COMUS.

A MASQUE PRESENTED AT LUDLOW CASTLE, 1634.

THE PERSONS.

The Attendant Spirit, afterwards in the habit of Thyrsis. Comus, with his Crew. The Lady. First Brother. Second Brother. Sabrina, the Nymph.

The first Scene discovers a wild wood.

The Attendant Spirit descends or enters.

Spirit. [Before the starry threshold of Jove’s court]

My mansion is, where those immortal shapes

Of bright aerial spirits live [insphered]

In regions mild of calm and serene air,

Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot 5

Which men call Earth, and, with low-thoughted care,

[Confined and pestered 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 10

[Amongst the enthroned gods] on sainted [seats.]

Yet some there be that by due steps aspire

[To lay their just hands on that golden key]

That opes the palace of eternity.

To such my errand is; and, but for such, 15

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]. 20

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], 25

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-haired deities;

And all this tract that fronts the falling sun 30

[A noble Peer] of mickle trust and power

Has in his charge, with tempered awe to guide

An [old and haughty nation], proud in arms:

Where [his fair offspring], nursed in princely lore,

Are coming to attend their father’s state, 35

And new-intrusted sceptre. But their way

Lies through [the perplexed paths of this drear wood],

The nodding horror of those shady brows

Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger;

And here their tender age might suffer peril, 40

But that, by quick command from [sovran] Jove,

I was despatched 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]. 45

[Bacchus], that first from out the purple grape

Crushed the sweet poison of misused wine,

[After the Tuscan mariners transformed],

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

Whoever tasted lost his upright shape,

And downward fell into a grovelling swine?)

This Nymph, that gazed upon his clustering locks,

With ivy berries wreathed, and his blithe youth, 55

Had by him, ere he parted thence, a son

Much like his father, but his mother more,

Whom therefore she brought up, and [Comus] named:

Who, ripe and [frolic] of his full-grown age,

Roving [the Celtic and Iberian fields], 60

At last betakes him to this [ominous] wood,

And, in thick shelter of black shades imbowered,

Excels his mother at her mighty art;

Offering to every weary traveller

[His orient liquor] in a crystal glass, 65

To quench the drouth of Phœbus; which as they taste

(For most do taste through fond intemperate thirst),

Soon as the potion works, their human count’nance,

The express resemblance of the gods, is changed

Into some brutish form of wolf or bear, 70

Or ounce or tiger, hog, or bearded goat,

[All other parts remaining as they were].

And they, so perfect in their misery,

Not once perceive their foul disfigurement,

But boast themselves more comely than before, 75

And all their friends and native home forget,

To roll with pleasure in a sensual sty.

Therefore, when any favored of high Jove

Chances to pass through this adventurous glade,

Swift as the sparkle of a glancing star 80

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, 85

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 90

Of this occasion. But I hear the tread

Of hateful steps; I must be viewless now.

Comus enters, with a charming-rod in one hand, his glass in the other; with him a rout of monsters, headed like sundry sorts of wild beasts, but otherwise like men and women, their apparel glistering. They come in making a riotous and unruly noise, with torches in their hands.

Comus. [The star that bids the shepherd fold]

Now the top of heaven doth hold;

[And] the gilded car of day 95

His glowing axle [doth allay]

In the [steep] Atlantic stream:

And the slope sun his upward beam

Shoots against the dusky [pole],

Pacing toward the other goal 100

Of his chamber in the east.

Meanwhile, welcome joy and feast,

Midnight shout and revelry,

Tipsy dance and jollity.

Braid your locks [with rosy twine], 105

Dropping odors, dropping wine.

Rigor now is gone to bed;

And [Advice] with scrupulous head,

[Strict Age, and sour Severity],

With [their grave saws], in slumber lie. 110

We, that are of purer fire,

Imitate the starry quire,

Who, in their nightly watchful spheres,

Lead in swift round the months and years.

The sounds and seas, with all their finny drove, 115

Now to the moon [in wavering morrice] move;

And on the tawny sands and shelves

Trip the pert fairies and [the dapper elves].

By dimpled brook and fountain-brim,

The wood-nymphs, decked with daisies trim, 120

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; 125

’Tis only daylight that makes sin,

Which these dun shades will ne’er report.

