“Much of the father’s face,More of the mother’s grace.”
“Much of the father’s face,More of the mother’s grace.”
58.Comus: seenote, l. 46. The Greek wordκῶμοςdenoted a revel or merry-making; afterwards it came to mean the personification of riotous mirth, the god of Revel. Hence also the wordcomedy. In classical mythology the individuality of Comus is not well defined: this enabled Milton more readily to endow him with entirely new characteristics.
59.frolic: an instance of the original use of the word as an adjective; comp.L’Alleg.18, “frolic wind”; Tennyson’sUlysses,“a frolic welcome.” It is now chiefly used as a noun or a verb, and a new adjective,frolicsome, has taken its place; from this, again, comes the nounfrolicsomeness.Frolicis from the Dutch, and cognate with Germanfröhlich, so thatlicin ‘frolic’ corresponds tolyin such words as cleanly, godly, etc.of: this use of the preposition may be compared with the Latin genitive in such phrases asæger animi= sick of soul; of = ‘because of’ or ‘in respect of.’
60.Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields,i.e.roving through Gaul and Spain. ‘Rove’ here governs an accusative: comp.Lyc.173, “walked the waves”;Par. Lost, i. 521, “roamed the utmost Isles.”
61.betakes him. The pronoun has here a reflective force: in Elizabethan English, and still more often in Early English, this use of the simple pronouns is common (see Abbott, § 223). Compare l.163.ominous; literally = full of omens or portents: comp. ‘monstrous’ = full of monsters (Lyc.158); also l.79. ‘Ominous’ has now acquired the sense of ‘ill-omened’; compare the acquired sense of ‘hapless,’ ‘unfortunate,’ etc.
65.orient, bright. The Lat.oriens= rising; hence (from being applied to the sun) = eastern (l.30); and hence generally ‘bright’ or ‘shining’: comp.Par. Lost, i. 546, “Withorientcolours waving.”
66.drouth of Phoebus,i.e.thirst caused by the heat of the sun. Phoebus is Apollo, the Sun-god. Compare l.928, where ‘drouth’ = want of rain; the more usual spelling isdrought.which: seenote, l. 2. ‘Which’ is here object of ‘taste,’ and refers to ‘liquor.’
67.fond, foolish (its primary sense).Fonnedwas the participle of an old verbfonnen, to be foolish. The word is now used to express great liking or affection: the idea of folly being almost entirely lost. Chaucer hasfonne, a fool: comp.Il Pens.6, “fanciesfond”;Lyc.56, “Ifondlydream”;Sams. Agon.1682, “Sofondare mortal men.”
68.Soon as, etc.,i.e.as soon as the magical draught produces its effect. In line66asis temporal.potion. Radically, potion = a drink, but it is generally used in the sense of a medicated or poisonous draught.Poisonis the same word through the French.
69.Express resemblance of the gods. Comp. Shakespeare: “What a piece of work is man! ... in action how like an angel, in apprehension, how like a god!” See alsoPar. Lost, iii. 44, “human face divine.”
71.ounce. This is theFelis uncia, allied to the panther and the cheetah. Some connect it with the Persianyúz, panther.
72.All other parts, etc. In theOdyssey(seenoteon l. 52) thebodies of those transformed by Circe were entirely changed; here only the head. As one editor observes, this suited the convenience of the performers who were to appear on the stage in masks (seeStage direction, l.92-3). Grammatically, line72is an example of the absolute construction, common in Latin. The noun (‘parts’) is neither the subject nor the object of a verb, but is used along with some attributive adjunct—generally a participle (‘remaining’)—to serve the purpose of an adverb or adverbial clause. The noun (or pronoun) is usually said to be the nominative absolute; but, in the case of pronouns, Milton uses the nominative and the objective indifferently. In Old English the dative was used.
73.perfect, complete (Lat.perfectus, done thoroughly).
74.Not once perceive, etc. This was not the case with the followers of Ulysses: seenote, l. 52.
