:

Shall be unsaid for me: against the threats And shed the luscious liquor on the ground,
Of malice, or of sorcery, or that power

But seize his wand; though he and his curs'd Which erring men call Chance, this I hold firm,

crew Virtue may be assail'd, but never hurt,

Fierce sign of þattle make, and menace high, Surpris’d by unjust force, but not enthrallid: 590 Or like the sons of Vulcan vomit smoke, Yea, even that, which mischief meant most harm, Yet will they soon retire, if he but shrink. Shall in the happy trial prove most glory:

Fl. Br. Thyrsis, lead on apace, I'll follow thee But evil on itself shall back recoil,

And some good angel bear a shield before us. And mix no more with goodness; when at last Gather'd like scum, and settled to itself, It shall be in eternal restless change

The Scene changes to a stately palace, out with Self-fed, and self-consum'd: if this fail,

all manner of deliciousness: soft music, tables spread

with all dainties. Comus appears wilh his rabble, The pillar'd firmament is rottenness, And Earth's base built on stubble.-But come,

and the Lady set in an enchanted chair, to whom let's on.

he offers his glass, which she puts by, and goes about

to rise.
Against the opposing will and arm of Heaven 600
May never this just sword be lifted up;

Comus.
But for that damn'd magician, let him be girt
With all the grisly legions that troop

Nay, lady, sit; if I but wave this wand,
Under the sooty flag of Acheron,

Your nerves are all chain'd up in alabaster,

660 Harpies and Hydras, or all the monstrous forms And you a statue, or, as Daphne was, 'Twixt Africa and Ind, I'll find him out,

Root-bound, that fled Apollo. And force him to return his purchase back,

Lad.

Fool, do not boast; Or drag him by the curls to a foul death,

Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind Curs'd as his life.

With all thy charms, although this corporal rind Spir.

Alas! good venturous youth, Thou hast immanacled, while Heaven sees good. I love thy courage yet, and bold emprise ; 610 Com. Why are you vex’d, lady? Why do you But here thy sword can do thee little stead;

frown? Far other arms and other weapons must

Here dwell no frowns, nor anger; from these ga tes Be those, that quell the might of hellish charms: Sorrow flies far: see, here be all the pleasures, He with his bare wand can unthread thy joints, That fancy can beget on youthful thoughts, And crumble all thy sinews.

When the fresh blood grows lively, and returns El. Br.

Why prythee, shepherd, Brisk as the April buds in primrose-season. 671 How durst thou then thyself approach so near, And first, behold this cordial julep here, As to make this relation ?

That flames and dances in his crystal bounds, Spir.

Care, and utmost shifts, With spirits of balm and fragrant syrops mixd; How to secure the lady from surprisal,

Not that nepenthes, which the wife of Thone Brought to my mind a certain shepherd lad, In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena, Of small regard to see to, yet well skill'd 620 Is of such power to stir up joy as this, In every virtuous plant, and healing herb, To life so friendly, or so cool to thirst. That spreads her verdant leaf to th’ morning ray : Why should you be so cruel to yourself, He lov'd me well, and oft would beg me sing; And to those dainty limbs, which Nature lent 680 Which when I did, he on the tender grass For gentle usage and soft delicacy? Would sit and hearken even to ecstasy,

But you invert the covenants of her trust, And in requital ope his leathern scrip,

And harshly deal like an ill borrower And show me simples of a thousand names, With that which you receiv'd on other terms; Telling their strange and vigorous faculties : Scorning the unexempt condition, Amongst the rest a small unsightly root, By which all mortal frailty must subsist, But of divine effect, he culld me out; 630 Refreshment afier toil, ease after pain, The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it, That have been tir'd all day without repast, But in another country, as he said,

And timely rest have wanted; but, fair virgin, Bore a bright golden flower, but not in this soil : This will restore all soon. Unknown, and light esteem'd, and the dull swain Lad.

"Twill not, false traitor!

