Comus
Lines:1091
A Masque Presented At Ludlow Castle, 1634, Before The 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. BEFORE the starry threshold of Jove's courtMy mansion is, where those immortal shapesOf bright aerial spirits live inspheredIn regions mild of calm and serene air,Above the smoke and stir of this dim spotWhich men call Earth, and, with low-thoughted care,Confined and pestered in this pinfold here,Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being,Unmindful of the crown that Virtue gives,After this mortal change, to her true servantsAmongst the enthroned gods on sainted seats.Yet some there be that by due steps aspireTo lay their just hands on that golden keyThat opes the palace of eternity.To Such my errand is; and, but for such,I would not soil these pure ambrosial weedsWith the rank vapours of this sin-worn mould. But to my task. Neptune, besides the swayOf every salt flood and each ebbing stream,Took in by lot, 'twixt high and nether Jove,Imperial rule of all the sea-girt islesThat, like to rich and various gems, inlayThe unadorned bosom of the deep;Which he, to grace his tributary gods,By course commits to several government,And gives them leave to wear their sapphire crownsAnd wield their little tridents. But this Isle,The greatest and the best of all the main,He quarters to his blue-haired deities;And all this tract that fronts the falling sunA noble Peer of mickle trust and powerHas in his charge, with tempered awe to guideAn old and haughty nation, proud in arms:Where his fair offspring, nursed in princely lore,Are coming to attend their father's state,And new-intrusted sceptre. But their wayLies through the perplexed paths of this drear wood,The nodding horror of whose shady browsThreats the forlorn and wandering passenger;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 nowWhat never yet was heard in tale or song,From old or modern bard, in hall or bower. Bacchus, that first from out the purple grapeCrushed the sweet poison of misused wine,After the Tuscan mariners transformed,Coasting the Tyrrhene shore, as the winds listed,On Circe's island fell. (Who knows not Circe,The daughter of the Sun, whose charmed cupWhoever tasted lost his upright shape,And downward fell into a grovelling swine?)This Nymph, that gazed upon his clustering locks,With ivy berries wreathed, and his blithe youth,Had by him, ere he parted thence, a sonMuch like his father, but his mother more,Whom therefore she brought up, and Comus named:Who, ripe and frolic of his full-grown age,Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields,At last betakes him to this ominous wood,And, in thick shelter of black shades imbowered,Excels his mother at her mighty art;Offering to every weary travellerHis 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 count'nance,The express resemblance of the gods, is changedInto some brutish form of wolf or bear,Or ounce or tiger, hog, or bearded goat,All other parts remaining as they were.And they, so perfect is their misery,Not once perceive their foul disfigurement,But boast themselves more comely than before,And all their friends and native home forget,To roll with pleasure in a sensual sty.Therefore, when any favoured of high JoveChances to pass through this adventurous glade,Swift as the sparkle of a glancing starI shoot from heaven, to give him safe convoy,As now I do. But first I must put offThese my sky-robes, spun out of Iris' woof,And take the weeds and likeness of a swainThat 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 faithAnd in this office of his mountain watchLikeliest, and nearest to the present aidOf this occasion. But I hear the treadOf hateful steps; I must be viewless now. COMUS enters, with a charming-rod in one hand, his glass in theother: with him a rout of monsters, headed like sundry sorts ofwildbeasts, but otherwise like men and women, their apparelglistering.They come in making a riotous and unruly noise, with torches intheir hands. COMUS. The star that bids the shepherd foldNow the top of heaven doth hold;And the gilded car of dayHis glowing axle doth allayIn the steep Atlantic stream;And the slope sun his upward beamShoots against the dusky pole,Pacing toward the other goalOf his chamber in the east.Meanwhile, welcome joy and feast,Midnight shout and revelry,Tipsy dance and jollity.Braid your locks with rosy twine,Dropping odours, dropping wine.Rigour now is gone to bed;And Advice with scrupulous head,Strict Age, and sour Severity,With their grave saws, in slumber lie.We, that are of purer fire,Imitate the starry quire,Who, in their nightly watchful spheres,Lead in swift round the months and years.The sounds and seas, with all their finny drove,Now to the moon in wavering morrice move;And on the tawny sands and shelvesTrip the pert fairies and the dapper elves.By dimpled brook and fountain-brim,The wood-nymphs, decked with daisies trim,Their merry wakes and pastimes keep:What hath night to do with sleep?Night hath better sweets to prove;Venus now wakes, and wakens Love.Come, let us our rights begin;'T is only daylight that makes sin,Which these dun shades will ne'er report.Hail, goddess of nocturnal sport,Dark-veiled Cotytto, to whom the secret flameOf midnight torches burns! mysterious dame,That ne'er art called but when the dragon wombOf