante's  own  songs. 

14.  Met  ...  Purgatory.     Purgatory  is  called  'milder'  by  com 
parison  with  Hell :  it  was  the  place  or  state  in  which  souls  were 

Surified  or  purged  (Lat.  purgare,  to  make  pure}.     Dante  tells 
ow,  on  arrival  at  the  gate  of  Purgatory,   his  forehead  was 
L 


162  SONNETS. 

marked  with  seven  P's  (=  peccata,  sins),  one  of  which  he  would 
lose  at  every  stage  until  he  reached  the  river  which  divided 
Purgatory  from  Paradise. 

'  Met '  is  a  participle  qualifying  'whom,'  and  line  14  is  equiva 
lent  to  a  subordinate  clause.  This  is  the  Latin  use  of  the  parti 
ciple. 

SONNET  XIV. 

Nothing  more  is  known  of  the  lady  addressed  than  what  is 
supplied  in  the  heading.  It  will  be  observed  that,  as  in  Sonnet 
ix.  (which  is  also  addressed  to  a  virtuous  woman),  the  poet 
makes  frequent  use  of  Scriptural  phraseology.  Its  date  is  1646. 

1.  parted  from  thee  never,  which  never  left  you:    never  is 
emphatic. 

2.  ripened,  brought  to  perfection.     The  verb  is  here  used  in 
an  active  sense.      In  Son.  ii.  7,   '  ripeness '  is  similarly  used  to 
denote  moral  growth. 

to  dwell  with  God :  grammatically,  denotes  the  extent  of 
the  action  expressed  by  '  ripened. '  Comp.  Psalm  xxiii.  6. 

3.  earthy  load  Of  death.     Human  life  is  fleeting,  and  is  here 
called  a  "load  of  death."     Comp.  Rom.  vii.  24,   "Who  shall 
deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  "  j   also  1  Cor.  xv.  49  ; 
see  also  note,  II  Pens.  92. 

4.  from  life  doth  sever  :  which  separates  us  from  eternal  life. 
This  mortal  life  is  only  life  so-called,  the  future  and  immortal 
life  is  true  existence. 

5.  Thy  works  and  alms.     Comp  Act*,  x.  4 :  "  Thy  prayers  and 
thine  alms  are  gone  up  for  a  memorial  before  God." 

The  history  of  the  word  '  alms '  illustrates  how  the  form  of  a 
word  may  gradually  come  to  disguise  its  origin.  It  is  singular, 
not  plural ;  and  comes  through  Latin  from  the  Greek  eleemosyne; 
this  became  in  A.S.  cdmizsse,  then  almes  (two  syllables),  and 
finally  alms.  It  has  thus  dwindled  from  six  syllables  to  one. 

good  endeavour,  i.e.  good  deeds.  In  modern  English  it 
would  mean  well-meant  or  good  efforts,  whether  successful  or 
not.  Here  it  means  duty  actually  performed,  being  from  Fr. 
devoir,  duty,  and  the  verbal  prefix  en. 

6.  nor  in  the  grave,  etc.  :  they  were  not  forgotten  after  your 
death.     Contrast  this  with  the  lines  in  Shak.  Julius  Caesar — 

"  The  evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them, 
The  good  is  oft  interred  with  their  bones." 

7.  golden  rod.     Faith  is  here  represented  as  pointing  the  way 
to  heaven  by  means  of  a  golden  rod.     In  poetry  saints  are  often 
represented  as  bearing  wands  or  rods. 


NOTES.  163 

8.  Followed :  i.e.  your  good  deeds  followed  you  to  heaven.    '  For 
ever1  is  in  this  line  an  attributive  adjunct  to  'joy  and  bliss'  - 
eternal. 

9.  knew  them  best  Thy  handmaids  :  knew  them  best  to  be  thy 
handmaids  =  knew  best  that  they  were  thy  handmaids.     A  com 
parison  of  these  two  renderings  will  show  that  such  verbs  as 
' know,  'say,'  'think  '  may  have  as  their  object  either  a  substan 
tive  accompanied  by  an  infinitive  or  a  substantive  clause.     The 
former  is  a  Latin  idiom,  and  is  frequent  in  Milton  ;  it  is  not  so 
common  in  English  as  it  was  :  e.g.  in  Anglo-Saxon  we  find  '  They 
say  him  live,'  i.e.  '  They  say  that  he  is  alive.' 

11.  that,  etc.  :  so  that,  having  been  thus  beautified,  they  flew 
up  to  God's  presence. 

12.  speak.     The  earlier  editions  read  '  spake,'  but  the  present 
tense  implies  that  the  good  deeds  of  the  lady  still  plead  for  her  at 
the  judgment-seat. 

13.  thenceforth,  from  that  time  onwards  :  this  adverb  modifies 
'  rest,'  not  *  bid.'    For  '  bid '  used  as  a  past,  comp.  Arc.  13. 

14.  drink  thy  fill,  etc.      Comp.  Psalm  xxxvi.,   "Thou  shalt 
make  them  drink  of  the  river  of  thy  pleasures,"  alluding  to  the 
waters  of  eternal  life. 

Grammatically,  '  thy  fill '  may  be  taken  to  denote  the  extent 
of  the  action  implied  by  the  verb  :  some,  however,  regard  it  as  a 
cognate  object. 

SONNET  XV. 

This,  and  Sonnets  xvi. ,  xvii. ,  and  xxii. ,  were  not  published  in 
Milton's  lifetime :  their  references  to  Pre-Restoration  politics 
did  not  allow  of  their  publication  in  the  second  edition  of  the 
Minor  Poems  (1673).  The  siege  of  Colchester  occurred  during 
what  is  called  the  Second  Civil  War — a  rising  of  the  English  and 
Scottish  royalists  on  behalf  of  Charles  I. ,  then  a  prisoner  in  the 
Isle  of  Wight.  The  siege  was  conducted  by  the  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  Parliamentary  armies,  the  third  Lord  Fairfax ;  and 
lasted  more  than  two  months  (1648),  during  which  time  the 
inhabitants  endured  all  the  miseries  of  famine.  Fairfax  was  a 
great  general,  a  poet,  and  a  man  of  culture,  and  Milton's  sonnet 
is  a  tribute  to  his  success  on  a  particular  occasion  and  to  his  high 
character. 

1.  name  in  arms,  reputation  as  a  soldier.    The  poet  here  speaks 
of  Fairfax's  European  reputation  as  a  commander  in  almost  the 
same  words  as  he  speaks  of  his  own  reputation  as  a  pamphleteer 
in  Son.  xxiii. 

2.  Filling.     This  is  an  example  of  syllepsis,  the  word  '  filling ' 
being  applied  to  '  mouth '  and  to  '  monarchs  '  in  different  senses. 


lally 
laze, 


>ut- 

,„ 

3  tO 

Bad 


164  SONNETS. 

3.  her,  Europe's. 

amaze,  amazement,  consternation :  an  allusion  to  the  effe 
that  the  doings  of  Parliament  would  have  on  the  minds  of  otl 
kings  besides  Charles. 

The  word  '  amazement '  is  a  hybrid,  amaze  (=  in  a  maze)  being 
Teutonic,  and  the  suffix  ment  Romanic.     Many  words  originally 
used  both  as  verbs  and  nouns,  exist  only  as  verbs,  e.g.  amc 
revile,  retire,  all  of  which  occur  in  Milton  in  both  uses. 

4.  diunt ;  see  II  Pens.  137. 

5.  virtue,  valour  :  see  //  Pens.  113,  note. 

ever  brings  Victory  home.  "  Though  the  credit  of  the  par 
liamentary  triumph  has  been  popularly  attached  to  the  greater 
name  of  Cromwell,  it  was  to  Fairfax  that  it  was  in  great  measure 
due."  (Pattison.) 

6.  new  rebellions.    This  sonnet  having  been  written  during  the 
siege  of  Colchester,  the  poet  must  be  referring  to  the  various  out 
breaks  which  together  form  the  Second  Civil  War — in  Wak~ 
Kent,  Essex,  and  the  west  of  England. 

7.  Their  Hydra  heads.    It  was  one  of  the  labours  of  Hercules 
destroy  the  monster  Hydra ;  it  had  nine  heads,  and  as  each  head 
was  struck  off  two  new  ones  grew  forth  in  its  place  :  hence  the 
epithet  '  hydra-headed '  applied  to  a  rebellion,  an  epidemic,  or 
other  evil  that  seems  to  gain  strength  from  each  endeavour  to 
repress  it. 

false  North :  the  meaning  is,  '  Though  Scotland,  having 
broken  her  alliance  with  the  Parliament,  renews  the  war  on  the 
pretext  that  the  English  have  failed  to  observe  the  Solemn  League 
and  Covenant.'  This  is  Milton's  view  of  the  matter. 