Hail, goddess of nocturnal sport,

[Dark-veiled Cotytto], to whom the secret flame

Of midnight torches burns! mysterious dame, 130

That ne’er art called but when the dragon womb

Of Stygian darkness spets her thickest gloom,

And [makes one blot of all the air]!

Stay thy cloudy ebon chair,

Wherein [thou ridest with Hecat’], and befriend 135

Us thy vowed priests, till utmost end

Of all thy dues be done, and none left out

Ere the blabbing eastern scout,

[The nice Morn] on the Indian steep,

[From her cabined loop-hole peep], 140

And to the tell-tale Sun [descry]

Our concealed solemnity.

Come, knit hands, and beat the ground

[In a light fantastic round].

The Measure.

[Break off,] break off! I feel the different pace 145

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, 150

And to [my wily trains]: I shall ere long

Be well stocked with as fair a herd as grazed

About my mother Circe. Thus I hurl

My dazzling spells into the [spongy air],

Of power to cheat the eye with [blear] illusion, 155

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, 160

And well-placed 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 165

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 hear.

The Lady enters.

Lady. This way the noise was, if mine ear be true, 170

My best guide now. Methought it was the sound

Of riot and ill-managed merriment,

Such as the jocund flute or gamesome pipe

Stirs up among [the loose unlettered hinds],

When, for their [teeming] flocks and granges full, 175

In wanton dance they praise the bounteous Pan,

And thank the gods [amiss]. I should be loth

To meet the rudeness and [swilled] insolence

Of such late [wassailers]; yet, oh! where else

Shall I inform my unacquainted feet 180

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,

Stepped, as they said, to the next thicket-side 185

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],

Rose from the hindmost wheels of Phœbus’ wain. 190

But where they are, and why they came not back,

Is now the labor of my thoughts. ’Tis likeliest

They had engaged their wandering steps too far;

And envious darkness, ere they could return,

Had stole them from me. Else, O thievish Night, 195

Why shouldst thou, but for some felonious end,

In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars

That Nature hung in heaven, and filled their lamps

With everlasting oil, to give due light

To the misled and lonely traveller? 200

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;

[Yet nought but single darkness do I find].

What might this be? A thousand fantasies 205

Begin to throng into my memory,

Of calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire,

And airy tongues that syllable men’s names

On sands and shores and desert wildernesses.

These thoughts [may startle well, but not astound] 210

The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended

By , Conscience.

O, welcome, pure-eyed Faith, white-handed Hope,

Thou hovering angel girt with golden wings,

And thou unblemished form of Chastity! 215

I see thee 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 unassailed.... 220

Was I deceived, 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. 225

I cannot hallo to my brothers, but

Such noise as I can make to be heard farthest

I’ll venture; for my new-enlivened spirits

Prompt me, and they perhaps are not far off.

Song.

Sweet Echo, sweetest nymph, that liv’st unseen 230

[Within thy airy shell]

By slow [Meander’s] margent green,

[And in the violet-embroidered vale]

Where the love-lorn nightingale

Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well: 235

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, 240

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 harmonies]!

Comus. Can any mortal mixture of earth’s mould

Breathe such divine enchanting ravishment? 245

Sure something holy lodges in that breast,

And with these raptures moves the vocal air

To testify his hidden residence.

[How sweetly did they float upon the wings]

Of silence, through the empty-vaulted night, 250

[At every fall] smoothing the raven down

Of darkness till it smiled! I have oft heard

My mother Circe with [the Sirens] three,

Amidst the flowery-kirtled [Naiades],

Culling their potent herbs and baleful drugs, 255

Who, as they sung, would take the prisoned soul,

[And lap it in Elysium]: [Scylla] wept,

And chid her barking waves into attention,

And fell [Charybdis] murmured soft applause.

[Yet they] in pleasing slumber lulled the sense, 260

And in sweet madness robbed 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! 265

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

Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog

To touch the prosperous growth of this tall wood. 270

Lady. Nay, gentle shepherd, ill is lost that praise

That is addressed to unattending ears.

Not any boast of skill, but [extreme shift]

How to regain my severed company,

Compelled me to awake the courteous Echo 275

To give me answer from her mossy couch.

