Comus Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A B C CDEFFG F HFI JC KCKLKLMNCCCOEEPCKQRG CQSCKCHTCIFKCAKQKCFH GKUVFWXKKCYWXCZIAKA2 CKKKFCKKCKLKFEKAKKGK B2GGGTCVAC2D2KKU E2GKHVF2C KKKKRRHHKKEKXXKKKKFO CCGGCCG2G2SSGGF2F2KK H2H2I2I2LLKKKKSSLKKK L CKCLKCVKHLICKKCCKHJ2 KKLLKL C LKKK2CHJ2L2CCKKKM2CK KKF2KTVKLN2KKCCKLCO2 LKCKLCCKKCP2CKGHCLKK KKKGKKCG V Q2HQ2HHHLLGGLLCC KKKLCCKR2KKCCHKICCGK CLLKXVVKCCKKS2T2CU2C GKVKN2V2KKCI2CCH2KXH CKIKGVVIV2LCKCKKKQ2K KKKS2VCS2GKKKCCKCLKH W2 C X2X2KLCYLHCKKLCLCCVC VCLLCX2Y2CKZ2KKCX2GK LX2VVLCKCKKX2GKX2CKK KKCX2X2LCHCCCA3CLKKK CCX2P2LCKKB3X2LLKLLC LX2KC3KC3KC3X2LHX2CC LLLCCLX2KX2KD3X2LHCL X2KCKX2CKX2X2KCE3KCL KX2LCWKCKVX2CX2CVF3C GKKKKCKCCKLLKLX2LKCL KHKC K VCX2LKHHG3G3VVGGH3H3 KKKKH2H2LKLCCCCCHKKC CCLYX2CKI3KCKHKKCCCK CJ3KVKX2KCCCCHCCSKCC KLLHVCLLKLKKCCKKKLLK VLKCKX2CLHKCLK3KKL3K HKKM3HCX2X2YKN3X2CKV O3KZCKKCCCZKLX2KCHKK J3KVCCP3CCKKKKHX2X2C KCCF3X2KKCKCLKHKCKLK VVCC KCLLLC KLCHKKKKX2CCCCX2LCKX 2X2CKKKCKLCX2KX2KX2X 2CLKCKCKLCLLKCX2CCKC LQ3CZKCHKCVKCCKCCKKL ZCKKCCCSHKCKKKKCKCKX 2CP3R3CKHKX2CKCLCS3C KLCCKCCKLKCKX2LKKKKX 2CCKKKKA2KHKVCKZCCCV KKLLKKCHLKX2CKCKK KCKX2 WKKLLCKKKCCRLX2KKX2K CKX2HKZHCKM3CKCCVCCC RCVHVKKKC V LVKVLVVK CCCCVVHHCCKKI2R3CCCC KKKKK C VVCX2X2CKKKKKL LKKKHHKKKKLLP3P3KKKK LL K X2X2CCCCLLKKLLKKX2X2 CCCCKKKKCCKKKKKKLLKK CKK V HHKKCCCC L KKX2X2ZZCCCC C KKKKLLKKCVCVCVVCX2HK KKKCCKKX2X2KKVVKKX2X 2X2X2KKX2X2KKD3D3LL

A Masque Presented At Ludlow Castle Before	A
	-
The Earl Of Bridgewater Then President Of Wales	B
	-
The Persons	C
	-
The ATTENDANT SPIRIT afterwards in the habit of THYRSIS	C
COMUS with his Crew	D
The LADY	E
FIRST BROTHER	F
SECOND BROTHER	F
SABRINA the Nymph	G
	-
The Chief Persons which presented were	F
	-
The Lord Brackley	H
Mr Thomas Egerton his Brother	F
The Lady Alice Egerton	I
	-
	-
The first Scene discovers a wild wood	J
The ATTENDANT SPIRIT descends or enters	C
	-
	-
Before the starry threshold of Jove's court	K
My mansion is where those immortal shapes	C
Of bright aerial spirits live insphered	K
In regions mild of calm and serene air	L
Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot	K
Which men call Earth and with low thoughted care	L
Confined and pestered in this pinfold here	M
Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being	N
Unmindful of the crown that Virtue gives	C
After this mortal change to her true servants	C
Amongst the enthroned gods on sainted seats	C
Yet some there be that by due steps aspire	O
To lay their just hands on that golden key	E
That opes the palace of eternity	E
To Such my errand is and but for such	P
I would not soil these pure ambrosial weeds	C
With the rank vapours of this sin worn mould	K
But to my task Neptune besides the sway	Q
Of every salt flood and each ebbing stream	R
Took in by lot 'twixt high and nether Jove	G
Imperial rule of all the sea girt isles	C
That like to rich and various gems inlay	Q
The unadorned bosom of the deep	S
Which he to grace his tributary gods	C
By course commits to several government	K
And gives them leave to wear their sapphire crowns	C
And wield their little tridents But this Isle	H
The greatest and the best of all the main	T
He quarters to his blue haired deities	C
And all this tract that fronts the falling sun	I
A noble Peer of mickle trust and power	F
Has in his charge with tempered awe to guide	K
An old and haughty nation proud in arms	C
Where his fair offspring nursed in princely lore	A
Are coming to attend their father's state	K
And new intrusted sceptre But their way	Q
Lies through the perplexed paths of this drear wood	K
The nodding horror of whose shady brows	C
Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger	F
And here their tender age might suffer peril	H
But that by quick command from sovran Jove	G
I was despatched for their defence and guard	K
And listen why for I will tell you now	U
What never yet was heard in tale or song	V
From old or modern bard in hall or bower	F
Bacchus that first from out the purple grape	W
Crushed the sweet poison of misused wine	X
After the Tuscan mariners transformed	K
Coasting the Tyrrhene shore as the winds listed	K
On Circe's island fell Who knows not Circe	C
The daughter of the Sun whose charmed cup	Y
Whoever tasted lost his upright shape	W
And downward fell into a grovelling swine	X
This Nymph that gazed upon his clustering locks	C
With ivy berries wreathed and his blithe youth	Z
Had by him ere he parted thence a son	I
Much like his father but his mother more	A
Whom therefore she brought up and Comus named	K
Who ripe and frolic of his full grown age	A2
Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields	C
At last betakes him to this ominous wood	K
And in thick shelter of black shades imbowered	K
Excels his mother at her mighty art	K
Offering to every weary traveller	F
His orient liquor in a crystal glass	C
To quench the drouth of Phoebus which as they taste	K
For most do taste through fond intemperate thirst	K
Soon as the potion works their human count'nance	C
The express resemblance of the gods is changed	K
Into some brutish form of wolf or bear	L
Or ounce or tiger hog or bearded goat	K
All other parts remaining as they were	F
And they so perfect is their misery	E
Not once perceive their foul disfigurement	K
But boast themselves more comely than before	A
And all their friends and native home forget	K
To roll with pleasure in a sensual sty	K
Therefore when any favoured of high Jove	G
Chances to pass through this adventurous glade	K
Swift as the sparkle of a glancing star	B2
I shoot from heaven to give him safe convoy	G
As now I do But first I must put off	G
These my sky robes spun out of Iris' woof	G
And take the weeds and likeness of a swain	T
That to the service of this house belongs	C
Who with his soft pipe and smooth dittied song	V
Well knows to still the wild winds when they roar	A
And hush the waving woods nor of less faith	C2