8.  to  imp  their  serpent  wings,  i.e.  'to  strengthen  the  English 
royalists,  as  a  hawk's  broken  wing  is  imped  or  strengthened  by 
the  insertion  of  new  feathers. '     Euripides  speaks  of  the  monster 
Hydra  as  a  winged  serpent. 

An  '  imp '  is  properly  a  graft,  or  shoot,  and  was  applied  in  a 
good  sense  to  the  scions  or  younger  members  of  a  family.  Except 
in  its  technical  sense  in  falconry  (as  in  this  line)  it  is  now  applied 
only  in  an  uncomplimentary  sense,  e.g.  to  a  troublesome  child,  a 
wicked  spirit,  etc. 

9.  yet  a  nobler  task,  i.e.  a  yet  nobler  task. 

10.  still  breed,  continue  to  breed.     '  But '  in  this  line  =  except. 
12.  public  faith  ...  public  fraud.     '  Public '  =  in  public  affairs. 

The  reference  is  to  the  fact  that  the  army  leaders  (chiefly  Inde 
pendents)  charged  the  Parliament  (chiefly  Presbyterians)  with 
misappropriation  of  the  war  funds,  and  with  having  taken  bribes 
from  royalists. 


NOTES.  165 

13.  In  vain,  etc. :  the  sense  is,  "  The  blood  of  brave  men  will 
be  shed  in  vain  for  a  land  which  is  given  up  to  avarice  and  self- 
seeking."  By  synecdoche,  'Valour'  is  put  for  'men  of  valour.' 
For  '  rapine '  see  11  Pens.  40,  note. 


SONNET  XVI. 

This  sonnet,  written  in  1652,  was,  like  the  preceding  one, 
called  forth  by  a  particular  occasion,  and  does  not  profess  (as  Prof. 
Masson  points  out)  to  be  a  general  estimate  of  Cromwell's  career. 
The  '  proposals '  referred  to  in  the  sub-title  were  made  regarding 
the  provision  of  competent  maintenance  for  ministers,  and  similar 
questions  :  they  were  put  forward  by  a  Committee  for  the  Pro 
pagation  of  the  Gospel,  which  had  been  appointed  by  Parliament 
to  consider  how  the  confused  state  of  Church  affairs  might  be 
remedied.  In  the  sonnet  Milton  calls  upon  Cromwell  to  see  that 
the  Presbyterian  party,  aided  by  a  section  of  Independents,  did 
not  succeed  in  imposing  too  great  restrictions  upon  religious 
thought,  or,  at  least,  that  it  did  not  succeed  in  establishing  a 
system  of  mercenary  and  self-seeking  clergy. 

1.  our  chief  of  men.    Grammatically,  '  our '  may  qualify  *  chief.' 
Another  explanation  is  that  the  phrase  means  '  chief  of  our  men,' 
because  in  Elizabethan  writers  we  often  find  an  adjective  or  pro 
noun  thus  misplaced,  e.g.  in  Shakespeare  we  have  'your  height 
of  pleasure  '  =  '  height  of  your  pleasure,'  etc.    "  To  Milton  Crom 
well  was  chief  of  men,  in  respect  of  his  personal  qualities  and 
thorough-going  liberality  of  opinion,  and  not  merely  as  the  fore 
most  man  in  the  Commonwealth  "  (Pattison). 

2.  but  of  detractions  rude  :  the  syntax  is :  "  who,  guided  by 
faith,  etc. ,  hast  ploughed  thy  way  not  only  through  a  cloud  of 
war,  but  also  through  a  cloud  of  rude  detractions."     'Cloud  of 
war '  is  a  classical  expression  :  comp.  nubem  belli,  ^En.  x.  809. 

3.  Guided  :"  this  participle  modifies  '  who. '     It  will  be  noticed 
that  there  is  no  principal  verb  in  the  first  eight  lines  :  they  form 
a  string  of  clauses  which  together  qualify  '  Cromwell.'      Who,  in 
1.  1,  is  nominative  to  host  ploughed,  hast  reared,  and  (hast)  pur 
sued  ;  while  stream,  fit-Id,   and  wreath  form  the  nominative  to 
resounds.     The  effect  of  this  involved  construction  is  to  make  the 
pause  in  1.  9  very  striking. 

5.  neck  of  crowned  Fortune  :  this  is  an  unmistakable  allusion 
to  Charles  I. ,  expressed  in  Biblical  language  :  comp.  Gen.  xlix.  8, 
"  Thy  hand  shall  be  on  the  neck  of  thine  enemies  ;"  also  Tenny 
son's  Dream  of  Fair  Women,  141  :  "1  rode  sublime  on  Fortune's 
neck." 

6.  God's  trophies,  memorials  of  God's  victorious  power.     See 
note,  11  Pens.  118. 


166  SONNETS. 

7.  Darwen  stream ;    this  falls  into  the  Kibble  near  Preston 
in  Lancashire,  where  Cromwell  routed  the  Scots  in  1648  (see 
Son.  xv.). 

imbrued,  stained.  This  is  an  unusual  application  of  th( 
word,  as  its  literal  sense  is  '  soaked  '  or  '  moistened. '  Both  imbrue 
and  imbue  are  originally  from  a  Latin  root  meaning  to  drink  in 
or  imbibe :  imbrue,  is  usually  applied  to  material  objects,  and 
imbue  to  a  person's  mind,  language,  etc. 

8.  Dunbar  field.     The  battle  of  Dunbar  (Sept.   3,   1650),   in 
which  Cromwell  defeated  the  Scots  ;    they  were  not   crushed, 
however,  and  Cromwell  had  to  march  south  as  far  as  Worcester 
before  he  finally  overthrew  the  royalists.      '  Resounds  '  is  singu 
lar  ;  it  may  be  repeated  with  each  of  its  three  nominatives. 

9.  Worcester's  laureate  wreath.     The  battle  of  Worcester  was 
fought  on  the  3rd  of  September,  1651,  the  anniversary  of  Dun- 
bar.     On  the  same  day,  seven  years  later,  Cromwell  died.     Hence 
Byron's  allusion  to  "  his  day  of  double  victory  and  death."     He 
called  Worcester  his  '  crowning  mercy  ' ;  hence  Milton's  allusion 
to   the   laureate   wreath.     '  Laureate,'    composed    of   laurels,    a 
token   of  victory.     The   title   '  Poet   Laureate '  arose  from  an 
ancient  university  custom  of  presenting  a  wreath  of  laurel  to 
graduates  in  rhetoric  and  poetry. 

yet  .  still.     Yet = nevertheless  ;  still  =  yet  (adverb  of  time). 

remains  To  conquer,  i.e.  remains  to  be  conquered.  This  idiom 
is  a  relic  of  an  older  use  of  the  infinitive  (comp.  '  a  horse  to  seW], 
in  which  the  word  to  has  its  full  force  as  a  preposition  =  '  much 
remains  to  the  conquering.' 

10.  her  is  emphatic. 

1 1 .  new  foes.     These  are  not  the  ' '  new  forcers  of  conscience  " 
of  Son.  xiia. ,  but  still  newer  foes,  viz. ,  those  Independents  who 
were  not  in  favour  of  full  spiritual  independence. 

12.  secular  chains,  i.  e.  the  bonds  of  a  State  Church :  Milton 
was   in   favour   of  absolute   separation    of   Church   and   State. 
'  Secular '    (Lat.    seculum,    an    age   or    generation),    that   which 
belongs  to  the  present  age,  as  opposed  to  that  which  concerns  a 
future  life  ;  hence  the  words  '  secular  '  and  '  sacred  '  have  come 
to  be  opposed  to  each  other,  like  '  temporal '  and  '  spiritual. ' 

13.  Help  :  this  is  the  only  imperative  in  the  sonnet ;  it  begins 
the  special  appeal  for  which  the  poem  was  written. 

14.  hireling  wolves:    comp.  Lye.   114.     The  word  'hireling' 
expresses  Milton's  contempt  for  all  who  served  the  Church  for 
payment,  "  whose  Gospel  is  their  maw." 

whose  Gospel,  etc.,  i.e.  whose  sole  object  is  to  obtain 
worldly  benefits  for  themselves.  '  Gospel  '  =  God-spell,  the  story 
of  God  :  it  is  sometimes  used  as  a  general  term  for  any  religious 


NOTES.  167 

system,  and,  still  more  widely,  for  any  rule  of  life ;  e.g.  we  say 
that  one  man's  gospd  is  to  become  rich,  another's  to  become 
famous,  and  so  on.  It  is  aptly  used  in  this  sense  by  Milton,  and 
at  the  same  time  suggests  that  Gospel  which  the  clergy  ought  to 
have  adopted. 

