Russet lawns and fallows 1 3 Of herbs and other country messes,7 To the tanned haycock in the mead. The upland hamlets will invite, 1 fallows. Meaning? here means light brown. 2 pied, of varied color. "Gray 8 Bosomed. What is the exact meaning of this word here? 4 lies, resides, dwells. 5 cynosure, a center of attraction. For its derivation, see Glossary. peasants the names of Virgilian swains and shepherdesses. "Corydon," "Thyrsis," "Phyllis," "Thestylis," occur in the idyls of Virgil and other Latin poets. 6 Corydon and Thyrsis. Milton's classical fancy gives to English | sary. And the jocund rebecs1 sound To many a youth and many a maid, And young and old come forth to play Till the livelong daylight fail; 5 She was pinched and pulled, she said; 7 Tells. Supply he as subject. 1 rebec, a fiddle of three strings. 2 spicy nut-brown ale (the same 8 the drudging goblin is the as Shakespeare's "gossips' bowl"), Robin Goodfellow of British folka beverage consisting of ale, nut-lore, a "servant spirit that would meg, sugar, toast, and the pulp of grind corn for a mess of milk, cut roasted apples. 3 Mab, the queen of the fairies. 4 junkets, cream-cheese, and other dainties. 5 She... he, some of the storytellers. 6 friar's lantern, meaning the sprite known as Jack-o'-the-lantern, or Will-o'-the-wisp. wood, or do any kind of drudgery work." 9 lubbar lubber, clumsy, awkward. 10 chimney, fireplace, very ample in the olden times. 11 crop-full, stomach-full. 12 flings, throws himself, rushes (a classical construction). Ere the first cock his matin rings.1 And the busy hum of men, Where throng of knights and barons bold, In saffron robe, with taper clear, 1 his matin rings. Explain. 2 weeds, garments. See Glossary. 8 triumphs, tournaments, and other public pageants. 4 influence. "Here used in its original sense of the rays, glances, or aspects flowing from the stars to the earth. These aspects were believed to have a great and mysterious power over the fortunes of men." 5 Hymen, the god of marriage, who, in the old plays, was represented as clothed in a saffron-colored robe. Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child, Such as the meeting soul may pierce The hidden soul of harmony; That Orpheus'5 self may heave his head Of heaped Elysian flowers, and hear Such strains as would have won the ear Of Pluto to have quite set free 1 Lydian, denoting an ancient | and wondrous "cunning" that but Greek mode of music remarkable appears "giddy." for its tender softness. 5 Orpheus'... Eurydice. Or 2 Married... verse. 8 bout, musical passage. 4 wanton ... cunning. There to move inanimate objects. His is an apparent contradiction be- wife Eurydice having died, he foltween " wanton " (free, sportive) | lowed her into the infernal region, and "heed;""; 'giddy" and "cun- where the god Pluto was so moved ning" (skill); but the meaning is by the music, that Orpheus almost Explain.pheus, son of Apollo, who, with the music of his lyre, had the power a heed" (that is, a care, an art) succeeded in carrying her back to that only seems to be "wanton," | earth. 2.-SATAN AND BEELZEBUB. [The following two hundred and eighty-six lines are from the First Book of Paradise Lost, and come almost immediately after the opening, or invocation, The inquiry is then put, as to what moved our first parents to disobey; and answer is made, that it was the seductions of "the serpent, or, rather, Satan in the person of the serpent," -Satan, whose pride had caused him to be cast out of heaven, with all his rebel angels. Then follow the magnificent speeches in which the interlocutors are the "arch-enemy" Satan, and his "bold compeer" Beelzebub.] Him1 the Almighty Power Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky, Nine times the space that measures day and night To mortal men, he with his horrid crew Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf, Confounded, though immortal. But his doom Reserved him to more wrath; for now the thought Both of lost happiness and lasting pain, |