And in this office of his mountain watch	D2
Likeliest and nearest to the present aid	K
Of this occasion But I hear the tread	K
Of hateful steps I must be viewless now	U
	-
	-
COMUS enters with a charming rod in one hand his glass in the	E2
other with him a rout of monsters headed like sundry sorts of	G
wild	K
beasts but otherwise like men and women their apparel	H
glistering	V
They come in making a riotous and unruly noise with torches in	F2
their hands	C
	-
	-
COMUS The star that bids the shepherd fold	K
Now the top of heaven doth hold	K
And the gilded car of day	K
His glowing axle doth allay	K
In the steep Atlantic stream	R
And the slope sun his upward beam	R
Shoots against the dusky pole	H
Pacing toward the other goal	H
Of his chamber in the east	K
Meanwhile welcome joy and feast	K
Midnight shout and revelry	E
Tipsy dance and jollity	K
Braid your locks with rosy twine	X
Dropping odours dropping wine	X
Rigour now is gone to bed	K
And Advice with scrupulous head	K
Strict Age and sour Severity	K
With their grave saws in slumber lie	K
We that are of purer fire	F
Imitate the starry quire	O
Who in their nightly watchful spheres	C
Lead in swift round the months and years	C
The sounds and seas with all their finny drove	G
Now to the moon in wavering morrice move	G
And on the tawny sands and shelves	C
Trip the pert fairies and the dapper elves	C
By dimpled brook and fountain brim	G2
The wood nymphs decked with daisies trim	G2
Their merry wakes and pastimes keep	S
What hath night to do with sleep	S
Night hath better sweets to prove	G
Venus now wakes and wakens Love	G
Come let us our rights begin	F2
'T is only daylight that makes sin	F2
Which these dun shades will ne'er report	K
Hail goddess of nocturnal sport	K
Dark veiled Cotytto to whom the secret flame	H2
Of midnight torches burns mysterious dame	H2
That ne'er art called but when the dragon womb	I2
Of Stygian darkness spets her thickest gloom	I2
And makes one blot of all the air	L
Stay thy cloudy ebon chair	L
Wherein thou ridest with Hecat' and befriend	K
Us thy vowed priests till utmost end	K
Of all thy dues be done and none left out	K
Ere the blabbing eastern scout	K
The nice Morn on the Indian steep	S
From her cabined loop hole peep	S
And to the tell tale Sun descry	L
Our concealed solemnity	K
Come knit hands and beat the ground	K
In a light fantastic round	K
	-
The Measure	L
	-
Break off break off I feel the different pace	C
Of some chaste footing near about this ground	K
Run to your shrouds within these brakes and trees	C
Our number may affright Some virgin sure	L
For so I can distinguish by mine art	K
Benighted in these woods Now to my charms	C
And to my wily trains I shall ere long	V
Be well stocked with as fair a herd as grazed	K
About my mother Circe Thus I hurl	H
My dazzling spells into the spongy air	L
Of power to cheat the eye with blear illusion	I
And give it false presentments lest the place	C
And my quaint habits breed astonishment	K
And put the damsel to suspicious flight	K
Which must not be for that's against my course	C
I under fair pretence of friendly ends	C
And well placed words of glozing courtesy	K
Baited with reasons not unplausible	H
Wind me into the easy hearted man	J2
And hug him into snares When once her eye	K
Hath met the virtue of this magic dust	K
I shall appear some harmless villager	L
Whom thrift keeps up about his country gear	L
But here she comes I fairly step aside	K
And hearken if I may her business hear	L
	-
The LADY enters	C
	-
LADY This way the noise was if mine ear be true	L
My best guide now Methought it was the sound	K
Of riot and ill managed merriment	K
Such as the jocund flute or gamesome pipe	K2
Stirs up among the loose unlettered hinds	C
When for their teeming flocks and granges full	H
In wanton dance they praise the bounteous Pan	J2
And thank the gods amiss I should be loth	L2
To meet the rudeness and swilled insolence	C
Of such late wassailers yet oh where else	C
Shall I inform my unacquainted feet	K
In the blind mazes of this tangled wood	K
My brothers when they saw me wearied out	K
With this long way resolving here to lodge	M2
Under the spreading favour of these pines	C
Stepped as they said to the next thicket side	K
To bring me berries or such cooling fruit	K
As the kind hospitable woods provide	K
They left me then when the grey hooded Even	F2
Like a sad votarist in palmer's weed	K
Rose from the hindmost wheels of Phoebus' wain	T
But where they are and why they came not back	V
Is now the labour of my thoughts TTis likeliest	K
They had engaged their wandering steps too far	L
And envious darkness ere they could return	N2
Had stole them from me Else O thievish Night	K
Why shouldst thou but for some felonious end	K
In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars	C
That Nature hung in heaven and filled their lamps	C
With everlasting oil to give due light	K
To the misled and lonely traveller	L
This is the place as well as I may guess	C
Whence even now the tumult of loud mirth	O2
Was rife and perfect in my listening ear	L
Yet nought but single darkness do I find	K
What might this be A thousand fantasies	C
Begin to throng into my memory	K
Of calling shapes and beckoning shadows dire	L
And airy tongues that syllable men's names	C
On sands and shores and desert wildernesses	C
These thoughts may startle well but not astound	K
The virtuous mind that ever walks attended	K
By a strong siding champion Conscience	C
O welcome pure eyed Faith white handed Hope	P2
Thou hovering angel girt with golden wings	C
And thou unblemished form of Chastity	K
I see ye visibly and now believe	G
That He the Supreme Good to whom all things ill	H
Are but as slavish officers of vengeance	C
Would send a glistering guardian if need were	L
To keep my life and honour unassailed	K
Was I deceived or did a sable cloud	K
Turn forth her silver lining on the night	K
I did not err there does a sable cloud	K