'  Maw '  =  stomach  ;   used  figuratively  for  appetite  or  desire  : 
comp.  Lye.  119. 


SONNET  XVII. 

This  sonnet,  written  1652,  has  the  same  immediate  aim  as  the 
preceding  one.  It  is  addressed  to  Sir  Henry  Vane  (1612-1662), 
who  was  then  forty  years  of  age  :  he  is  called  '  the  younger ' 
because  his  father  was  then  alive.  He  entered  the  Long  Parlia 
ment  as  M.P.  for  Hull  at  the  age  of  27,  having  previously  dis 
tinguished  himself  as  Governor  of  Massachusetts  in  America. 
At  the  date  of  the  sonnet  he  was  a  member  of  the  Council  of 
State.  He  was  beheaded  in  1662  on  account  of  his  republican 
sympathies.  As  an  Independent  he  had  taken  keen  interest  in 
the  questions  of  State  and  Church,  and  was  of  an  enthusiastic 
and  somewhat  fanatical  disposition.  Attempts  have  recently 
been  made  to  exalt  his  ability  as  a  politician,  but  with  dubious 
success.  "  Clever  and  attractive,  a  good  speaker,  and  indus 
trious  and  able  in  transacting  business,  he  never  became  a  wise 
politician  ;  he  was  conceited  and  impetuous,  and  just  as  in 
religion  he  was  given  to  mysticism  and  extravagant  vagaries,  so 
in  politics  he  was  a  theorist  and  a  dreamer  who  ruled  his  con 
duct  by  abstract  considerations  without  recognising  his  own 
position  or  the  needs  of  his  times  "  (Saturday  Review,  Dec.  1888). 
It  is  the  more  necessary,  therefore,  to  bear  in  mind  that  Milton 
in  this  sonnet  refers  chiefly  to  the  fact  that  Vane  had,  in  Massa 
chusetts,  had  occasion  to  consider  the  relations  of  Church  and 
State. 

1.  With  this  line  compare  the  common  expression,   'an  old 
head  on  young  shoulders.' 

2.  Than  whom,  etc.      'Than'  here  looks  like  a  preposition 
governing  '  whom ' :  but  than  is  a  conjunction,  and  if  followed  by 
a  noun  or  pronoun  some  word  or  words  must  be  supplied  before 
deciding  whether  the  noun  or  pronoun  is  in  the  correct  case  ;  e.g. 
"  I  admire  you  more  than  he "=more  than  he  admires  you  ;  "I 
admire  you  more  than  him"  =  more  than  I  admire  him.     In  the 
case  of  the  relative  whom  it  is  difficult  to  supply  the  ellipsis  : 
this  is  seen  if  a  personal  pronoun  in  the  same  case  be  substituted 
for  it,  e.g.  "a  better  senator  than  him,"  which  would  be  wrong. 
The  use  of  whom  after  than  is  a  curious  anomaly. 

3.  helm  of  Rome.     By  a  common  metaphor  taken  from  the 


168  SONNETS. 

steering  of  a  ship  we  speak  of  the  'helm  of  a  state,'  i.e.  its 
government.  The  highest  council  in  Rome  was  the  Senate. 

gowns,  not  arms ;  senatorial  wisdom,  not  generalship : 
comp.  U Alley.  123.  "Milton  means,  what  is  certainly  true, 
that  the  fighting  power  of  Rome  could  not  have  coped  with  these 
invaders  had  it  not  been  directed  by  the  administrative  ability 
of  the  Senate  "  (Pattison). 

4.  The  fierce  Epirot ...  African  bold  :  Pyrrhus,  King  of  Epirus, 
and  Hannibal,  the  great  Carthaginian  general.  Pyrrhus,  one  of  the 
greatest  generals  of  antiquity,  invaded  Italy  in  280  B.C.  :  in  his 
first  campaign  he  gained  a  victory  at  Heraclea,  but  with  such 
loss  that  he  sent  his  minister  Cineas  to  Rome  with  proposals  of 
peace.  These  were  rejected  by  the  Senate  :  and  Cineas,  on  his 
return,  spoke  of  the  Senate  as  an  assembly  of  Kings.  The  war 
continued  till  278. 

Hannibal  was  compelled  by  his  father  to  swear  eternal  enmity 
to  Rome.  He  fought  against  Rome  from  B.C.  219  till  his  death 
thirty-seven  years  later. 

.  5.  Whether  to  settle  peace,  etc.  :  these  infinitive  clauses  are 
explanatory  of  'sage  counsel,'  1.  1.  'Settle  peace '= arrange 
terms  of  peace  ;  '  unfold  the  drift  of  hollow  states  '  —  lay  bare  the 
real  intentions  of  untrustworthy  foreign  governments.  '  Drift ' 
=  aim  or  meaning,  literally  '  that  which  is  driven ' ;  in  colloquial 
English  we  say,  '  What  are  you  driving  at  ? '  =  What  is  your 
meaning  ? 

6.  hard  to  be  spelled,  not  easily  understood.      Milton  here 
compliments  Vane  as  a  skilful  diplomatist.     Comp.  II  Pens.  170. 

7.  upheld  :  participle  qualifying  '  war '  :  *  war '  is  nominative 
to  'may  move.'     Comp.  note  on  Son.  xiii.  14. 

8.  two  main  nerves,  i.  e.  the  two  chief  requisites  for  carrying 
on  a  successful  war,  viz. ,  arms  and  wealth.      The  idea  is  a  com 
mon  one,  occurring  in  Greek  and  Latin  writers,  and  being  still 
current  in  the  phrase  "  sinews  of  war  "  (Greek  neuron,  a  sinew). 
Cicero  speaks  of  money  as  nervi  belli  ;  and  Tacitus  has  the  words 
"  No  peace  without  war,  no  war  without  money." 

9.  equipage,   necessary   materials  :    what    Shakespeare    calls 
"  pride,  pomp,  and  circumstance  of  glorious  war." 

10.  spiritual  power  and  civil.     The  meaning  is  :  '  Thou  hast 
learned  (as  few  have  done)  what  the  true  nature  of  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  rule  is,  how  they  differ  -from  each  other,  and  what 
their  relations  ought  to  be.'     For  '  civil,'  see  note,  11  Pens.  122. 

11.  which  few  have  done  :  the  antecedent  to  the  relative  is  the 
Vhole  object  of  the  verb   'hast  learned,'  viz.,   'to  know  both 

.  .  each.'  The  phrase  corresponds  to  an  explanatory  clause  in 
Latin  introduced  by  quod. 


NOTES. 

12.  bounds  of  either  sword,  i.e.  the  limits  of  the  power  of  the 
Church   (  =  the  sword  spiritual),  and  of  the  State  (the  sword 
temporal).     Some  would  identify  these  with  the  "two-handed 
engine,"  Lye.  130. 

13.  Religion  is  said  to  look  to  Vane  for  support  as  a  mother 

,^r«     4-^.     V»^«    j-*l  s3j-*s*<4-     ^A« 


does  to  her  eldest  son. 


SONNET  XVIII. 


This  sonnet,  written  in  1655,  refers  to  a  massacre  in  April 
of  that  year  of  the  inhabitants  of  certain  Piedmontese  valleys 
in  North  Italy.  These  people  (Vaudois  or  Waldenses)  had, 
in  their  poverty  and  seclusion,  preserved  a  simplicity  of 
worship  resembling  that  of  the  early  days  of  Christianity ;  but 
in  January,  1655,  they  were  ordered  by  the  Turin  government 
to  conform  to  the  Catholic  religion.  Those  who  refused  were  to 
leave  the  country  within  three  days  under  pain  of  death. 
Remonstrances  were  vain,  a  massacre  was  ordered,  and  for  many 
days  the  Waldenses  were  exposed  to  the  most  frightful  atrocities. 
When  the  news  reached  England  the  indignation  reached  a  white 
heat,  and  Cromwell  sent  letters  (written  in  Latin  by  Milton)  and 
an  ambassador  to  the  offending  Duke  of  Savoy  demanding  the 
withdrawal  of  the  cruel  edict ;  a  Fast  Day  was  appointed  ;  and 
the  sum  of  £40,000  was  subscribed  for  the  relief  of  the  sufferers. 
The  result  was  that  they  were  allowed  to  return  in  peace  to  their 
valleys  and  to  worship  in  their  own  way. 

