Sweet bird that shunn'ft the noise of folly,

Moft mufical, moft melancholy!

Thee chauntrefs oft the woods among

65

I woo to hear thy even-fong;

And miffing thee, I walk unfeen

On the dry fmooth-fhaven green,

To behold the wand'ring moon,
Riding near her highest noon,

Like one that had been led aftray
Through the Heav'n's wide pathless way,
And oft, as if her head fhe bow'd,
Stooping through a fleecy cloud.
Oft on a plat of rifing ground,
I hear the far-off Curfeu found,

Milton has fomewhat of the fame thought again in his Latin poems. In obitum Præfulis Elienfis.

Longeque fub pedibus deam Vidi triformem, dum coercebat fuos

Frænis dracones aureis.

61. Sweet bird &c.] It is remarkable that here he begins his time from evening, as in L'Allegro from the early morning, and here with the nightingale as there with the lark. And as Mr. Thyer obferves, this rapturous ftart of the poet's fancy in praife of his favo

70

Over

rite bird is extremely natural and beautiful: and 'tis worth the reader's while too to obferve, how finely he makes it serve to connect his fubject, and infenfibly as it were to introduce the following charming night-scene.

74. I hear the far-off Curfeu

found, &c] William the Conqueror, in the firft year of his reign, commanded that in every town and village a bell fhould be rung every night at eight of the clock, and that all perfons should then put out their fire and candle, and go to bed; the ringing of

Or the belman's droufy charm,

To bless the doors from nightly harm:
Or let my lamp at midnight hour,
Be seen in fome high lonely tow'r,
Where I may oft out-watch the Bear,
With thrice great Hermes, or unfphere

which bell was called Curfeu, Fr. Couvre-feu, that is Cover-fire. See the Gloffary to Chaucer. And the two following lines, with the frequent allitteration of the letter s, inimitably exprefs the motion and found of a great heavy bell. We almoft think we hear it.

Over fome wide-water'd shore,
Swinging flow with fullen roar.

The poet no doubt remember'd
Shakespear's paffing-bell, but I
think he has exceeded his original.
Songet 71.

85

The

The spirit of Plato to unfold

What worlds, or what vaft regions hold
The immortal mind that hath forfook
Her manfion in this fleshly nook:
And of thofe Demons that are found
In fire, air, flood, or under ground,
Whose power hath a true confent

90

95

Prefenting

to the Platonic notion of different fpheres or regions being affign'd to fpirits of different degrees of perfection or impurity. The fame term is used in the Mark

ver. 2.

-where thofe immortal shapes Of bright aerial fpirits live inSpher'd

In regions mild of calm and ferene air.

98. In fcepter'd pall] The fame as Horace calls palla bonefta. De Arte poet. 278.

Poft hunc perfonæ pallaque re-
pertor boneft
Efchylus

99. Prefenting Thebes, or Pelops
line,

Or the tale of Troy divine,] Thefe were the principal fubjects of the ancient tragedies; and he feems

to

D

Prefenting Thebes, or Pelops line,

Or the tale of Troy divine,

Or what (though rare) of later age
Ennobled hath the bufkin'd stage.
But, O fad Virgin, that thy power
Might raife Mufæus from his bower,
Or bid the foul of Orpheus fing

Such notes, as warbled to the ftring,
Drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek,

And made Hell grant what love did seek.

to allude particularly to the Sep-
tem contra Thebas of Æschylus, and
the Phania of Euripides, and the
Antigone of Sophocles, and the
Thebais of Seneca, which prefent
Thebes; and to the Thyeftes of Se-
neca, and the Agamemnon of El
chylus, which prefent Pelops line;
and to the Troades of Euripides
and of Seneca, and other trage-
dies which prefent the tale of Troy
divine, therefore called divine be-
caufe built by the Gods; for I
think with Mr. Thyer, that di-
vine is not to be join'd with tale,
as many understand it: and as
Mr. Jortin notes, it is called in
Homer IA ion.
104. Might raife Mufæus from his
bower,] The poet Mufaus

100

105

Or

Hunc habet, atque humeris ex

tantem fufpicit altis.

105. Or bid the foul of Orpheus

fing &c] It is a property of mufic, that the fame ftrains have a Power to excite pain or pleasure, as the ftate is in which it finds the

hearer. Hence Milton makes the felf-fame ftrains of Orpheus proper to excite both the affections of mirth and melancholy, juft as the mind is then difpofed. If to mirth, he calls for fuch mufic,

If

That Orpheus felf may heave
his head &c.
to melancholy

Or bid the foul of Orpheus fing
&c.

makes the moft diftinguith'd figure See Warburton's Shakespear. Vol.

in Virgil's Elyfium. Æn. VI. 667.
Mufæum ante omnes, medium
nam plurima turba

3. p. 118.

107. Drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek,] Our author bere very Strongly

F4

On which the Tartar king did ride;
And if ought elfe great bards befide

Of forefts, and inchantments drear, Where more is meant than meets the ear.