Comus. [What chance, good Lady, hath bereft you thus?]

Lady. Dim darkness and this leavy labyrinth.

Comus. Could that divide you from near-ushering guides?

Lady. They left me weary on a grassy turf. 280

Comus. By falsehood, or discourtesy, or why?

Lady. To seek i’ the valley some cool friendly spring.

Comus. And left your fair side all unguarded, Lady?

Lady. They were but twain, and purposed quick return.

Comus. Perhaps forestalling night prevented them.285

Lady. How easy my misfortune is to hit!

Comus. Imports their loss, beside the present need?

Lady. No less than if I should my brothers lose.

Comus. [Were they of manly prime, or youthful bloom?]

Lady. As smooth as Hebe’s their unrazored lips. 290

Comus. Two such I saw, what time [the labored ox]

[In his loose traces] from the furrow came,

And the swinked hedger at his supper sat.

I saw them under ,

That crawls along the side of yon small hill, 295

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, 300

[And play i’ the plighted clouds]. I was awe-strook,

And, as I passed, I worshiped. If those you seek,

It were a journey like the path to Heaven

To help you find them.

Lady. Gentle villager,

What readiest way would bring me to that place? 305

Comus. Due west it rises from this shrubby point.

Lady. To find out that, good shepherd, I suppose,

In such a scant allowance of star-light,

Would overtask the best land-pilot’s art,

Without the sure guess of well-practised feet. 310

Comus. I know each lane, and every alley green,

Dingle, or bushy dell, of this wild wood,

And every bosky bourn from side to side,

My daily walks and ancient neighborhood;

And, if your stray attendance be yet lodged, 315

[Or shroud within these limits], I shall know

Ere morrow wake, or the low-roosted lark

[From her thatched pallet rouse]. If otherwise,

I can conduct you, Lady, to a low

But loyal cottage, where you may be safe 320

Till further quest.

Lady. Shepherd, I take thy word,

And trust thy honest-offered courtesy,

Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds,

With smoky rafters, than in tapestry halls

And courts of princes, [where it first was named], 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 proportioned strength]! Shepherd, lead on.... 330

The Two Brothers.

Eld. Bro. Unmuffle, ye faint stars; and thou, fair moon,

[That wont’st to love] the traveller’s benison,

[Stoop thy pale visage] through an amber cloud,

[And disinherit Chaos, that reigns here]

In double night of darkness and of shades; 335

Or, if your influence be quite dammed up

With black usurping mists, some gentle taper,

Though from the wicker hole

Of some clay habitation, visit us

With thy long levelled rule of streaming light, 340

And thou shalt be our [star of Arcady],

[Or Tyrian Cynosure].

Sec. Bro. Or, if our eyes

Be barred that happiness, might we but hear

The folded flocks, penned in their wattled cotes,

[Or sound of pastoral reed with oaten stops], 345

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, Oh, that hapless virgin, our lost sister! 350

Where may she wander now, whither betake her

From the chill dew, amongst rude burs and thistles?

Perhaps some cold bank is her bolster now,

Or ’gainst the rugged bark of some broad elm

Leans her unpillowed head, fraught with sad fears. 355

What if in wild amazement and affright,

Or, while we speak, within the direful grasp

[Of savage hunger, or of savage heat!]

Eld. Bro. Peace, brother: be not over-exquisite

To cast the fashion of uncertain evils; 360

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]! 365

[I do not think my sister so to seek],

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) 370

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 375

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 impaired. 380

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. Bro. ’Tis most true 385

That musing Meditation most [affects]

The pensive secrecy of desert cell,

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], 390

His few books, or his beads, or maple dish,

Or do his gray hairs any violence?

But Beauty, like [the fair Hesperian tree]

Laden with blooming gold, [had need the guard]

Of [dragon-watch] with unenchanted eye 395

To save her blossoms, and defend her fruit,

From the rash hand of bold Incontinence.

You may as well spread out the unsunned heaps

Of miser’s treasure by an outlaw’s den,

And tell me it is safe, as bid me hope 400

Danger [will wink on Opportunity],

And let a single helpless maiden pass

Uninjured in this wild surrounding waste.

