COMUS.

That is address'd to unattending ears;
Not any boast of skill, but extreme shift
How to regain my sever'd company,
Compell'd me to awake the courteous Echo
To give me answer from her mossy couch.

COM. What chance, good Lady, hath bereft
you thus ?

89

275

LAD. Dim darkness, and this leafy labyrinth.
COм. Could that divide you from near-ushering
guides?

LAD. They left me weary on a grassy turf. 280
COм. By falsehood, or discourtesy, or why?
LAD. To seek i' th' valley some cool friendly

spring.

[Lady? Coм. And left your fair side all unguarded, LAD. They were but twain, and purpos'd quick

return.

COм. Perhaps forestalling night prevented them.
LAD. How easy my misfortune is to hit!

COм. Imports their loss, beside the present need?
LAD. No less than if I should my Brothers lose.
COм. Were they of manly prime, or youthful
bloom?

LAD. As smooth as Hebe's their unrazor'd lips.
COм. Two such I saw, what time the labour'd ox
In his loose traces from the furrow came,

Todd.

292

273 extreme] Mirror for Mag. (ed. 1610) p. 430. 'In rustie armour, as in extream shift.' 292 Loose] Benlowe's Theophila, p. 247 The tired oxe sent in loose traces home.' 'Medio die interjunxerunt.' Seneca de Tranq. Animi, Cap. ult. vol. i. p. 385. See Lip

And play i' th' plighted clouds. I was
And as I pass'd, I worshipp'd; if those
It were a journey like the path to hea
To help you find them.

LAD. Gentle Villager,

What readiest way would bring me to

COм. Due west it rises from this shr LAD. To find that out, good Sheph In such a scant allowance of star-light Would overtask the best land-pilot's a Without the sure guess of well-practis

COм. I know each lane, and every a Dingle or bushy dell of this wild wood And every bosky bourn from side to si My daily walks and ancient neighbour

sius's note on the force of this word. See too A ver. 93.

297 human] The editions vary in pointing, 'human,' or after 'they stood.'

301 plighted] Folded. Milton's H. of England wore a plighted garment of divers colours.'

304 plighted clouds] Euripidis Orest. 1647. πτυχᾶις. A. Dyce.

To

COMUS.

nd if your stray-attendants be yet lodg'd
r shroud within these limits, I shall know
re morrow wake, or the low-roosted lark
rom her thatch'd pallat rouse; if otherwise
can conduct you, Lady, to a low

But loyal cottage, where you may be safe

'ill further quest.

91

315

320

LAD. Shepherd, I take thy word, And trust thy honest offer'd courtesy, Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds With smoky rafters, than in tap'stry halls And courts of princes, where it first was nam'd, 325 And yet is most pretended: in a place

Less warranted than this, or less secure,

I cannot be, that I should fear to change it.
Eye me, blest Providence, and square my trial
To my proportion'd strength. Shepherd, lead on.
Enter The Two BROTHERS.

1 BR. Unmuffle, ye faint stars, and thou, fair

moon,

That wont'st to love the traveller's benizon, Stoop thy pale visage through an amber cloud,

331 Unmuffle] Benlowe's Theophila, st. xxii. p. 202.222. 'Unmuffle, ye dim clouds, and disinherit

From black usurping mists.'

Shirley's Young Admiral, act ii. sc. 2.

not a star

Muffled his brightness in a sullen cloud.'

331

See Gascoigne's Jocasta, p. 99. Lisle's Du Bartas, p. 106. Browne's Shepherd's Pipe, vol. iii. p. 41. 129. Thorney Abbey, p. 48, for the use of this word.

And disinherit Chaos, that reigns here
In double night of darkness and of shade
Or if your influence be quite damm'd up
With black usurping mists, some gentle t
Though a rush candle, from the wicker-ho
Of some clay habitation, visit us
With thy long-levell❜d rule of streaming lig
And thou shalt be our star of Arcady,
Or Tyrian Cynosure.

2 BR. Or if our eyes

Be barr'd that happiness, might we but he The folded flocks penn'd in their wattled c Or sound of past'ral reed with oaten stops, Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock Count the night watches to his feathery da 'Twould be some solace yet, some little che In this close dungeon of innumerous bough But O that hapless virgin, our lost Sister, Where may she wander now, whither betak From the chill dew, among rude burs and this Perhaps some cold bank is her bolster now, Or 'gainst the rugged bark of some broad el Leans her unpillow'd head, fraught with sad f

33 disinherit] Nabbes's Microcosmus. Reed. ix. p.

air had best

Confine himself to his three regions,

Or else I'll disinherit him.'

340 rule] Eurip. Ικετ. 650. Ηλίου κανων σαφης. Η 316 cock] Benlowes's Theophila, p. 199,

'Before the cock, light herald, day-break sings To his feathery dames.'

y be but false alarms of fear, er is such self-delusion! think my Sister so to seek, principled in virtue's book,

sweet peace that goodness bosoms ever, The single want of light and noise

ng in danger, as I trust she is not)

370

r the constant mood of her calm thoughts, them into misbecoming plight.

ould see to do what virtue would

wn radiant light, though sun and moon the flat sea sunk. And Wisdom's self 375 s to sweet retired solitude,

with her best nurse Contemplation

mes her feathers, and lets grow her wings,

grant] This line obscures the thought, and loads sion it had been better out. Warburton. sto] This expression, 'seeks to,' common in our the Bible. Isaiah xi. 10.

Eccles. iv. 12. Warton.

Deut. xii. 5. 1 Kings

Todd.

mes] I believe the true reading to be 'prunes.'