That, when a soul is found sincerely so, Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear;' And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence," By unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk, A thousand liveried angels lacky her. 455 400 465 The idea, without the lowness of allusion and expression, is repeated in "Par. Lost," b. viii. 559About her as a guard angelick placed.-T. WARTON. • Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear. See "Arcades," v. 72. This dialogue between the two Brothers is an amicable contest between fact and philosophy: the younger draws his arguments from common apprehension, and the obvious appearance of things: the elder proceeds on a profounder knowledge, and argues from abstracted principles. Here the difference of their ages is properly made subservient to a contrast of character: but this slight variety must have been insufficient to keep so prolix and learned a disputation alive upon the stage: it must have languished, however adorned with the fairest flowers of eloquence. The whole dialogue, which indeed is little more than a solitary declamation in blank verse, much resembles the manner of our author's Latin Prolusions, where philosophy is enforced by pagan fable and poetical allusion.-T. WARTON. t The unpolluted temple of the mind. For this beautiful metaphor he was probably indebted to St. John, ii. 21. "He spake of the temple of his body:" and Shakspeare has the same, "Tempest," a. i. s. 6:There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple.-NEWTON. u And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence. This is agreeable to the system of the materialists, of which Milton was one.-WR BURTON. The same notion of body's working up to spirit Milton afterwards introduced into his "Par. Lost," b. v. 469, &c., which is there, I think, liable to some objection, as he was entirely at liberty to have chosen a more rational system, and as it is also put into the mouth of an archangel: but in this place it falls in so well with the poet's design, gives 3uch a force and strength to this encomium on chastity, and carries in it such a dignity of sentiment; that, however repugnant it may be to our philosophical ideas, it cannot miss striking and delighting every virtuous and intelligent reader. THYER. ▾ By unchaste looks, &c. "He [Christ] censures an unchaste look to be an adultery already committed: another time he passes over actual adultery with less reproof than for an unchaste look," "Divorce," b. ii. c. 1. Matth. v. 28.-T. WARTON. w The soul grows clotted by contagion, &c. I cannot resist the pleasure of translating a passage in Plato's " Phædon," which Milton here evidently copies :-"A soul with such affections, does it not fly away to something divine and resembling itself? To something divine, immortal, and wise? Whither when it arrives, it becomes happy; being freed from error, ignorance, fear, love, and other human evils. But if it departs from the body polluted and impure, with which it has been long linked in a state of familiarity and friendship, and by whose pleasures and appetites it has been bewitched, so as to think nothing else true, but what is corporeal, and which may be touched, seen, drunk, and used for the gratifications of lust; at the same time, if it has been accustomed to hate, fear, or shun whatever is dark and invisible to the human eye, yet discerned and approved by philosophy; Imbodies, and imbrutes, till she quite lose Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp, Sec. Br. How charming is divine philosophy! And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets, Where no crude surfeit reigns. El. Br. List, list; I hear Some far-off halloo break the silent air. Sec. Br. Methought so too; what should it be? Either some one like us night-founder'd here, Or else some neighbour woodman, or at worst, For certain 470 475 480 -I ask, if a soul so disposed will go sincere and disencumbered from the body? By no means. And will it not be, as I have supposed, infected and involved with corporeal contagion, which an acquaintance and converse with the body, from a perpetual association, has made congenial? So I think. But, my friend, we must pronounce that substance to be ponderous, depressive, and earthy, which such a soul draws with it; and therefore it is burdened by such a clog, and again is dragged off to some visible place, for fear of that which is hidden and unseen; and, as they report, retires to tombs and sepulchres, among which the shadowy phantasmns of these brutal souls, being loaded with somewhat visible, have often actually appeared. Probably, O Socrates: and it is equally probable, O Cebes, that these are the souls of wicked, not virtuous men, which are forced to wander amidst burial-places, suffering the punishment of an impious life and they so long are seen hovering about the monuments of the dead, till, from the accompaniment of the sensualities of corporeal nature, they are again clothed with a body," &c. Phæd. Opp. Platon. p. 386, edit. Lugdun. 