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Look homeward, Angel, now, and melt with ruth;
And, O ye dolphins, waft the hapless youth.

Weep no more, woful shepherds, weep no more,
For Lycidas, your sorrow, is not dead,
Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor.
So sinks the day-star in the ocean-bed,

And yet anon repairs his drooping head,
And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore
Flames in the forehead of the morning sky:

So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high,

Through the dear might of Him that walked the waves,
Where, other groves and other streams along,

With nectar pure his oozy locks he laves,
And hears the unexpressive nuptial song,
In the blest kingdoms meek of joy and love.
There entertain him all the saints above,
In solemn troops, and sweet societies,
That sing, and singing in their glory move,

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170

180

163. Look, etc., Look near the coast of England, where the body of Lycidas is carried to and fro by the waves.-Angel. Beyond question this is the 'great Vision' of v. 161.

164. waft. This word was formerly used in a more general sense than at present.

"A ship you sent me to to hire waftage." Com. of Er. iv. 1.—K.

"In short, a braver choice of dauntless spirits

Than now the English bottoms have waft over

Did never float," etc. King John, ii. 1.—K.

165. Weep, etc. See note at end of Poem.

166. your sorrow, i.e. the object of your sorrow, like love, etc.

168. So sinks, etc. This very simile occurs in a poem, signed W. Hall, in the collection in which Lycidas first appeared.

169. repairs, i.e. renews, reparo.

170. And tricks. See on Il Pens. v. 123.-ore. He uses this word in the sense of precious metal, namely, gold: comp. Com. v. 932.

173. Through. Warton most justly observes that this is a felicitous designation of our Saviour by a miracle immediately referring to the subject of the poem.

174. Where, i.e. to where.-other, etc., i.e. differing from those on earth. 175. his oozy locks. The poet conceives him transferred bodily to Heaven for we never can, even in idea, separate any one from his external form. 176. unexpressive, i.e. not to be expressed. See on Ode on Nat. v. 116. In 'nuptial song' there is an allusion to Rev. xix. 6, 7.

180. That sing, etc. See on Par. Lost, v. 620,

And wipe the tears for ever from his eyes.
Now, Lycidas, the shepherds weep no more;
Henceforth thou art the Genius of the shore,
In thy large recompense, and shalt be good
To all that wander in that perilous flood.

Thus sang the uncouth swain to the oaks and rills,
While the still Morn went out with sandals gray;
He touched the tender stops of various quills,
With eager thought warbling his Doric lay;
And now the sun had stretched out all the hills,
And now was dropped into the western bay.
At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blue;
Tomorrow to fresh woods, and pastures new.

190

181. "And the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces." Is. xxv. 8. "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." Rev. vii. 14.—T.

183.

186. uncouth.

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Sis bonus, ô, felixque tuis!" Virg. Buc. v. 64.- Th.

Used here probably in the sense of rude.

188. He touched, etc. The 'stops' are the holes in the flute, etc. By his saying various quills' we might suppose that he meant the fistula or Pandean pipes, but these have no stops and they are not 'touched;' he probably used 'quills' simply in the sense of, notes.

189. eager, i.c. sharp-set, intent, thinking of nothing else.-Doric, i.e. pastoral, as Theocritus used the Doric dialect.

190. And now, etc. He had therefore devoted the entire day to his song:

see v. 187.

192. twitched, i.e. pulled, drew tightly about him on account of the chillness of the evening. 'Vestemque manu diduxit," Ov. Met. xiii. 264. "His hand did twitch his skirt aside," Golding.

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of the song in Much Ado about Nothing; and they should evidently both be read in the manner here indicated.

"Now nó more shall these smooth brows be begirt
With youthful coronals, and lead the dance;
No more the company of fresh fair maids," etc.

Fletch. Faith. Shep. i. 1.

"Come near me no more then.-How!-Come nó more near me."
Id. Hum. Lieut. iv. 4.

"And if we ne'er meet more.-O thou unkind one!
Ne'er meét more! Have I deserved this from thee?

Otway, Ven. Pres. iii. 3.

are examples of this form; which is almost the prevalent one in the Classics when read metrically, as the ancients most certainly did read. It was in fact almost a rule that when the same word occurred twice in succession the accent should be varied; ex. gr. :—

Ἑρμην, φιλον κηρύκα, κήρυκων σεβας. Esch. Αgam. 515. Πολλούς δε πόλλων εξαγισθεντας δόμων. Id. ib. 641. Ουχ ὅστις αρκέσειεν, ουδ' όστις νόσου. Soph. Philoct. 281. Τισάσθε, τίσασθ', αλλα τῳ χρονῳ ποτε. Id. ib. 1041. "Vérane te facies, verús mihi nuntius affers?" En. iii. 310. "Flentes ingentem atque ingénti volnere victum." Ib. x. 842. Ovaque súmantur, sumántur Hymettia mella." Ov. Ar. Am. iii. 423.

So also in modern languages :

"La tua pietà, ma píeta nulla giove." Ger. Lib. iv. 72.

"A Diós montañas, á Dios verdes prados." Garcilaso de la Vega.
"Por Amor sirve, por Amór mereça." Lobo, A Primavera.
"Achille seul A'chille à son amour s'applique." Iphigénie, i. 2.
"Ach warum schon unterbrochen!

Wárum trübst du unsern Blick!" Goethe.

It is also very remarkable that the same is nearly the invariable rule of the poetry of Basse-Bretagne.