76.friends and native home forgot. Circe’s cup has here the effect ascribed to the lotus inOdysseyix. “Now whosoever of them did eat the honey-sweet fruit of the lotus had no more wish to bring tidings nor to come back, but there he chose to abide with the lotus-eating men, ever feeding on the lotus and forgetful of his homeward way.” In Tennyson’sLotos-Eatersthere is no forgetfulness of friends and home: “Sweet it was to dream of Fatherland, Of child, and wife and slave.” Masson also refers to Plato’s ethical application of the story (Rep.viii.); “Plato speaks of the moral lotophagus, or youth steeped in sensuality, as accounting his very viciousness a developed manhood, and the so-called virtues but signs of rusticity.” Compare also Spenser,F. Q.ii. 12. 86, “One above the rest in speciall, That had an hog been late, ... did him miscall, That had from hoggish form him brought to natural.”
77.sensual sty: seenoteon l. 52. To those who, “with low-thoughted care,” are “unmindful of the crown that Virtue gives,” the world becomes little better than a sensual sty. This line is adverbial toforget.
78.favoured: compare Lat.gratus= favoured (adj.).
79.adventurous, full of risks. The current sense of ‘adventurous,’ applied only to persons, is “enterprising.” See l.61,609.glade: strictly, an open space in a wood, and hence applied (as here) to the wood itself. It is cognate withglowandglitter, and its fundamental sense is ‘a passage for light’ (Skeat).
80.glancing star, a shooting star. Comp.Par. Lost, iv. 556:
“Swift as a shooting starIn autumn thwarts the night.”
“Swift as a shooting starIn autumn thwarts the night.”
The rhythm of the line and the prevalence of sibilants suit the sense.
81.convoy: comp.Par. Lost, vi. 752, “convoyedBy four cherubic shapes.” It is another form ofconvey(Lat.con= together,via= a way).
83.sky-robes: the “ambrosial weeds” of line16.Iris’ woof, material dyed in rainbow colours. The goddess Iris was a personification of the rainbow: comp. l.992andPar. Lost, xi. 244, “Iris had dipped the woof.” Etymologically,woofis connected withwebandweave: it is short foron-wef= on-web,i.e.the cross threads laid on the warp of a loom.
84.weeds: seenote, l. 16.
86.That to the service, etc. The part of the Spirit was acted by Lawes, first in “sky-robes,” then in shepherd dress. In the dedication ofComusby Lawes to Lord Brackley (anonymous edition of 1637), he alludes to the favours that had been shown him by the Bridgewater family. In the above lines Milton compliments Lawes and enables Lawes to compliment the Earl (see Introduction).
86.smooth-dittied: sweetly-worded. ‘Ditty’ (Lat.dictatum) strictly denotes the words of a song as distinct from the musical accompaniment; it is now applied to any little piece intended to be sung: comp.Lyc.32. For a similar panegyric on Lawes’ musical genius compareSon.xiii. The musical alliteration in lines86-88should be noted.
87.knows to still, etc.: comp.Lyc.10, “he knew Himself to sing.”
88.nor of less faith, etc.;i.e.he is not less faithful than he is skilful in music; and from the nature of his occupation he is most likely to be at hand should any emergency arise.
92.viewless, invisible: comp.The Passion, 50, “viewlesswing”;Par. Lost, iii. 518. Masson calls this a peculiarly Shakespearian word: seeM. for M.iii. 1. 124, “To be imprisoned in the viewless winds.” The word is obsolete, but poets use great liberty in the formation of adjectives in-less: comp. Shelley’sSensitive Plant, ‘windless clouds.’ Seenote, l. 574.charming-rod: seenote, l. 52: also l.653.rout, a disorderly crowd. The word is also used in the sense of ‘defeat,’ and is cognate withroute,rote, andrut. All come from Lat.ruptus, broken: a ‘rout’ is the breaking up of a crowd, or a crowd broken up; a ‘route’ is a way broken through a forest; ‘rote’ is a beaten track; and a ‘rut’ is a track left by a wheel. SeeLyc.61, “by theroutthat made the hideous roar.”
93.star ... fold, the evening star, Hesperus, an appellation of the planet Venus: comp.Lyc.30. As the morning star (called by Shakespeare the ‘unfolding star’), it is called Phosphorus or Lucifer, the light-bringer. Hence Tennyson’s allusion:
“Bright Phosphor, fresher for the night,...SweetHesper-Phosphor, double name.”—In Memoriam, cxxi.
“Bright Phosphor, fresher for the night,...SweetHesper-Phosphor, double name.”—
In Memoriam, cxxi.
Lines93-144are in rhymed couplets, and consist for the most part of eight syllables each. The prevailing accentuation is iambic.
94.top of heaven, etc.,i.e.is far above the horizon. So inLyc.31, it is said to slope “toward heaven’sdescent,”i.e.to sink towards the horizon. Comp. Virgil,Aen.ii. 250, “Round rolls the sky, and on comes Night from the ocean.”
95.gilded car: Apollo, as the god of the Sun, rode in a golden chariot. Comp. Chaucer,Test. of Creseide, 208, “Phoebus’ golden cart”; and “Phoebus’ wain,” line190.
96.his glowing axle doth allay. In theHymn of the NativityMilton alludes to the “burning axle-tree” of the sun: comp.Aen.iv. 482, “AtlasAxemumero torquet.” There is here an allusion to the opinion of the ancients that the setting of the sun in the Atlantic Ocean was accompanied with a noise, as of the sea hissing (Todd). ‘Allay’ would thus denote ‘quench’ or ‘cool.’His, in this line, =its.Itsoccurs only three times in Milton’s poems,Od. Nat.106;Par. Lost, i. 254;Par. Lost, iv. 813: the word is found also in Lawes’ dedication ofComus. The word does not occur in English at all until the end of the sixteenth century, the possessive case of the neuter pronounitand of the masculinehebeinghis. This gave rise to confusion when the old gender system decayed, and the formitsgradually came into use, until, by the end of the seventeenth century, it was in general use. Milton, however, scarcely recognised it, its place in his involved syntax being taken by the relative pronouns and other connectives, or byhis,her,thereof, etc.
97.steep Atlantic stream. To the ancients the Ocean was the greatstreamthat encompassed the earth:Iliad, xiv., “the deep-flowing Okeanos (βαθύρροος).” With this use of ‘steep’ compare the phrase ‘the high seas.’
98.slope sun, sun sunk beneath the horizon, so that the only rays visible shoot up into the sky.Slope= sloped; also used by Milton as an adverb = aslope (Par. Lost, iv. 591), and as a verb (Lyc.31).
99.dusky. Milton first wrote ‘northern.’
100.Pacing toward the other goal, etc. Comp.Psalmxix. 5: “The sun as a bridegroom cometh out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.”
102.The spirit of lines102-144may be contrasted with that ofL’Allegro, 25-40. Both pieces are calls upon Mirth and Pleasure, and both are therefore suitably expressed in the same trippingmeasure and with many similarities of language. But the pleasures ofL’Allegrobegin with the sun-rise and yet are “unreproved”; those ofComusand his crew begin with the darkness and are “unreproved” only if “these dun shades will ne’er report” them. The “light fantastic toe” of the one is not the “tipsy dance” of the other; and the laughter and liberty that betoken the absence of “wrinkled Care” have nothing in common with the “midnight shout and revelry” that can be enjoyed only when Rigour, Advice, strict Age, and sour Severity have “gone to bed.” The “quips and cranks” ofL’Allegrohave given way to the magic rites ofComus, and the wreathed smiles and dimples that adorn the face of innocent Mirth are ill replaced by the wine-dropping “rosy twine” of revelry.
104.jollity: has here its modern sense of boisterous mirth. In Milton occasionally the adjective ‘jolly’ (Fr.joli, pretty) has its primary sense of pleasing or festive.
105.Braid your locks with rosy twine; ‘entwine your hair with wreaths of roses.’