1590, fol. An admirable writer, the late bishop of Worcester, has justly remarked, that "this poetical philosophy nourished the fine spirits of Milton's time, though it corrupted some." It is highly probable, that Henry More, the great Platonist, who was Milton's contemporary at Christ's-college, might have given his mind an early bias to the study of Plato.T. WARTON. x Imbodies and imbrutes. Thus also Satan speaks of the debasement and corruption of its original divine essence, 'Par. Lost," b. ix. 165: 66 mix'd with bestial slime, This essence to incarnate and imbrute, That to the highth of Deity aspired.-T. WARTON. y How charming is divine philosophy. This is an immediate reference to the foregoing speech, in which the divine philoso phy of Plato concerning the nature and condition of the human soul after death is so largely and so nobly displayed. Much the same sentiments appear in the "Tractate on Education:"-" I shall not detain you longer in the demonstration of what we should not do; but straight conduct you to a hill-side, where I will point ye out the right path of a vertuous and noble education, laborious indeed at the first ascent, but also so smooth, so green, so full of goodly prospect and melodious sounds, that the harp of Orpheus was not more charming," p. 101, ed. 1675. And see "Par. Reg." b. i 478, &c.—T. WARTON. z But musical as is Apollo's lute. Perhaps from "Love's Labour's Lost," as Mr. Bowle suggests, a. iv. s. 3. As bright Apollo's lute.-T. WARTON. Some roving robber calling to his fellows. Sec. Br. Heaven keep my sister. Again, again, and near! Best draw, and stand upon our guard. El. Br. I'll halloo : If he be friendly, he comes well; if not, Enter the Attendant Spirit, habited like a shepherd. That halloo I should know; what are you? speak; a Spir. What voice is that? my young lord? speak again. Spir. O my loved master's heir, and his next joy, I came not here on such a trivial toy That doth enrich these downs, is worth a thought a Thyrsis? whose artful strains, &c. 485 A compliment to Lawes, who personated the Spirit. We have just such another above, v. 86, but this being spoken by another, comes with better grace and propriety; or, to use Dr. Newton's pertinent expression, is more genteel. Milton's eagerness to praise his friend Lawes makes him here forget the circumstances of the fable: he is more intent on the musician than the shepherd, who comes at a critical season, and whose assistance in the present difficulty should have hastily been asked: but time is lost in a needless encomium, and in idle inquiries how the shepherd could possibly find out this solitary part of the forest: the youth, however, seems to be ashamed or unwilling to tell the unlucky accident that had befallen his sister. Perhaps the real boyism of the brother, which yet should have been forgotten by the poet, is to be taken into the account-T. WARTON. Let it be remembered that "Comus" is a drama of poetic description rather than theatric interest: besides, I conceive it exactly in nature for such young adventurers to delight in having their solitude and distress relieved by the acquisition of the aid and company of a faithful domestic of the family: and I farther believe that it is a fine touch of real nature to represent them at the immediate moment forgetting, in a certain degree, their own immediate distress, and recurring to the well-known amusements and employments of their old shepherd, his skill in pastoral music, his zealous care of his flock, &c., all these domestic circumstances recurring to their minds. Surely this is perfectly in nature; and if we criticise such passages, it should certainly be to commend, and not to censure.-DUNSTER. b Madrigal. The madrigal was a species of musical composition, now actually in practice, and in high vogue. Lawes, here intended, had composed madrigals: so had Milton's father. The word is not here thrown out at random.-T. WARTON. c How couldst thou find this dark sequester'd nook? Thus the shepherdess Clorin to Thenot, Fletcher's "Faith. Shep." a. ii. s. 1.-T WARTON. El. Br. To tell thee sadly, shepherd, without blame, Spir. Ay me unhappy! then my fears are true. El. Br. What fears, good Thyrsis? Pr'ythee briefly shew. What the sage poets, taught by the heavenly Muse, 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, By sly enticement gives his baneful cup, With many murmurs mix'd, whose pleasing poison The visage quite transforms of him that drinks, Fixes instead, unmoulding reason's mintage & Sadly. 