Turn forth her silver lining on the night	K
And casts a gleam over this tufted grove	G
I cannot hallo to my brothers but	K
Such noise as I can make to be heard farthest	K
I'll venture for my new enlivened spirits	C
Prompt me and they perhaps are not far off	G
	-
Song	V
	-
Sweet Echo sweetest nymph that liv'st unseen	Q2
Within thy airy shell	H
By slow Meander's margent green	Q2
And in the violet embroidered vale	H
Where the love lorn nightingale	H
Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well	H
Canst thou not tell me of a gentle pair	L
That likest thy Narcissus are	L
O if thou have	G
Hid them in some flowery cave	G
Tell me but where	L
Sweet Queen of Parley Daughter of the Sphere	L
So may'st thou be translated to the skies	C
And give resounding grace to all Heaven's harmonies	C
	-
	-
COMUS Can any mortal mixture of earthUs mould	K
Breathe such divine enchanting ravishment	K
Sure something holy lodges in that breast	K
And with these raptures moves the vocal air	L
To testify his hidden residence	C
How sweetly did they float upon the wings	C
Of silence through the empty vaulted night	K
At every fall smoothing the raven down	R2
Of darkness till it smiled I have oft heard	K
My mother Circe with the Sirens three	K
Amidst the flowery kirtled Naiades	C
Culling their potent herbs and baleful drugs	C
Who as they sung would take the prisoned soul	H
And lap it in Elysium Scylla wept	K
And chid her barking waves into attention	I
And fell Charybdis murmured soft applause	C
Yet they in pleasing slumber lulled the sense	C
And in sweet madness robbed it of itself	G
But such a sacred and home felt delight	K
Such sober certainty of waking bliss	C
I never heard till now I'll speak to her	L
And she shall be my queen QHail foreign wonder	L
Whom certain these rough shades did never breed	K
Unless the goddess that in rural shrine	X
Dwell'st here with Pan or Sylvan by blest song	V
Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog	V
To touch the prosperous growth of this tall wood	K
LADY Nay gentle shepherd ill is lost that praise	C
That is addressed to unattending ears	C
Not any boast of skill but extreme shift	K
How to regain my severed company	K
Compelled me to awake the courteous Echo	S2
To give me answer from her mossy couch	T2
COMUS What chance good lady hath bereft you thus	C
LADY Dim darkness and this leafy labyrinth	U2
COMUS Could that divide you from near ushering guides	C
LADY They left me weary on a grassy turf	G
COMUS By falsehood or discourtesy or why	K
LADY To seek i' the valley some cool friendly spring	V
COMUS And left your fair side all unguarded Lady	K
LADY They were but twain and purposed quick return	N2
COMUS Perhaps forestalling night prevented them	V2
LADY How easy my misfortune is to hit	K
COMUS Imports their loss beside the present need	K
LADY No less than if I should my brothers lose	C
COMUS Were they of manly prime or youthful bloom	I2
LADY As smooth as Hebe's their unrazored lips	C
COMUS Two such I saw what time the laboured ox	C
In his loose traces from the furrow came	H2
And the swinked hedger at his supper sat	K
I saw them under a green mantling vine	X
That crawls along the side of yon small hill	H
Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots	C
Their port was more than human as they stood	K
I took it for a faery vision	I
Of some gay creatures of the element	K
That in the colours of the rainbow live	G
And play i' the plighted clouds I was awe strook	V
And as I passed I worshiped If those you seek	V
It were a journey like the path to Heaven	I
To help you find them	V2
LADY Gentle villager	L
What readiest way would bring me to that place	C
COMUS Due west it rises from this shrubby point	K
LADY To find out that good shepherd I suppose	C
In such a scant allowance of star light	K
Would overtask the best land pilot's art	K
Without the sure guess of well practised feet	K
COMUS I know each lane and every alley green	Q2
Dingle or bushy dell of this wild wood	K
And every bosky bourn from side to side	K
My daily walks and ancient neighbourhood	K
And if your stray attendance be yet lodged	K
Or shroud within these limits I shall know	S2
Ere morrow wake or the low roosted lark	V
From her thatched pallet rouse If otherwise	C
I can conduct you Lady to a low	S2
But loyal cottage where you may be safe	G
Till further quest	K
LADY Shepherd I take thy word	K
And trust thy honest offered courtesy	K
Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds	C
With smoky rafters than in tapestry halls	C
And courts of princes where it first was named	K
And yet is most pretended In a place	C
Less warranted than this or less secure	L
I cannot be that I should fear to change it	K
Eye me blest Providence and square my trial	H
To my proportioned strength Shepherd lead on	W2
	-
The TWO BROTHERS	C
	-
ELD BRO Unmuffle ye faint stars and thou fair moon	X2
That wont'st to love the traveller's benison	X2
Stoop thy pale visage through an amber cloud	K
And disinherit Chaos that reigns here	L
In double night of darkness and of shades	C
Or if your influence be quite dammed up	Y
With black usurping mists some gentle taper	L
Though a rush candle from the wicker hole	H
Of some clay habitation visit us	C
With thy long levelled rule of streaming light	K
And thou shalt be our star of Arcady	K
Or Tyrian Cynosure	L
SEC BRO Or if our eyes	C
Be barred that happiness might we but hear	L
The folded flocks penned in their wattled cotes	C
Or sound of pastoral reed with oaten stops	C
Or whistle from the lodge or village cock	V
Count the night watches to his feathery dames	C
'T would be some solace yet some little cheering	V
In this close dungeon of innumerous boughs	C
But oh that hapless virgin our lost sister	L
Where may she wander now whither betake her	L
From the chill dew amongst rude burs and thistles	C
Perhaps some cold bank is her bolster now	X2