106.dropping odours: comp. l.862-3.
108.Advice ... scrupulous head. ‘Advice,’ now used chiefly to signify counsel given by another, was formerly used also of self-counsel or deliberation. See Chaucer,Prologue, 786, “granted him without moreadvice”; and comp. Shakespeare,M. of V.iv. 2. 6, “Bassanio upon moreadvice, Hath sent you here this ring”; alsoPar. Lost, ii. 376, “Advise, if this be worth Attempting,” where ‘advise’ = consider. See also l. 755,note.Scrupulous= full of scruples, conscientious.
110.saws, sayings, maxims.Saw,say, andsaga(a Norwegian legend) are cognate.
111.of purer fire,i.e.having a higher or diviner nature. (Or, as there is really no question of degree, we may render the phrase as = divine.) Compare the Platonic doctrine that each element had living creatures belonging to it, those of fire being the gods; similarly the Stoics held that whatever consisted ofpure firewas divine,e.g.the stars: hence the additional significance of line112.
112.the starry quire: an allusion to the music of the spheres; see lines3,1021. Pythagoras supposed that the planets emitted sounds proportional to their distances from the earth and formed a celestial concert too melodious to affect the “gross unpurgèd ear” of mankind: comp. l.458andArc.63-73. Shakespeare (M. of V.v. 1. 61) alludes to the music of the spheres:
“There’s not the smallest orb which thou behold’stBut in his motion like an angel sings,Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins,” etc.
“There’s not the smallest orb which thou behold’stBut in his motion like an angel sings,Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins,” etc.
Quireis a form ofchoir(Lat.chorus, a band of singers); in Greek tragedy the chorus was supposed to represent the sentiments of the audience.Quire(of paper) is a totally different word, probably derived from Lat.quatuor, four.
113.nightly watchful spheres. Milton elsewhere alludes to the stars keeping watch: “And all the spangled host keep watch in order bright,”Hymn Nat.21. ‘Nightly,’ used as an adjective in the sense of ‘nocturnal’: comp.Il Pens.84, “To bless the doors fromnightlyharm”;Arc.48, “nightlyill”; and Wordsworth’s line: “Thenightlyhunter lifting up his eyes.” Its ordinary sense is “night by night.”
114.Lead in swift round. Comp.Arc.71: “And the low world in measured motion draw, After the heavenly tune.”
115.sounds, straits: A.S.sund, a strait of the sea, so called because it could beswumacross. See Skeat,Etym. Dict.s.v.
116.to the moon,i.e.as affected by the moon. For similar uses of ‘to,’ comp.Lyc.33, “temperedtothe oaten flute”;Lyc.44, “fanning their joyous leavestothy soft lays.”morrice. The waters quiver in the moonlight as if dancing. The morrice = a morris or Moorish dance, brought into Spain by the Moors, and thence introduced into England by John of Gaunt. We read also of a “morris-pike”—a weapon used by the Moors in Spain.
117.shelves, flat ledges of rock.
118.pert, lively. Here used in its radical sense (being a form ofperk, smart): its modern sense is ‘forward’ or ‘impertinent.’ Skeat points out thatperkandpertwere both used as verbs;e.g.“perkedup in a glistering grief,”Henry VIII.ii. 3. 21: “how it (a child) speaks, and looks, andpertsup the head,” Beaumont and Fletcher’sKnight of the Burning Pestle, i. 1. A similar change ofkintotis seen in E.matefrom M.E.make.dapper, quick (Du.dapper, Ger.tapfer, brave, quick). It is usual in the sense of ‘neat.’
119.dimple.Dimpleis a diminutive ofdip, and cognate withdingleanddapple.
120.daisies trim: comp.L’Alleg.75, “Meadowstrim, with daisies pied”;Il Pens.50, “trimgardens.”
121.wakes, night-watches (A.S.niht-wacu, a night wake). The adjectivewakeful(A.S.wacol) is the exact cognate of the Latinvigil. The word was applied to the vigil kept at the dedication of a church, then to the feast connected therewith, and finally to an evening merry-making.prove, test, judge of (Lat.probare). This is its sense in older writers and in the much-misunderstood phrase—“the exceptionprovesthe rule,” which means that the exception is a test of the rule.