Stygian darkness spets her thickest gloom,And makes one blot of all the air!Stay thy cloudy ebon chair,Wherein thou ridest with Hecat', and befriendUs thy vowed priests, till utmost endOf all thy dues be done, and none left out,Ere the blabbing eastern scout,The nice Morn on the Indian steep,From her cabined loop-hole peep,And to the tell-tale Sun descryOur concealed solemnity.Come, knit hands, and beat the groundIn a light fantastic round. The Measure. Break off, break off! I feel the different paceOf some chaste footing near about this ground.Run to your shrouds within these brakes and trees;Our number may affright. Some virgin sure(For so I can distinguish by mine art)Benighted in these woods! Now to my charms,And to my wily trains: I shall ere longBe well stocked with as fair a herd as grazedAbout my mother Circe. Thus I hurlMy dazzling spells into the spongy air,Of power to cheat the eye with blear illusion,And give it false presentments, lest the placeAnd my quaint habits breed astonishment,And put the damsel to suspicious flight;Which must not be, for that's against my course.I, under fair pretence of friendly ends,And well-placed words of glozing courtesy,Baited with reasons not unplausible,Wind me into the easy-hearted man,And hug him into snares. When once her eyeHath met the virtue of this magic dust,I shall appear some harmless villagerWhom thrift keeps up about his country gear.But here she comes; I fairly step aside,And hearken, if I may her business hear. The LADY enters. LADY. This way the noise was, if mine ear be true,My best guide now. Methought it was the soundOf riot and ill-managed merriment,Such as the jocund flute or gamesome pipeStirs up among the loose unlettered hinds,When, for their teeming flocks and granges full,In wanton dance they praise the bounteous Pan,And thank the gods amiss. I should be lothTo meet the rudeness and swilled insolenceOf such late wassailers; yet, oh! where elseShall I inform my unacquainted feetIn the blind mazes of this tangled wood?My brothers, when they saw me wearied outWith this long way, resolving here to lodgeUnder the spreading favour of these pines,Stepped, as they said, to the next thicket-sideTo bring me berries, or such cooling fruitAs the kind hospitable woods provide.They left me then when the grey-hooded Even,Like a sad votarist in palmer's weed,Rose from the hindmost wheels of Phoebus' wain.But where they are, and why they came not back,Is now the labour of my thoughts. TTis likeliestThey had engaged their wandering steps too far;And envious darkness, ere they could return,Had stole them from me. Else, O thievish Night,Why shouldst thou, but for some felonious end,In thy dark lantern thus close up the starsThat Nature hung in heaven, and filled their lampsWith everlasting oil to give due lightTo the misled and lonely traveller?This is the place, as well as I may guess,Whence even now the tumult of loud mirthWas rife, and perfect in my listening ear;Yet nought but single darkness do I find.What might this be ? A thousand fantasiesBegin to throng into my memory,Of calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire,And airy tongues that syllable men's namesOn sands and shores and desert wildernesses.These thoughts may startle well, but not astoundThe virtuous mind, that ever walks attendedBy a strong siding champion, Conscience.O, welcome, pure-eyed Faith, white-handed Hope,Thou hovering angel girt with golden wings,And thou unblemished form of Chastity!I see ye visibly, and now believeThat He, the Supreme Good, to whom all things illAre but as slavish officers of vengeance,Would send a glistering guardian, if need were,To keep my life and honour unassailed. . . .Was I deceived, or did a sable cloudTurn forth her silver lining on the night?I did not err: there does a sable cloudTurn forth her silver lining on the night,And casts a gleam over this tufted grove.I cannot hallo to my brothers, butSuch noise as I can make to be heard farthestI'll venture; for my new-enlivened spiritsPrompt me, and they perhaps are not far off. Song. Sweet Echo, sweetest nymph, that liv'st unseen Within thy airy shell By slow Meander's margent green,And in the violet-embroidered vale Where the love-lorn nightingaleNightly to thee her sad song mourneth well:Canst thou not tell me of a gentle pair That likest thy Narcissus are? O, if thou have Hid them in some flowery cave, Tell me but where, Sweet Queen of Parley, Daughter of the Sphere! So may'st thou be translated to the skies,And give resounding grace to all Heaven's harmonies! COMUS. Can any mortal mixture of earthUs mouldBreathe such divine enchanting ravishment?Sure something holy lodges in that breast,And with these raptures moves the vocal airTo testify his hidden residence.How sweetly did they float upon the wingsOf silence, through the empty-vaulted night,At every fall smoothing the raven downOf darkness till it smiled! I have oft heardMy mother Circe with the Sirens three,Amidst the flowery-kirtled Naiades,Culling their potent herbs and baleful drugs,Who, as they sung, would take the prisoned soul,And lap it in Elysium: Scylla wept,And chid her barking waves into attention,And fell Charybdis murmured soft applause.Yet they in pleasing slumber lulled the sense,And in sweet madness robbed it of itself;But such a sacred and home-felt delight,Such sober certainty of waking bliss,I never heard till now. I'll speak to her,And she shall be my queen.QHail, foreign wonder!Whom certain these rough shades did never breed,Unless the goddess that in rural shrineDwell'st here with Pan or Sylvan, by blest songForbidding every bleak unkindly fogTo touch the prosperous growth of this tall wood. LADY. Nay, gentle shepherd, ill is lost that praiseThat is addressed to unattending ears.Not any boast of skill, but extreme shiftHow to regain my severed company,Compelled me to awake the courteous EchoTo give me answer from her mossy couch. COMUS: What chance, good lady, hath bereft you thus? LADY. Dim darkness and this leafy labyrinth. COMUS. Could that divide you from near-ushering guides? LADY. They left me weary on a grassy turf. COMUS. By falsehood, or discourtesy, or why? LADY. To seek i' the valley some cool friendly spring. COMUS. And left your fair side all unguarded, Lady? LADY. They were but twain, and purposed quick return. COMUS. Perhaps forestalling night prevented them. LADY. How easy my misfortune is to hit! COMUS. Imports their loss, beside the present need? LADY. No less than if I should my brothers lose. COMUS. Were they of manly prime, or youthful bloom? LADY. As smooth as Hebe's their unrazored lips. COMUS. Two such I saw, what time the laboured oxIn his loose traces from the furrow came,And the swinked hedger at his supper sat.I saw them under a green mantling vine,That crawls along the side of yon small hill,Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots;Their port was more than human, as they stood.I took it for a faery visionOf some gay creatures of the element,That in the colours of the rainbow live,And play i' the plighted clouds. I was awe-strook,And, as I passed, I worshiped. If those you seek,It were a journey like the path to HeavenTo help you find them. LADY. Gentle villager,What readiest way would bring me to that place? COMUS. Due west it rises from this shrubby point. LADY. To find out that, good shepherd, I suppose,In such a scant allowance of star-light,Would overtask the best land-pilot's art,Without the sure guess of well-practised feet. COMUS. I know each lane, and every alley green,Dingle, or bushy dell, of this wild wood,And every bosky bourn from side to side,My daily walks and ancient neighbourhood;And, if your stray attendance be yet lodged,Or shroud within these limits, I shall knowEre morrow wake, or the low-roosted larkFrom her thatched pallet rouse. If otherwise,I can conduct you, Lady, to a lowBut loyal cottage, where you may be safeTill further quest. LADY. Shepherd, I take thy word,And trust thy honest-offered courtesy,Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds,With smoky rafters, than in tapestry hallsAnd courts of princes, where it first was named,And yet is most pretended. In a placeLess warranted than this, or less secure,I cannot be, that I should fear to change it.Eye me, blest Providence, and square my trialTo my proportioned strength! Shepherd, lead on. The TWO BROTHERS. ELD. BRO. Unmuffle, ye faint stars; and thou, fair moon,That wont'st to love the traveller's benison,Stoop thy pale visage through an amber cloud,And disinherit Chaos, that reigns hereIn double night of darkness and of shades;Or, if your influence be quite dammed upWith black usurping mists, some gentle taper,Though a rush-candle from the wicker holeOf some clay habitation, visit usWith thy long levelled rule of streaming light,And thou shalt be our star of Arcady,Or Tyrian Cynosure. SEC. BRO. Or, if our eyesBe barred that happiness, might we but hearThe folded flocks, penned in their wattled cotes,Or sound of pastoral reed with oaten stops,Or whistle from the lodge, or village cockCount the night-watches to his feathery dames,'T would be some solace yet, some little cheering,In this close dungeon of innumerous boughs.But, oh, that hapless virgin, our lost sister!Where may she wander now, whither betake herFrom the chill dew, amongst rude burs and thistlesPerhaps some cold bank is her bolster now,Or 'gainst the rugged bark of some broad elmLeans her unpillowed head, fraught with sad fears.What if in wild amazement and affright,Or, while we speak, within the direful graspOf savage hunger, or of savage heat! ELD. BRO. Peace, brother: be not over-exquisiteTo cast the fashion of uncertain evils;For, grant they be so, while they rest unknown,What need a man forestall his date of grief,And run to meet what he would most avoid?Or, if they be but false alarms of fear,How bitter is such self-delusion!I do not think my sister so to seek,Or so unprincipled in virtue's book,And the sweet peace that goodness bosoms ever,As that the single want of light and noise(Not being in danger, as I trust she is not)Could stir the constant mood of her calm thoughts,And put them into misbecoming plight.Virtue could see to do what Virtue wouldBy her own radiant light, though sun and moonWere in the flat sea sunk. And Wisdom's selfOft seeks to sweet retired solitude,Where, with her best nurse, Contemplation,She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings,That, in the various bustle of resort,Were all to-ruffled, and sometimes impaired.He that has light within his own clear breastMay sit i' the centre, and enjoy bright day:But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughtsBenighted walks under the mid-day sun;Himself is his own dungeon. SEC. BRO. 'Tis most trueThat musing meditation most affectsThe pensive secrecy of desert cell,Far from the cheerful haunt of men and herds,And sits as safe as in a senate houseFor who would rob a hermit of his weeds,His few books, or his beads, or maple dish,Or do his grey hairs any violence?But Beauty, like the fair Hesperian treeLaden with blooming gold, had need the guardOf dragon-watch with unenchanted eyeTo save her blossoms, and defend her fruit,From the rash hand of bold Incontinence.You may as well spread out the unsunned heapsOf miser's treasure by an outlaw's den,And tell me it is safe, as bid me hopeDanger will wink on Opportunity,And let a single helpless maiden passUninjured in this wild surrounding waste.Of night or loneliness it recks me not;I fear the dread events that dog them both,Lest some ill-greeting touch attempt the personOf our unowned sister. ELD. BRO. I do not, brother,Infer as if I thought my sister's stateSecure without all doubt or controversy;Yet, where an equal poise of hope and fearDoes arbitrate the event, my nature isThat I incline to hope rather than fear,And gladly banish squint suspicion.My sister is not so defenceless leftAs you imagine; she has a hidden strength,Which you remember not. SEC. BRO.. What hidden strength,Unless the strength of Heaven, if you mean that? ELD. BRO. I mean that too, but yet a hidden strength,Which, if Heaven gave it, may be termed her own.'Tis chastity, my brother, chastity:She that has that is clad in complete steel,And, like a quivered nymph with arrows keen,May trace huge forests, and unharboured heaths,Infamous hills, and sandy perilous wilds;Where, through the sacred rays of chastity,No savage fierce, bandite, or mountaineer,Will dare to soil her virgin purity.Yea, there where very desolation dwells,By grots and caverns shagged with horrid shades,She may pass on with unblenched majesty,Be it not done in pride, or in presumption.Some say no evil thing that walks by night,In fog or fire, by lake or moorish fen,Blue meagre hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost,That breaks his magic chains at curfew time,No goblin or swart faery of the mine,Hath hurtful power o'er true virginity.Do ye believe me yet, or shall I callAntiquity from the old schools of GreeceTo testify the arms of chastity?Hence had the huntress Dian her dread bowFair silver-shafted queen for ever chaste,Wherewith she tamed the brinded lionessAnd spotted mountain-pard, but set at noughtThe frivolous bolt of Cupid; gods and menFeared her stern frown, and she was queen o' the woods.What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shieldThat wise Minerva wore, unconquered virgin,Wherewith she freezed her foes to congealed stone,But rigid looks of chaste austerity,And noble grace that dashed brute violenceWith sudden adoration and blank awe?So dear to Heaven is saintly chastityThat, when a soul is found sincerely so,A thousand liveried angels lackey her,Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt,And in clear dream and solemn visionTell her of things that no gross ear can hear;Till oft converse with heavenly habitantsBegin to cast a beam on the outward shape,The unpolluted temple of the mind,And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence,Till all be made immortal. But, when lust,By unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk,But most by lewd and lavish act of sin,Lets ill defilement to the inward parts,The soul grows clotted by contagion,Imbodies, and imbrutes, till she quite looseThe divine property of her first being.Such are those thick and gloomy shadows dampOft seen in charnel-vaults and sepulchres,Lingering and sitting by a new-made grave,As loth to leave the body that it loved,And linked itself by carnal sensualtyTo a degenerate and degraded state. SEC. BRO. How charming is divine Philosophy!Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose,But musical as is Apollo's lute,And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets,Where no crude surfeit reigns. Eld. Bro. List!list! I hearSome far-off hallo break the silent air. SEC. BRO. Methought so too; what should it be? ELD. BRO. Forcertain.Either some one, like us, night-foundered here,Or else some neighbour woodman, or, at worst,Some roving robber calling to his fellows.SEC. BRO. Heaven keep my sister! Again, again, and near!Best draw, and stand upon our guard. ELD. BRO. I'll hallo!If he be friendly, he comes well: if not,Defence is a good cause, and Heaven be for us! The ATTENDANT SPIRIT, habited like a shepherd. That hallo I should know. What are you? speak.Come not too near; you fall on iron stakes else. SPIR. What voice is that? my young Lord? speak again. SEC. BRO. O brother, Tt is my father's Shepherd, sure. ELD. BRO. Thyrsis! whose artful strains have of delayedThe huddling brook to hear his madrigal,And sweetened every musk-rose of the dale.How camest thou here, good swain? Hath any ramSlipped from the fold, or young kid lost his dam,Or straggling wether the pent flock forsook?How couldst thou find this dark sequestered nook? SPIR. O my loved master's heir, and his next joy,I came not here on such a trivial toyAs a strayed ewe, or to pursue the stealthOf pilfering wolf; not all the fleecy wealthThat doth enrich these downs is worth a thoughtTo this my errand, and the care it brought.But, oh ! my virgin Lady, where is she?How chance she is not in your company? ELD. BRO. To tell thee sadly, Shepherd, without blameOr our neglect, we lost her as we came. SPIR. Ay me unhappy! then my fears are true. ELD. BRO. What fears, good Thyrsis? Prithee brieflyshew. SPIR. I'll tell ye. 'T is not vain or fabulous(Though so esteemed by shallow igrlorance)What the sage poets, taught by the heavenly Muse,Storied of old in high immortal verseOf 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,Immured in cypress shades, a sorcerer dwells,Of Bacchus and of Circe born, great Comus,Deep skilled in all his mother's witcheries,And here to every thirsty wandererBy sly enticement gives his baneful cup,With many murmurs mixed, whose pleasing poisonThe visage quite transforms of him that drinks,And the inglorious likeness of a beastFixes instead, unmoulding reason's mintageCharactered in the face. This have I learntTending my flocks hard by i' the hilly croftsThat brow this bottom glade; whence night by nightHe and his monstrous rout are heard to howlLike stabled wolves, or tigers at their prey,Doing abhorred rites to HecateIn their obscured haunts of inmost bowers.Yet have they many baits and guileful spellsTo inveigle and invite the unwary senseOf them that pass unweeting by the way.This evening late, by then the chewing flocksHad ta'en their supper on the savoury herbOf knot-grass dew-besprent, and were in fold,I sat me down to watch upon a bankWith ivy canopied, and interwoveWith flaunting honeysuckle, and began,Wrapt in a pleasing fit of melancholy,To meditate my rural minstrelsy,Till fancy had her fill. But ere a closeThe wonted roar was up amidst the woods,And filled the air with barbarous dissonance;At which I ceased, and listened them awhile,Till an unusual stop of sudden silenceGave respite to the drowsy-flighted steedsThat draw the litter of close-curtained Sleep.At last a soft and solemn-breathing soundRose like a steam of rich distilled perfumes,And stole upon the air, that even SilenceWas took ere she was ware, and wished she mightDeny her nature, and be never more,Still to be so displaced. I was all ear,And took in strains that might create a soulUnder the ribs of Death. But, oh! ere longToo well I did perceive it was the voiceOf my most honoured Lady, your dear sister.Amazed I stood, harrowed with grief and fear;And RO poor hapless nightingale," thought I,How sweet thou sing'st, how near the deadly snare!"Then down the lawns I ran with headlong haste,Through paths and turnings often trod by day,Till, guided by mine ear, I found the placeWhere that damned wizard, hid in sly disguise(For so by certain signs I knew), had metAlready, ere my best speed could prevent,The aidless innocent lady, his wished prey;Who gently asked if he had seen such two,Supposing him some neighbour villager.Longer I durst not stay, but soon I guessedYe were the two she meant; with that I sprungInto swift flight, till I had found you here;But further know I not. SEC. BRO. O night and shades,How are ye joined with hell in triple knotAgainst the unarmed weakness of one virgin,Alone and helpless! Is this the confidenceYou gave me, brother? ELD. BRO. Yes, and keep it still;Lean on it safely; not a periodShall be unsaid for me. Against the threatsOf malice or of sorcery, or that powerWhich erring men call Chance, this I hold firm:Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt,Surprised by unjust force, but not enthralled;Yea, even that which Mischief meant most harmShall in the happy trial prove most glory.But evil on itself shall back recoil,And mix no more with goodness, when at last,Gathered like scum, and settled to itself,It shall be in eternal restless changeSelf-fed and self-consumed. If this fail,The pillared firmament is rottenness,And earth's base built on stubble. But come, let's on!Against the opposing will and arm of heavenMay never this just sword be lifted up;But, for that damned magician, let him be girtWith all the griesly legions that troopUnder the sooty flag of Acheron,Harpies and Hydras, or all the monstrous forms'Twixt Africa and Ind, I'll find him out,And force him to return his purchase back,Or drag him by the curls to a foul death,Cursed as his life. SPIR. Alas! good venturous youth,I love thy courage yet, and bold emprise;But here thy sword can do thee little stead.Far other arms and other weapons mustBe those that quell the might of hellish charms.He with his bare wand can unthread thy joints,And crumble all thy sinews. ELD. BRO. Why, prithee,Shepherd,How durst thou then thyself approach so nearAs to make this relation? SPIR. Care and utmostshiftsHow to secure the Lady from surprisalBrought to my mind a certain shepherd lad,Of small regard to see to, yet well skilledIn every virtuous plant and healing herbThat spreads her verdant leaf to the morning ray.He loved me well, and oft would beg me sing;Which when I did, he on the tender grassWould sit, and hearken even to ecstasy,And in requital ope his leathern scrip,And show me simples of a thousand names,Telling their strange and vigorous faculties.Amongst the rest a small unsightly root,But of divine effect, he culled me out.The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it,But in another country, as he said,Bore a bright golden flower, but not in this soil:Unknown, and like esteemed, and the dull swainTreads on it daily with his clouted shoon;And yet more med'cinal is it than that MolyThat Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave.He called it Haemony, and gave it me,And bade me keep it as of sovran use'Gainst all enchantments, mildew blast, or damp,Or ghastly Furies' apparition.I pursed it up, but little reckoning made,Till now that this extremity compelled.But now I find it true; for by this meansI knew the foul enchanter, though disguised,Entered the very lime-twigs of his spells,And yet came off. If you have this about you(As I will give you when we go), you mayBoldly assault the necromancer's hall;Where if he be, with dauntless hardihoodAnd brandished blade rush on him: break his glass,And shed the luscious liquor on the ground;But seize his wand. Though he and his curst crewFierce sign of battle make, and menace high,Or, like the sons of Vulcan, vomit smoke,Yet will they soon retire, if he but shrink. ELD. BRO. Thyrsis, lead on apace; I'll follow thee;And some good angel bear a shield before us! The Scene changes to a stately palace, set out with all manner ofdeliciousness: soft music, tables spread with all dainties. Comusappears with his rabble, and the LADY set in an enchanted chair;towhom he offers his glass; which she puts by, and goes about torise. COMUS. Nay, Lady, sit. If I but wave this wand,Your nerves are all chained up in alabaster,And you a statue, or as Daphne was,Root-bound, that fled Apollo. LADY. Fool, do not boast.Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mindWith all thy charms, although this corporal rindThou hast immanacled while Heaven sees good. COMUS. Why are you vexed, Lady? why do you frown?Here dwell no frowns, nor anger; from these gatesSorrow flies far. See, here be all the pleasuresThat fancy can beget on youthful thoughts,When the fresh blood grows lively, and returnsBrisk as the April buds in primrose season.And first behold this cordial julep here,That flames and dances in his crystal bounds,With spirits of balm and fragrant syrups mixed.Not that Nepenthes which the wife of ThoneIn Egypt gave to Jove-born HelenaIs of such power to stir up joy as this,To life so friendly, or so cool to thirst.Why should you be so cruel to yourself,And to those dainty limbs, which Nature lentFor gentle usage and soft delicacy?But you invert the covenants of her trust,And harshly deal, like an ill borrower,With that which you received on other terms,Scorning the unexempt conditionBy which all mortal frailty must subsist,Refreshment after toil, ease after pain,That have been tired all day without repast,And timely rest have wanted. But, fair virgin,This will restore all soon. LADY. 'T will not, falsetraitor!'T will not restore the truth and honestyThat thou hast banished from thy tongue with lies.Was this the cottage and the safe abodeThou told'st me of? What grim aspects are these,These oughly-headed monsters? Mercy guard me!Hence with thy brewed enchantments, foul deceiver!Hast thou betrayed my credulous innocenceWith vizored falsehood and base forgery?And would'st thou seek again to trap me hereWith liquorish baits, fit to ensnare a brute?Were it a draught for Juno when she banquets,I would not taste thy treasonous offer. NoneBut such as are good men can give good things;And that which is not good is not deliciousTo a well-governed and wise appetite. COMUS. 0 foolishness of men! that lend their earsTo those budge doctors of the Stoic fur,And fetch their precepts from the Cynic tub,Praising the lean and sallow Abstinence!Wherefore did Nature pour her bounties forthWith such a full and unwithdrawing hand,Covering the earth with odours, fruits, and flocks,Thronging the seas with spawn innumerable,But all to please and sate the curious taste?And set to work millions of spinning worms,That in their green shops weave the smooth-haired silk,To deck her sons; and, that no corner mightBe vacant of her plenty, in her own loinsShe hutched the all-worshipped ore and precious gems,To store her children with. If all the worldShould, in a pet of temperance, feed on pulse,Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but frieze,The All-giver would be unthanked, would be unpraised,Not half his riches known and yet despised;And we should serve him as a grudging master,As a penurious niggard of his wealth,And live like Nature's bastards, not her sons,Who would be quite surcharged with her own weight,And strangled with her waste fertility:The earth cumbered, and the winged air darked with plumes,The herds would over-multitude their lords;The sea o'erfraught would swell, and the unsought diamondsWould so emblaze the forehead of the deep,And so bestud with stars, that they belowWould grow inured to light, and come at lastTo gaze upon the sun with shameless brows.List, Lady; be not coy, and be not cozenedWith that same vaunted name, Virginity.Beauty is Nature's coin; must not be hoarded,But must be current; and the good thereofConsists in mutual and partaken bliss,Unsavoury in the enjoyment of itself.If you let slip time, like a neglected roseIt withers on the stalk with languished head.Beauty is Nature's