1750 But unexpectedly returns, And to His faithful champion hath in place His uncontrollable intent. 1755 His servants He, with new acquist Of true experience from this great event, COMUS. A MASK PRESENTED AT LUDLOW CASTLE, 1634, BEFORE JOHN, EARL OF Bridgewater, THEN PRESIDENT of Wales. 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 CHIEF PERSONS WHICH PRESENTED WERE The Lord BRACKLEY. Mr. THOMAS EGERTON, his brother. The Lady ALICE EGERTON. The first Scene discovers a wild wood. The ATTENDANT SPIRIT descends or enters. EFORE the starry threshold of Jove's court BE My mansion is, where those immortal shapes Of bright aërial spirits live insphered In regions mild of calm and serene air, 5 Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot, 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; 15 To such my errand is; and, but for such, But to my task. Neptune, besides the sway Which he, to grace his tributary gods, 25 By course commits to several government, 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, Where his fair offspring, nursed in princely lore, 35 Are coming to attend their father's state, And new-entrusted sceptre. But their way Lies through the perplexed paths of this drear wood, The nodding horror of whose shady brows Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger; 40 And here their tender age might suffer peril, 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, 45 From old or modern bard, in hall or bower. Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape Crushed the sweet poison of misusèd wine, After the Tuscan mariners transformed, Coasting the Tyrrhene shore, as the winds listed, 50 On Circe's island fell. (Who knows not Circe, 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, 55 With ivy berries wreathed, and his blithe youth, 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, 60 Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields, At last betakes him to this ominous wood, Offering to every weary traveller 65 His orient liquor in a crystal glass, To quench the drouth of Phoebus; which as they taste (For most do taste through fond intemperate thirst), Soon as the potion works, their human countenance, The express resemblance of the gods, is changed 70 Into some brutish form of wolf, or bear, Or ounce, or tiger, hog, or bearded goat, Not once perceive their foul disfigurement, I shoot from Heaven, to give him safe convoy, 85 That to the service of this house belongs, 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 90 Likeliest, and nearest to the present aid Of this occasion. But I hear the tread Of hateful steps; I must be viewless now. |