124.Venus now wakes, etc. Spenser,Brit. Ida, ii. 3, has“Night is Love’s holyday.” In this linewakensis used transitively, its object being ‘Love.’
125.rights. Here used, as sometimes by Spenser, where modern usage requiresrites(Lat.ritus, a custom): see l.535.
126.daylight ... sin. Daylight makes sin by revealing it. Contrast the sentiment of Comus with that of Milton inPar. Lost, i. 500, “When night Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons Of Belial.”
127.dun shades: evidently suggested by Fairfax’sTasso, ix. 62, “The horrid darkness, and the shadowsdun.” ‘Dun’ is A.S.dunn, dark.
129.Cotytto, the goddess of Licentiousness: here called ‘dark-veiled’ because her midnight orgies were veiled in darkness. She was a Thracian divinity, and her worshippers were called Baptae (‘sprinkled’), because the ceremony of initiation involved the sprinkling of warm water.
131.called, invoked.dragon-womb Of Stygian darkness. The Styx (= ‘the abhorred’) was the chief river in the lower world. Milton here speaks of darkness as something positive, ejected from the womb of Night, Night being represented as a monster of the lower regions: comp.Par. Lost, i. 63. The pronoun ‘her’ shows that ‘womb’ is here used in its strict sense, but inPar. Lost, i. 673, “in hiswombwas hid metallic ore,” it has the more general sense of “interior”: comp. the use of Lat.uterus,Aen.ii. 258, vii. 499.dragon: Shakespeare refers to the dragons or ‘dragon car’ of night,Cym.ii. 2. 48, “Swift, swift, youdragonsof the night”;Tro. and Cress.v. 8. 17, “Thedragonwing of night o’erspreads the earth”; see alsoIl Pens.59, “Cynthia checks her dragon yoke.”
132.spets, a form ofspits(asspettleforspittle).
133.one blot,i.e.a universal blot: comp.Macbeth, ii. 2. 63. Milton first wrote, “And makes a blot of nature.”
134.Stay, here used causally = check. The radical sense of the word is ‘to support,’ as in the substantivestayand its pluralstays.ebon, black as ebony. Ebony is so called because it is hard as a stone (Heb.eben, a stone); and the wood being of a dark colour, the name has become a synonym both for hardness and for blackness.
135.Hecat’,i.e.Hecatè (as in line535): a mysterious Thracian divinity, afterwards regarded as the goddess of witchcraft: for these reasons a fit companion for Cotytto and a fit patroness of Comus. Jonson calls her “the mistress of witches.” She was supposed to send forth at night all kinds of demons and phantoms, and to wander about with the souls of the dead and amidst the howling of dogs.
136.utmost end, full completion. CompareL’Alleg.109, “the corn That ten day-labourers could notend,” where ‘end’ = ‘complete.’
137.dues: seenote, l. 12.
138.blabbing eastern scout,i.e.the tale-telling spy that comes from the East, viz. Morning.
139.nice; hard to please, fastidious: “a finely chosen epithet, expressing at oncecuriousandsqueamish” (Hurd). It is used by Comus in contempt: comp. ii.Henry IV.iv. 1, “Hence, therefore, thounicecrutch”; and see the index to the GlobeShakespeare.the Indian steep. In hisElegia TertiaMilton represents the sun as the “light-bringing king” whose home is on the shores of the Ganges (i.e.in the far East): comp. “the Indian mount,”Par. Lost, i. 781, and Tennyson’sIn Memoriam, xxvi., “ere yet the morn Breaks hither overIndianseas.”
140.cabined loop-hole: an allusion to the first glimpse of dawn,i.e.the peep of day. Comp. “Out of her window close she blushing peeps,” said of the morning (P. Fletcher’sEclogues), as if the first rays of the sun struggled through some small aperture. ‘Cabined,’ literally ‘belonging to a cabin,’ and therefore small.