Of night or loneliness [it recks me not];

I fear the dread events that dog them both, 405

Lest some ill-greeting touch attempt the person

[Of our unowned sister.]

Eld. Bro. [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 410

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.

Sec. Bro. What hidden strength,

Unless the strength of Heaven, if you mean that?

Eld. Bro. I mean that too, but yet a hidden strength,

Which, if Heaven gave it, may be termed her own.

’Tis chastity, my brother, chastity: 420

She that has that is clad in complete steel,

And, like a [quivered] nymph with arrows keen,

May trace huge forests, and [unharbored] 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 shagged with horrid shades,

She may pass on with [unblenched] majesty, 430

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 meagre hag], or stubborn unlaid ghost,

That breaks his magic chains at curfew 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? 440

Hence had [the huntress Dian] her dread bow,

Fair silver-shafted queen forever chaste,

Wherewith she tamed the brinded lioness

And spotted mountain-pard, but set at nought

The frivolous bolt of Cupid; gods and men 445

Feared her stern frown, and she was queen o’ the woods.

What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shield

That [wise Minerva] wore, unconquered virgin,

Wherewith she freezed her foes to congealed stone,

But rigid looks of chaste austerity, 450

And noble grace that dashed 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, 455

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

[Begin] to cast a beam on the outward shape, 460

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, 465

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 470

Oft seen in charnel-vaults and sepulchres,

Lingering and sitting by a new-made grave,

As loth to leave the body that it loved,

And linked itself by carnal sensualty

To a degenerate and degraded state. 475

Sec. Bro. 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 nectared sweets,

Where no crude surfeit reigns.

Eld. Bro. List! list! I hear 480

Some far-off hallo break the silent air.

Sec. Bro. Methought so too; what should it be?

Eld. Bro. For certain,

Either some one, like us, night-foundered here,

Or else some neighbor woodman, or, at worst,

Some roving robber calling to his fellows. 485

Sec. Bro. Heaven help my sister! Again, again, and near!

[Best draw, and stand upon our guard].

Eld. Bro. I’ll hallo.

If he be friendly, he comes well: if not,

Defence is a good cause, and Heaven be for us!

The Attendant Spirit, habited like a shepherd.

That hallo I should know. What are you? speak. 490

Come not too near; you fall on iron stakes else.

Spir. What voice is that? my young lord? speak again.

Sec. Bro. O brother, ’tis my father’s Shepherd, sure.

Eld. Bro. [Thyrsis]! whose artful strains have oft delayed

[The huddling brook to hear his madrigal], 495

And sweetened every musk-rose of the dale.

How camest thou here, good swain? Hath any ram

Slipped from the fold, or young kid lost his dam,

Or straggling wether the pent flock forsook?

How could’st thou find this dark sequestered nook? 500

Spir. O my loved master’s heir, and his next joy,

I came not here on such a trivial toy

As a strayed ewe, or to pursue the stealth

Of pilfering wolf; not all the fleecy wealth

That doth enrich these downs is worth a thought 505

To this my errand, and the care it brought.

But, oh! my virgin Lady, where is she?

[How chance she is not] in your company?

Eld. Bro. 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.

Eld. Bro. What fears, good Thyrsis? Prithee briefly shew.

Spir. I’ll tell ye. ’Tis not vain or fabulous

(Though so esteemed by shallow ignorance)

What the sage poets, taught by the heavenly Muse, 515

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.

Within the navel of this hideous wood, 520

Immured in cypress shades, a sorcerer dwells,

Of Bacchus and of Circe born, great Comus,

Deep skilled in all his mother’s witcheries,

And here to every thirsty wanderer

By sly enticement gives his baneful cup, 525

[With many murmurs mixed], whose pleasing poison

The visage quite transforms of him that drinks,

And the inglorious likeness of a beast

Fixes instead, unmoulding reason’s [mintage]

[Charactered in the face]. This have I learnt 530

Tending my flocks hard by i’ the hilly [crofts]

That brow this bottom glade; whence night by night

He and his monstrous rout are heard to howl

Like stabled wolves, or tigers at their prey,

Doing abhorred rites to Hecate 535

In their obscurèd 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] 540

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, 545

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,

And filled the air with barbarous dissonance; 550

At which I ceased, and listened them a while,

Till an [unusual stop of sudden silence]

[Gave respite to the drowsy-flighted steeds]

That draw the litter of close-curtained Sleep.