3.  Even  them  who  kept  thy  truth :    see  note  above.     '  Kept  so 
pure  '= preserved  so  free  from  the  ritual  that  had  crept  into  the 
Irloman  Catholic  Church.     '  Them '  is  the  object  of  '  forget  not..' 

4.  worshiped  stocks.     Milton  considered  Roman  Catholicism 
to  be  idolatrous.     'Worshiped,'  also  spelt  worxhipt.     Now  that 
the  participles  of  such  words  are  almost  exclusively  formed  by 
•e.d  the  final  consonant  is  doubled,  thus,  worshipped:  this  indi 
cates  the  nature  of  the  vowel  sound ;    compare  the  sound  of 
'  hoped '  and  '  hopped,'  '  striped  '  and  '  stripped.' 

5.  in  thy  book,  etc.     Here  again  we  have  biblical  phraseology : 
comp.  Psalm  xvi.  8,  "  My  tears,  are  they  not  in  thy  book  ?  " 

their  groans  Who,  i.e.  the  groans  of  them  who  :  see  note, 
UAlUg.  124. 

7.  Slain,  who  were  slain. 

rolled  Mother  with  infant,  etc.  Such  an  incident  actually 
took  place.  "  A  mother  was  hurled  down  a  mighty  rock  with  a 
little  infant  in  her  arms  ;  and  three  days  after  was  found  dead 
with  the  child  alive,  but  fast  clasped  between  the  arms  of  the 


170  SONNETS. 

mother,  which  were  cold  and  stiff,   insomuch  that  those  that 
found  them  had  much  ado  to  get  the  child  out. " 

9.  '  The  valleys  redoubled  (=re-echoed)  their  cries  to  the  hills, 
and  the  hills  in  turn  redoubled  them  to  heaven." 

10.  martyred  blood  and  ashes  sow,  an  allusion  to  Tertullian's 
saying,    "The  blood  of  martyrs   is  the  seed  of  the  Church." 
Milton  prays  that  this  massacre  may  be  the  means  of  spreading 
Protestantism  wherever  Roman  Catholicism  prevails. 

11.  doth  sway,  governs,  holds  sway. 

12.  The  triple  Tyrant,  the  Pope,  in   allusion  to  the  triple 
crown  (trlcoronifer)  or  tiara  worn  by  him  as  head  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.     Comp.  Fletcher's  words  in  Locusts — 

"  Three  mitred  crowns  the  proud  impostor  wears, 
For  he  in  earth,  in  hell,  in  heaven  will  reign. " 

that  from  these,  etc.,  in  order  that  from  the  blood  and 
ashes  of  the  Waldenses  the  number  of  Protestants  may  increase 
a  hundredfold.  '  Hundredfold  '  is  here  treated  as  a  plural  ante 
cedent  of  '  who. ' 

13.  thy  way,  God's  way,  the  true  religion. 

14.  fly,  flee  from,  avoid.     For  this  use  of  '  fly  '  comp.  Sams. 
Agon.  1541. 

the  Babylonian  woe,  Papacy  :  see  Rev.  xvii.  and  xviii. 
The  Puritans  considered  the  Church  of  Rome  to  be  the  Babylon 
there  mentioned. 


SONNET  XIX. 

This  sonnet,  probably  written  in  1655,  is  one  of  Milton's  first 
references  in  poetry  to  that  blindness  which  had  gradually  crept 
upon  him  since  1644  and  had  in  1652  blotted  out  his  sight  for 
ever.  He  continued,  in  spite  of  his  affliction,  to  act  as  Secretary 
for  Foreign  Tongues  to  the  Council  of  State  during  Cromwell's 
protectorate :  the  references  in  this  sonnet  to  his  enforced 
'  waiting '  are  to  .  the  poetical  work  for  which  he  considered 
himself  set  apart. 

1.  spent,  exhausted. 

2.  Ere  half  my  days,  sc.  '  are  spent. '    His  blindness  was  total 
when  he  was  44  years  old  :  he  died  in  1674. 

dark  world  and  wide.      These  are  touching  words  in  the 
mouth  of  a  blind  man. 

3.  that  one  talent.      The  full  construction  is,  'and  (when  I 
consider  how)  that  one  talent,  which  (it)  is  death  to  hide,  (is) 
lodged  with  me  useless.'     Talent  (Lat.  talentum,  a  balance)  = 


NOTES.  171 

something  weighed  in  a  balance  ;  hence  applied  to  '  money '  and 
metaphorically  (as  in  the  Scripture  parable  of  the  talents)  to 
'  God's  gift ' :  the  word  has  thus  acquired  the  sense  of  '  a  natural 
gift  or  ability,'  and  there  is  even  an  adjective  from  it—'  talented ' 
=  clever,  possessing  natural  ability.  Milton  modestly  compares 
himself  to  the  servant  who  had  received  only  one  talent  (see 
Matt.  xxv.). 

which  is  death  to  hide,  i.e.  to  hide  which  is  death.  To 
leave  one's  powers  unemployed  is  equivalent  to  mental  and 
spiritual  death. 

4.  more  bent,  sc.  'is':  *  bent, '  determined. 

6.  lest  He  returning  chide,  i.e.  lest  He,  on  his  return,  reprove 
me  for  sloth.     This  use  of  the  present  participle,  instead  of  an 
adverbial  clause,  is  a  Latinism  :  see  note,  Son.  xiii.  14.     In  the 
parable  mentioned  above,  we  read  :  "After  a  long  time  the  lord 
of  these  servants  cometh  and  maketh  a  reckoning  with  them. " 

7.  Doth  God  exact  day-labour.     The  allusion  is  to  St.  John,  ix. 
4  :  "  We  must  work  the  works  of  him  that  sent  me,  while  it  is 
day  ;  the  night  cometh,  when  no  man  can  work. " 

light  denied  :  absolute  construction,  equivalent  (as  often  in 
Latin)  to  a  conditional  clause,  =  if  light  is  denied. 

8.  I  fondly  ask.     '  Fondly '  =  foolishly  :  see  II  Pens.  6,  note. 
This  is  the  principal  clause  on  which  the  preceding  seven  lines 
depend  :  the  whole  passage  well  illustrates  the  involved  nature 
of  Milton's  syntax.     It  may  be  analysed  thus — 

A.  Principal  clause  :  I  fondly  ask,  etc. 

Under  j  1.  Doth  God  . .  denied  (subst.  clause). 
A.      (  2.  When  I  consider  . .  chide  (adv.  clause). 
Under  J  (1)  How  my  light  is  spent  (subst.  clause). 
2.       ( (2)  (How)  that  one  talent  . .  useless  (subst.  clause). 

Under  (1)  a.  Ere  half  ..  wide  (adv.  clause). 
TT   A      /o\  )    b.  Which  is  death  to  hide  (adj.  clause). 
Under  v^|    c    Though  my  soul  . .  account  (adv.  clause). 

Under  c.  (a)  Lest  . .  chide  (adv.  clause). 

10.  his  own  gifts,  i.e.  the  talents  entrusted  by  Him  to  man. 
Wh3  :  for  construction,  see  note,  Son.  xii.  12. 

12.  thousands,  i.e.  thousands  of  angels.     'Angel'  is  literally 
*  messenger. '     See  Par.  Lout,  iv.  677. 

1 3.  post,  hasten.     Primarily  post  -  something  fixed ;   then  a 
fixed  place  or  stage  on  a  line  of  road  ;  then  a  person  who  travels 
from  stage  to  stage  ;  and  finally  any  quick  traveller. 

14.  stand  and  wait,  i.e.  '  those  who,  unable  to  do  more,  calmly 
submit  to  God's  purposes,  also  render  Him  genuine  service.' 


172  SONNETS. 


SONNET  XX. 

This  sonnet,  written  in  1655  or  1656,  proves  that  even  in  his 
blindness  Milton  could  be  L'Allegro  as  well  as  II  Penseroso.  It 
is  addressed  to  a  son  of  that  Henry  Lawrence  who  was  President 
of  Cromwell's  Council  (1654)  and  a  member  of  his  House  of 
Lords  (1657).  We  do  not  know  which  of  his  sons  is  meant,  but 
it  was  probably  Henry,  then  about  twenty-two  years  of  age.  He 
was  one  of  a  number  of  young  men  who,  admiring  Milton's 
genius,  delighted  to  visit  him,  to  talk  with  him,  read  to  him, 
walk  with  him,  or  write  for  him. 

