180 When for their teeming flocks, and granges full, 175 They left me then, when the gray-hooded Even, 185 Rose from the hindmost wheels of Phoebus' wain. 190 180 inform] Sams. Agon. 335. inform'd your younger feet.' Warton. 189 votarist] Benlowe's Theophila, p. 32 and p. 60. 'Sad votaresse! thy Earth of late o'ergrown 195 thievish] P. Fletcher's Pisc. Eclog. p. 34, ed. 1633, With everlasting oil, to give due light 200 205 Of calling shapes, and beck'ning shadows dire, I see ye visibly, and now believe 215 That he, the Supreme Good, t' whom all things ill Would send a glist'ring guardian, if need were, 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 220 Turn forth her silver lining on the night, 225 221 Was I deceiv'd] Ov. Fast. v. 545. Fallor? an arma sonant? Non fallimur: arma sonabant.' Hurd. I cannot halloo to my Brothers, but Such noise as I can make to be heard farthest SONG. SWEET Echo, sweetest nymph, that liv'st unseen Within thy airy shell, By slow Meander's margent green, Where the love-lorn 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 flow'ry cave, Tell me but where, Sweet queen of parly, daughter of the sphere! So mayst thou be translated to the skies, And give resounding grace to all heav'n's harmonies. Enter COMUS. COм. Can any mortal mixture of earth's mould 231 235 240 245 231 shell] The margin of the Cambridge MS. Cell.' Hurd and Warburton observe that 'shell' means the horizon, the hollow circumference of the heavens. And with these raptures moves the vocal air How sweetly did they float upon the wings Culling their potent herbs, and baleful drugs, 250 255 Who, as they sung, would take the prison'd soul, And chid her barking waves into attention, And fell Charybdis murmur'd soft applause: I never heard till now. I'll speak to her, 260 264 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 Silvan, by blest song 252 Of darkness] See T. Heywood's Love's Mistresse, p. 14, 4to. and Milton's Life, p. xxix. note. 253 Circe] On Milton's having intermix'd the 'Sirens' with ' T. Warton's note may be consulted, p. 283. 'Circe,' 258 barking] Giles Fletcher's Christ's Victorie and Triumph, 1632, p. 55. And more in heaps the barking surges band.' A. Dyce. 259 Charybdis] Sil. Ital. xiv. 474. 'Scyllæi tacuere canes, stetit atra Charybdis.' Warton. 267 goddess] See Cowley's Love's Riddle, p. 117. Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog 269 To touch the prosperous growth of this tall wood. Not any boast of skill, but extreme shift Compell'd me to awake the courteous Echo 275 COм. What chance, good Lady, hath bereft you thus? LAD. Dim darkness, and this leafy labyrinth. COм. Could that divide you from near-ushering guides? 280 LAD. They left me weary on a grassy turf. return. COм. Perhaps forestalling night prevented them. LAD. How easy my misfortune is to hit! COм. Imports their loss, beside the present need? LAD. No less than if I should my Brothers lose. COм. Were they of manly prime, or youthful bloom? LAD. As smooth as Hebe's their unrazor'd lips. COм. Two such I saw, what time the labour'd ox 273 extreme] Mirror for Mag. (ed. 1610) p. 430. 'In rustie armour, as in extream shift.' Todd. |