510 515 520 525 Sadly, soberly, seriously, as the word is frequently used by our old authors, and in "Par. Lost," b. vi. 541.-Newton. e Storied of old, in high immortal verse, Of dire chimeras, and enchanted isles, The "chimeras dire" of ancient verse have passed away from popular belief; not so the "enchanted isles" and the "rifted rocks," whose entrance leads to perdition: the former are to be found in Scandinavian song; and, not to go farther, the volcanic mountains not inaptly support a belief in the existence of the latter. The old Danish ballad of Saint Oluf relates how the devout hero conquered the Jutt and the elves of Hornclumner, and transformed them into rocks and stones, forms which they still keep. Other instances might be given from both tale and song. That Etna was till lately believed to be one of the entrances to Satan's realms is sufficiently intimated by a northern tradition, which relates, that on the very day and hour in which an eminent British statesman died, a traveller was startled with the vision of a coach and six galloping full speed up the burning mountain: as the pageant swept past, he heard a voice exclaim, "Ho! make way for his grace of QIn this way the poetic peasantry of the north avenged themselves on a nobleman, whose actions were not to their mind. -C. f Within the navel. That is, in the midst: a phrase borrowed from the Greeks and Latins.-NEWTON. 5 With many murmurs mix'd. That is, in preparing this enchanted cup, the charm of many barbarous unintelligible words was intermixed, to quicken and strengthen its operation.-WARBUrton. The visage quite transforms of him that drinks, And the inglorious likeness of a beast Fixes instead. The cup of Circe is now dry, and her enchantments are despised; nor have we any drink in traditionary belief which rivals the "pleasing poison" of the goddess. We have something almost equivalent: an ointment belongs to the fairies, which opens mortal eyes to things immortal, and shows the spirits of good and evil that watch over Our witches too have magic staves and magic words, which can transform a hare into a horse, or a ragwort into a pony; nay, one of them, as the legend relates, inherited a magic bridle of such wondrous powers, that when she chose to shake it over a man's head, he instantly became a steed, and an obedient one, to carry her on her midnight man. Character'd in the face: this have I learn'd, That brow this bottom-glade; whence night by night In their obscured haunts of inmost bowers. 535 540 545 errands. This gifted dame had two servant lads, one lean, the other fat: on the latter upbraiding the former with the humility of his appearance, he answered,-"Lie at the bed stock, and ye will be lean too." The exchange was made: at midnight the beldame approached with her bridle; and before he could mutter an averting prayer, he was transformed into a horse, and compelled to bear her over stock and stone to an assembly of sister hags. By prayer and exertion he freed himself from the bridle, and, restored to his own shape, awaited the return of his mistress: before she was aware, he shook the bridle over her head, transformed her into a palfrey, and switched her mercilessly through "dub and mire." The adventure ended in a compromise; the witch became kindly and tolerant, and never employed the enchanted bridle on man again.-C. i Character'd in the face. So, in his "Divorce," b. i. pref. "A law not only written by Moses, but charactered in us by nature."-T. WARTON. i He and his monstrous rout are heard to howl, &c. Such was the practice of Comus's mother, Circe. Ovid, "Met." xiv. 405. Magicis Hecaten ululatibus orat.-TODD. k Like stabled wolves, or tigers at their prey. Perhaps from Virgil, "Æn." vii. 15, of Circe's island: Hinc exaudiri gemitus, iræque leonum, ac formæ magnorum ululare luporum Quos hominum ex facie Dea sæva potentibus herbis The supper of the sheep is from a beautiful comparison in Spenser, "Faery Qu.” i i. 23. As gentle shepheard in sweete eventide, When ruddy Phebus gins to welke in west, High on a hill, his flocke to vewen wide, Markes which doe byte their hasty supper best.-T. WARTON. With ivy canopied, and interwove With flaunting honey-suckle. Perhaps from Shakspeare, "Mids. Night's Dr." a. ii. s. 2. Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine.-T. WARTON. n To meditate my rural minstrelsy. Sylvestrum tenui Musam meditaris avena. Virgil, "Bucol." i. 2. So in "Lycidas," v. 66. Or strictly meditate the thankless Muse.-T. WARTON. |