1.  of  virtuous  father  virtuous  son  :  comp.  Horace — 

"  O  matre  pulchra,  filia  pulchrior." 

2.  Now  that  the  fields,  etc.  :  now,  when  the  fields,  etc.     The 
use  of  'that'  for  'when'  was  once  extremely  common,  but  its 
use  is  now  rare  except  after  the  adverb  '  now. '     (Abbott,  §  284. ) 

ways  are  mire.  The  use  of  the  noun  *  mire '  instead  of  the 
adjective  '  miry '  is  significant  of  the  state  of  the  London  streets 
in  rainy  weather. 

3.  Where  shall  we  sometimes  meet  ?  a  question  which  implies 
that,  as  they  can  neither  walk  into  the  country  nor  in  the  streets, 
they  must  meet  indoors. 

4.  Help  waste,  i.e.  help  each  other  to  spend  :  see  note,  Arc. 
13.     Compare  Horace,  "  morantem  saepe  diem  mero  fregi";  also 
Milton's  Mpitaphium  Damonis,  45. 

what  may  be  won,  etc.  :  *  thus  gaining  from  the  inclement 
season  whatever  good  may  be  got  by  meeting  together ' ;  the 
pleasures  indoors  will  compensate  for  the  loss  of  our  walks  out- 
of-doors. 

6.  Favonius  :  a  frequent  name  in  Latin  poetry  for  Zephyr,  the 
West  Wind  (see  L'Alleg.  19) ;  it  was  this  wind  that  introduced 
the  spring,  'melting  stern  winter,'  as  Horace  says.  In  one  of 
his  masques  Jonson  calls  Favonius  "  father  of  the  spring." 

reinspire  :  here  used  literally,  { to  breathe  new  life  into. ' 

8.  neither  sowed   nor  spun :    an    allusion    to  Matt.  vi.  28, 
"  Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field,  how  they  grow  ;  they  toil  not, 
neither  do  they  spin,  yet  I  say  unto  you  that  even  Solomon  in 
all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of  these."     '  Spun '  is  here 
a  past  tense  ;  see  note,  Lye.  102. 

9.  neat.     This  is  from  Lat.  nitidus,  bright,  attractive, 
light  and  choice,  temperate  and  well-chosen. 

10.  Of  Attic  taste,  '  such  as  would  please  the  simple  and  refined 


NOTES.  173 

Athenian  taste.'  There  may  also  be  a  kind  of  allusion  to  the 
fact  that  their  food  would  be  seasoned  with  '  Attic  salt,'  a  com 
mon  term  for  sparkling  wit — for  what  are  called  in  U 'Allegro 
"  quips  and  cranks." 

11.  artful,  showing  art  or  skill.     This  is  its  radical  sense  ;  it 
is  now  used  in  a  less  dignified  sense,  viz.,  wily  or  cunning.     A 
similar  change  of  meaning  is  seen  in  artless,  cunning,  etc.      See 
note,  UAlleg.  141. 

12.  Warble  :  infinitive  after  '  hear.' 
immortal  notes  :  comp.  UAlleg.  137. 

Tuscan,  Italian  :  Tuscany  being  a  compartment  of  Italy. 

13.  spare  To  interpose,  etc.,  i.e.  'use  them  sparingly.'    The 
Lat.  parcere  with  an  infinitive  — '  to  refrain  from ' ;  and  the  Latin 
verb  temperare  may  mean  either  '  to  refrain  from'  or  'to  spare.' 
There  is  therefore  no  doubt  of  Milton's  meaning. 

14.  not  unwise,  very  wise.      By  a  figure  of  speech  the  two 
negatives    strengthen  the  affirmative  sense  :    comp.    '  no    mean 
applause,'  Son.  xxi.  2. 


SONNET  XXI. 

This  sonnet  was  written  about  the  same  time  as  the  preceding 
one,  and  in  a  similar  mood  of  cheerfulness.  Milton  wishes,  in 
Cyriac  Skinner's  company,  to  throw  off  for  a  time  the  cares  and 
worries  of  his  Secretaryship  and  calls  upon  his  friend  to  lay 
aside  his  study  of  politics  and  of  mathematical  and  physical 
science.  Cyriac  Skinner  was  grandson  of  Sir  Edward  Coke,  the 
famous  lawyer  and  judge  (1549-1634),  and  author  of  numerous 
legal  works  of  great  value. 

1.  bench  Of  British  Themis.     Coke  was  Solicitor-General  in 
1592  and  afterwards  Attorney-General.     'Bench,'  a  long  seat, 
hence  a  judge's  seat,  and  so  used  metaphorically  for  Law  and 
Justice.     Themis,    "the  personification  of  the  order  of  things 
established  by  law,  custom,  and  equity. " 

2.  no  mean  applause  :  see  note,  Son.  xx.  14,  above. 

3.  Pronounced.     Pronuntiatio  is  a  Latin  term  for  the  decision 
of  a  judge,  and  we  speak  of  a  judge  pronouncing  sentence.     Comp. 
Lye.  83. 

in  his  volumes,  e.g.  The  Institutes  of  the  Laws  of  England, 
Reports,  in  13  vols.,  and  Commentaries  on  Lyttleton. 

4.  at  their  bar,  i.e.  in  administering  the  law:  'bar'  is  used 
metaphorically  for  '  a  legal  tribunal.' 


174  SONNETS. 

•wrench,  pervert,  twist.  Wrench  and  wrong  are  both  allied 
to  wring ;  so  that  wrong, means  strictly  'twisted,'  just  as  right 
means  '  straight.' 

5.  '  To-da^y  resolve  with  me  to  drench  deep  thoughts  in  such 
mirth  as  will  not  afterwards  bring  regret.'     'To  drench  deep 
thoughts '  may  be  compared  with  such  phrases  as  '  to  drown 
care.' 

6.  after,  afterwards. 

7.  Let  Euclid  rest,  etc. :  lay  aside  the  study  of  mathematics, 
physical  science,  and  political  questions.     Skinner  was  a  diligent 
student  of  all  these  subjects.      Euclid,  the  celebrated  mathe 
matician,  is  here  by  metonymy  put  for  his  works  :  the  name  has 
almost  become  synonymous  with  Geometry. 

Archimedes  (B.C.  287-212),  a  mathematician  and  physicist  of 
the  highest  order,  lived  at  Syracuse  :  when  that  city  was  taken, 
he  was  killed  while  intent  upon  a  mathematical  problem.  He 
wrote  on  conic  sections,  hydrostatics,  etc. 

8.  what  the  Swede  intend,  sc.  '  let  rest.'   The  verb  being  plural 
'Swede'  must  here  be  plural,  just  as  we  say  'the  Swiss,'  'the 
French,'  'the  Dutch,'  etc.,  to  denote  a  whole  nation.     'Swede,' 
however,  is  not  now  so  used,  the  adjective  being  '  Swedish  '  and 
the  noun  (singular  only)   '  Swede  ; '    hence   some  editions  read 
resounds.     When  this  sonnet  was  written,  Charles  X.  of  Sweden 
was  at  war  with  Poland  and  Russia,  and  Louis  XIV.  of  France 
with  Spain. 

9.  To  measure  life,  etc.,  i.e.  learn  in  good  time  how  short  life 
is,  so  that  you  may  make  the  most  of  it.    As  Milton  says  in  Par. 
Lost,  "  What  thou  liv'st  Live  well ;  how  long  or  short  permit  to 
Heaven. "     '  Betimes '  (by-time)  —  in  good  time  :  the  final  s  is  the 
adverbial  suffix. 

11.  For  other  things,  etc.,  i.e.  Heaven  has  tenderly  ordained 
that  there  shall  be  a  time  for  mirth  as  well  as  anxious  thought, 
and  disapproves  of  the  conduct  of  those  who  make  a  display  of 
their  anxiety  and  refuse  to  rejoice  even  when  they  may  well  do 
so.  Comp.  "Learn  to  jest  in  good  time  :  there's  a  time  for  all 
things,"  Com.  of  Errors,  ii.  2;  also  "Be  not  therefore  anxious 
for  the  morrow  :  for  the  morrow  will  be  anxious  for  itself : 
sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof,"  Matt.  xi.  34. 


SONNET  XXII. 

This  sonnet,  omitted  from  the  edition  of  1673  owing  to  the  re 
ference  in  the  closing  lines,  was  written  on  the  third  anniversary 


NOTES.  175 

of  the  day  on  which  Milton's  blindness  became  total :  it  must 
therefore  have  been  composed  in  1655. 