At last a soft and solemn-breathing sound 555

Rose like a steam of rich distilled perfumes,

[And stole upon the air, that even Silence]

[Was took ere she was ware, and wished she might]

[Deny her nature, and be never more],

[Still] to be so displaced. I was all ear, 560

And took in strains that might create a soul

[Under the ribs of Death]. But, oh! ere long

Too well I did perceive it was the voice

Of my most honored Lady, your dear sister.

Amazed I stood, harrowed with grief and fear; 565

And ‘O poor hapless nightingale,’ thought I,

‘How sweet thou sing’st, how near the deadly snare!’

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 570

Where that damned wizard, 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 wished prey;

Who gently asked if he had seen [such two], 575

Supposing him some neighbor villager.

Longer I durst not stay, but soon I guessed

Ye were the two she meant; with that I sprung

Into swift flight, till I had found you here;

But further know I not.

Sec. Bro. O night and shades, 580

How are ye joined with hell in triple knot

Against the unarmed weakness of one virgin,

Alone and helpless! Is this the confidence

You gave me, brother?

Eld. Bro. Yes, and keep it still;

Lean on it safely; not a period 585

[Shall be unsaid for me]. Against the threats

Of malice or of sorcery, or that power

Which erring men call Chance, this I hold firm:

Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt,

Surprised by unjust force, but not enthralled; 590

Yea, even that which Mischief meant most harm

Shall in the happy trial prove most glory.

But evil on itself shall back recoil,

And mix no more with goodness, when at last,

[Gathered like scum, and settled to itself], 595

It shall be in eternal restless change

Self-fed and self-consumed. If this fail,

[The pillared firmament] is rottenness,

And earth’s base built on stubble. But come, let’s on!

Against the opposing will and arm of Heaven 600

May never this just sword be lifted up;

But for that damned magician, let him be girt

With all the griesly legions that troop

Under the sooty flag of [Acheron],

[Harpies and Hydras], or all the monstrous forms 605

’Twixt Africa and Ind, I’ll find him out,

And force him to return [his purchase] back,

Or drag him by the curls to a foul death,

Cursed as his life.

Spir. Alas! good venturous youth,

[I love thy courage yet], and bold emprise; 610

But here thy sword [can do thee little stead].

Far other arms and other weapons must

Be those that quell the might of hellish charms.

He with his bare wand can unthread thy joints,

And crumble all thy sinews.

Eld. Bro. Why, prithee, Shepherd, 615

How durst thou then thyself approach so near

As to make this relation?

Spir. Care and [utmost shifts]

How to secure the Lady from surprisal

Brought to my mind a certain shepherd lad,

[Of small regard to see to], yet well skilled 620

In every [virtuous plant] and healing herb

That spreads her verdant leaf to the morning ray.

He loved me well, and oft would beg me sing;

[Which when I did], he on the tender grass

Would sit, and hearken even to ecstasy, 625

And in requital ope his leathern [scrip],

And show me [simples of a thousand names],

Telling their strange and vigorous faculties.

Amongst the rest a small unsightly root,

But of divine effect, he culled me out. 630

The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it,

But in another country, as he said,

Bore a bright golden flower, but not in this soil:

[Unknown, and like esteemed], and the dull swain

[Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon]; 635

And yet more med’cinal is it than [that Moly]

That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave.

[He called it Hæmony], and gave it me,

And bade me keep it as of sovran use

’Gainst all enchantments, [mildew blast, or damp], 640

Or [ghastly Furies’ apparition].

I pursed it up, but little reckoning made,

Till now that this extremity compelled.

But now I find it true; for by this means

I knew the foul enchanter, though disguised, 645

[Entered 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

Boldly assault the necromancer’s hall;

Where if he be, with dauntless hardihood 650

And brandished blade rush on him: break his glass,

And shed the luscious liquor on the ground;

But seize his wand. Though he and his curst crew

Fierce sign of battle make, and menace high,

Or, like the sons of Vulcan, vomit smoke, 655

Yet will they soon retire, if he but shrink.