Or 'gainst the rugged bark of some broad elm	Y2
Leans her unpillowed head fraught with sad fears	C
What if in wild amazement and affright	K
Or while we speak within the direful grasp	Z2
Of savage hunger or of savage heat	K
ELD BRO Peace brother be not over exquisite	K
To cast the fashion of uncertain evils	C
For grant they be so while they rest unknown	X2
What need a man forestall his date of grief	G
And run to meet what he would most avoid	K
Or if they be but false alarms of fear	L
How bitter is such self delusion	X2
I do not think my sister so to seek	V
Or so unprincipled in virtue's book	V
And the sweet peace that goodness bosoms ever	L
As that the single want of light and noise	C
Not being in danger as I trust she is not	K
Could stir the constant mood of her calm thoughts	C
And put them into misbecoming plight	K
Virtue could see to do what Virtue would	K
By her own radiant light though sun and moon	X2
Were in the flat sea sunk And Wisdom's self	G
Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude	K
Where with her best nurse Contemplation	X2
She plumes her feathers and lets grow her wings	C
That in the various bustle of resort	K
Were all to ruffled and sometimes impaired	K
He that has light within his own clear breast	K
May sit i' the centre and enjoy bright day	K
But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts	C
Benighted walks under the mid day sun	X2
Himself is his own dungeon	X2
SEC BRO 'Tis most true	L
That musing meditation most affects	C
The pensive secrecy of desert cell	H
Far from the cheerful haunt of men and herds	C
And sits as safe as in a senate house	C
For who would rob a hermit of his weeds	C
His few books or his beads or maple dish	A3
Or do his grey hairs any violence	C
But Beauty like the fair Hesperian tree	L
Laden with blooming gold had need the guard	K
Of dragon watch with unenchanted eye	K
To save her blossoms and defend her fruit	K
From the rash hand of bold Incontinence	C
You may as well spread out the unsunned heaps	C
Of miser's treasure by an outlaw's den	X2
And tell me it is safe as bid me hope	P2
Danger will wink on Opportunity	L
And let a single helpless maiden pass	C
Uninjured in this wild surrounding waste	K
Of night or loneliness it recks me not	K
I fear the dread events that dog them both	B3
Lest some ill greeting touch attempt the person	X2
Of our unowned sister	L
ELD BRO I do not brother	L
Infer as if I thought my sister's state	K
Secure without all doubt or controversy	L
Yet where an equal poise of hope and fear	L
Does arbitrate the event my nature is	C
That I incline to hope rather than fear	L
And gladly banish squint suspicion	X2
My sister is not so defenceless left	K
As you imagine she has a hidden strength	C3
Which you remember not	K
SEC BRO What hidden strength	C3
Unless the strength of Heaven if you mean that	K
ELD BRO I mean that too but yet a hidden strength	C3
Which if Heaven gave it may be termed her own	X2
'Tis chastity my brother chastity	L
She that has that is clad in complete steel	H
And like a quivered nymph with arrows keen	X2
May trace huge forests and unharboured heaths	C
Infamous hills and sandy perilous wilds	C
Where through the sacred rays of chastity	L
No savage fierce bandite or mountaineer	L
Will dare to soil her virgin purity	L
Yea there where very desolation dwells	C
By grots and caverns shagged with horrid shades	C
She may pass on with unblenched majesty	L
Be it not done in pride or in presumption	X2
Some say no evil thing that walks by night	K
In fog or fire by lake or moorish fen	X2
Blue meagre hag or stubborn unlaid ghost	K
That breaks his magic chains at curfew time	D3
No goblin or swart faery of the mine	X2
Hath hurtful power o'er true virginity	L
Do ye believe me yet or shall I call	H
Antiquity from the old schools of Greece	C
To testify the arms of chastity	L
Hence had the huntress Dian her dread bow	X2
Fair silver shafted queen for ever chaste	K
Wherewith she tamed the brinded lioness	C
And spotted mountain pard but set at nought	K
The frivolous bolt of Cupid gods and men	X2
Feared her stern frown and she was queen o' the woods	C
What was that snaky headed Gorgon shield	K
That wise Minerva wore unconquered virgin	X2
Wherewith she freezed her foes to congealed stone	X2
But rigid looks of chaste austerity	K
And noble grace that dashed brute violence	C
With sudden adoration and blank awe	E3
So dear to Heaven is saintly chastity	K
That when a soul is found sincerely so	C
A thousand liveried angels lackey her	L
Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt	K
And in clear dream and solemn vision	X2
Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear	L
Till oft converse with heavenly habitants	C
Begin to cast a beam on the outward shape	W
The unpolluted temple of the mind	K
And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence	C
Till all be made immortal But when lust	K
By unchaste looks loose gestures and foul talk	V
But most by lewd and lavish act of sin	X2
Lets ill defilement to the inward parts	C
The soul grows clotted by contagion	X2
Imbodies and imbrutes till she quite loose	C
The divine property of her first being	V
Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp	F3
Oft seen in charnel vaults and sepulchres	C
Lingering and sitting by a new made grave	G
As loth to leave the body that it loved	K
And linked itself by carnal sensualty	K
To a degenerate and degraded state	K
SEC BRO How charming is divine Philosophy	K
Not harsh and crabbed as dull fools suppose	C
But musical as is Apollo's lute	K
And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets	C
Where no crude surfeit reigns	C
Eld Bro List	K
list I hear	L
Some far off hallo break the silent air	L
SEC BRO Methought so too what should it be	K
ELD BRO For	L
certain	X2
Either some one like us night foundered here	L
Or else some neighbour woodman or at worst	K
Some roving robber calling to his fellows	C