141.tell-tale Sun. Compare Spenser,Brit. Ida, ii. 3,
“The thick-locked boughs shut out thetell-talesun,For Venus hated hisall-blabbinglight.”
“The thick-locked boughs shut out thetell-talesun,For Venus hated hisall-blabbinglight.”
Shakespeare refers to “the tell-tale day” (R. of L.806). InOdyssey, viii., we read how Helios (the sun) kept watch and informed Vulcan of Venus’s love for Mars.descry, etc.,i.e.make known our hidden rites. ‘Descry’ is here used in its primary sense =describe: both words are from Lat.describere, to write fully. In Milton and Shakespeare ‘descry’ also occurs in the sense of ‘to reconnoitre.’
142.solemnity, ceremony, rite. The word is from Lat.sollus, complete, andannus, a year; ‘solemn’ =solennis=sollennis. Hence the changes of meaning: (1) recurring at the end of a completed year; (2) usual; (3) religious, for sacred festivals recur at stated intervals; (4) that which is not to be lightly undertaken,i.e.serious or important.
143.knit hands, etc. Comp.Masque of Hymen:
“Now, now begin to setYour spirits in active heat;And, since your hands are met,Instruct your nimble feet,In motions swift and meet,The happy ground to beat.”
“Now, now begin to setYour spirits in active heat;And, since your hands are met,Instruct your nimble feet,In motions swift and meet,The happy ground to beat.”
144.light fantastic round: comp.L’Alleg.34, “Come, and trip it, as you go, On the light fantastic toe.” A round is a dance or ‘measure’ in which the dancers join hands, ‘Fantastic’ = full of fancy, unrestrained. So Shakespeare uses it of that which has merely been imagined, and has not yet happened. It is now used in the sense of grotesque.Fancyis a form offantasy(Greekphantasia).
At this point in the mask Comus and his rout dance a measure, after which he again speaks, but in a different strain. The change is marked by a return to blank verse: the previous lines are mostly in octosyllabic couplets.
145.different,i.e.different from the voluptuous footing of Comus and his crew.
146.footing: comp.Lyc.103, “Camus, reverend sire, wentfootingslow.”
147.shrouds, coverts, places of hiding. The word etymologically denotes ‘something cut off,’ being allied to ‘shred’; hence a garment; and finally (as in Milton) any covering or means of covering. Many of Latimer’s sermons are described as having been “preached in The Shrouds,” a covered place near St. Paul’s Cathedral. The modern use of the word is restricted: comp. l.316.brakes, bushes. Shakespeare has “hawthorn-brake,”M. N. D.iii. l. 3, and the word seems to be connected withbracken.
148.Some virgin sure,sc.‘it is.’
150.charms ... wily trains;i.e.spells ... cunning allurements.Charmis the Lat.carmen, a song, also used in the sense of ‘magic verses’; wily = full ofwile(etymologically the same as guile).Trainhere denotes an artifice or snare as in ‘venereal trains’ (Sams. Agon.533): “Oh,trainme not, sweet mermaid, with thy note” (Com. of Errors, iii. 2. 45). See Index, GlobeShakespeare. Some would take ‘wily trains’ as = trains of wiles.
151.ere long:erehas here the force of a preposition; in A.S. it was an adverb as well = soon, but now it is used only as a conjunction or a preposition.
153.Thus I hurl, etc. “Conceive that at this moment of the performance the actor who personates Comus flings into the air, or makes a gesture as if flinging into the air, some powder, which, by a stage-device, is kindled so as to produce a flash of blue light. In the original draft among the CambridgeMSS.the phrase ispowdered spells; but Milton, by a judicious change, concealing the mechanism of the stage-trick, substituteddazzling” (Masson).
154.dazzling. This implies both brightness and illusion.spells. Aspellis properly a magical form of words (A.S.spel, asaying): here it refers to the whole enchantment employed.spongy air: so called because it holds in suspension the magic powder.