Eld. Bro. Thyrsis, lead on [apace]; I’ll follow thee;

And some good angel bear a shield before us!

The Scene changes to a stately palace, set out with all manner of deliciousness: soft music, tables spread with all dainties. Comus appears with his rabble, and the Lady set in an enchanted chair: to whom he offers his glass; which she puts by, and [goes about] to rise.

Comus. Nay, Lady, sit. If I but wave this wand,

Your nerves are all chained up in alabaster, 660

And you a statue, or [as Daphne was,]

[Root-bound, that fled Apollo].

Lady. Fool, do not boast.

Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind

With all thy charms, although this corporal rind

Thou hast immanacled while Heaven sees good. 665

Comus. Why are you vexed, Lady? why do you frown?

Here dwell no frowns, nor anger; from these gates

Sorrow flies far. See, here be all the pleasures

That fancy can beget on youthful thoughts,

When the fresh blood grows lively, and returns 670

Brisk as the April buds in primrose season.

And first behold [this cordial julep] here,

That flames and dances in his crystal bounds,

With spirits of balm and fragrant syrups mixed.

[Not that Nepenthes which the wife of Thone] 675

[In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena]

Is of such power to stir up joy as this,

To life so friendly, or so cool to thirst.

Why should you be so cruel to yourself,

And to those dainty limbs, which Nature lent 680

For gentle usage and soft delicacy?

But you invert the covenants of her trust,

And harshly deal, like an ill borrower,

With that which you received on other terms,

Scorning [the unexempt condition] 685

By which all mortal frailty must subsist,

Refreshment after toil, ease after pain,

That have been tired all day without repast,

And timely rest have wanted. But, fair virgin,

This will restore all soon.

Lady. ’Twill not, false traitor! 690

’Twill not restore the truth and honesty

That thou hast banished from thy tongue with lies.

Was this the cottage and the safe abode

Thou told’st me of? What grim aspects are these,

[These oughly-headed monsters]? Mercy guard me! 695

Hence with thy brewed enchantments, foul deceiver!

Hast thou betrayed my credulous innocence

[With vizored falsehood] and base forgery?

And wouldst thou seek again to trap me here

[With liquorish baits], fit to ensnare a brute? 700

Were it a draught for Juno when she banquets,

I would not taste thy treasonous offer. None

[But such as are good men can give good things];

And that which is not good is not delicious

To a well-governed and wise appetite. 705

Comus. O foolishness of men! that lend their ears

To [those budge doctors of the stoic fur],

And [fetch their precepts from the Cynic tub],

Praising the lean and sallow Abstinence!

Wherefore did Nature pour her bounties forth 710

With such a full and unwithdrawing hand,

Covering the earth with odors, fruits, and flocks,

Thronging the seas with spawn innumerable,

But all to please and sate the curious taste?

And set to work millions of spinning worms, 715

That in their green shops weave the smooth-haired silk,

To deck her sons; and, that no corner might

Be vacant of her plenty, in her own loins

She [hutched] the all-worshipped ore and precious gems,

To store her children with. If all the world 720

Should, in a fit of temperance, feed on [pulse],

Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but [frieze],

The All-giver would be unthanked, would be unpraised,

Not half his riches known, [and yet] despised;

And we should serve him as a grudging master, 725

As a penurious niggard of his wealth,

And live like Nature’s bastards, not her sons,

[Who] would be quite surcharged with her own weight,

And strangled with her waste fertility:

The earth cumbered, and the winged air darked with plumes, 730

The herds would over-multitude their lords;

The sea o’erfraught would swell, and the unsought diamonds

Would so emblaze the forehead of the deep,

And so bestud with stars, that [they below]

Would grow inured to light, and come at last 735

To gaze upon the sun with shameless brows.

List, Lady; be not [coy], and be not [cozened]

With that same vaunted name, Virginity.

Beauty is Nature’s coin; must not be hoarded,

But must be current; and the good thereof 740

Consists in mutual and partaken bliss,

Unsavory in the enjoyment of itself.

If you let slip time, like a neglected rose

[It] withers on the stalk with languished head.

Beauty is Nature’s brag, and must be shown 745

In courts, at feasts, and high solemnities,

Where most may wonder at the workmanship.