I.  this  three  years'  day:  in  prose  we  say,    'this  day  three 
years,'  'three  years  this  day,'  or  'three  years  ago  to-day,'  all 
adverbial  phrases.     '  Three  years' '  has  the  force  of  an  adjective 
qualifying  '  day. '     Comp.    ' '  I  saw  not  better  sport  these  seven 
years'  day,"  Shakespeare,  2  Henry  VI.  ii. 

though  clear  To  outward  view,  i.e.  though  apparently  un 
injured.  Some  of  Milton's  enemies  taunted  him  with  his  '  lack 
lustre  eye,'  but  he  was  able  to  say  that  his  blindness  had  not 
altered  the  appearance  of  his  face,  though  (he  admits)  '  in  spite 
of  myself,  I  am  a  deceiver.' 

3.  Bereft,  deprived.     Be  is  an  intensive  prefix,  and  reave  is 
from  the  same  A.  S.  word  as  rob :  see  Lye.  107. 

their  seeing  have  forgot,  i.e.  have  forgotten  (  =  lost)  their 
power  of  vision.  For  '  forgot '  see  note,  Son.  xi.  1. 

4.  their  idle  orbs,  useless  eyeballs.    .'Orb'  is  here  correctly 
used  to  denote  the  ball  of  the  eye  (Lat.  orbis) :  compare  Virgil's 
Aen.  xii.,  oculonim  orbis;    also  Sams.  Agon.  591,  "those  dark 
orbs  no  more  shall  treat  the  light." 

5.  Of  sun  or  moon,  etc.     The  word  or  is  here  used  four  times, 
'  either '  being  understood  before  '  of. '    Or  is  a  corruption  of  either, 
not  of  other,  and  means  '  any  one  of  two ' ;  but  it  is  often  used 
where  there  are  more  than  two  objects  noted. 

7.  bate  a  jot  of,  diminish  in  the  least  degree.     'Bate'  is  a  con 
traction  of  '  abate.' 

9.  What  supports  me  ?    Milton's  answer  is,  '  I  am  supported 
in  my  affliction  by  the  thought  that  I  lost  my  sight  through  over- 
exertion  in  the  noble  task  of  defending  liberty.'     '  Conscience  '= 
consciousness  or  knowledge  :  the  word  is  not  now  used  in  this 
general  sense,  and  is  so  used  only  twice  by  Milton  (see  Par.  Lost, 
viii.  502).     It  has  still  this.meaniug  in  French,  but  in  English  it 
is  restricted  to  '  knowledge  of  right  and  wrong.' 

10.  them,  i.e.  my  eyes. 

overplied,  overworked.  '  Ply '  is  from  Lat.  plico,  to  fold 
or  mould;  and  as  in  moulding  clay  the  fingers  must  be  kept 
steadily  at  work,  '  ply  '  has  come  to  signifiy  constant  and  steady 
effort,  e.g.  to  ply  a  task. 

I 1.  In  Liberty's  defence.     The  poet  refers  to  his  great  pamphlet 
Defemio  Pro  Populo  Aw/licano,  published  in  1651,  in  reply  to  one 
by  Salmasius,  who  condemned  the  execution  of  Charles  I.     The 
writing  of  this  Defence  and  its  sequel  hastened  Milton's  blind- 


176  SONNETS. 

12.  talks.     So  Milton  very  modestly  wrote,  but  most  editions 
have  '  rings,'  on  the  suggestion  of  an  editor  in  1694  (comp.  Son. 
xv.   1).     The  compliment   implied   in   the   change   is   none   too 
great,  and;therefore  deserves  to  be  noticed,  though  not  incorpor 
ated  in  the  text. 

13.  world's  vain  mask.     It  is  common  in  poetry  to  liken  the 
world  and  life  to  a  play:   comp.  Shakespeare,  "  A  stage  where 
every  man  must  play  his  part." 

14.  had  I,  etc.,  i.e.  if  I  had  no  better  guide. 


SONNET  XXIII. 

This  was  his  second  wife,  Catherine  Woodcock,  who  died  in 
childbirth  in  February,  1657,  fifteen  months  after  her  marriage. 
She  had  been  a  good  and  faithful  wife  to  him.  This  sonnet  was 
probably  written  in  1658. 

L.  Methought:  see  note,  Sou.  x.  11.  Milton  speaks  as  if  he 
were  recalling  a  dream. 

espoused,  married :  from  Fr.  espouer,  to  marry  (Lat.  sponsus, 
promised).  Strictly  it  may  be  applied  either  to  husband  or  wife, 
though  now  generally  used  of  the  latter  alone. 

2.  Alcestis,  wife  of  Admetus,  king  of  Pherae  in  Thessaly  :  on 
the  day  of  his  marriage  with  Alcestis,  Admetus  neglected  to 
offer  a  sacrifice  to  Artemis,  but  Apollo  reconciled  the  goddess  to 
him,  and  induced  the  Fates  to  grant  him  deliverance  from  death 
if  his  father,  mother  or  wife  would  die  for  him.  His  wife  died  in 
his  stead,  but  was  brought  from  the  lower  world  by  Hercules, 
"Jove's  great  son." 

4.  Rescued :  participial  idiom  ;  comp.  Son.  xiii.  14. 

5.  Mine  :  pronoun,  subject  to  '  came,'  1.  9. 

as  whom,  i.e.  as  or  like  (those)  whom,  etc.  The  antecedent 
of  the  relative  is  not  expressed. 

6.  Purification.     By  the  Old  Law  is  meant  the  Mosaic  law, 
which  enjoined  certain  ceremonies  of  purification  upon  mothers 
after  child-birth.     See  Leviticus  xii. 

7.  And  such  as  yet,  etc.,  i.e.  and  such  as  I  trust  yet,  etc. 

8.  without  restraint.      This  is  an  allusion  to  the  legal  restric 
tions  upon  women  under  the  Old  Law  noted  above. 

9.  all  in  white,   as  if  denoting  that  ceremonial  uncleanness 
ended  with  death  :  for  the  force  of  all  see  note,  II  Pens.  33. 


NOTES.  177 

10.  Her  face  was  veiled.      This  may  signify  that  Milton  had 
never  actually  seen  his  wife,  and  could  not  therefore  picture  her 
face  in  his  dreams. 

my  fancied  sight,  i.e.  the  eye  of  my  fancy  =  my  imagina 
tion. 

11.  shined,   shone.     In  early  English  shine  is  a  strong  verb, 
shinen  being  the  past  participle  and  shone  the  past  tense.     But 
as  early  as  the  fourteenth  century  shined  occurs  as  a  past  tense. 

12.  There  seem  to  be  two  comparisons  involved  in  this  line  : 
'love,  etc  ,  shone  more  clearly  in  her  face  than  they  have  ever 
done  in  any  other  '  ;  and  '  love,  etc.,  shone  with  more  delight  in 
her  face  than  in  any  other. ' 

13.  as,  while  ;  introduces  a  temporal  clause, 
inclined,  bent  over  me. 

14.  day  brought  back  my  night,  i.e.  daybreak  recalled  me  to 
the  knowledge  of  my  blindness  (and  loneliness).     This  verbal 
contradiction  between  '  day  '  and  '  night '  is  very  striking. 


INDEX   TO   THE  NOTES. 


[REFERENCES  : — M.M.  =  Soiig  on  May  Morning :  Sh.  =  On  Shake 
speare  :  U.  =  On  the  University  Carrier  ;  E.  =  Epitaph  on  the 
Marchioness  of  Winchester  :  T.  =  On  Time  :  A.  =  U Allegro  : 
P.  =  II  Penseroso  :  Arc.  =  Arcades :  L.  =  Lycidas  :  S.  = 
Sonnet.  ] 


A,  A.  14. 

Adamantine,  Arc.  66. 
Afield,  L.  27. 
Alcestis,  S.  xxiii.  2. 
All,  P.  33;  Arc.  58;  S.  xii. 
Alpheus,  Arc.  30. 
Amain,  L.  111. 
A-Maying,  A.  20. 
Amaranthus,  L.  149. 
Amaze,  S.  xv.  3. 
Anon,  A.  131. 
Anthems,  P.  163. 
Antique,  A.  128. 
Arcady,  Arc.  28. 
Arethuse,  Arc.  31 ;  L.  85. 
As,  A.  20,  29. 
Assay,  Arc.  80. 
Astonishment,  Sh.  7. 
Atropos,  E.  28 ;  Arc.  65. 
Attic,  S.  xx.  10. 
Attired,  T.  21 ;  L.  146. 
Ay.  L.  56. 


Bacchus,  A.  16. 
Barons,  A.  119. 
Battening,  L.  29. 
Baulk,  S.  xiia.  17. 