SEC BRO Heaven keep my sister Again again and near	L
Best draw and stand upon our guard	K
ELD BRO I'll hallo	H
If he be friendly he comes well if not	K
Defence is a good cause and Heaven be for us	C
	-
The ATTENDANT SPIRIT habited like a shepherd	K
	-
That hallo I should know What are you speak	V
Come not too near you fall on iron stakes else	C
SPIR What voice is that my young Lord speak again	X2
SEC BRO O brother Tt is my father's Shepherd sure	L
ELD BRO Thyrsis whose artful strains have of delayed	K
The huddling brook to hear his madrigal	H
And sweetened every musk rose of the dale	H
How camest thou here good swain Hath any ram	G3
Slipped from the fold or young kid lost his dam	G3
Or straggling wether the pent flock forsook	V
How couldst thou find this dark sequestered nook	V
SPIR O my loved master's heir and his next joy	G
I came not here on such a trivial toy	G
As a strayed ewe or to pursue the stealth	H3
Of pilfering wolf not all the fleecy wealth	H3
That doth enrich these downs is worth a thought	K
To this my errand and the care it brought	K
But oh my virgin Lady where is she	K
How chance she is not in your company	K
ELD BRO To tell thee sadly Shepherd without blame	H2
Or our neglect we lost her as we came	H2
SPIR Ay me unhappy then my fears are true	L
ELD BRO What fears good Thyrsis Prithee briefly	K
shew	L
SPIR I'll tell ye 'T is not vain or fabulous	C
Though so esteemed by shallow igrlorance	C
What the sage poets taught by the heavenly Muse	C
Storied of old in high immortal verse	C
Of dire Chimeras and enchanted isles	C
And rifted rocks whose entrance leads to Hell	H
For such there be but unbelief is blind	K
Within the navel of this hideous wood	K
Immured in cypress shades a sorcerer dwells	C
Of Bacchus and of Circe born great Comus	C
Deep skilled in all his mother's witcheries	C
And here to every thirsty wanderer	L
By sly enticement gives his baneful cup	Y
With many murmurs mixed whose pleasing poison	X2
The visage quite transforms of him that drinks	C
And the inglorious likeness of a beast	K
Fixes instead unmoulding reason's mintage	I3
Charactered in the face This have I learnt	K
Tending my flocks hard by i' the hilly crofts	C
That brow this bottom glade whence night by night	K
He and his monstrous rout are heard to howl	H
Like stabled wolves or tigers at their prey	K
Doing abhorred rites to Hecate	K
In their obscured haunts of inmost bowers	C
Yet have they many baits and guileful spells	C
To inveigle and invite the unwary sense	C
Of them that pass unweeting by the way	K
This evening late by then the chewing flocks	C
Had ta'en their supper on the savoury herb	J3
Of knot grass dew besprent and were in fold	K
I sat me down to watch upon a bank	V
With ivy canopied and interwove	K
With flaunting honeysuckle and began	X2
Wrapt in a pleasing fit of melancholy	K
To meditate my rural minstrelsy	C
Till fancy had her fill But ere a close	C
The wonted roar was up amidst the woods	C
And filled the air with barbarous dissonance	C
At which I ceased and listened them awhile	H
Till an unusual stop of sudden silence	C
Gave respite to the drowsy flighted steeds	C
That draw the litter of close curtained Sleep	S
At last a soft and solemn breathing sound	K
Rose like a steam of rich distilled perfumes	C
And stole upon the air that even Silence	C
Was took ere she was ware and wished she might	K
Deny her nature and be never more	L
Still to be so displaced I was all ear	L
And took in strains that might create a soul	H
Under the ribs of Death But oh ere long	V
Too well I did perceive it was the voice	C
Of my most honoured Lady your dear sister	L
Amazed I stood harrowed with grief and fear	L
And RO poor hapless nightingale thought I	K
How sweet thou sing'st how near the deadly snare	L
Then down the lawns I ran with headlong haste	K
Through paths and turnings often trod by day	K
Till guided by mine ear I found the place	C
Where that damned wizard hid in sly disguise	C
For so by certain signs I knew had met	K
Already ere my best speed could prevent	K
The aidless innocent lady his wished prey	K
Who gently asked if he had seen such two	L
Supposing him some neighbour villager	L
Longer I durst not stay but soon I guessed	K
Ye were the two she meant with that I sprung	V
Into swift flight till I had found you here	L
But further know I not	K
SEC BRO O night and shades	C
How are ye joined with hell in triple knot	K
Against the unarmed weakness of one virgin	X2
Alone and helpless Is this the confidence	C
You gave me brother	L
ELD BRO Yes and keep it still	H
Lean on it safely not a period	K
Shall be unsaid for me Against the threats	C
Of malice or of sorcery or that power	L
Which erring men call Chance this I hold firm	K3
Virtue may be assailed but never hurt	K
Surprised by unjust force but not enthralled	K
Yea even that which Mischief meant most harm	L3
Shall in the happy trial prove most glory	K
But evil on itself shall back recoil	H
And mix no more with goodness when at last	K
Gathered like scum and settled to itself	K
It shall be in eternal restless change	M3
Self fed and self consumed If this fail	H
The pillared firmament is rottenness	C
And earth's base built on stubble But come let's on	X2
Against the opposing will and arm of heaven	X2
May never this just sword be lifted up	Y
But for that damned magician let him be girt	K
With all the griesly legions that troop	N3
Under the sooty flag of Acheron	X2
Harpies and Hydras or all the monstrous forms	C
'Twixt Africa and Ind I'll find him out	K
And force him to return his purchase back	V
Or drag him by the curls to a foul death	O3
Cursed as his life	K
SPIR Alas good venturous youth	Z
I love thy courage yet and bold emprise	C
But here thy sword can do thee little stead	K
Far other arms and other weapons must	K
Be those that quell the might of hellish charms	C
He with his bare wand can unthread thy joints	C
And crumble all thy sinews	C
