And bad me keep it as of sovran use

'Gainst all inchantments, mildew, blast, or damp, 640 Or ghaftly furies apparition.

I purs'd it up, but little reck'ning made,
Till now that this extremity compell❜d:
But now I find it true; for by this means
I knew the foul inchanter though difguis'd,
Enter'd the very lime-twigs of his spells,
And yet came off: if you have this about you,
(As I will give you when we go) you may

645

Boldly affault the necromancer's hall ;

Where if he be, with dauntless hardihood,

650

And brandifh'd blade rush on him, break his glass, And shed the luscious liquor on the ground,

conjecture be admitted, his fubfequent reafoning is very ingenious. It is no unusual thing, fays he, to find in the old writers upon the nature of herbs this virtue attributed to certain plants; but I can meet with no authority for Milton's imputing it to Hemony or Spleenwort. Perhaps it may be thought refining too much to conjecture, that he meant to hint, that, as this root was esteemed a fovran remedy against the spleen, it must confequently be a preservative against inchantments, apparitions, &c, which are generally

But

nothing else but the fickly fancies and imaginations of vaporish and splenetic complexions.

647.- if you have this about you, &c] In the Manuscript the following lines were thus written at first, and afterwards corrected. (As I will give you as we go [or on the way])

you may

Boldly affault the necromantic hall;
Where if he be, with fudden violence
And brandish'd blades rufh on him, break his
glafs,

And

But seise his wand; though he and his curs'd crew
Fierce fign of battel make, and menace high,
Or like the fons of Vulcan vomit smoke,
Yet will they foon retire, if he but shrink.

655

ELD. BRO. Thyrfis, lead on apace, I'll follow thee, And fome good Angel bear a shield before us.

The Scene changes to a stately palace, fet out with all manner of deliciousness: foft mufic, tables spread with all dainties. Comus appears with his rabble, and the Lady fet in an inchanted chair, to whom he offers his glass, which she puts by, and goes about to rise.

COм. Nay, Lady, fit; if I but wave this wand, Your nerves are all chain'd up in alabaster,

660

And you a ftatue, or as Daphne was
Root-bound, that fled Apollo.

LADY. Fool, do not boaft,

Thou canst not touch the freedom of

my mind With all thy charms, although this corporal rind Thou haft immanacl'd, while Heav'n fees good. 665

COM. Why are you vext, Lady? why do you frown? Here dwell no frowns, nor anger; from thefe gates Sorrow flies far: See here be all the pleasures

Fool, thou art over-proud, do not boast. And this whole fpeech of the Lady, and the first line of the next fpeech of Comus were added in the margin; for before, the first fpeech of Comus was continued thus,

Root-bound, that fled Apollo. Why do you frown? &c.

668. See here be all the pleasures

That fancy can beget on youthful thoughts, &c] This is a thought of Shakespear's, but vaftly improved by our poet in the manner of expreffing it. Romeo and Juliet, Act 1. Sc. 3.

Such comfort as do lufty young men feel,
When well-apparel'd April on the heel
Of limping winter treads. Thyer.

That

673. That flames, and dances in his cryftal bounds,] This is an allufion to Prov. XXIII. 31. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright; as well as another paffage that we noted in Samfon Agonistes.

675. Not that Nepenthes, &c] This Nepenthes is first mention'd and described by Homer, and we must fetch our account of it from the original author. Odyff. IV. 219.

Ενθ' αυτ' αλλ' ενόησ' Ελενη Διος εκγεγωνία.
Αντικέ αρ' εις οινον βαλε φαρμακον, ενθεν επινον,
Νηπενθές τ' αχολονίε, κακων επιληθον ἀπαν

των.

Ὡς το καταβρέξειεν, επί κρητηρ μιγαή,
Ουκ αν εφημέριος γε βαλοι κατα δάκρυ πα
ρειών,

Ουδ' ει δὲ κατατεθνα η μητηρ τε πατήρ τε,
Ουδ' ει δι προπαροιθεν αδελφεον, η φίλον υιον,
Χαλκῳ δηϊοῳεν, ὁ δ' οφθαλμοισιν ὁρῳτο.
Τσια Διος θυγατηρ εχε φαρμακα μητιονία,

Ελα,

That fancy can beget on youthful thoughts,
When the fresh blood grows lively, and returns
Brisk as the April buds in primrose-feafon.
And first behold this cordial julep here,
That flames, and dances in his cryftal bounds,
With fpirits of balm, and fragrant fyrups mix'd.
Not that Nepenthes, which the wife of Thone
In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena,
Is of fuch pow'r to ftir up joy as this,

670

675

Ελλα, τα δι Πολυαμνα πορεν Θάνος παρά

κοιτις,

Αιγυπλη

Mean time with genial joy to warm the foul,

Bright Helen mix'd a mirth-infpiring bowl:
Temper'd with drugs of fovreign use t'af-
fuage

The boiling bofom of tumultuous rage;
To clear the cloudy front of wrinkled care,
And dry the tearful fluces of defpair :
Charm'd with that virtuous draught, th' ex-
alted mind

All fenfe of woe delivers to the wind.
Tho' on the blazing pile his parent lay,
Or a lov'd brother groan'd his life away,
Or darling fon opprefs'd by ruffian force
Fell breathlefs at his feet, a mangled corfe,
From morn to eve, impaffive and ferene,
The man intranc'd would view the deathful
scene.

To life fo friendly, or fo cool to thirst.

Why should you be fo cruel to yourself,

And to thofe dainty limbs which Nature lent

For gentle usage, and foft delicacy?

680

But you invert the covenants of her trust,
And harshly deal like an ill borrower

With that which you receiv'd on other terms,
Scorning the unexempt condition

685

By which all mortal frailty must fubfift,
Refreshment after toil, ease after pain,

That have been tir'd all day without repast,
And timely reft have wanted; but fair Virgin,
This will reftore all foon.

LADY. 'Twill not, false traitor,

'Twill not restore the truth and honesty

That thou haft banish'd from thy tongue with lies.

679. Why should you &c] Instead of the nine following lines, which were added afterwards in the Manufcript, there was only this at first, Poor Lady thou haft need of fome refreshing That best been tir'd all day &c.

690

Was

695. Thefe ugly-headed monsters?] In Milton's Manufcript, and in his editions it is ougly or oughly, which is only an old way of writing ugly, as appears from several places in Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, and from Shakefpear's Sonnets in the edition of the year 1609:: but fair Virgin,] It was at firft and care must be taken that the word be not mistaken, as fome have mistaken it, for owly

689. bere fair Virgin.

beaded,