It is for [homely] features to keep home;

They had their name thence: coarse complexions

And cheeks of sorry [grain] will serve to ply 750

[The sampler, and to tease the huswife’s wool].

What need a vermeil-tinctured lip for that,

Love-darting eyes, or [tresses like the morn]?

There was another meaning in these gifts;

Think what, and be advised; you are but young yet. 755

Lady. I had not thought to have unlocked my lips

In this unhallowed air, but that this juggler

Would think to charm my judgment, as mine eyes,

Obtruding false rules pranked in reason’s garb.

I hate [when vice can bolt her arguments] 760

And virtue has no tongue to check her pride.

Impostor! do not charge most innocent Nature,

As if she would her children should be riotous

With her abundance. She, good cateress,

Means her provision only to the good, 765

That live according to her sober laws,

And holy dictate of spare Temperance.

If every just man that now pines with want

Had but a moderate and beseeming share

Of that which lewdly-pampered Luxury 770

Now heaps upon some few with vast excess,

Nature’s full blessings would be well-dispensed

[In unsuperfluous even proportion],

And she no whit encumbered with her store;

And then the Giver would be better thanked, 775

His praise due paid: for swinish gluttony

Ne’er looks to Heaven amidst his gorgeous feast,

But with besotted base ingratitude

Crams, and blasphemes his Feeder. Shall I go on?

[Or have I said enow?] To him that dares 780

Arm his profane tongue with contemptuous words

Against the sun-clad power of chastity

Fain would I something say;—yet to what end?

Thou hast nor ear, nor soul, to apprehend

The sublime notion and high mystery 785

That must be uttered to unfold the sage

And serious doctrine of Virginity;

And [thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know]

More happiness than this thy present lot.

Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric, 790

That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence;

Thou art not fit to hear thyself convinced.

Yet, should I try, [the uncontrolled worth]

[Of this pure cause] would kindle my rapt spirits

To such a flame of sacred vehemence 795

That dumb things would be moved to sympathize,

And the brute Earth would lend her nerves, and shake,

Till all thy magic structures, reared so high,

Were shattered into heaps o’er thy false head.

Comus. She fables not. I feel that I do fear 800

Her words set off by some superior power;

And, though not mortal, yet a cold shuddering dew

Dips me all o’er, as when the wrath of Jove

[Speaks thunder and the chains of Erebus]

[To some of Saturn’s crew]. I must dissemble, 805

And try her yet more strongly,—Come, no more!

This is mere moral babble, and direct

Against [the canon laws] of our foundation.

I must not suffer this; yet ’tis but the lees

And settlings of a melancholy blood. 810

But this will cure all straight; one sip of this

Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight

Beyond the bliss of dreams. Be wise, and taste....

The Brothers rush in with swords drawn, wrest his glass out of his hand, and break it against the ground: his rout make sign of resistance, but are all driven in. The Attendant Spirit comes in.

Spir. What! have you let the false enchanter scape?

O ye mistook; ye should have snatched his wand, 815

And bound him fast. Without his rod reversed,

[And backward mutters of dissevering power],

We cannot free the Lady that sits here

In stony fetters fixed and motionless.

Yet stay: be not disturbed; now I bethink me, 820

Some other means I have which may be used,

Which once of [Melibœus] old I learnt,

[The soothest shepherd] that e’er piped on plains.

There is a gentle Nymph not far from hence,

That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn stream: 825

[Sabrina is her name]: a virgin pure;

[Whilom] she was the daughter of Locrine,

That had the sceptre from his father Brute.

She, guiltless damsel, flying the mad pursuit

Of her enraged stepdame, Guendolen, 830

[Commended her fair innocence to the flood]

That stayed her flight with his cross-flowing course.

The water-nymphs, that in the bottom played,

Held up their pearled wrists, and took her in,

Bearing her straight to [aged Nereus’] hall; 835

Who, piteous of her woes, reared her lank head,

And gave her to his daughters to imbathe

[In nectared lavers strewed with asphodel],

And through the porch and inlet of each sense

Dropt in [ambrosial] oils, till she revived, 840

And underwent a quick immortal change,

Made Goddess of the river. Still she retains

Her maiden gentleness, and oft at eve

Visits the herds along the twilight meadows,

[Helping all urchin blasts], and ill-luck signs 845

That the shrewd meddling elf delights to make,

Which she with precious vialed liquors heals:

For which the shepherds, at their festivals,

Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays,

And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream 850

Of pansies, pinks, and gaudy [daffodils].