We have met with the following additional instances in English poetry :"And cried, Mercy, sir Knight! and Mércy, lord." F. Q. ii. i. 27.

“Twelve yéär since, Miranda, twelve year since.” Tempest, i. 2.

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Might córrupt minds procure knaves as corrupt." Hen. VIII. v 1. "Who déserves greatness

Desérves your hate." Coriol. i. 1.

"For how can wé?

Alas! how can we for our country pray?" Ib. v. 3.

"Indeed you are; for you commánd her heart

That cómmands mine." Fletch. Laws of Candy, iii. 3.

"She will discárd me, that I discard her." Id. ib. iv. 1.
"That nought could buy

Dear love, but loss of deár love!" Id. Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 4.

"Believe them! bélieve Amadis de Gaul." Id. Wild-goose-chase, i. 1.
"Thirteen times thrice, on thirteen nights." Jonson, Masque of Blackness.
"Yielded their senses' force to ús

Nor are dross to us but allay." Donne's Poems, p. 38 (edit. 1719). "So if I dream I have you, I have you." Ib. p. 72.

"Nor less than care divine

Is divine mercy." Wordsworth, Excursion, vi.

"Hence have I genial seasons, hence have I'." Id. Personal Talk.
"Without one single ray of her genius; without

The fancy, the manhood, the fire of her race." Byron, Irish Avatar. It is very curious, and proves how rare an accomplishment correct reading is, that every one of whom we have made trial reads the line of Shakespeare's song

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thus making of Sigh no more a dactyl, a foot rare in English verse, and never occurring in that which is iambic. In this way no more-regarded by Mde. de Staël as the most melodious term in our language-becomes as short as never or the German nimmer. Should we not read, "And there was no more sea"? Rev. xxi. 1. The simple fact is that it is an actual necessity in all languages, in prose as well as in verse, that when two accents come, as it were, into collision, the former is repelled or thrown back; so the Italians say, Il Pástor Fido, Sálvator Rosa; we ourselves, Princess-royal, etc.: see on Comus, v. 4. If it be objected that there is a pause after Sigh no more, we reply that when in iambic verse, two feet form a choriamb (~~), there can be a pause only at the first or second syllable.

Various readings of ARCADES, COMUS, and LYCIDAS,

from Milton's MSS.*

ARCADES.

10. Now seems guiltie of abuse
And detraction from her praise,
Lesse than halfe she hath expressed;
Envie bid her hide the rest.

18. Seated like a goddess bright.
23. Ceres dares not give her odds.
Who would have thought, etc.

41. Those virtues which dull fame, etc.

44. For know by lot from Jove I have the power.

47. In ringlets quaint.

49. Of noisome winds or blasting vapour chill.

50. And from the leaves.

52. And what the crosse, etc.

59. And number all my rancks and every sprout.

62. Hath chain'd mortalitie.

COMUS.

STAGE DIRECTION.-A guardian spirit or dæmon.

After v. 4. Amidst th' Hesperian gardens, on whose banks,
Bedewed with nectar and celestiall songs,

Eternall roses grow [yeeld, bloome] and hyacinth,
And fruits of golden rind, on whose faire tree

The scalie-harnist Dragon ever keeps

His uninchanted eye; around the verge

And sacred limits of this blissful isle,

Those who are curious about the minutia of these various readings will find

them at full in Todd's edition.

The jealous ocean, that old river, windes His farre extended armes, till with steepe fall Halfe his wast flood the wild Atlantique fills, And halfe the slow unfadom'd Stygian poole. [I doubt me, gentle mortalls, these may seeme Strange distances to heare and unknowne climes.]* But soft, I was not sent to court your wonder With distant worlds, and strange removed climes. Yet thence I come, and oft from thence behold 5. The smoke and stir of this dim narrow spot. After v. 7. Beyond the written date of mortall change. 18. But to my buisnesse now. Neptune whose sway. 21. The rule and title of each sea-girt isle.

28. The greatest and the best of all his empire.

45. By old or modern bard, etc.

58. Which therefore she brought up and named him Comus.

62. And in thick covert of black shade imbowered

Excells his mother at her potent art.

67. For most doe taste through weake intemperate thirst. 72. All other parts remaining as before.

90. Neerest and likeliest to give præsent aide.

92. Of virgin steps. I must be viewlesse now.

Stage DIRECTION. Goes out. Comus enters with a charming-rod and glasse of liquor, with his rout all headed like some wild beasts; thire garments some like men's, and some like women's. They come on in a wild and antick fashion. Intrant KwμáÇovтes.

97. In the steepe Tartarian streame.

99. Shoots against the northern pole.

108. And quick Law with her scrupulous head.

114. Lead with swift round, etc.

117. And on the yellow sands and shelves.

133. And makes a blot of nature. Again And throws a blot ore all the aire.

134. Stay thy polisht ebon chaire

Wherein thou rid'st with Hecatè,

And favour our close jocondrie,

Till all thy dues bec done and nought left out.

144. With a light and frolick round.

STAGE DIRECTION.-The Measure, in a wild, rude, and wanton antick.

145. Break off, break off, I hear the different pace

Of some chaste footing neere about this ground;

Some virgin, sure, benighted in these woods,

Run to your shrouds within these braks and trees,
Our number may affright.

STAGE DIRECTION.-They all scatter.

151. Now to my trains

And to my mother's charmes.

154. My powdrid spells into the spungie air,

Of power to cheat the eye with sleight [blind] illusion,

* These two lines were struck out.

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