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He lov'd me well, and oft would beg me fing,
Which when I did, he on the tender grafs
Would fit, and hearken ev'n to extafy,
And in requital ope his leathern fcrip,
And show me fimples of a thousand names,
Telling their strange and vigorous faculties:
Amongst the rest a small unfightly root,
But of divine effect, he cull'd me out;

The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it,
But in another country, as he faid,

Bore a bright golden flow'r, but not in this foil:

625

630

623. And oft would beg me fing, &c.] Mr. Bowle remarks, that here is an imitation of Spenfer, in C. CLOUTS COME HOME AGAIN, yet with great improvement.

He fitting me beside in that same shade,
Prouoked me to play fome pleasant fit:

And when he heard the mufick which I made,
He found himselfe full greatly pleas'd at it.

Such parallels are of little more importance, than to fhew what poets were familiar to Milton.

633. Bore a bright golden flow'r, but not in this foil:

Unknown, and like efteem'd, &c.] Doctor Newton fays, that "redundant verfes fometimes occur in Milton." True: but the redundant fyllable is never, I think, found in the fecond, third, or fourth, foot. His inftance of v. 605, in this poem,

Harpyes and hydras, or all the monftrous forms→→→

where the redundancy is in the third foot, and forms an anapaeft, does not prove his point. The paffage before us is certainly corrupt, or at least inaccurate; and had better, I think, been given thus, But in another country, as he said,

Bore a bright golden flow'r; not in this foil
Unknown, though light efteem'd.--

Seward proposed to read,

But in this foil

Unknown and light esteem'd.

H.

The emendation is very plaufible and ingenious. But to fay nothing of the editions under Milton's own infpection, I must object, that if an argument be here drawn for the alteration from roughness or

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redundancy

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Unknown, and like efteem'd, and the dull fwain
Treads on it daily with his clouted fhoon :
And yet more med'cinal is it than that Moly

635

redundancy of verse, innumerable inftances of the kind occur in our author. See Note on PARAD. REG.i. 175.

634.-Dull.-] Unobfervant.

635. Treads on it daily with his clouted boon.] To the paffage alleged by Dr. Newton from Shakespeare, another should be added from CYMBELINE, A. iv. S. ii. Which not only exhibits but contains a comment on the phrase in question..

--I thought he flept, and put

My CLOUTED BROGUES from off my feet, whofe rudeness
Answer'd my steps too loud.

Clouts are thin and narrow plates of iron affixed with hob nails to
the foles of the shoes of ruftics. These made too much noise. The
word brogues is ftill used for shoes among the peasantry of Ireland.

636. And yet more med cinal is it than that Moly, &c.] Drayton introduces a fhepherd " his fundry fimples forting," who, among other rare plants, produces Moly. Mus. ELYS. NYMPH. V. vol. iv. p. 1489.

Here is my MOLY of much fame

In magicks often used.

It is not agreed, whether Milton's Haemony, more virtuous than Moly, and" of sovran use 'gainst all inchantments," is a real or poetical plant. Drayton, in the lines following the passage just quoted, recites with many more of the kind,

Here holy vervain, and here dill,

'GAINST WITCHCRAFT much avayling.

But Milton, through the whole of the context, had his eye on
Fletcher, who perhaps availed himself of Drayton. FAITH. SHEP.
A. ii. S. i. vol. iii. p. 127. The thepherdefs Clorin is fkilled in
the medicinal and fuperftitious ufes of plants.

You, that these hands did crop long before prime,
Give me your names, and next your hidden

power.

This is the Clote, bearing a yellow flower,
And this black horehound: both are very good
For fheep or fhepherd, bitten by a wood

Dog's venom'd tooth: these ramfon's branches are,

Which stuck in entries, or about the bar

That holds the door faft, kill all enchantments, charmes,
Were they Medea's verses, that do harmes
To men or cattle, &c.-

Nor

That Hermes once to wife Ulyffes gave;

He call'd it Hæmony, and

it me,

gave it

And bad me keep it as of fovran use

'Gainft all inchantments, mildew, blaft, or damp, 640 Or ghaftly furies apparition.

I purs'd it up, but little reck'ning made,

Nor must I forbear to observe, that in Browne's INNER TEMPLE MASQUE, written on Milton's fubject, Circe attended by the Syrens ufes Moly for a charm, p. 135.

Thrice I charge thee by my wande,

Thrice with Moly from my hande
Do I touch Ulyffes' eyes, &c.

Our author again alludes to the powers of Moly for " quelling the might of hellish charms." EL. i. 87.

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Et vitare procul malefidæ infamia CIRCES

Atria, DIVINE MOLYOS ufus ope.

Compare Sandys's OVID, p. 256. 479. edit. 1632. And Drayton's NYMPHID. vol. ii. p. 463. And POLYOLB. S. xii. vol. iii. P. 919.

In Taffo, Ubaldo, a virtuous magician, performs his operations, not by the charms of necromancy and the machinations of hell, but by the hidden powers of herbs and springs. GIER. LIB. xiv. 42.

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Qual in se virtù celi ò l' HERBA ò l' fonte.

In the FAERIE QUEENE, the Palmer has a VERTUOUS STAFFE, which, like Milton's Moly and Haemony, defeats all monftrous apparitions and diabolical illufions. And Taffo's Ubaldo abovementioned carries a staff of the fame fort, when he enters the palace of Armida, xiv. 73. xv. 49.

