And, if it happen as I did forecast,

The daintiest dishes shall be served up last.
I pray thee then deny me not thy aid,

For this same small neglect that I have made;
But haste thee straight to do me once a pleasure,
And from thy wardrobe bring thy chiefest treasure,
Not those new-fangled toys and trimming slight,
Which takes our late fantastics with delight;
But cull those richest robes and gayest attire,
Which deepest spirits and choicest wits desire.
I have some naked thoughts that rove about,
And loudly knock to have their passage out;
And, weary of their place, do only stay
Till thou hast decked them in thy best array;
That so they may, without suspect or fears,
Fly swiftly to this fair assembly's ears.
Yet I had rather, if I were to choose,
Thy service in some graver subject use,

Such as may make thee search thy coffers round,
Before thou clothe my fancy in fit sound;

20

30

18. And from, etc. He represents his Native Language (somewhat in the manner of the property-man of the theatre) as having a wardrobe containing a great variety of dresses, suited to all characters and persons.

19. Not those, etc. Alluding to the affected language named Euphuism, from Lilly's work, Euphues and his England, and which had been for some time so prevalent.-new-fangled, i.e. newly adopted (from A.-S. jangan, to take), a word then, and still, in common use.-toys, adornments, trifles: see on Il Pens. v. 4.-trimming, part. of to trim: see on L'Alleg. v. 76.—slight, i.q. sleight, artifice, device.

"In ivory sheath, y-carved with curious slights." F. Q. i. 7, 30.—K. 20. takes, i.e. infects, affects: see Life of Milton, 234, note.-late, i.e. that have lately sprung up.-fantastics, i.e. fanciful people, coxcombs, fops. “But what [why] call you him a fantastic that follows his fellow so close? A fool I warrant him; and I believe he hath robbed a jackanapes of his gesture. Mark but his countenance; see how he mops and how he mows, and how he strains his looks. All the apes that have been in the parrish [Paris] garden these twenty years would not come nigh him for all manner of compliments." B. Rich, Faults and nothing but Faults, p. 7.-T.

21. attire, probably i.q. tire, headdress, as robes precedes. See on On Time, v. 21. 25. "O stay; I have but one poor thought to clothe

In airy garments and then forth Igo." Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, i. 1.-K.

27. suspect, i.e. suspicion, misgiving.

31. coffers, sc. in which dresses were kept.

Such where the deep transported mind may soar
Above the wheeling poles, and at Heaven's door
Look in, and see each blissful deity

How he before the thunderous throne doth lie,
Listening to what unshorn Apollo sings

To the touch of golden wires, while Hebè brings
Immortal nectar to her kingly sire;

Then passing through the spheres of watchful fire,
And misty regions of wide air next under,
And hills of snow and lofts of piled thunder,
May tell at length how green-eyed Neptune raves,
In heaven's defiance mustering all his waves;
Then sing of secret things that came to pass
When beldam Nature in her cradle was;
And last of kings and queens and heroes old,
Such as the wise Demodocus once told
In solemn songs at king Alcinoüs' feast;
While sad Ulysses' soul and all the rest
Are held, with his melodious harmony,
In willing chains and sweet captivity.

But fie, my wandering Muse, how thou dost stray!
Expectance calls thee now another way.

Thou knowest it must be now thy only bent

33. where, i.e. in which; the 'graver subject,' v. 30.

40

50

34. poles. He seems to use this word in the manner of the Latin poets, as equivalent to spheres.

35. Look in, etc. See Ilias, i. 601 seq.; iv. seq.

37. unshorn, ȧkeрσeкóμns, intonsus.

40. Then passing, sc. down.-spheres of wakeful fire, i.e. the planetary spheres, in which the planets formed of fire as it were keep watch.

41. And misty, etc., i.e. the atmosphere.

43. at length, i.e. when arrived at the earth.-green-eyed, yλavкwπós, glaucus. This epithet is never applied to Neptune, only to Proteus, Virg. Geor. iv. 451. 45. secret things, etc. Probably the accounts of the Titans, etc., as given in the Theogonies. He seems to have had in his mind the song of Orpheus, Apol. Rh. i. 496 seq., and the Silenus of Virgil.

46. beldam, i.e. ancient female. It is curious how the belle dame of the romances came to have this signification, and to have become at last a term of reproach.

48. Such as, etc. See Hom. Od. viii. 62 seq.

52. "The willing chains of my captivity." Silv. Dubartas (1621), p. 997.-T.

To keep in compass of thy predicament.

Then quick about thy purposed business come,

That to the next I may resign my room.

Then Ens is represented as father of the Predicaments, his ten sons, whereof the eldest stood for Substance with his canons, which Ens, thus speaking, explains.

Good luck befriend thee, Son; for at thy birth
The faery ladies danced upon the hearth.

Thy drowsy nurse hath sworn she did them spy
Come tripping to the room where thou didst lie,
And, sweetly singing round about the bed,
Strew all their blessings on thy sleeping head.

She heard them give thee this, that thou shouldest still
From eyes of mortals walk invisible.