690 Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon: "Twill not restore the truth and honesty, And yet more med'cinal is it than that moly, That thou hast banish'd from thy tongue with lies That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave;

Was this the cottage, and the safe abode, He call'd it hæmony, and gave it me,

Thou told'st me of? What grim aspects are these, And bade me keep it as of sovran use

These ugly-headed monsters ? Mercy guard me! 'Gainst all enchantments, mildew, blast, or damp, Hence with thy brew'd enchantments, foul deDr ghastly furies' apparition.

641

ceiver! | purs'd it up, but little reckoning made,

Hast thou betray'd my credulous innocence Till now that this extremity compellid :

With visor'd falsehood and base forgery? But now I find it true: for by this means

And would'st thou seek again to trap me here I knew the foul enchanter though disguis'd, With lickerish baits, fit to ensnare a brute ? 700 Enter'd the very lime-twigs of his spells,

Were it a draught for Juno when she banquets, And yet came off: if you have this about you, I would not taste thy treasonous offer; none As (I will give you when we go) you may But such as are good men can give good things; Boldly assault the necromancer's hall;

And that which is not good, is not delicious Where if he be, with dauntless hardihood, 650 To a well-govern'd and wise appetite. And brandish'd blade, rush on him; break his glass, Com. O foolishness of men! that lend their ears

770

:

To those budge doctors of the Stoic fur,

If

every just man, that now pines with want, And fetch their precepts from the Cynic tub, Had but a moderate and beseeming share Praising the lean and sallow Abstinence.

Of that which lewdly pamper'd Luxury Wheretore did Nature pour her bounties forth 710 Now heaps upon some few with vast excess, With such a full and unwithdrawing hand, Nature's full blessings would be well dispens'd Covering the earth with odors, fruits, and flocks, In unsuperfluous even proportion, Thronging the seas with spawn innumerable, And she no whit encumber'd with her store ; Bat all to please and sate the curious taste ? And then the Giver would be better thank'd, And set to work millions of spinning worms, His praise due paid : for swinish Gluttony That in their green-shops weave the smooth-kair'd Ne'er looks to Heaven amidst his gorgeous feast, silk,

But with besotted base ingratitude To deck her sons; and that no corner might Crams, and blasphemes his feeder. Shall I go on? Be vacant of her plenty, in her own loins

Or have I said enough? To him that dares 780 She hutch'd the all-worshipt ore, and precious Arm his profane tongue with contemptuous words gems,

Against the sun-clad power of Chastity, To store her children with: if all the world 720 Fain would I something say, yet to what end? Should in a pet of temperance feed on pulse, Thou hast nor ear, nor soul, to apprehend Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but The sublime notion, and high mystery, frieze,

That must be uttered to unfold the sage The All-giver would be unthank'd, would be un- And serious doctrine of Virginity; praisia,

And thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know Not half his riches known, and yet despis:d : More happiness than this thy present lot. And we should serve him as a grudging master, Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric, 790 As a penurious niggard of his wealth ;

That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence; And live like Nature's bastards, not her sons, Thou art noi fit to hear thyself convinc'd: Who would be quite surcharg'd with her own Yet, should I try, the uncontrolled worth weight,

Of this pure cause would kindle my rapt spirits And strangled with her waste fertility ;

To such a flame of sacred vehemence, The Earth cumber'd, and the wing'd air dark’s That dumb things would be mov'd to sympathize, with plumes,

730 And the brute Earth would lend her nerves, and The herds would over-multitude their lords,

shake, The sea o’erfraught would swell, and the unsought Till all thy magic structures, reard so high, diamonds

Were shatter'd into heaps o'er thy false head. Would so emblaze the forehead of the deep,

Com. She fables not, I feel that I do fear 800 And so bestud with stars, that they below Her words set off by some superior power; Would grow inur’d to light, and come at last And though not mortal, yet a cold shuddering dew To gaze upon the Son with shameless brows.

Dips me all o'er, as when the wrath of Jove List, lady: be not coy, and be not cosen'd Speaks thunder, and the chains of Erebus, With that same vaunted name, Virginity.

To some of Saturn's crew. I must dissemble, Beauty is Nature's coin, must not be hoarded, And try her yet more strongly.—Come, no more; But must be current; and the good thereof 740 This is mere moral babble, and direct, Consists in mutual and partaken bliss,

Against the canon-laws of our foundation ; Insavory in the enjoyment of itself;

I must not suffer this : yet 'tis but the lees If you let slip time, like a neglected rose

And settlings of a melancholy blood : 810 It withers on the stalk with languish'd head. But this will cure all straight: one sip of this Beauty is nature's brag, and must be shown Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight, In courts, at feasts, and high solemnities, Beyond the bliss of dreams. Be wise and taste. Where most may wonder at the workmanship; It is for homely features to keep home,

The Brothers rush in with swords drawn, wrest his They had their name thence; coarse complexions,

glass out of his hand, and break it against the And cheeks of sorry grain, will serve to ply. 750

ground; his rout make sign of resistance ; but are The sampler, and to tease the huswife's wool.

all driven in. The Attendant Spirit comes in. What need a vermeil-tinctur'd lip for that, Love-darting eyes, or tresses like the Morn?

SPIRIT.
There was another meaning in these gifts ;
Think what, and be advis’d; you are but young

What, have you let the false enchanter 'scape? yet.

Oye mistook, ye should have snatch'd his wand, Ind. I had not thought to have unlock'd my lips And bound him fast; without his rod revers'd, In this unhallow'd air, but that this juggler

And backward mutters of dissevering power, Would think to charm my judgment, as mine eyes, We cannot free the Lady that sits here Obtruding false rules prank'd in reason's garb. In stony fetters fix'd, and motionless :

819 I hate when Vice can bolt her arguments, 760 Yet stay, be not disturb'd; now I bethink me, And Virtue has no tongue to check her pride.- Some other means I have which may be us’d, Irapostor! do not charge most innocent Nature, Which once of Melibæus old I learnt, As if she would her children should be riotous The soothest shepherd that e'er pip'd on plains. With her abundance; she, good cateress,

There is a gentle nymph not far from hence, Means her provision only to the good,

That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn That live according to her sober laws,

stream, And holy dictate of spare Temperance :

Sabrina is her name, a virgin pure;

Whilom she was the daughter of Locrine,

My sliding chariot stays,
That had the sceptre from his father brute. Thick set with agate, and the azurn sheen
She, guiltless damsel, flying the mad pursuit Of turkis blue, and emerald green,
Of her enraged stepdame Guendolen,

830 That in the channel strays;
Commended her fair innocence to the flood, Whilst from off the waters fleet
That staid her flight with his cross-flowing course. Thus I set my printless feet
The water-nymphs, that in the bottom play'd, O'er the cowslip's velvet head,
Held up their pearled wrists, and took her in, That bends not as I tread;
Bearing her straight to aged Nereus' hall; Gentle swain, at thy request,

900 Who, piteous of her woes, rear'd her lank head, I am here And gave her to his daughters to imbathe

Sp. Goddess dear,
In nectar'd lavers, strew'd with asphodel; We implore thy powerful hand
And through the porch and inlet of each sense To undo the charmed band
Dropt in ambrosial oils, till she reviv'd, 840 Of true virgin here distrest,
And underwent a quick immortal change, Through the force, and through the wile,
Made goddess of the river: still she retains Of unblest enchanter vile.
Her maiden gentleness, and oft at eve

Sabr. Shepherd, 'tis my office best
Visits the herds along the twilight meadows, To help ensnared chastity:
Helping all urchin blasts, and ill-luck signs Brightest lady, look on me:

910
That the shrewd meddling elfe delights to make, Thus I sprinkle on thy breast
Which she with precious vial'd liquors heals; Drops, that from my fountain pure
For which the shepherds at their festivals I have kept, of precious cure;
Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays,

Thrice upon thy finger's tip
And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream Thrice upon thy rubied lip:
Of pansies, pinks, and gaudy daffodils. 851 Next this marble venom'd seat,
And, as the old swain said, she can unlock Smear'd with gums of glutinous heat,
The clasping charm, and thaw the numming spell, I touch with chaste palms moist and cold :-
If she be right invok'd in warbled song;

Now the spell hath lost his hold;
For maidenhood she loves, and will be swift And I must haste, ere morning hour,

920 To aid a virgin, such as was herself,

To wait in Amphitrite's bower.
In hard-besetting need; this will I try,
And add the power of some adjuring verse.

