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(As I will give you when we go) you may
Boldly assault the necromancer's hall;

Where if he be, with dauntless hardihood,
And brandish'd blade rush on him, break his glass,
And shed the luscious liquor on the ground,
But seize his wand; though he and his curs'd crew

647. The notion of facing danger, and conquering an enemy, by carrying a charm, which was often an herb, is not uncommon. See Samson Agonistes, 1130, and the notes on v. 1132. Milton, in furnishing the Elder Brother with the plant hæmony when like a knight he is to attack the necromancer Comus, and even to assail his hall, notwithstanding that the idea is originally founded in Homer's moly, certainly alluded to the charming herb of the romantic combat. The assault on the necromancer's hall is also an idea of romance. See the adventure of the Black Castle in the Seven Champions of Christendom, where the business is finally achieved by an attack on the hall of the Necromancer Leoger, p. ii. ch. 9. T. Warton.

651. And brandish'd blade rush on him.] Thus Ulysses assaults Circe offering her cup, with a drawn sword. Ovid, Metam. xiii. 293.

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650

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Fierce sign of battle make, and menace high,
Or like the sons of Vulcan vomit smoke,
Yet will they soon retire, if he but shrink.
ELDER BROTHER.

Thyrsis, lead on apace, I'll follow thee,
And some good Angel bear a shield before us.

655

The Scene changes to a stately palace, set out with all manner of deliciousness: soft music, tables spread with all dainties. Comus appears with his rabble, and the Lady set in an inchanted chair, to whom he offers his glass, which she puts by, and goes about to rise.

COMUS.

Nay, lady, sit; if I but wave this wand

657. -I'll follow thee, &c.] In the Manuscript it is I follow thee, and the next line was at first,

And good heav'n cast his best regard

upon us.

And then in the Manuscript the stage direction is as follows. The scene changes to a stately palace set out with all manner of deliciousness, tables spread with all dainties. Comus is discovered with his rabble: and the Lady set in an inchanted chair. She offers to rise. 658. And some good angel bear a shield before us.] Our author has nobly dilated this idea of a guardian-angel, yet not without some particular and express warrant from Scripture, which he has also poetically heightened, in Samson Agonistes, v. 1431.

Send me the angel of thy birth, to stand

Fast by thy side, who from thy

father's field Rode up in flames, after his message

told

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659. Here, as we see by the stage-direction, Comus is introduced with his apparatus of incantation. And much after the same manner, Circe enters upon her Charme of Ulysses in Browne's Inner Temple Masque, p. 131. She appears on the stage "quaintly attyred, her haire "loose about her shoulders, an "anadem of flowers on her head, "with a wand in her hand, &c." See Note on Par. Reg. ii. 401. T. Warton.

659. Nay, Lady, sit; if I but wave this wand, Your nerves are all bound up in alabaster.] It is with the same magic, and in the same mode, that Prospero threatens Ferdinand, in the Tempest, for pretending to resist, a. i. s. 2.

--Come from the ward;

Your nerves are all chain'd 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 mind
With all thy charms, although this corporal rind
Thou hast immanacl'd, while heav'n sees good.
COMUS.

Why are you vex'd, Lady? why do you frown?
Here dwell no frowns, nor anger; from these gates
Sorrow flies far: See here be all the pleasures

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Thy nerves are in their infancy again, And have no vigour in them. Milton here comments upon Shakespeare. T. Warton.

661. And you a statue, &c.] In the Manuscript it was at first, And you a statue fixt as Daphne was Root-bound, that fled Apollo.

660

665

Virtue may be assail'd, but never hurt,

Surpris'd by unjust force, but not inthrall'd.

T. Warton.

665. —immanacled] See T. Warton's note on manacled, P. L. i. 426. E.

668. See here be all the pleasures

That fancy can beget on youthful 662. -Fool, do not boast,] He thoughts &c.] This is a thought had written thus at first,

Fool, thou art over-prond, do not boast.

And this whole speech of the Lady, and the first line of the next speech of Comus were added in the margin; for before, the first speech of Comus was continued thus,

Root-bound, that fled Apollo. Why do you frown? &c.

663. Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind With all thy charms.] See v. 589. where this stoical idea of the inviolability of virtue is more fully expressed.

of Shakespeare's, but vastly im-
proved by our poet in the man-
ner of expressing it. Romeo and
Juliet, act i. sc. 3.

Such comfort as do lusty young men
feel,
When well-apparell'd April on the

heel

Of limping winter treads.

Thyer.

An echo to Fletcher, Faithf. Sheph. a. i. s. 1.

-Here be woods as green, &c.—
Here be all new delights, &c.
And again, p. 128.

-Whose virtues do refine
The blood of men, making it free

and fair,

That fancy can beget on youthful thoughts,
When the fresh blood grows lively, and returns
Brisk 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 mix'd.
Not that Nepenthes, which the wife of Thone

As the first hour it breath'd, or the
best air.

T. Warton.

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670

675

Mean time with genial joy to warm the soul,

Bright Helen mix'd a mirth-inspiring bowl:

Temper'd with drugs of sov'reign

use t'assuage

The boiling bosom of tumultuous rage:

To clear the cloudy front of wrinkled

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serene,

The man intranc'd would view the deathful scene.

These drugs, so friendly to the joys of life,

Bright Helen learn'd from Thone's imperial wife,

Who sway'd the sceptre, where prolific Nile &c. Fenton.

Notwithstanding the length of this quotation, I cannot forbear citing Spenser's description of this cordial, and the moral improvement that he has made of it. Faery Queen, b. iv. c. iii. st. 43.

Nepenthe is a drink of sov❜reign
grace,

Devised by the Gods, for to assuage,
Heart's grief, and bitter gall away

to chace,

1

In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena,

Is of such pow'r 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 lent
For gentle usage, and soft delicacy?

But

you invert the covenants of her trust, And harshly deal like an ill borrower

With that which you receiv'd on other terms,
Scorning the unexempt condition

By which all mortal frailty must subsist,
Refreshment after toil, ease after pain,

That have been tir'd all day without repast,
And timely rest have wanted; but fair Virgin,
This will restore all soon.

680

685

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