Comus enters with a charming rod in one hand, his glass in the other; with him a rout of monsters, headed like sundry sorts of wild beasts, but otherwise like men and women, their apparel glittering; they come in muking a riotous and unruly noise, with torches in their hands.

Com. The star that bids the shepherd fold,

Now the top of Heav'n doth hold,

And the gilded car of Day,

95

His glowing axle doth allay

In the steep Atlantic stream,

And the slope Sun his upward beam
Shoots against the dusky pole,

Pacing toward the other goal
Of his chamber in the East.
Meanwhile welcome Joy and Feast,
Midnight Shout and Revelry,
Tipsy Dance, and Jollity,

100

Lead in swift round the months and years.

The sounds and seas, with all their finny drove, 115 Now to the moon in wavering morrice move;

And on the tawny sands and shelves

Trip the pert faeries and the dapper elves.
By dimpled brook and fountain brim,
The wood-nymphs deck'd with daisies trim,
Their merry wakes and pastimes keep:

120

93. It would be impossible, perhaps, to find a more exquisite piece of musical versification than the following. The beauty and variety of the imagery are equally unsurpassed.

19. It would be useless to point out the many trifling alterations which appear in the manuscript and first editions of this poem: a few, however, are worth observing, and among them, that of this lite, which originally stood

And quick law with her scrupulous head.

117. Tawny; originally, yellow.

Trip the port faeries and the dapper elves.
By dimpled brook and fountain rim,
The wood-nymphs, deck'd with daisies trim,
Their merry wakes and pastimes keep: