The spirit of Plato to unfold

What worlds, or what vaft regions hold
The immortal mind that hath forfook
Her mansion in this fleshly nook:

And of those Demons that are found
In fire, air, flood, or under ground,
Whose power hath a true consent
With planet, or with element.
Sometime let gorgeous tragedy
In scepter'd pall come fweeping by,
Prefenting Thebes, or Pelops line,
Or the tale of Troy divine,

that philofopher. And as Mr. Thyer obferves, the word unfphere alludes to the Platonic notion of different spheres or regions being af fign'd to fpirits of different degrees of perfection or impurity. The fame term is ufed in the Mask ver. 2.

where those immortal fhapes. Of bright aerial spirits live inspher'd In regions mild of calm and ferene air..

98. In fcepter'd pall] The fame as Horace calls palla honefta. De Arte poet. 278..

Poft hunc perfonæ pallaque repertor honefta
Æfchylus

90

95

100

Or

99. Prefenting Thebes or Pelops line, Or the tale of Troy divine, ] These were the principal fubjects of the ancient tragedies; and he seems to allude particularly to the Septem contra Thebas of Efchylus, and the Phaniffe of Euripides, and the Antigone of Sophocles, and the Thebais of Seneca, which prefent Thebes; and to the Thyeftes of Seneca, and the Agamemnon of Æfchylus, which prefent. Pelopss line; and to the Troades of Euripides and of Seneca, and other tragedies which present the tale of Troy divine, therefore called divine because built by the Gods; for I think with Mr. Thyer, that divine is not to be join'd with tale, as many understand it :- and as Mr. Jortin notes,, it is called in Homer Ios ipn 104. Might

age

Or what (though rare) of later
Ennobled hath the buskin'd stage.
But, O fad Virgin, that thy power
Might raise Mufæus from his bower,
Or bid the foul of Orpheus fing

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 ftory of Cambufcan bold,
Of Camball, and of Algarfife,
And who had Canace to wife,

If to melancholy

Or bid the foul of Orpheus fing &c.
See Warburton's Shakespear. Vol. 3. p. 118.

107. Drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek,] fenfe of the following line of Seneca's upon Our author here very strongly expresses the the fame occafion, which I fuppofe he had in view. Herc. Fur. 578.

Deflent et lacrymis difficiles Dei. Thyer.

109. Or call up him that left half told Chaucer and his Squire's tale, wherein CambufThe ftory of Cambufcan bold, &c] He means can is king of Sarra in Tartary, and has two fons Algarfife and Camball, and a daughter named Canace. This Tartar king receives a prefent from the king of Araby and Ind, of

a

That own'd the virtuous ring and glass,
And of the wondrous horfe of brass,
On which the Tartar king did ride;
And if ought elfe great bards befide
In fage and folemn tunes have fung,
Of turneys and of trophies hung,
Of forests, and inchantments drear,

Where more is meant than meets the ear.
Thus night oft fee me in thy pale carreer,
Till civil-fuited morn appear,

Not trickt and frounct as fhe was wont
With the Attic boy to hunt,

a wondrous borse of brass that could tranfport
him thro' the air to any place, and a fword of
rare qualities; and at the fame time his daugh-
ter Canace is prefented with a virtuous ring and
glass, a glafs by which fhe could difcover fe-
crets and future events, and a ring by which
fhe could understand the language of birds.
This tale was either never finish'd by Chaucer,
or part of it is loft: but Spenser has endevor'd
to fupply the defect in his Faery Queen, and
begins with fuch a handfome introduction and
address to the spirit of Chaucer, that I fhould
be tempted to transcribe it, if it would not
prolong this note beyond its due measure. See
B.
4. Cant. 2. St. 32. &c.

116. And if ought elfe great bards befide &c] Ariofto, and Spenfer more particularly, of whose allegorical poetry it may be faid with

377

115

T20

But

great truth and propriety, that more is meant than meets the ear. And thus in these two little poems Milton makes his compliments to our greatest English poets, Johnson and Shakefpear, Chaucer and Spenfer.

Regain'd. IV. 426.
122. Till civil-fuited morn appear,] Paradife

till morning fair
Came forth with pilgrim fteps in amice gray.
Richardfon.

Shakespear for the fame reafon fays of night,
Romeo and Juliet A&t
3: Sc. 4.

Come civil night,
Thou fober-fuited matron, all in black.

123. Not trickt and frounct as fhe was wont
With the Attic boy to hunt,] Shakespear calls
Ccc
drefs

But kercheft in a comely cloud,

While rocking winds are piping loud,

125

Or usher'd with a shower still,
When the guft hath blown his fill,
Ending on the rufsling leaves,

With minute drops from off the eaves.
And when the fun begins to fling
His flaring beams, me Goddefs bring
To arched walks of twilight groves,
And shadows brown that Sylvan loves
Of pine, or monumental oak,

Where the rude ax with heaved stroke
Was never heard the Nymphs to daunt,
Or fright them from their hallow'd haunt.
There in close covert by some brook,
Where no profaner eye may look,
Hide me from day's garish eye,

drefs tricking. Mrs. Page in the Merry
Wives of WindforGo get us properties
and tricking for our faeries. Frounct is ano-
ther word to the fame purpofe, fignifying
much the fame as frizled, crifped, curled. The
Attic boy is Cephalus, with whom Aurora fell
in love as he was hunting. See Peck, and
Ovid. Met. VII. 701.

130

135

140

While

125. But kercheft in a comely cloud,] Kerchef is a head-drefs from the French, couvre chef; a word used by Chaucer and Shakespear. Julius Cæfar, A&t 2. Sc. 3.

141. day's garish eye,] Garish, fplendid, gaudy. A word in Shakespear. Richard III. Act 4. Sc. 4.

Wave at his wings in aery stream
Of lively portraiture difplay'd,
Softly on my eye-lids laid.

And as I wake, fweet mufic breathe
Above, about, or underneath,
Sent by fome Spirit to mortals good,
Or th'unfeen Genius of the wood.
But let my due feet never fail

To walk the studious cloysters pale,
And love the high embowed roof,
With antic pillars massy proof,

150

155

And

fweet mufic breathe &c] This

thought is taken from Shakespear's Tempeft.
Fortin.
158.
pillars mely proof,] That is proof
against a great weight. So in the poem of
Arcades

branching elm far-proof,