14. 


Be,  E.  55  ;  U.  ii.  25. 
Bear,  P.  87. 
Becks,  A.  28. 
Bellerus,  L.  160. 
Bereft,  S.  xxii.  3. 
Beseem,  P.  18. 
Beside,  P.  116. 
Bespake,  L.  112. 
Bested,  P.  3. 

Bid,  Arc.  13;  L.  22;  S.  viii. 
Bonnet,  L.  104. 
Boots,  L.  64. 

Both,  S.  i.  14 ;  S.  x.  13 ;  S. 
2. 

Bridegroom,  S.  ix.  12. 
Brooding,  A.  6  ;  P.  2. 
Buskined,  P.  102 ;  Arc,  33. 
Buxom,  A.  24. 

a 

Cambuscan,  P.  110. 
Came,  E.  57. 
Camus,  L.  103. 
Canace,  P.  112. 
Canker,  Arc.  53 ;  L.  45. 
Carnation,  E.  37. 
Cerberus,  A.  2. 
Cheerly,  A.  54. 
Chamberlin,  U.  i.  4. 
Charm,  P.  74. 


xi 


178 


INDEX  TO  THE  NOTES. 


179 


Chauntress,  P.  63. 
Chequered,  A.  96. 
Chief est,  P.  51. 
Chimney,  A.  111. 
Cimmerian,  A.  10. 
Civil-suited,  P.  122. 
Classic,  S.  xiia.  7. 
Clime,  S.  viii.  8. 
Cloister,  P.  156. 
Colkitto,  S.  xi.  9. 
Colonel,  S.  viii.  1. 
Commercing,  P.  39. 
Committing,  S.  xiia.  4. 
Comply,  Arc.  38. 
Conscience,  S.  xxii.  10. 
Consent,  P.  95. 
Consort,  P.  145. 
Contemplation,  P.  54. 
Coy,  L.  18. 
Cranks,  A.  27. 
Cross,  Arc.  52. 
Crow-toe,  L.  143. 
Crude,  L.  3. 
Cunning,  A.  141. 
Curfew,  P.  74. 
Curl,  Arc.  46. 
Cybele,  Arc.  21. 
Cyllene,  Arc.  98. 
Cynosure,  A.  80. 
Cynthia,  P.  59. 
Cypress-bud,  E.  22. 
Cypress  lawn,  P.  35. 

D. 

Daffadillies,  L.  150. 
Damoetas,  L.  36. 
Dappled,  A.  44. 
Dear,  L.  6. 
Debonair,  A.  24. 
Decent,  P.  36. 
Deign,  P.  56. 
Delphic,  Sh.  12. 
Demons,  P.  93. 
Demure,  P.  32. 
Descry,  Arc.  3. 
Deva,  L.  55. 
Devout,  P.  31. 


Dewy-feathered,  P.  146. 
Dight,  A.  62. 
Dimple,  A.  30. 
Dishonest,  S.  x.  6. 
Ditties,  L.  32. 
Divinest,  P.  12. 
Dodged,  U.  i.  8. 
Dolphins,  L.  164. 
Doric,  L.  189. 
Dragon,  P.  59. 
Drift,  S.  xvii.  6. 
Druids,  L.  53. 
Due,  P.  155. 
Dungeon,  L.  97. 

E. 

Each,  L.  94. 
Eat,  A.  102,  135. 
Eaves,  P.  130. 
Ebon,  A.  7. 
Eclipse,  L.  101. 
Ecstasies,  P.  165. 
Eglantine,  A.  48. 
Electra,  S.  viii.  13. 
Elm,  A.  58. 
Elysian,  A.  147. 
Emathian,  S.  viii.  10. 
Embroidery,  L.  148. 
Eminently,  S.  ix.  3. 
Enamelled,  Arc.  84 ;  L.  139. 
Endeavour,  S.  xiv.  5. 
Endu'th,  S.  ii.  8. 
Engine,  L.  130 ;  U.  ii.  9. 
Enow,  L.  114. 
Epirot,  S.  xvii.  4. 
Ere,  A.  107. 
Erst,  Arc.  9. 
Erymanth,  Arc.  100. 
Espoused,  S.  xxiii.  1. 
Esteem,  P.  17. 
Ethiop,  P.  19. 
Euphrosyne,  A.  12. 
Eurydice,  A.  145. 

F. 

Fair  and  free,  A.  11. 
Fairfax,  S.  xv.  1. 


180 


INDEX  TO  THE  NOTES. 


Fallows,  A.  71. 

Helicon,  E.  56. 

Fancy,  A.  133;  P.  6. 

Hence,  A.  1  ;  Arc.  3. 

Fantastic,  A.  34,  36. 

Her,  A.  124. 

Fast,  P.  44,  46. 

Herdman,  L.  121. 

Fauns,  L.  34. 

Heretics,  S.  xiia.  11. 

Favonius,  S.  xx.  0. 

Hermes,  P.  88. 

Fee,  S.  x.  3  ;  xii.  7. 

Hermitage,  P.  168. 

Felon,  L.  91. 

Hippotades,  L.  96. 

Fetch,  Arc.  54. 

Hist,  P.  55. 

Foil,  L.  79. 

Hit,  P.  14. 

Fond,  P.  6  ;  L.  56. 

Hoar,  A.  55. 

Footing,  L.  103. 

Hold,  L.  162. 

Forlorn,  A.  3. 

Holiday,  A.  98. 

Forsook,  P.  91. 

Hours,  S.  i.  4  ;  T.  2. 

Freaked,  L.  144. 

Hydra,  S.  xv.  7. 

Friar's  lantern,  A.  104. 

Hymen,  A.  125. 

Frolic,  A.  18. 

Frounced,  P.  123. 

I. 

Funeral,  E.  46. 

Fury,  L.  75. 

Ida,  P.  29 
Idle,  P.  5. 

G. 

Imbrued,  S.  xvi.  7. 

Imp,  S.  xv.  8. 

Gadding,  L.  40. 

Individual,  T.  12. 

Garish,  P.  141. 

Influence,  A.  122. 

Galasp,  S.  xi.  9. 
Genius,  P.  154;  L.  184. 

Intent,  Arc.  34  ;  S.  xiia.  9. 
Inter,  E.  1. 

Gentle,  Arc.  26. 

Girt,  U.  i.  1. 

J. 

Goblin,  A.  105. 

Golden,  A.  146. 

Jealous,  A.  6. 

Gospel,  S.  xvi.  14  ;  P.  170. 

Jessamine,  L.  143. 

Grace,  Arc.  104:  Graces,  A.  15. 

Jocund,  A.  94. 

Grain,  P.  33. 

Jollity,  A.  26. 

Gross,  Arc.  73. 

Jolly,  S.  i.  4. 

Guerdon,  L.  73. 

Jonson,  A.  132. 

Joseph,  E.  66. 

H. 

Jove,  P.  30. 

Hail,  P.  11. 

Junkets,  A.  102. 

Hamlets,  A.  92. 

Hapless,  E.  31. 

.. 

Happy-making,  T.  18. 
Harbinger,  M.M.  1. 
Hath,  A.  108. 

Kerchieft,  P.  125. 
Knight,  A.  119;  S.  viii.  L 

Haycock,  A.  90. 

L. 

Hearse,  L.  151  ;  E.  58. 

Hebe,.  A.  29. 

Ladon,  Arc.  97. 

Hebrides,  L.  156. 

Landskip,  A.  70, 

INDEX  TO  THE  NOTES. 


181 


Languished,  E.  33. 

Lap,  A.  135  ;  L.  138. 

Latona,  Arc.  20. 

Laureate,  S.  xvi.  9 ;  L.  151. 

Laurels,  L.  1. 

Lawn,  A.  71 ;  P.  35. 

Leaden,  P.  43 ;  T.  2. 

Lies,  A.  79. 

Like,  S.  xi.  10,  12. 

Likest,  P.  9. 

Lilied,  Arc.  97. 

List,  L.  123. 

Liturgy,  S.  xiia.  "2. 

Livelong,  Sh.  8 ;  A.  99. 

Liveries,  A.  62. 

Loathed,  A.  1. 

Low-browed,  A.  8. 

Lubber,  A.  110. 

Lucina,  E.  28. 

Lycseus,  Arc.  98. 

M. 

Mansion,  P.  92. 

Msenalus,  Arc.  102. 

Marble,  P.  42  ;  Sh.  14. 

Married,  A.  137. 

Massy,  P.  158. 

Matin,  A.  114. 

Meditate,  L.  66. 