155.Of power to cheat ... and (to) give, etc. These lines are attributive to ‘spells.’ The preposition ‘of’ is thus used to denote a characteristic; thus ‘of power’ = powerful; comp. l.677.blear illusion; deception, that which deceives byblurringthe vision. Shakespeare has ‘bleared thine eye’ = dimmed thy vision, deceived (Tam. Shrew, v. 1. 120). Comp. “This may stand for a pretty superficial argument, toblearour eyes, and lull us asleep in security” (Sir W. Raleigh).Bluris another form ofblear.
156.presentments, appearances. This word is to be distinguished frompresentiment. A presentiment is a “fore-feeling” (Lat.praesentire): while a presentment is something presented (Lat.praesens, being before). Shakespeare,Ham.iii. 4. 54, has ‘presentment’ in the sense of picture.quaint habits, unfamiliar dress. Quaint is from Lat.cognitus, so that its primary sense is ‘known’ or ‘remarkable.’ In French it becamecoint, which was treated as if from Lat.comptus, neat; hence the word is frequent in the sense of neat, exact, or delicate. Its modern sense is ‘unusual’ or ‘odd.’
158.suspicious flight: flight due to suspicion of danger.
160.I, under fair pretence, etc.: ‘Under the mask of friendly intentions and with the plausible language of wheedling courtesy, I insinuate myself into the unsuspecting mind and ensnare it.’
161.glozing, flattering, wheedling. ComparePar. Lost, ix. 549,
“Soglozedthe temper, and his proem tuned:Into the heart of Eve his words made way.”
“Soglozedthe temper, and his proem tuned:Into the heart of Eve his words made way.”
Glozeis from the old wordglose, a gloss or explanation (Gr.glossa, the tongue): hence also glossary, glossology, etc. Trench, in his lecture on the Morality of Words, points out how often fair names are given to ugly things: it is in this way that a word which merely denoted an explanation has come to denote a false explanation, an endeavour to deceive. The word has no connection withgloss= brightness.
162.Baited, rendered attractive. Radicallybaitis the causative ofbite; hence a trap is said to be baited. Comp.Sams. Ag.1066, “Thebaitof honied words.”
163.wind me, etc. The verbswind(i.e.coil) andhugsuggest the cunning of the serpent. The easy-hearted man is the person whose heart or mind is easily overcome: ‘man’ is here used generically. Burton, inAnat. of Mel., says: “The devil, being a slender incomprehensible spirit, can easily insinuate andwindhimself into human bodies.”Meis here used reflexively: seenote, l. 61. This is not the ethic dative.
165.virtue,i.e.power or influence (Lat.virtus). This radical sense is still found in the phrase ‘by virtue of’ = by the power of. The adjectivevirtuousis now used only of moral excellence: in line621it has its older meaning.
166.The reading of the text is that of the editions of 1637 and 1645. In the edition of 1673 the reading was:
“I shall appear some harmless villager,And hearken, if I may, her business here.But here she comes, I fairly step aside.”
“I shall appear some harmless villager,And hearken, if I may, her business here.But here she comes, I fairly step aside.”
But in the errata there was a direction to omit the comma aftermay, and to changehereintohear. In Masson’s text, accordingly, he reads: “And hearken, if I may her business hear.”
167.keeps up, etc.,i.e.keeps occupied with his country affairs even up to a late hour.Gear: its original sense is ‘preparation’ (A.S.gearu, ready); hence ‘business’ or ‘property.’ Comp. Spenser,F. Q.vi. 3. 6, “That to Sir Calidore waseasy gear,”i.e.an easy matter, fairly, softly.Fairandsoftlywere two words which went together, signifyinggently(Warton).
170.mine ear ... My best guide. Observe the juxtaposition ofmineandmyin these lines.Mineis frequent before a vowel, especially when the possessive adjective is not emphatic. In Shakespeare ‘mine’ is almost always found before “eye,” “ear,” etc., where no emphasis is intended (Abbott, § 237).
171.Methought,i.e.it seemed to me. In the verb ‘methinks’meis the dative, andthinksis an impersonal verb (A.S.thincan, to appear), quite distinct from the causal verb ‘I think,’ which is from A.S.thencan, to make to appear.
173.jocund, merry. Comp.L’Allegro, 94, “thejocundrebecks sound.”gamesome, lively. This word, like many other adjectives in-some, is now less common than it was in Elizabethan English: many such adjectives are obsolete,e.g.laboursome, joysome, quietsome, etc. (see Trench’sEnglish, Past and Present, v.).
174.unlettered hinds, ignorant rustics (A.S.hina, a domestic).
175.granges, granaries, barns (Lat.granum, grain). The word is now applied to a farm-house with its outhouses.
176.Pan, the god of everything connected with pastoral life: seeArc.106, “Though Syrinx your Pan’s mistress were.”
177.thank the gods amiss.Amissstands for M.E.on misse= in error. “Perhaps there is a touch of Puritan rigour in this. The gods should be thanked in solemn acts of devotion, and not by merry-making” (Keightley). See Introduction.
178.swilled insolence, etc.,i.e.the drunken rudeness of those carousing at this late hour.Swill: to swill is to drink greedily, hence to drink like a pig.wassailers; from ‘wassail’ [A.S.waes hael; fromwes, be thou, andhál, whole (modern Englishhale)], a form of salutation, used in drinking one’s health; and hence employed in the sense of ‘revelling’ or ‘carousing.’ The ‘wassail-bowl’ here referred to is the “spicy nutbrown ale” ofL’Allegro, 100. In Scott’sIvanhoe, the Friar drinks to the Black Knight with the words, “Waes hale, Sir Sluggish Knight,” the Knight replying “Drinkhale, Holy Clerk.”
180.inform ... feet. Comp.Sams. Agon.335: “hither hathinformedyour youngerfeet.” This use of ‘inform’ (= direct) is well illustrated in Spenser’sF. Q.vi. 6: “Which with sage counsel, when they went astray, He couldenforme, and then reduce aright.”
184.spreading favour. Epithet transferred from cause to effect.
187.kind hospitable woods: an instance of the pathetic fallacy which attributes to inanimate objects the feelings of men: comp. ll.194, 195.Asin this line (aftersuch) has the force of a relative pronoun.
188.grey-hooded Even. Comp. “sandals grey,”Lyc.187; “civil-suited,”Il Pens.122; both applied to morning.
189.a sad votarist, etc. A votarist is one who is bound by a vow (Lat.votum): the current form isvotary, applied in a general sense to onedevotedto an object,e.g.a votary of science. In the present case, the votarist is apalmer,i.e.a pilgrim who carried a palm-branch in token of his having been to Palestine. Such would naturally wear sober-coloured or homely garments: comp. Drayton, “a palmer poor in homely russet clad.” InPar. Reg.xiv. 426, Morning is a pilgrim clad in “amice grey.” Onweed, seenote, l. 16.
190.hindmost wheels: comp. l.95: “If this fine image is optically realised, what we see is Evening succeeding Day as the figure of a venerable grey-hooded mendicant might slowly follow the wheels of some rich man’s chariot” (Masson).
192.labour ... thoughts, the burden of my thoughts.
193.engaged, committed: this use of the word may be compared with that inHamlet, iii. 3. 69, “Art moreengaged” (= bound or entangled). Toengageis to bind by agageor pledge.
195.stole, stolen. This use of the past form for the participle is frequent in Elizabethan English.Else, etc. The meaning is: ‘The envious darkness must have stolen my brothers,otherwisewhy should night hide the light of the stars?’ The clause ‘but for some felonious end’ is therefore to some extent tautological.
197.dark lantern. The stars by a far-fetched metaphor are said to be concealed, though not extinguished, just as the light of a dark lantern is shut off by a slide. Comp. More; “Vice is like adark lanthorn, which turns its bright side only to him that bears it.”
198.everlasting oil. Comp.F. Q.i. 1. 57: