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 Flames in the forehead of the morning sky: So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high, Through the dear might of him that walk'd the
Where, other groves and other streams along, With nectar pure his oozy locks he laves, 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, And wipe the tears for ever from his eyes. Now, Lycidas, the shepherds weep no more; Henceforth thou art the genius of the shore, In thy large recompense, and shalt be good To all that wander in that perilous flood.
To lay their just hands on that golden key, That opes the palace of Eternity:
To such my errand is; and, but for such, I would not soil these pure ambrosial weeds With the rank vapors of this sin-worn mould. But to my task. Neptune, besides the sway Of every salt flood, and each ebbing stream, Took in by lot 'twixt high and nether Jove Imperial rule of all the sea-girt isles, That, like to rich and various gems, inlay The unadorned bosom of the deep: Which he, to grace his tributary gods, By course commits to several government, And gives them leave to wear their sapphire crowns, And wield their little tridents: but this isle, The greatest and the best of all the main, He quarters to his blue-hair'd deities; And all this tract that fronts the falling Sun 180 A nobler peer of mickle trust and power
Has in his charge, with temper'd awe to guide An old and haughty nation, proud in arms: Where his fair offspring, nurs'd in princely lore,
Thus sang the uncouth swain to the oaks and Are coming to attend their father's state,
While the still Morn went out with sandals grey; He touch'd the tender stops of yarious quills, With eager thought warbling his Doric lay; And now the Sun had stretch'd out all the hills, And now was dropt into the western bay: At last he rose, and twitch'd his mantle blue: To-morrow to fresh woods, and pastures new.
And new-intrusted sceptre: but their way Lies through the perplex'd paths of this drear wood, The nodding horror of whose shady brows Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger; And here their tender age might suffer peril, But that by quick command from sovran Jove I was dispatch'd for their defence and guard : And listen why; for I will tell you now What never yet was heard in tale or song, From old or modern bard, in hall or bower. Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape Crush'd the sweet poison of misused wine, After the Tuscan mariners transform'd, Coasting the Tyrrhene shore, as the winds listed, On Circe's island fell: (Who knows not Circe, 50 The daughter of the Sun, whose charmed cup
THE ATTENDANT SPIRIT, afterwards in the habit of Whoever tasted, lost his upright shape,
The chief persons, who presented, were
The lord Brackley;
Mr. Thomas Egerton, his brother; The lady Alice Egerton.
The first Scene discovers a wild wood. The ATTENDANT SPIRIT descends or enters. BEFORE the starry threshold of Jove's court My mansion is, where those immortal shapes Of bright aerial spirits live inspher'd In regions mild of calm and serene air, Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot, Which men call earth; and, with low-thoughted Confin'd and pester'd in this pinfold here, Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being, Unmindful of the crown that Virtue gives, After this mortal change, to her true servants, Amongst the enthron'd gods on sainted seats. Yet some there be, that by due steps aspire
And downward fell into a grovelling swine?) This nymph, that gaz'd upon his clustering locks With ivy berries wreath'd, and his blithe youth, Had by him, ere he parted thence, a son Much like his father, but his mother more, Whom therefore she brought up, and Comus nam'd: Who, ripe and frolic of his full-grown age, Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields, At last betakes him to this ominous wood; And, in thick shelter of black shades embower'd, Excels his mother at her mighty art, Offering to every weary traveller His orient liquor in a crystal glass,
To quench the drought of Phoebus; which as they
(For most do taste through fond intemperate thirst:) Soon as the potion works, their human countenance, The express resemblance of the gods, is chang'd Into some brutish form of wolf, or bear, Or ounce, or tiger, hog, or bearded goat, All other parts remaining as they were; And they, so perfect is their misery Not once perceive their foul disfigurement, care But boast themselves more comely than before; And all their friends and native home forget, To roll with pleasure in a sensual stye. Therefore when any, favor'd of high Jove, 10 Chances to pass through this adventurous glade, Swift as the sparkle of a glancing star
I shoot from Heaven, to give him safe convoy,
As now I do: but first I must put off These my sky-robes spun out of Iris' woof, And take the weeds and likeness of a swain That to the service of this house belongs, Who with his soft pipe, and smooth-dittied song, Well knows to still the wild winds when they roar, And hush the waving woods; nor of less faith, And in this office of his mountain watch Likeliest, and nearest to the present aid Of this occasion. But I hear the tread Of hateful steps; I must be viewless now.
And Advice with scrupulous head. Strict Age and sour Severity,
With their grave saws, in slumber lie. We, that are of purer fire,
Imitate the starry quire,
Come, knit hands, and beat the ground In a light fantastic round.
Break off, break off, I feel the different pace Of some chaste footing near about this ground. Run to your shrouds, within these brakes and trees; Our number may affright: some virgin sure (For so I can distinguish by mine art) Benighted in these woods. Now to my charms, And to my wily trains: I shall ere long Be well-stocked with as fair a herd as graz'd About my mother Circe. Thus I hurl My dazzling spells into the spungy air, of power to cheat the eye with blear illusion, And give it false presentments, lest the place And my quaint habits breed astonishment, And put the damsel to suspicious flight; Which must not be, for that's against my course: I, under fair pretence of friendly ends, And well-plac'd words of glozing courtesy Baited with reasons not unplausible, Wind me into the easy-hearted man,
And hug him into snares. When once her eye Hath met the virtue of this magic dust,
I shall appear some harmless villager,
Whom thrift keeps up about his country gear But here she comes; I fairly step aside, And hearken, if I may, her business here.
This way the noise was, if mine car be true, 170 My best guide now; methought it was the sound Of riot and ill-manag'd merriment,
Such as the jocund flute, or gamesome pipe, Stirs up among the loose unletter'd hinds;
110 When for their teeming flocks, and granges full, In wanton dance they praise the bounteous Pan, And thank the gods amiss. I should be loth To meet the rudeness, and swill'd insolence, Of such late wassailers; yet, O! where else Shall I inform my unacquainted feet In the blind mazes of this tangled wood? My brothers, when they saw me wearied out With this long way, resolving here to lodge Under the spreading favor of these pines, 120 Stept, as they said, to the next thicket side, To bring me berries, or such cooling fruit As the kind hospitable woods provide. They left me then, when the gray-hooded Even, Like a sad votarist in palmer's weed, 189
Who, in their nightly watchful spheres, Lead in swift round the months and years. The sounds and seas, with all their finny drove, Now to the Moon in wavering morrice move; And, on the tawny sands and shelves, Trip the pert faeries and the dapper elves, By dimpled brook and fountain brim, The wood-nymphs, deck'd with daisies trim, Their merry wakes and pastimes keep; What hath night to do with sleep? Night hath better sweets to prove, Venus now wakes, and wakens Love. Come, let us our rites begin; 'Tis only daylight that makes sin, Which these dun shades will ne'er report:- Hail, goddess of nocturnal sport,
Dark-veil'd Cotytto! to whom the secret flame Of midnight torches burns; mysterious dame, 130 That ne'er art call'd, but when the dragon woom Of Stygian darkness spets her thickest gloom, And makes one blot of all the air; Stay the cloudy ebon chair,
Wherein thou rid'st with Hecat', and befriend Us thy vow'd priests, till utmost end
Of all thy dues be done, and none left out;
Ere the babbling eastern scout, The nice Morn, on the Indian steep From her cabin'd loop-hole peep,
And to the tell-tale Sun descry Our conceal'd solemnity.-
Rose from the hindmost wheels of Phoebus' wain. But where they are, and why they came not back, Is now the labor of my thoughts; 'tis likeliest They had engag'd their wandering steps too far; And envious darkness, ere they could return, Had stole them from me: else, O thievish Night, Why should'st thou, but for some felonious end, In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars, That Nature hung in Heaven, and fill'd their
With everlasting oil, to give due light To the misled and lonely traveller? This is the place, as well as I may guess, Whence even now the tumult of loud mirth Was rife, and perfect in my listening ear; 140 Yet nought but single darkness do I find. What this might be? A thousand fantasies Begin to throng into my memory,
Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog
Of calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire, And aery tongues, that syllable men's names 208 To touch the prosperous growth of this tall wood On sands, and shores, and desert wildernesses. These thoughts may startle well, but not astound, The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended By a strong siding champion, Conscience.- O welcome pure-ey'd Faith, white-handed Hope, Thou hovering angel, girt with golden wings, And thou, unblemish'd form of Chastity! I see ye visibly, and now believe
That he, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill Are but as slavish officers of vengeance, Would send a glistering guardian, if need were, To keep my life and honor unassail'd. Was I deceiv'd, or did a sable cloud Turn forth her silver lining on the night?
I did not err, there does a sable cloud Turn forth her silver lining on the night, And casts a gleam over this tufted grove: I cannot halloo to my brothers, but
Such noise as I can make to be heard farthest I'll venture; for my new-enliven'd spirits Prompt me; and they perhaps are not far off.
SWEET Echo, sweetest nymph, that liv'st unseen Within thy aery shell,
By slow Meander's margent green, And in the violet-embroider'd vale,
Where the lovelorn nightingale
Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well; Canst thou not tell me of a gentle pair
That likest thy Narcissus are?
O, if thou have
Hid them in some flowery cave,
Tell me but where,
Sweet queen of parley, daughter of the sphere! So may'st thou be translated to the skies, And give resounding grace to all Heaven's harmo-
Comus. Can any mortal mixture of earth's mould
Breathe such divine enchanting ravishment? Sure something holy lodges in that breast, And with these raptures moves the vocal air To testify his hidden residence.
Lad. Nay, gentle shepherd, ill is lost that praise That is address'd to unattending ears; Not any boast of skill, but extreme shift How to regain my sever'd company, Compell'd me to awake the courteous Echo 275 To give me answer from her mossy couch.
Com. What chance, good lady, hath bereft you thus ?
Lad. Dim darkness, and this leafy labyrinth. Com. Could that divide you from near-ushering guides?
Lad. They left me weary on a grassy turf. 280 Com. By falsehood, or discourtesy, or why? Lad. To seek i' the valley some cool friendly
Com. And left your fair side all unguarded, lady? Lad. They were but twain, and purpos'd quick
Com. Perhaps forestalling night prevented them. Lad. How easy my misfortune is to hit! Com. Imports their loss, beside the present need? Lad. No less than if I should my brothers lose. Com. Were they of manly prime, or youthful
289 Lad. As smooth as Hebe's their unrazor'd lips. Com. Two such I saw, what time the labor'd ox In his loose traces from the furrow came And the swink'd hedger at his supper sat;
I saw them under a green mantling vine,
That crawls along the side of yon small hill, Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots; Their port was more than human, as they stood: I took it for a faery vision
Of some gay creatures of the element, That in the colors of the rainbow live, And play i' the plighted clouds. I was awe-struck, And, as I past, I worshipt; if those you seek, It were a journey like the path to Heaven, To help you find them. Lad. Gentle villager, What readiest way would bring me to that place? Com. Due west it rises from this shrubby point Lad. To find out that, good shepherd, I suppose, In such a scant allowance of star-light,
245 Would overtask the best land-pilot's art, Without the sure guess of well-practis'd feet. 310 Com. I know each lane, and every alley green, Dingle, or bushy dell of this wild wood, And every bosky bourn from side to side,
250 My daily walks and ancient neighborhood; And if your stray attendants be yet lodg'd, Or shroud within these limits, I shall know Ere morrow wake, or the low-roosted lark From her thatch'd pallet rouse; if otherwise,
How sweetly did they float upon the wings Of silence, through the empty vaulted night, At every fall smoothing the raven-down Of darkness, till it smil'd! I have oft heard My mother Circe with the Syrens three, Amidst the flowery-kirtled Naiades, Culling their potent herbs and baleful drugs; Who, as they sung, would take the prison'd soul, And lap it in Elysium: Scylla wept, And chid her barking waves into attention, And fell Charybdis murmur'd soft applause: Yet they in pleasing slumber lull'd the sense, 260 And in sweet madness robb'd it of itself; But such a sacred and home-felt delight, Such sober certainty of waking bliss, I never heard till now.-I'll speak to her, And she shall be my queen.-Hail, foreign wonder! Whom certain these rough shades did never breed, Unless the goddess that in rural shrine Dwell'st here with Pan, or Sylvan; by blest song
I can conduct you, lady, to a low But loyal cottage, where you may be safe Till further quest.
Shepherd, I take thy word And trust thy honest offer'd courtesy, Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds With smoky rafters, than in tap'stry halls In courts of princes, where it first was nam'd 325 And yet is most pretended: in a place Less warranted than this, or less secure,
I cannot be, that I should fear to change it.- Eye me, blest Providence, and square my trial To my proportion'd strength-Shepherd, lead on.
Of dragon-watch, with unenchanted eye, To save her blossoms, and defend her fruit,
El. Br. Unmuffle, ye faint stars; and thou, fair From the rash hand of bold Incontinence.
You may as well spread out the unsunn'd heaps Of miser's treasure by an outlaw's den, And tell me it is safe, as bid me hope Danger will wink on Opportunity,
335 And let a single helpless maiden pass Uninjur'd in this wild surrounding waste. Of night, or loneliness, it recks me not; I fear the dread events that dog them both, Lest some ill-greeting touch attempt the person Of our unowned sister.
Be barr'd that happiness, might we but hear The folded flocks penn'd in their wattled cotes, Or sound of pastoral reed with oaten stops, Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock Count the night watches to his feathery dames, "Twould be some solace yet, some little cheering, In this close dungeon of innumerous boughs. But, O that hapless virgin, our lost sister! Where may she wander now, whither betake her From the chill dew, among rude burs and thistles? Perhaps some cold bank is her bolster now, Or 'gainst the rugged bark of some broad elm Leans her unpillow'd head, fraught with fears.
What, if in wild amazement and affright? Or, while we speak, within the direful grasp Of savage hunger, or of savage heat?
El. Br. I do not, brother, Infer, as if I thought my sister's state Secure, without all doubt or controversy; Yet, where an equal poise of hope and fear Does arbitrate the event, my nature is That I incline to hope, rather than fear, And gladly banish squint suspicion. My sister is not so defenceless left As you imagine; she has a hidden 'strength, 415 Which you remember not. What hidden strength, Unless the strength of Heaven, if you mean that?
El. Br. I mean that too, but yet a hidden strength, Which, if Heaven gave it, may be term'd her own;
sad 355 "Tis Chastity, my brother, Chastity:
El. Br. Peace, brother: be not over-exquisite To cast the fashion of uncertain evils: For grant they be so, while they rest unknown, What need a man forestall his date of grief, And run to meet what he would most avoid? Or, if they be but false alarms of fear, How bitter is such self-delusion!
I do not think my sister so to seek,
She, that has that, is clad in complete steel; And, like a quiver'd nymph with arrows keen, May trace huge forests, and unharbor'd heaths, Infamous hills, and sandy perilous wilds; Where, through the sacred rays of Chastity, 425 No savage fierce, bandite, or mountaineer, Will dare to soil her virgin purity: Yea there, where very Desolation dwells, By grots and caverns shagg'd with horrid shades, 365 She may pass on with unblench'd majesty, Be it not done in pride, or in presumption. Some say, no evil thing that walks by night In fog or fire, by lake or moorish fen, Blue meager hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost That breaks his magic chains at Curfeu time, 435 No goblin, or swart faery of the mine, Hath hurtful power o'er true virginity. Do ye believe me yet, or shall I call Antiquity from the old schools of Greece To testify the arms of Chastity? Hence had the huntress Dian her dread bow, Fair silver-shafted queen, for ever chaste, Wherewith she tamed the brinded lioness And spotted mountain-pard, but set at nought The frivolous bolt of Cupid; gods and men Fear'd her stern frown, and she was queen o' the woods.
Or so unprincipled in Virtue's book, And the sweet peace that goodness bosoms ever, As that the single want of light and noise (Not being in danger, as I trust she is not,) Could stir the constant mood of her calm thoughts, And put them into misbecoming plight. Virtue could see to do what virtue would By her own radiant light, though Sun and Moon Were in the flat sea sunk. And Wisdom's self Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude; Where, with her best nurse, Contemplation, She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings, That in the various bustle of resort Were all-to ruffled, and sometimes impair'd. He that has light within his own clear breast, May sit i' the centre, and enjoy bright day: But he, that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts, Benighted walks under the mid-day Sun; Himself is his own dungeon.
Sec. Br. "Tis most true, That musing Meditation most affects The pensive secrecy of desert cell,
What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shield, That wise Minerva wore, unconquer'd virgin,
385 Wherewith she freez'd her foes to congeal'd stone, But rigid looks of chaste austerity, 450 And noble grace, that dash'd brute violence With sudden adoration and blank awe? So dear to Heaven is saintly Chastity, That, when a soul is found sincerely so, A thousand liveried angels lackey her, Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt; And, in clear dream and solemn vision, Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear; Till oft converse with heavenly habitants
Far from the cheerful haunt of men and herds, And sits as safe as in a senate-house; For who would rob a hermit of his weeds, His few books, or his beads, or maple dish, Or do his grey hairs any violence? But Beauty, like the fair Hesperian tree Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard
Begin to cast a beam on the outward shape, The unpolluted temple of the mind, And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence, Till all be made immortal: but when Lust, By unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk, But most by lewd and lavish act of sin, Lets in defilement to the inward parts, The soul grows clotted by contagion, Imbodies, and imbrutes, till she quite lose The divine property of her first being. Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp, Oft seen in charnel vaults and sepulchres Lingering, and sitting by a new-made grave, As loth to leave the body that it lov'd, And link'd itself by carnal sensuality To a degenerate and degraded state.
Sec. Br. How charming is divine philosophy! Not harsh, and crabbed, as dull fools suppose, But musical as is Apollo's lute,
And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets, Where no crude surfeit reigns.
List, list; I hear Some far-off halloo break the silent air. 481 Sec. Br. Methought so too; what should it be? El. Br. For certain Either some one like us night-founder'd here, Or else some neighbor woodman, or, at worst, Some roving robber, calling to his fellows.
Within the navel of this hideous wood, Immur'd in cypress shades a sorcerer dwells, Of Bacchus and of Circe born, great Comus, Deep skill'd in all his mother's witcheries; And here to every thirsty wanderer By sly enticement gives his baneful cup, With many murmurs mix'd, whose pleasing poison The visage quite transforms of him that drinks, And the inglorious likeness of a beast Fixes instead, unmoulding reason's mintage Character'd in the face: this have I learnt Tending my flocks hard by i' the hilly crofts, That brow this bottom-glade; whence night by
He and his monstrous rout are heard to howl, Like stabled wolves, or tigers at their prey, Doing abhorred rites to Hecate
In their obscured haunts of inmost bowers. Yet have they many baits, and guileful spells, To inveigle and invite the unwary sense Of them that pass unweeting by the way. This evening late, by then the chewing flocks Had ta'en their supper on the savory herb Of knot-grass dew-besprent, and were in fold, I sat me down to watch upon a bank With ivy canopied, and interwove With flaunting honeysuckle, and began. Wrapt in a pleasing fit of melancholy, To meditate my rural minstrelsy, Till fancy had her fill; but, ere a close, The wonted roar was up amidst the woods, I'll halloo And fill'd the air with barbarous dissonance; 550 At which I ceas'd, and listen'd them a while, Till an unusual stop of sudden silence Gave respite to the drowsy frighted steeds,
Sec Br. Heaven keep my sister. Again, again, and near!
Best draw, and stand upon our guard. El Br.
If he be friendly, he comes well; if not, Defence is a good cause, and Heaven be for us.
[Enter the Attendant Spirit, habited like a shepherd.] That draw the litter of close-curtain'd Sleep;
That halloo I should know; what are you? speak; Come not too near, you fall on iron stakes else. Spir. What voice is that? my young lord? speak again. 492 Sec. Br. O brother, 'tis my father's shepherd, sure. El. Br. Thyrsis? Whose artful strains have oft delay'd
The huddling brook to hear his madrigal, And sweeten'd every musk-rose of the dale? How cam'st thou here, good swain? hath any ram Slipt from the fold, or young kid lost his dam, Or straggling wether the pent flock forsook? How could'st thou find this dark sequester'd nook? Spir. O my lov'd master's heir, and his next joy, I came not here on such a trivial toy As a stray'd ewe, or to pursue the stealth Of pilfering wolf: not all the fleecy wealth, That doth enrich these downs, is worth a thought To this my errand, and the care it brought. But, O my virgin lady, where is she? How chance she is not in your company?
El. Br. To tell thee sadly, shepherd, without blame,
Or our neglect, we lost her as we came. 510 Spir. Ay me unhappy! then my fears are true. El. Br. What fears, good Thyrsis? Pr'ythee briefly show.
Spir. I'll tell ye: 'tis not vain or fabulous. (Though so esteem'd by shallow ignorance,) What the sage poets, taught by the heavenly Muse, Storied of old in high immortal verse, Of dire chimeras, and enchanted isles, And rifted rocks whose entrance leads to Hell; For such there be, but unbelief is blind.
At last a soft and solemn-breathing sound Rose like a steam of rich distill'd perfumes, And stole upon the air, that even Silence Was took ere she was 'ware, and wish'd she might Deny her nature, and be never more, Still to be so displac'd. I was all ear, And took in strains that might create a soul Under the ribs of Death; but O! ere long, Too well I did perceive it was the voice Of my most honor'd lady, your dear sister. Amaz'd I stood, harrow'd with grief and fear, And, O poor hapless nightingale, thought I, How sweet thou sing'st, how near the deadly
Then down the lawns I ran with headlong haste, Through paths and turnings often trod by day, Till, guided by mine ear, I found the place, Where that damn'd wisard, hid in sly disguise, (For so by certain signs I knew,) had met Already, ere my best speed could prevent, The aidless innocent lady, his wish'd prey; Who gently ask'd if he had seen such two, Supposing him some neighbor villager. Longer I durst not stay, but soon I guess'd Ye were the two she meant; with that I sprung Into swift flight, till I had found you here; But further know I not.
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