Yet there is something that doth force my fear;

For once it was my dismal hap to hear

A Sibyl old, bow-bent with crooked age,
That far events full wisely could presage,
And, in Time's long and dark prospective-glass,
Foresaw what future days should bring to pass.
Your son, said she-nor can you it prevent-
Shall subject be to many an Accident;

56. To keep, etc. Playing on the logical term predicament.
58. room, i.e. place; raum, Germ.

60

70

Then Ens is represented, etc. In the Aristotelian Logic, Ens or Being is regarded as containing everything that is, while of everything one or more of what were termed predicaments might be asserted, and nothing else. They are ten in number, viz. Substance, Quantity, Quality, Relation, Place, Time, Situation, Possession, Action, Passion. These were all represented in various forms and habits on the occasion for which Milton wrote these verses. The following address of Ens is, as Warton observes, "a very ingenious enigma on Substance." 59. Good luck, etc. For an explanation of what follows here, see Fairy Mythology, pp. 42, 344, last edition.

66. From eyes, etc. Because the substance of things is not to be seen. 71. prospective-glass. He probably had in his mind those magic mirrors of which so much was told in the Middle Ages, such as that framed by Merlin for King Ryence, the father of Britomart: see F. Q. iii. 2, 18-21.

74. Shall subject, etc. For Substance (sub stans) is the support of Accidents (i.e. things that fall to it, ad cado), and is as it were covered and hidden by them. Thus in gold, for example, colour, weight, hardness, malleability, etc., are accidents supported and kept together by the unseen substance, which is subject to (i.e. under) them. What follows is hence easy to understand.

O'er all his brethren he shall reign as king,
Yet every one shall make him underling,
And those that cannot live from him asunder
Ungratefully shall strive to keep him under;
In worth and excellence he shall outgo them,
Yet being above them he shall be below them;
From others he shall stand in need of nothing,
Yet on his brothers shall depend for clothing;
To find a foe it shall not be his hap,

And Peace shall lull him in her flowery lap;
Yet shall he live in strife, and at his door
Devouring War shall never cease to roar;
Yea, it shall be his natural property
To harbour those that are at enmity.

What power, what force, what mighty spell, if not
Your learned hands, can loose this Gordian knot?

The next Quantity and Quality spake in prose, then Relation was called by his name.

Rivers arise; whether thou be the son

Of utmost Tweed, or Ouse, or gulfy Dun,

Or Trent, who, like some earth-born giant, spreads

83. To find, etc. Because Substance stands alone, there is no dispute about him whose existence and nature are acknowledged by all. But his Accidents are frequently at enmity' with each other.

84. "Whoso hath in the lap of soft delight

Been long time lulled." Spenser, Tears of the Muses, Terps. st. i.—T. 90. Your learned hands, i.e. the hands of you learned students of Cambridge. This is the figure called Hypallage, of which Virgil was so fond.—this Gordian knot, i.e. this enigma.

91. Rivers arise, etc. With Warton we must confess that we cannot clearly see the connection between the English rivers and Relation. The poet had here of course in his mind the spousals of the Thames and Medway in the Faery Queen, and Drayton's Polyolbion.

92. Of utmost Tweed. As being on the borders of Scotland.--Oose. The river which runs by York.-Dun. The Don in the same county, which gives name to Doncaster.

93. Trent. Warton tells us from the Polyolbion (Song xii.) that it contained thirty kinds of fish, and that there were thirty religious houses on its banks, and that a wizard foretold:

And thirty several streams, from many a sundry way,
Unto her greatness shall their watery tribute pay.
All owing to the resemblance of its name to trente (Fr.), thirty!

His thirty arms along the indented meads,
Or sullen Mole that runneth underneath,
Or Severn swift, guilty of maiden's death,
Or rocky Avon, or of sedgy Lea,

Or coaly Tyne, or ancient hallowed Dee,

Or Humber loud that keeps the Scythian's name,
Or Medway smooth, or royal-towered Thame.
The rest was prose.

100

ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST'S NATIVITY.

COMPOSED 1629.-M.

I.

THIS is the month, and this the happy morn,
Wherein the Son of Heaven's eternal King,
Of wedded Maid and Virgin- Mother born,
Our great redemption from above did bring;
For so the holy sages once did sing,

95. that runneth underneath, sc. at Mickleham in Surrey.
96. Or Severn, etc. See Comus, v. 827 seq.

97. Or rocky Avon. As there are three rivers of this name (which in Cymric and Celtic signifies river) in England beside those in Wales, it is hard to say which he meant, but most probably that which runs by Bath and Bristol, on account of the cliffs which rise above it.

"But Avon marched in more stately path,

Proud of his adamants, with which he shines
And glisters wide, as als of wondrous Bath

Aud Bristow fair, which on his waves he builded hath." F. Q. iv. 11, 31. -sedgy Lee. The Lea, which rises in Bedfordshire and falls into the Thames a little below London on the Essex side.

98. Or coaly Tyne. As coals come to London from Newcastle-on-Tyne.— hallowed Dee. See on Lycidas, v. 55.

99. Or Humber, etc. So named, it was said, from a Scythian king who landed there, and was overcome and driven into this river (then called Abus) where he was drowned, by Locrine, the son of Brute: see F. Q. ii. 10, 14-16; iv. 11, 38.

100. Medway smooth. This tranquil stream runs through the vales of Kent, and enters the Thames at Sheerness.-royal-towered. On account of Windsor Castle, the Tower of London, and the palace of Greenwich, all of which are on its banks: comp. F. Q. iv. 11, 27, 28. We may observe in opposition to Warton, that when Milton wrote this poem he probably had not yet seen the Castle of Windsor.

5. the holy sages, i.e. the Prophets.