Sabrina descends, and the Lady rises out of her seat
SONG
Sabrina fair,

Sp. Virgin, daughter of Locrine, Listen where thou art sitting

860

Sprung of old Anchises' line, Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,

May thy brimmed waves for this

Their full tribute never miss
In twisted braids of lilies knitting
The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair;

From a thousand petty rills,
Listen for dear honor's sake,

That tumble down the snowy hills :
Goddess of the silver lake,

Summer drought, or singed air,
Listen, and save.

Never scorch thy tresses fair,
Nor wet October's torrent flood

930 Listen, and appear to us, In name of great Oceanus;

Thy molten crystal fill with mud; By the Earth-shaking Neptune's mace,

May thy billows roll ashore And Tethy's grave majestic pace,

The beryl and the golden ore;

870 By hoary Nereus' wrinkled look,

May thy losty head be crown'd And the Carpathian wisard's hook,

With many a tower and terrace round,

And here and there thy banks upon
By scaly Triton's "winding shell,
And old soothsaying Glaucus' spell,

With groves of myrrh and cinnamon.
By Leucothea's lovely hands,

Come, lady, while Heaven lends us grace,
And her son that rules the strands,

Let us fly this cursed place,
Lest the sorcerer us entice

940 By Thetis' tinsel-slipper'd feet,

With some other new device.
And the songs of Syrens sweet,
By dead Parthenope's dear tomb,

Not a waste or needless sound,
And fair Ligea's golden comb,

880

Till we come to holier ground; Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks,

I shall be your faithful guide Sleeking her soft alluring locks;

Through this gloomy covert wide. By all the nymphs that nightly dance

And not many furlongs thence

Is Upon thy streams with wily glance,

your father's residence, Rise, rise, and heave thy rosy head,

Where this night are met in state From thy coral-paven bed,

Many a friend to gratulate And bridle in thy headlong wave,

His wish'd presence; and beside

950 Till thou our summons answer'd have.

All the swains, that there abide,
Listen, and save.

With jigs and rural dance resort;

We shall catch them at their sport, Sabrina rises, attended by water-nymphs, and sings. Will double all their mirth and cheer:

And our sudden coming there By the rushy-fringed bank,

890 Come, let us haste, the stars grow high, Where grows the willow, and the ozier dank, But night sits monarch yet in the mid sky.

And from thence can soar as soon The Scene changes, presenting Ludlow town and the To the corners of the Moon.

president's castle ; then come in country dancers, Mortals that would follow me, after them the Attendant Spirit, with the two Love Virtue; she alone is free: Brothers, and the Lady.

She can teach ye how to climb

1020 SONG.

Higher than the sphery chime;

Or if Virtue feeble were,
Spir. Back, shepherds, back; enough your play,

Heaven itself would stoop to her.
Till next sun-shine holiday:
Here be, without duck or nod,

960
Other trippings to be trod
Of lighter toes, and such court guise
As Mercury did first devise,
With the mincing Dryades,

PARADISE LOST.
On the lawns and on the leas.

BOOK I.
This second Song presents them to their Father and

THE ARGUMENT.
Mother.

The first Book proposes, first in brief, the whole Noble lord, and lady bright,

subject, Man's disobedience, and the loss thereI have brought ye new delight;

upon of Paradise wherein he was placed : then Here behold so goodly grown

touches the prime cause of his fall, the Serpent, "Three fair branches of your own;

or rather Satan in the serpent; who, revolting Heaven hath timely tried their youth, 970

from God, and drawing to his side many legions Their faith, their patience, and their truth,

of angels, was, by the command of God, driven And sent them here through hard assays

out of Heaven, with all his crew, into the great With a crown of deathless praise,

deep. Which action passed over, the poem hastens To triumph in victorious dance

into the midst of things, presenting Satan with his O'er sensual Folly and Intemperance.

angels now falling into Hell described here, not

in the center (for Heaven and Earth may be supThe dances [being] ended, the Spirit epiloguizes.

posed as yet not made, certainly not yet accursed) Spir. To the ocean now I fly,

but in a place of ulter darkness, fitliest called And those happy climes that lie

Chaos : here Satan with his angels lying on the Where day never shuts his eye,

burning lake, thunder-struck and astonished, after lp in the broad fields of the sky:

a certain space recovers, as from confusion, calls There I suck the liquid air

980 up him who next in order and dignity lay by him : All amidst the gardens fair

they confer of their miserable fall; Satan awakens Of Hesperus, and his daughters three

all his legions, who lay till then in the same manThat sing about the golden tree:

ner confounded. They rise; their numbers ; Along the crisped shades and bowers

array of battle; their chief leaders named, accordRevels the spruce and jocund Spring ;

ing to the idols known afterwards in Canaan and The Graces, and the rosy-bosom'd Hours,

the countries adjoining. To these Satan directs Thither all their bounties bring ;

his speech, comforts them with hope yet of regain. There eternal Summer dwells,

ing Heaven, but tells them lastly of a new world And west-winds, with musky wing,

990 and new kind of creature to be created, according About the cedar'd alleys fling

to an ancient prophecy, or report in Heaven; for, Vard and cassia's balmy smells.

that angels were long before this visible creation, Iris there with humid bow

was the opinion of many ancient Fathers. To Waters the odorous banks, that blow

find out the truth of this prophecy, and what 10 Flowers of more mingled hue

determine thereon, he refers to a full council. Than her purfled scarf can show;

What his associates thence attempt. PandemoAnd drenches with Elysian dew

nium, the palace of Satan, rises, suddenly built (List, mortals, if your ears be true)

out of the deep: the infernal peers there sit in Beds of hyacinth and roses,

council. Where young Adonis oft reposes, Waring well of his deep wound

1000 Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit In slumber soft, and on the ground

Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Sadly sits the Assyrian queen:

Brought death into the world, and all our woe, But far above in spangled sheen

With loss of Eden, till one greater Man Celestial Cupid, her fam'd son, advanc'd,

Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, Holds his dear Psyche sweet entranc'd. Sing, heavenly Muse, that on the secret top After her wandering labors long,

Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire Till free consent the Gods among

That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed, Make her his eternal bride,

In the beginning, how the Heavens and Earth And from her fair unspotted side

Rose out of Chaos : Or, if Sion hill Two blissful twins are to be born,

1010 Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flow'd Youth and Joy : so Jove hath sworn.

Fast by the oracle of God; I thence But now my task is smoothly done,

Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song, I can fly, or I can run,

That with no middle flight intends to soar Qinickly to the green earth's end,

Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues Where the bow'd welkin slow doth bend ; Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.

D

And chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer Cloth'd with transcendent brightness, didst outshine
Before all temples the upright heart and pure, Myriads though bright! If he whom mutual league,
Instruct me, for thou know'st; thou from the first United thoughts and counsels, equal hope
Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread, And hazard in the glorious enterprise,
Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast abyss, Join'd with me once, now misery hath join'd
And mad'st it pregnant : what in me is dark In equal ruin : into what pit thou seest
Ilumine; what is low, raise and support;

From what height fall’n, so much the stronger prov'd That to the height of this great argument

He with his thunder: and till then who knew I may assert eternal Providence,

The force of those dire arms? Yet not for those, And justify the ways of God to men.

Nor what the potent Victor in his rage Say first, for Heaven hides nothing from thy view, Can else inflict, do I repent or change, Nor the deep tract of Hell; say first, what cause Though chang'd in outward lustre, that fix'd mind, Mov'd our grand parents, in that happy state, And high disdain from sense of injur'd merit, Favor’d of Heaven so highly, to fall off

That with the Mightiest rais'd me to contend, From their Creator, and transgress his will And to the fierce contention brought along For one restraint, lords of the world besides? Innumerable force of spirits arm’d, Who first seduced them to that foul revolt ? That durst dislike his reign, and, me preferring, The infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile, His utmost power with adverse power oppos'd Stirr'd up with envy and revenge, deceiv'd In dubious battle on the plains of Heaven, The mother of mankind, what time his pride And shook his throne. What though the field be Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host

lost ? Of rebel angels; by whose aid, aspiring

All is not lost; the unconquerable will, To set himself in glory above his peers,

And study of revenge, immortal hate,
He trusted to have equallid the Most High, And courage never to submit or yield,
If he oppos'd; and, with ambitious aim

And what is else not to be overcome;
Against the throne and monarchy of God, That glory never shall his wrath or might
Rais'd impious war in Heaven, and battle proud, Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace
With vain attempt. Him the Almighty power, With suppliant knee, and deify his power
Hurl'd headlong flaming from the ethereal sky, Who from the terror of this arm so late
With hideous ruin and combustion, down Doubted his empire ; that were low indeed,
To bottomless perdition; there to dwell

That were an ignominy, and shame beneath
In adamantine chains and penal fire,

This downfall: since by fate the strength of gods Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms.

And this empyreal substance cannot fail, Nine times the space that measures day and night Since through experience of this great event To mortal men, he with his horrid crew

In arms not worse, in foresight much advanc'd, Lay vanquish’d, rolling in the fiery gulf,

We may with more successful hope resolve
Confounded, though immortal : but his doom To wage by force or guile eternal war,
Reservd him to more wrath! for now the thought Irreconeilable to our grand foe,
Both of lost happiness and lasting pain

Who now triumphs, and, in the excess of joy
Torments him: round he throws his baleful eyes, Sole reigning, holds the tyranny of Heaven.”
That witnessed huge affliction and dismay,

So spake the apostate angel, though in pain, Mix'd with obdurate pride and stedfast hate ; Vaunting aloud, but rack'd with deep despair: At once, as far as angels' ken, he views

And him thus answer'd soon his bold compeer. The dismal situation, waste and wild ;

"O prince, O chief of many throned powers, A dungeon horrible on all sides round,

That led the embattled seraphim to war
As one great furnace flam'd; yet from those flames Under thy conduct, and, in dreadful deeds
No light; but rather darkness visible

Fearless, endanger'd Heaven's perpetual king, Serv'd only to discover sights of wo,

And put to proof his high supremacy, Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace Whether upheld by strength, or chance, or fate; And rest can never dwell; hope never comes, Too well I see, and rue the dire event, That comes to all : but torture without end That with sad overthrow, and foul defeat, Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed

Hath lost us Heaven, and all this mighty host With ever-burning sulphur unconsum'd :

In horrible destruction laid thus low,
Such place eternal Justice had prepar'd

As far as gods and heavenly essences
For those rebellious; here their prison ordain'd Can perish: for the mind and spirit remains
In utter darkness, and their portion set

Invincible, and vigor soon returns,
As far remov'd from God and light of Heaven, Though all our glory extinct, and happy state
As from the centre thrice to the utmost pole. Here swallow'd up in endless misery.
O, how unlike the place from whence they fell! But what if he our conqueror (whom I now
There the companions of his fall, o'erwhelm'd of force believe almighty, since no less
With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire, Than such could have o’erpower'd such force as ours)
He soon discerns; and weltering by his side Have left us this our spirit and strength entire
One next himself in power, and next in crime, Strongly to suffer and support our pains,
Long after known in Palestine, and nam'd That we may so suffice his vengeful ire,
Beelzebub. To whom the arch-enemy,

Or do him mightier service as his thralls And thence in Heaven called Satan, with bold words By right of war, whate'er his business be, Breaking the horrid silence, thus began.

Here in the heart of Hell to work in fire, “If thou beest he; but O, how fall’n! how Or do his errands in the gloomy deep; chang'd

What can it then avail, though yet we feel From him, who in the happy realms of light, Strength undiminish'd, or eternal being