ELD BRO Why prithee	Z
Shepherd	K
How durst thou then thyself approach so near	L
As to make this relation	X2
SPIR Care and utmost	K
shifts	C
How to secure the Lady from surprisal	H
Brought to my mind a certain shepherd lad	K
Of small regard to see to yet well skilled	K
In every virtuous plant and healing herb	J3
That spreads her verdant leaf to the morning ray	K
He loved me well and oft would beg me sing	V
Which when I did he on the tender grass	C
Would sit and hearken even to ecstasy	C
And in requital ope his leathern scrip	P3
And show me simples of a thousand names	C
Telling their strange and vigorous faculties	C
Amongst the rest a small unsightly root	K
But of divine effect he culled me out	K
The leaf was darkish and had prickles on it	K
But in another country as he said	K
Bore a bright golden flower but not in this soil	H
Unknown and like esteemed and the dull swain	X2
Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon	X2
And yet more med'cinal is it than that Moly	C
That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave	K
He called it Haemony and gave it me	C
And bade me keep it as of sovran use	C
'Gainst all enchantments mildew blast or damp	F3
Or ghastly Furies' apparition	X2
I pursed it up but little reckoning made	K
Till now that this extremity compelled	K
But now I find it true for by this means	C
I knew the foul enchanter though disguised	K
Entered the very lime twigs of his spells	C
And yet came off If you have this about you	L
As I will give you when we go you may	K
Boldly assault the necromancer's hall	H
Where if he be with dauntless hardihood	K
And brandished blade rush on him break his glass	C
And shed the luscious liquor on the ground	K
But seize his wand Though he and his curst crew	L
Fierce sign of battle make and menace high	K
Or like the sons of Vulcan vomit smoke	V
Yet will they soon retire if he but shrink	V
ELD BRO Thyrsis lead on apace I'll follow thee	C
And some good angel bear a shield before us	C
	-
The Scene changes to a stately palace set out with all manner of	K
deliciousness soft music tables spread with all dainties Comus	C
appears with his rabble and the LADY set in an enchanted chair	L
to	L
whom he offers his glass which she puts by and goes about to	L
rise	C
	-
COMUS Nay Lady sit If I but wave this wand	K
Your nerves are all chained up in alabaster	L
And you a statue or as Daphne was	C
Root bound that fled Apollo	H
LADY Fool do not boast	K
Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind	K
With all thy charms although this corporal rind	K
Thou hast immanacled while Heaven sees good	K
COMUS Why are you vexed Lady why do you frown	X2
Here dwell no frowns nor anger from these gates	C
Sorrow flies far See here be all the pleasures	C
That fancy can beget on youthful thoughts	C
When the fresh blood grows lively and returns	C
Brisk as the April buds in primrose season	X2
And first behold this cordial julep here	L
That flames and dances in his crystal bounds	C
With spirits of balm and fragrant syrups mixed	K
Not that Nepenthes which the wife of Thone	X2
In Egypt gave to Jove born Helena	X2
Is of such power to stir up joy as this	C
To life so friendly or so cool to thirst	K
Why should you be so cruel to yourself	K
And to those dainty limbs which Nature lent	K
For gentle usage and soft delicacy	C
But you invert the covenants of her trust	K
And harshly deal like an ill borrower	L
With that which you received on other terms	C
Scorning the unexempt condition	X2
By which all mortal frailty must subsist	K
Refreshment after toil ease after pain	X2
That have been tired all day without repast	K
And timely rest have wanted But fair virgin	X2
This will restore all soon	X2
LADY 'T will not false	C
traitor	L
'T will not restore the truth and honesty	K
That thou hast banished from thy tongue with lies	C
Was this the cottage and the safe abode	K
Thou told'st me of What grim aspects are these	C
These oughly headed monsters Mercy guard me	K
Hence with thy brewed enchantments foul deceiver	L
Hast thou betrayed my credulous innocence	C
With vizored falsehood and base forgery	L
And would'st thou seek again to trap me here	L
With liquorish baits fit to ensnare a brute	K
Were it a draught for Juno when she banquets	C
I would not taste thy treasonous offer None	X2
But such as are good men can give good things	C
And that which is not good is not delicious	C
To a well governed and wise appetite	K
COMUS foolishness of men that lend their ears	C
To those budge doctors of the Stoic fur	L
And fetch their precepts from the Cynic tub	Q3
Praising the lean and sallow Abstinence	C
Wherefore did Nature pour her bounties forth	Z
With such a full and unwithdrawing hand	K
Covering the earth with odours fruits and flocks	C
Thronging the seas with spawn innumerable	H
But all to please and sate the curious taste	K
And set to work millions of spinning worms	C
That in their green shops weave the smooth haired silk	V
To deck her sons and that no corner might	K
Be vacant of her plenty in her own loins	C
She hutched the all worshipped ore and precious gems	C
To store her children with If all the world	K
Should in a pet of temperance feed on pulse	C
Drink the clear stream and nothing wear but frieze	C
The All giver would be unthanked would be unpraised	K
Not half his riches known and yet despised	K
And we should serve him as a grudging master	L
As a penurious niggard of his wealth	Z
And live like Nature's bastards not her sons	C
Who would be quite surcharged with her own weight	K
And strangled with her waste fertility	K
The earth cumbered and the winged air darked with plumes	C
The herds would over multitude their lords	C
The sea o'erfraught would swell and the unsought diamonds	C
Would so emblaze the forehead of the deep	S
And so bestud with stars that they below	H
Would grow inured to light and come at last	K
To gaze upon the sun with shameless brows	C