637. That Hermes once, &c.] Ovid, METAM. xiv. 289. -Nec tantæ cladis ab illo

Certior, ad Circen ultor veniffet ULYSSES:

Pacifer HUIC DEDERAT florem CYLLENIUs album,
MOLY vocant fuperi, &c..

From Homer, ODYSS. K. v. 305.

641. See Note on PARAD. REG. iv. 422.

642. I purs'd it up.] It was cuftomary in families to have herbs in ftore, not only for medical and culinary, but for fuperftitious purpofes. See Note on v. 636. In fome houses, rue and rosemary were conftantly kept for good luck. Among the plants to which preter

natural

Till now that this extremity compell'd:
But now I find it true; for by this means
I knew the foul inchanter though disguis'd,
Enter'd the very lime-twigs of his spells,

And yet came off: if you have this about you,
(As I will give you when we go) you may
Boldly affault the necromancer's hall;
Where if he be, with dauntless hardihood,

645

650

And brandish'd blade rush on him, break his glafs,

natural qualities were afcribed, Perdita in the WINTER'S TALE mentions RUE as the herb of grace, and rosemary as the emblem of remembrance. A. iv. S. iii. Compare HAMLET, A. iv. S. v. And Greene's Quip for an upstart Courtier. No date. Signat. B. 2. Rue is the herb of grace, as its name by too obvious an ambiguity implies repentance. The moral attribute of rosemary I recollect in a Mask, or Garden-interlude, written by Thomas Campion, entitled "The Royall Entertainment given by the right honourable "the Lord Knowles at Cawfome-house neere Redding, to our most "gracious Queene Anne in her Progreffe towards Bath, 1613, &c.” 4to. A gardener enters, who tells the queen, that he has "flowers "for all fancies, Tyme for truth, ROSEMARY for REPENTANCE, "Roses for love, Hartseafe for joy, and a thousand more, &c." Signat. B. So alfo in Drayton, ECL. ix. p. 1430. vol. iv.

Ibid.

But little reck'ning made.] I thought but little of it. So Daniel, CIVIL WARRES, B. i. 92.

Yet hereof no important RECK'NING MAKES.

Our author again, LYCIDAS, V. 116.

Of other care they LITTLE RECK'NING make.

647. See Note on SAMS. AGON. V. 1130.

649. Boldly affault the necromancer's ball.] An idea of romance. Milton here thought of a magician's caftle which has an inchanted Hall invaded by christian knights. See the adventure of the Black Castle in the SEVEN CHAMPIONS OF CHRISTENDOM. Where the business is finally atchieved by an attack on the Hall of the necromancer Leoger. P. ii. ch. ix.

651. And brandif'd blade rush on him.] Thus Ulyffes af faults Circe, offering her cup, with a drawn fword. Ovid, METAM. xiii. 293.

Intrat

Ille domum Circes, et ad infidiofa vocatus

Pocula,

And fhed the luscious liquor on the ground,

But seise his wand; though he and his curs'd crew Fierce fign of battel make, and menace high,

Pocula, conantem virga mulcere capillos

Reppulit, et STRICTO pavidam deterruit ENSE.

See Homer, ODYSS. X. 294. 321. But Milton, in his allufions to Circe's story, has followed Ovid more than Homer.

651. -Break his glass,

And feed the luscious liquor on the ground.] Our author has here a double imitation of Spenfer's FAERIE QUEENE, which has not been obferved or diftinguifhed. The obvious one, is from fir Guyon fpilling the bowl of Pleasure's Porter, ii. xii. 49. But he alfo copies Spenfer, and more closely, where fir Guyon breaks the golden cup of the enchantrefs Exceffe, ii. xii, 57.

So fhe to Guyon offred it to tafte:
Who taking it out of her tender hand,
The cup to ground did violently caft,
That all to pieces it was broken fond,
And with the liquor ftained all the lond.

653. But feife his wand] In the TEMPEST, in the intended attack upon the magician Profpero, Caliban gives Stephano another fort of neceffary precaution without which nothing else could be done, yet to the fame purpose and effect, A. ïïì. S. ii. Remember

FIRST to poffefs his books.

But Profpero has alfo a staff as well as book. A. v. S. i. A. i̟ S. ii. Armida in Taffo has both a book and a wand, GIER. LIB.

Con una man picciola VERGA scote,

Tien l'altra un LIBRO.

As fhe reads from this book, one of the knights lofes his human shape. In Ariosto, Andronica gives Aftolpho a wonderful book. C. xv. 14. And Bufyrane in the FAERIE QUEENE, iii. xii. 32. His wicked BOOKE in hafte he ouerthrew.

But Taffo, the firft of thefe, copied Boiardo, Orl. INAM. Libr. i. C. v. 17. And in other places. But fee, L. i. C. i. 36. His inchanter Malagise has a magical book.

Che Malagife prefe il fuo QUADERNO
Per faper quefta cofa ben compita
Quatre demonii traffe de l'inferno, &c.

Again, in reading one leaf only, he lulls four giants asleep, &t. 44.
Ne ancor hauea il primo FOGLIO volto

Che gia ciascun nel fonno era fepolto.

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