Melancholy,  A.  K 

Mellowing,  L.  5. 

Memnon,  P.  18. 

Messes,  A.  85. 

Methinks,  S  x.  11:  Methought, 

S.  xxiii.  1. 
Midas,  S.  xiii.  4. 
Mincius,  L.  85. 
Minute-drops,  P.  130. 
Mistook,  Arc.  4. 
Mona,  L.  54. 
'Mongst,  A.  4. 
Monody,  L.  first  note. 
Monstrous,  L.  158. 
Monumental.  P.  135. 
Morning-star,  M.  IVL  1. 
Morpheus,  P.  10. 
Mortal,  Arc.  62 ;  L.  78. 


Murmurs,  Arc.  60. 

Musseus,  P.  105. 

Muse,  L.   19;  Sh.  5:    Muses, 

P.  47  ;  L.  15,  58,  66. 
Must,  L.  38. 
Myrtles,  L.  2. 

N. 

Namancos,  L.  162. 
Neat-handed,  A.  86. 
Nectar,  L.  175. 
Needs,  Sh.  i.  6. 
Nerves,  S.  xvii.  8. 
New-spangled,  L.  170. 
Nightly,  P.  84 ;  Arc.  48. 
Noise,  P.  61. 
Noisome,  Arc.  49. 
Noon,  P.  68. 
Numbering,  S.  xi.  4. 
Numbers,  Sh.  10 ;  L.  11. 
Nun,  P.  31. 
Nymph,  A.  25. 

0. 

Oat,  L.  88  :  Oaten,  L.  33. 
Once,  A.  20. 
Orpheus,  A.  145. 
Overween,  S.  ix.  6. 

P. 

Pageantry,  A.  128. 
Pan,  Arc.  102,  106. 
Panope,  L.  99. 
Passion,  P.  41. 
Pelops,  P.  99. 
Pensioners,  P.  10. 
Perfidious,  L.  IOC. 
Philomel,  P.  56. 
Phoebus,  S.  xiii.  10 ;  L.  77 
Phylacteries,  S.  xiia.  17. 
Pied,  A.  75. 
Pindarus,  S.  viii.  11. 
Plat,  P.  73. 
Plato,  P.  89. 
Pledge,  L.  107. 
Plight,  P.  57. 


182 


INDEX  TO  THE  NOTES. 


Plummet,  T.  3. 

Sceptred,  P.  98. 

Pluto,  A.  145,  148;  P.  107. 

Scrannel,  L.  124. 

Pomp,  A.  127. 

Self,  A.  145. 

Post,  S.  xix.  13. 

Sepulchred,  Sh.  15. 

Prelate,  S.  xiia.  1. 

Sere,  L.  2. 

Presbyter,  S.  xiia.  20. 

Shakespeare,  Sh.  10;   A.  1 

Present,  P.  99. 

133;  P.  101. 

Priest,  S.  xiia.  20. 

Shallow-searching,  Arc.  41. 

Primrose,  L.  142. 

Shapes,  A.  4. 

Profaner,  P.  140. 

Shatter,  L.  5. 

Pronounced,  S.  xxi.  3. 

Sheen,  E.  73. 

Proof,  P.  158. 

Shew,  P.  171. 

Puissant,  Arc.  60. 

Shined,  S.  xxiii.  11. 

Purgatory,  S.  xiii.  14. 

Shrill,  A.  56. 

Purple,  L.  141. 

Shroud,  L.  22. 

Shrunk,  L.  133. 

Q. 

Sincerely,  T.  14. 

Sing,  A.  7  ;  P.  143. 

Quaint,  Arc.  47. 

Sirens,  Arc.  63. 

Quips,  A.  27. 
Quire,  E.  17  ;  P.  162  ;  S.  xiii. 

Sloped,  L.  31. 
Sluice,  Arc.  30. 

10. 

Sock,  A.  132. 

Quoth,  L.  107. 

Solemn,  Arc.  7. 

Sorrow,  L.  166. 

R. 

Spare,  S.  xx.  13. 

Sped,  L.  122. 

Radiant,  Arc.  14. 

Spell,  P.  170. 

Rapt,  P.  40. 

Sphere-metal,  U.  ii.  5. 

Rathe,  L.  142. 

Spheres,  Arc.  64. 

Raven,  A.  7. 

Spite,  A.  45. 

Rebecks,  A.  94. 

Spleen,  S.  ix.  7. 

Reck,  L.  122. 

Spray,  S.  i.  1. 

Reft,  L.  107. 

Star-proof,  Arc.  89. 

Reinspire,  S.  xx   6. 

Starred,  P.  19. 

Reliques,  Sh.  3. 
Removed,  P.  78. 

Star-ypointing,  Sh.  4. 
State,  Arc.  14  ;  P.  37. 

Rhyme,  L.  11. 

Steadfast,  P.  32. 

Rout,  L.  61. 

Stole,  P.  35. 

Ruth,  S.  ix.  8. 

Stops,  L.  188. 

Rutherford,  S.  xiia.  8. 

Store,  A.  121. 

Storied,  P.  159. 

S. 

Straight,  U.  ii.  10  ;  A.  69. 

Stygian,  A.  3. 

Sacred,  L.  101. 

Swart,  L.  138. 

Saffron,  A.  126. 

Sweat,  A.  105. 

Sanguine,  L.  106. 

Swede,  S.  xxi.  8. 

Saturn,  P.  24. 

Sylvan,  P.  134. 

Satyrs,  L.  34. 

Syrinx,  Arc.  106. 

INDEX  TO  THE  NOTES. 


183 


Taint- worm,  L.  46. 

Tale,  A.  67. 

Talent,  S.  xix.  3. 

Taper,  A.  126. 

Tell,  A.  67 ;  E.  8. 

Tempered,  L.  33. 

Tetrachordon,  S.  xi.  1. 

That,  Sh.  10 ;  A.  145 ;  S.  ix.  1. 

Thee,  A.  25. 

Themis,  S.  xxi.  2. 

Thick,  P.  17. 

Thwarting,  Arc.  51. 

Thy,  L.  184. 

Timely,  S.  i.  9 ;  S.  ii.  8. 

To,  Arc.  13. 

Took,  Sh.  12. 

Towered,  A.  120 ;  Arc.  21. 

Toys,  P.  4. 

Trent,  S.  xiia.  14. 

Trick,  P.  123. 

Trim,  A.  75  ;  P.  50. 

Triumphs,  A.  120. 

Trophies,  P.  118. 

Turneys,  P.  118. 

Twain,  L.  110. 

U. 

Uncessant,  L.  64. 
Uncouth,  A.  5. 
Unexpressive,  L.  176. 
Unheedy,  E.  38. 
Unpurged,  Arc.  73. 
Unreproved,  A.  40. 
Unsphere,  P.  88. 
Unvalued,  Sh.  11. 
Upland,  A.  92 
Use,  L.  67,  136. 

V. 

Vacation,  U.  ii.  14. 
Vain,  P.  1. 


Vesta,  P.  23. 
Virtuous,  P.  113. 
Visage,  P.  13. 
Vows,  Arc.  6. 

W. 

Wain,  U.  ii.  32. 

Wandering,  P.  67 

Warbled,  Arc.  87. 

Wardrobe,  L.  47. 

Was,  L.  97. 
i   Weanling,  L.  46. 
1   Weeds,  A.  120. 

Weept,  E.  56. 

Welter*  L.  13. 

Went,  L.  103. 

Westering,  L.  31. 

What,  Sh.  i.  6 ;  L.  28. 

When  as,  T.  9. 

Wide-watered,  P.  75. 

Wiles,  A.  27. 

With,  L.  29,  101  ;  S.  x.  8. 

Wizard,  L.  55. 

Wont,  wonted,  P.  37. 

Worshiped,  S.  xviii.  4. 

Wove,  Arc.  47. 

Wreathed,  A.  28. 

Writ,  S.  xi.  1. 

Wrench,  S.  xxi.  4. 

Y. 

Yclept,  A.  12. 

Ye,  Are.  40. 

Years'  day,  S.  xxii.  1. 

Yon,  yonder,  P.  52  :  Arc.  56. 

Yore,  P.  23. 

Ypointing,  Sh.  4. 


Zephyr,  A.  19. 


ULASOOW  :     PRINTED 


MACLEHOSK   ANJ>  CO.   LTD. 


n 


PLEASE  DO  'N(OT  REMOVE 
CARDS  OR  SLIPS  t-ROM  THIS  POCKET 

UNIVERSITY  OF  TORONTO  LIBRARY 


Milton,  John 
3552  Lycidas 

B4 
COP.  3