List Lady be not coy and be not cozened	K
With that same vaunted name Virginity	K
Beauty is Nature's coin must not be hoarded	K
But must be current and the good thereof	K
Consists in mutual and partaken bliss	C
Unsavoury in the enjoyment of itself	K
If you let slip time like a neglected rose	C
It withers on the stalk with languished head	K
Beauty is Nature's brag and must be shown	X2
In courts at feasts and high solemnities	C
Where most may wonder at the workmanship	P3
It is for homely features to keep home	R3
They had their name thence coarse complexions	C
And cheeks of sorry grain will serve to ply	K
The sampler and to tease the huswife's wool	H
What need a vermeil tinctured lip for that	K
Love darting eyes or tresses like the morn	X2
There was another meaning in these gifts	C
Think what and be advised you are but young yet	K
LADY I had not thought to have unlocked my lips	C
In this unhallowed air but that this juggler	L
Would think to charm my judgment as mine eyes	C
Obtruding false rules pranked in reason's garb	S3
I hate when vice can bolt her arguments	C
And virtue has no tongue to check her pride	K
Impostor do not charge most innocent Nature	L
As if she would her children should be riotous	C
With her abundance She good cateress	C
Means her provision only to the good	K
That live according to her sober laws	C
And holy dictate of spare Temperance	C
If every just man that now pines with want	K
Had but a moderate and beseeming share	L
Of that which lewdly pampered Luxury	K
Now heaps upon some few with vast excess	C
Nature's full blessings would be well dispensed	K
In unsuperfluous even proportion	X2
And she no whit encumbered with her store	L
And then the Giver would be better thanked	K
His praise due paid for swinish gluttony	K
Ne'er looks to Heaven amidst his gorgeous feast	K
But with besotted base ingratitude	K
Crams and blasphemes his Feeder Shall I go on	X2
Or have I said enow To him that dares	C
Arm his profane tongue with contemptuous words	C
Against the sun clad power of chastity	K
Fain would I something say yet to what end	K
Thou hast nor ear nor soul to apprehend	K
The sublime notion and high mystery	K
That must be uttered to unfold the sage	A2
And serious doctrine of Virginity	K
And thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know	H
More happiness than this thy present lot	K
Enjoy your dear wit and gay rhetoric	V
That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence	C
Thou art not fit to hear thyself convinced	K
Yet should I try the uncontrolled worth	Z
Of this pure cause would kindle my rapt spirits	C
To such a flame of sacred vehemence	C
That dumb things would be moved to sympathise	C
And the brute Earth would lend her nerves and shake	V
Till all thy magic structures reared so high	K
Were shattered into heaps o'er thy false head	K
COMUS She fables not I feel that I do fear	L
Her words set off by some superior power	L
And though not mortal yet a cold shuddering dew	K
Dips me all o'er as when the wrath of Jove	K
Speaks thunder and the chains of Erebus	C
To some of Saturn's crew I must dissemble	H
And try her yet more strongly Come no more	L
This is mere moral babble and direct	K
Against the canon laws of our foundation	X2
I must not suffer this yet 't is but the lees	C
And settlings of a melancholy blood	K
But this will cure all straight one sip of this	C
Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight	K
Beyond the bliss of dreams Be wise and taste	K
	-
The BROTHERS rush in with swords drawn wrest his glass out of	K
his	C
hand and break it against the ground his rout make sign of	K
resistance but are all driven in The ATTENDANT SPIRIT comes in	X2
	-
SPIR What have you let the false enchanter scape	W
O ye mistook ye should have snatched his wand	K
And bound him fast Without his rod reversed	K
And backward mutters of dissevering power	L
We cannot free the Lady that sits here	L
In stony fetters fixed and motionless	C
Yet stay be not disturbed now I bethink me	K
Some other means I have which may be used	K
Which once of Meliboeus old I learnt	K
The soothest shepherd that e'er piped on plains	C
There is a gentle Nymph not far from hence	C
That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn stream	R
Sabrina is her name a virgin pure	L
Whilom she was the daughter of Locrine	X2
That had the sceptre from his father Brute	K
She guiltless damsel flying the mad pursuit	K
Of her enraged stepdame Guendolen	X2
Commended her fair innocence to the flood	K
That stayed her flight with his cross flowing course	C
The water nymphs that in the bottom played	K
Held up their pearled wrists and took her in	X2
Bearing her straight to aged Nereus' hall	H
Who piteous of her woes reared her lank head	K
And gave her to his daughters to imbathe	Z
In nectared lavers strewed with asphodil	H
And through the porch and inlet of each sense	C
Dropt in ambrosial oils till she revived	K
And underwent a quick immortal change	M3
Made Goddess of the river Still she retains	C
Her maiden gentleness and oft at eve	K
Visits the herds along the twilight meadows	C
Helping all urchin blasts and ill luck signs	C
That the shrewd meddling elf delights to make	V
Which she with precious vialed liquors heals	C
For which the shepherds at their festivals	C
Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays	C
And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream	R
Of pansies pinks and gaudy daffodils	C
And as the old swain said she can unlock	V
The clasping charm and thaw the numbing spell	H
If she be right invoked in warbled song	V
For maidenhood she loves and will be swift	K
To aid a virgin such as was herself	K
In hard besetting need This will I try	K
And add the power of some adjuring verse	C
	-
	-
SONG	V
	-
Sabrina fair	L
Listen where thou art sitting	V
Under the glassy cool translucent wave	K
In twisted braids of lilies knitting	V
The loose train of thy amber dropping hair	L
Listen for dear honour's sake	V
Goddess of the silver lake	V
Listen and save	K
	-
Listen and appear to us	C
In name of great Oceanus	C
By the earth shaking Neptune's mace	C
And Tethys' grave majestic pace	C
By hoary Nereus' wrinkled look	V
And the Carpathian wizard's hook	V
By scaly Triton's winding shell	H
And old soothsaying Glaucus' spell	H
By Leucothea's lovely hands	C
And her son that rules the strands	C
By Thetis' tinsel slippered feet	K
And the songs of Sirens sweet	K
By dead Parthenope's dear tomb	I2
And fair Ligea's golden comb	R3
Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks	C
Sleeking her soft alluring locks	C
By all the Nymphs that nightly dance	C
Upon thy streams with wily glance	C
Rise rise and heave thy rosy head	K
From thy coral paven bed	K
And bridle in thy headlong wave	K
Till thou our summons answered have	K
Listen and save	K
	-
SABRINA rises attended by water nymphs and sings	C
	-
By the rushy fringed bank	V
Where grows the willow and the osier dank	V
My sliding chariot stays	C
Thick set with agate and the azurn sheen	X2
Of turkis blue and emerald green	X2
That in the channel strays	C
Whilst from off the waters fleet	K
Thus I set my printless feet	K
O'er the cowslip's velvet head	K
That bends not as I tread	K
Gentle swain at thy request	K
I am here	L
	-
SPIR Goddess dear	L
We implore thy powerful hand	K
To undo the charmed band	K
Of true virgin here distressed	K
Through the force and through the wile	H
Of unblessed enchanter vile	H
SABR Shepherd 't is my office best	K
To help ensnared chastity	K
Brightest Lady look on me	K
Thus I sprinkle on thy breast	K
Drops that from my fountain pure	L
I have kept of precious cure	L
Thrice upon thy finger's tip	P3
Thrice upon thy rubied lip	P3
Next this marble venomed seat	K
Smeared with gums of glutinous heat	K
I touch with chaste palms moist and cold	K
Now the spell hath lost his hold	K
And I must haste ere morning hour	L
To wait in Amphitrite's bower	L
	-
SABRINA descends and the LADY rises out of her seat	K
	-
SPIR Virgin daughter of Locrine	X2
Sprung of old Anchises' line	X2
May thy brimmed waves for this	C
Their full tribute never miss	C
From a thousand petty rills	C
That tumble down the snowy hills	C
Summer drouth or singed air	L
Never scorch thy tresses fair	L
Nor wet October's torrent flood	K
Thy molten crystal fill with mud	K
May thy billows roll ashore	L
The beryl and the golden ore	L
May thy lofty head be crowned	K
With many a tower and terrace round	K
And here and there thy banks Upon	X2
With groves of myrrh and cinnamon	X2
Come Lady while Heaven lends us grace	C
Let us fly this cursed place	C
Lest the sorcerer us entice	C
With some other new device	C
Not a waste or needless sound	K
Till we come to holier ground	K
I shall be your faithful guide	K
Through this gloomy covert wide	K
And not many furlongs thence	C
Is your Father's residence	C
Where this night are met in state	K
Many a friend to gratulate	K
His wished presence and beside	K
All the swains that there abide	K
With jigs and rural dance resort	K
We shall catch them at their sport	K
And our sudden coming there	L
Will double all their mirth and cheer	L
Come let us haste the stars grow high	K
But Night sits monarch yet in the mid sky	K
	-
The Scene changes presenting Ludlow Town and the PresidentUs	C
Castle then come in Country Dancers after them the ATTENDANT	K
SPIRIT with the two BROTHERS and the LADY	K
	-
SONG	V
	-
SPIR Back shepherds back Enough your play	H
Till next sun shine holiday	H
Here be without duck or nod	K
Other trippings to be trod	K
Of lighter toes and such court guise	C
As Mercury did first devise	C
With the mincing Dryades	C
On the lawns and on the leas	C
	-
The second Song presents them to their Father and Mother	L
	-
Noble Lord and Lady bright	K
I have brought ye new delight	K
Here behold so goodly grown	X2
Three fair branches of your own	X2
Heaven hath timely tried their youth	Z
Their faith their patience and their truth	Z
And sent them here through hard assays	C
With a crown of deathless praise	C
To triumph in victorious dance	C
O'er sensual folly and intemperance	C
	-
The dances ended the SPIRIT epiloguizes	C
	-
SPIR To the ocean now I fly	K
And those happy climes that lie	K
Where day never shuts his eye	K
Up in the broad fields of the sky	K
There I suck the liquid air	L
All amidst the gardens fair	L
Of Hesperus and his daughters three	K
That sing about the golden tree	K
Along the crisped shades and bowers	C
Revels the spruce and jocund Spring	V
The Graces and the rosy bosomed Hours	C
Thither all their bounties bring	V
There eternal Summer dwells	C
And west winds with musky wing	V
About the cedarn alleys fling	V
Nard and cassia's balmy smells	C
Iris there with humid bow	X2
Waters the odorous banks that blow	H
Flowers of more mingled hue	K
Than her purfled scarf can shew	K
And drenches with Elysian dew	K
List mortals if your ears be true	K
Beds of hyacinth and roses	C
Where young Adonis oft reposes	C
Waxing well of his deep wound	K
In slumber soft and on the ground	K
Sadly sits the Assyrian queen	X2
But far above in spangled sheen	X2
Celestial Cupid her famed son advanced	K
Holds his dear Psyche sweet entranced	K
After her wandering labours long	V
Till free consent the gods among	V
Make her his eternal bride	K
And from her fair unspotted side	K
Two blissful twins are to be born	X2
Youth and Joy so Jove hath sworn	X2
But now my task is smoothly done	X2
I can fly or I can run	X2
Quickly to the green earth's end	K
Where the bowed welkin slow doth bend	K
And from thence can soar as soon	X2
To the corners of the moon	X2
Mortals that would follow me	K
Love virtue she alone is free	K
She can teach ye how to climb	D3
Higher than the sphery chime	D3
Or if Virtue feeble were	L
Heaven itself would stoop to her	L

John Milton

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