And, as the old swain said, she can unlock

The clasping charm, and thaw [the numbing spell],

If she be right invoked in warbled song;

For maidenhood she loves, and will be swift 855

To aid a virgin, such as was herself,

In hard-besetting need. This will I try,

And add the power of some [adjuring] verse.

Song.

Sabrina fair,

Listen where thou art sitting 860

Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,

In twisted braids of lilies knitting

The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair;

Listen for dear honor’s sake,

Goddess of the silver lake, 865

Listen and save!

Listen, and appear to us,

In name of great [Oceanus],

By the [earth-shaking Neptune’s mace],

And [Tethys’ grave majestic pace]; 870

By [hoary Nereus’] wrinkled look,

And [the Carpathian wizard’s hook];

By [scaly Triton’s winding shell],

And old [soothsaying Glaucus’] spell;

[By Leucothea’s lovely hands,] 875

[And her son that rules the strands];

By [Thetis’ tinsel-slippered feet],

And [the songs of Sirens] sweet;

By [dead Parthenope’s dear tomb],

And [fair Ligea’s golden comb], 880

Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks

Sleeking her soft alluring locks;

By all the nymphs that nightly dance

Upon thy streams with wily glance;

Rise, rise, and heave thy rosy head 885

From thy coral-paven bed,

And [bridle in] thy headlong wave,

Till thou our summons answered have.

Listen and save!

Sabrina rises, attended by Water-nymphs, and sings.

By the rushy-fringed bank, 890

Where grow the willow and the osier dank,

[My sliding chariot stays],

Thick set with agate, and [the azurn sheen]

Of turkis blue, and emerald green,

That in the channel strays: 895

Whilst from off the waters fleet

Thus I set my printless feet

O’er the cowslip’s velvet head,

That bends not as I tread.

Gentle swain, at thy request 900

I am here!

Spir. Goddess dear,

We implore thy powerful hand

To undo the charmed band

Of true virgin here distressed 905

Through the force and through the wile

Of unblessed enchanter vile.

Sabr. [Shepherd, ’tis my office best]

[To help ensnared chastity.]

Brightest Lady, look on me. 910

Thus I sprinkle on thy breast

Drops that from my fountain pure

I have kept [of precious cure];

Thrice upon thy finger’s tip,

Thrice upon thy rubied lip: 915

Next this marble venomed seat,

Smeared with gums of glutinous heat,

I touch with chaste palms moist and cold.

Now the spell hath lost his hold,

And I must haste ere morning hour 920

[To wait in Amphitrite’s bower].

Sabrina descends, and the Lady rises out of her seat.

Spir. Virgin, daughter of Locrine,

[Sprung of old Anchises’ line],

May [thy brimmed waves] for this

Their full tribute never miss 925

From a thousand petty rills,

That tumble down the snowy hills:

Summer drouth or singed air

Never scorch thy tresses fair,

Nor wet October’s [torrent flood] 930

Thy molten crystal fill with mud;

May thy billows roll ashore

The [beryl] and the golden ore;

May thy lofty head be crowned

With many a tower and terrace round, 935

And here and there thy banks upon

With [groves of myrrh and cinnamon.]

Come, Lady; while Heaven lends us grace,

Let us fly this cursed place,

Lest the sorcerer us entice 940

With some other new device.

Not a waste or needless sound

Till we come to holier ground.

I shall be your faithful guide

Through this gloomy covert wide; 945

And not many furlongs thence

Is your Father’s residence,

Where this night are met in state

Many a friend to gratulate

His wished presence, and beside 950

All the swains that there abide

With jigs and rural dance resort.

We shall catch them at their sport,

And our sudden coming there

Will double all their mirth and cheer. 955

Come, let us haste; the stars grow high,

[But Night sits monarch yet in the mid sky].

The Scene changes, presenting Ludlow Town, and the President’s Castle: then come the Country Dancers; after them the Attendant Spirit, with the Two Brothers and the Lady.