brag, and must be shownIn courts, at feasts, and high solemnities,Where most may wonder at the workmanship.It is for homely features to keep home;They had their name thence: coarse complexionsAnd cheeks of sorry grain will serve to plyThe sampler, and to tease the huswife's wool.What need a vermeil-tinctured lip for that,Love-darting eyes, or tresses like the morn?There was another meaning in these gifts;Think what, and be advised; you are but young yet. LADY. I had not thought to have unlocked my lipsIn this unhallowed air, but that this jugglerWould think to charm my judgment, as mine eyes,Obtruding false rules pranked in reason's garb.I hate when vice can bolt her argumentsAnd virtue has no tongue to check her pride.Impostor! do not charge most innocent Nature,As if she would her children should be riotousWith her abundance. She, good cateress,Means her provision only to the good,That live according to her sober laws,And holy dictate of spare Temperance.If every just man that now pines with wantHad but a moderate and beseeming shareOf that which lewdly-pampered LuxuryNow heaps upon some few with vast excess,Nature's full blessings would be well dispensedIn unsuperfluous even proportion,And she no whit encumbered with her store;And then the Giver would be better thanked,His praise due paid: for swinish gluttonyNe'er looks to Heaven amidst his gorgeous feast,But with besotted base ingratitudeCrams, and blasphemes his Feeder. Shall I go onOr have I said enow? To him that daresArm his profane tongue with contemptuous wordsAgainst the sun-clad power of chastityFain would I something say;—yet to what end?Thou hast nor ear, nor soul, to apprehendThe sublime notion and high mysteryThat must be uttered to unfold the sageAnd serious doctrine of Virginity;And thou art worthy that thou shouldst not knowMore happiness than this thy present lot.Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric,That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence;Thou art not fit to hear thyself convinced.Yet, should I try, the uncontrolled worthOf this pure cause would kindle my rapt spiritsTo such a flame of sacred vehemenceThat dumb things would be moved to sympathise,And the brute Earth would lend her nerves, and shake,Till all thy magic structures, reared so high,Were shattered into heaps o'er thy false head. COMUS. She fables not. I feel that I do fearHer words set off by some superior power;And, though not mortal, yet a cold shuddering dewDips me all o'er, as when the wrath of JoveSpeaks thunder and the chains of ErebusTo some of Saturn's crew. I must dissemble,And try her yet more strongly.—Come, no more !This is mere moral babble, and directAgainst the canon laws of our foundation.I must not suffer this; yet 't is but the leesAnd settlings of a melancholy blood.But this will cure all straight; one sip of thisWill bathe the drooping spirits in delightBeyond the bliss of dreams. Be wise, and taste. The BROTHERS rush in with swords drawn, wrest his glass out ofhishand, and break it against the ground: his rout make sign ofresistance, but are all driven in. The ATTENDANT SPIRIT comes in. SPIR . What! have you let the false enchanter scape?O ye mistook; ye should have snatched his wand,And bound him fast. Without his rod reversed,And backward mutters of dissevering power,We cannot free the Lady that sits hereIn stony fetters fixed and motionless.Yet stay: be not disturbed; now I bethink me,Some other means I have which may be used,Which once of Meliboeus old I learnt,The soothest shepherd that e'er piped on plains. There is a gentle Nymph not far from hence,That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn stream:Sabrina is her name: a virgin pure;Whilom she was the daughter of Locrine,That had the sceptre from his father Brute.She, guiltless damsel, flying the mad pursuitOf her enraged stepdame, Guendolen,Commended her fair innocence to the floodThat stayed her flight with his cross-flowing course.The water-nymphs, that in the bottom played,Held up their pearled wrists, and took her in,Bearing her straight to aged Nereus' hall;Who, piteous of her woes, reared her lank head,And gave her to his daughters to imbatheIn nectared lavers strewed with asphodil,And through the porch and inlet of each senseDropt in ambrosial oils, till she revived,And underwent a quick immortal change,Made Goddess of the river. Still she retainsHer maiden gentleness, and oft at eveVisits the herds along the twilight meadows,Helping all urchin blasts, and ill-luck signsThat the shrewd meddling elf delights to make,Which she with precious vialed liquors heals:For which the shepherds, at their festivals,Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays,And throw sweet garland wreaths into her streamOf pansies, pinks, and gaudy daffodils.And, as the old swain said, she can unlockThe clasping charm, and thaw the numbing spell,If she be right invoked in warbled song;For maidenhood she loves, and will be swiftTo aid a virgin, such as was herself,In hard-besetting need. This will I try,And add the power of some adjuring verse. SONG. Sabrina fair, Listen where thou art sitting Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave, In twisted braids of lilies knitting The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair; Listen for dear honour's sake, Goddess of the silver lake, Listen and save! Listen, and appear to us,In name of great Oceanus.By the earth-shaking Neptune's mace,And Tethys' grave majestic pace;By hoary Nereus' wrinkled look,And the Carpathian wizard's hook;By scaly Triton's winding shell,And old soothsaying Glaucus' spell;By Leucothea's lovely hands,And her son that rules the strands;By Thetis' tinsel-slippered feet,And the songs of Sirens sweet;By dead Parthenope's dear tomb,And fair Ligea's golden comb,Wherewith she sits on diamond rocksSleeking her soft alluring locks;By all the Nymphs that nightly danceUpon thy streams with wily glance;Rise, rise, and heave thy rosy headFrom thy coral-paven bed,And bridle in thy headlong wave,Till thou our summons answered have. Listen and save! SABRINA rises, attended by water-nymphs, and sings. By the rushy-fringed bank,Where grows the willow and the osier dank, My sliding chariot stays,Thick set with agate, and the azurn sheenOf turkis blue, and emerald green, That in the channel strays;Whilst from off the waters fleetThus I set my printless feetO'er the cowslip's velvet head, That bends not as I tread.Gentle swain, at thy request I am here! SPIR. Goddess dear,We implore thy powerful handTo undo the charmed bandOf true virgin here distressedThrough the force and through the wileOf unblessed enchanter vile. SABR. Shepherd, 't is my office bestTo help ensnared chastity.Brightest Lady, look on me.Thus I sprinkle on thy breastDrops that from my fountain pureI have kept of precious cure;Thrice upon thy finger's tip,Thrice upon thy rubied lip:Next this marble venomed seat,Smeared with gums of glutinous heat,I touch with chaste palms moist and cold.Now the spell hath lost his hold;And I must haste ere morning hourTo wait in Amphitrite's bower. SABRINA descends, and the LADY rises out of her seat. SPIR. Virgin, daughter of Locrine,Sprung of old Anchises' line,May thy brimmed waves for thisTheir full tribute never missFrom a thousand petty rills,That tumble down the snowy hills:Summer drouth or singed airNever scorch thy tresses fair,Nor wet October's torrent floodThy molten crystal fill with mud;May thy billows roll ashoreThe beryl and the golden ore;May thy lofty head be crownedWith many a tower and terrace round,And here and there thy banks UponWith groves of myrrh and cinnamon. Come, Lady; while Heaven lends us grace,Let us fly this cursed place,Lest the sorcerer us enticeWith some other new device.Not a waste or needless soundTill we come to holier ground.I shall be your faithful guideThrough this gloomy covert wide;And not many furlongs thenceIs your Father's residence,Where this night are met in stateMany a friend to gratulateHis wished presence, and besideAll the swains that there abideWith jigs and rural dance resort.We shall catch them at their sport,And our sudden coming thereWill double all their mirth and cheer.Come, let us haste; the stars grow high,But Night sits monarch yet in the mid sky. The Scene changes,presenting Ludlow Town, and the PresidentUsCastle: then come in Country Dancers; after them the ATTENDANTSPIRIT, with the two BROTHERS and the LADY. SONG. SPIR. Back, shepherds, back! Enough your playTill next sun-shine holiday.Here be, without duck or nod,Other trippings to be trodOf lighter toes, and such court guiseAs Mercury did first deviseWith the mincing DryadesOn the lawns and on the leas. The second Song presents them to their Father and Mother. Noble Lord and Lady bright,I have brought ye new delight.Here behold so goodly grownThree fair branches of your own.Heaven hath timely tried their youth,Their faith, their patience, and their truth,And sent them here through hard assaysWith a crown of deathless praise,To triumph in victorious danceO'er sensual folly and intemperance. The dances ended, the SPIRIT epiloguizes. SPIR. To the ocean now I fly,And those happy climes that lieWhere day never shuts his eye,Up in the broad fields of the sky.There I suck the liquid air,All amidst the gardens fairOf Hesperus, and his daughters threeThat sing about the golden tree.Along the crisped shades and bowersRevels the spruce and jocund Spring;The Graces and the rosy-bosomed HoursThither all their bounties bring.There eternal Summer dwells;And west winds with musky wingAbout the cedarn alleys flingNard and cassia's balmy smells.Iris there with humid bowWaters the odorous banks, that blowFlowers of more mingled hueThan her purfled scarf can shew,And drenches with Elysian dew(List, mortals, if your ears be true)Beds of hyacinth and roses,Where young Adonis oft reposes,Waxing well of his deep wound,In slumber soft, and on the groundSadly sits the Assyrian queen.But far above, in spangled sheen,Celestial Cupid, her famed son, advancedHolds his dear Psyche, sweet entrancedAfter her wandering labours long,Till free consent the gods amongMake her his eternal bride,And from her fair unspotted sideTwo blissful twins are to be born,Youth and Joy; so Jove hath sworn. But now my task is smoothly done:I can fly, or I can run,Quickly to the green earth's end,Where the bowed welkin slow doth bend,And from thence can soar as soonTo the corners of the moon.Mortals, that would follow me,Love virtue; she alone is free.She can teach ye how to climbHigher than the sphery chime;Or, if Virtue feeble were,Heaven itself would stoop to her.