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And as I past, I worshipp'd; if those you seek,
It were a journey like the path to heaven,

To help you find them.

LADY.

Gentle villager,

What readiest way would bring me to that place? 305
COMUS.

Due west it rises from this shrubby point.
LADY.

To find out that, good shepherd, I suppose,
In such a scant allowance of star-light,
Would overtask the best land-pilot's art,

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Without the sure guess of well-practis'd feet.

COMUS.

I know each lane, and every alley green, Dingle, or bushy dell of this wild wood, And every bosky bourn from side to side,

coinage. See over-multitude, below, v. 731. and Sonn. ix. 6.

over-ween. Where see the note. T. Warton.

310. Without the sure guess ofHe altered the Manuscript, but he had written at first

Without sure steerage of

312. Dingle, or bushy dell of this wild wood, &c.] It was at first in the Manuscript wide wood. Here Mr. Seward imagines that Milton imitated Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, act iv.

-and since have crost

All these woods over, ne'er a nook or dell,

Fell headlong into a dell.

310

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My bosky acres, and my unshrubb'd down:

and 1 Hen. IV. act v. s. 1.

How bloodily the sun begins to peer
Above yon busky [bosky] hill!

Bourn is bound or limit, from the
French borner, and is thus used

Where any little bird or beast doth by Shakespeare, Tempest, act

dwell,

But I have sought him, ne'er a bend

ing brow

ii. s. 1.

Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard,

none.

Of any hill, or glade the wind sings Antony and Cleopatra, act i. s. 1.

through &c.

Dingle, according to Baily, is a narrow valley between two steep hills: Mr. Thyer of Manchester says, that the word is very commonly used in that part of the kingdom, and Ben Jonson has the word dimble in the same sense.

I'll set a bourn how far to be belov'd.

Hamlet, act iii. s. 2.

That undiscover'd country, from
whose bourn
No traveller returns-

And in Lear, Dover cliff is called

Dell is used by Fletcher at the chalky bourn, act iv. s. 6.
beginning of the Faithful Shep-
herdess, besides in the passage
above quoted,

From the dread summit of this chalky
bourn.

Nor the shrill pleasing sound of merry pipes

Under some shady dell:

And by Spenser in his Shepherd's Calendar, March, speaking of a sheep,

312. Drayton has dingle in his Muses Elys. Nymph. ii. vol. iv. p.

1455.

In dingles deep, and mountains hore.
T. Warton.

313. And every bosky bourn from side to side,] A bourn, the

My daily walks and ancient neighbourhood;
And if your stray-attendants be yet lodg'd,
Or shroud within these limits, I shall know
Ere morrow wake, or the low-roosted lark
From her thatch'd pallat rouse; if otherwise
I can conduct you, Lady, to a low
But loyal cottage, where you may be safe
Till further quest.

LADY.

Shepherd, I take thy word,

And trust thy honest offer'd courtesy,
Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds

sense of which in this passage has never been explained with precision, properly signifies here, a winding, deep, and narrow valley, with a rivulet at the bottom. In the present instance, the declivities are interspersed with trees and bushes. This sort of valley Comus knew from side to side. He knew both the opposite sides or ridges, and had consequently traversed the intermediate space. Such situations have no other name in the west of England at this day. In the waste and open countries, bourns are the grand separations or divisions of one part of the country

315

320

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-When late he far'd

In Phedria's flitt barck over the perlous shard.

T. Warton. 316. Or shroud within these

Within these shroudie limits

from another, and are natural limits,] He had written at first limits of districts and parishes. For bourn is simply nothing more than a boundary. As in the instances cited by Dr. Newton.

See Furetiere in borne, and Du Cange in borna, Lat. Gloss. In Saxon, burn, or burna, is a stream of water, as is bourn at present in some counties: and as rivers were the most distinguishable

321. Till further quest.] He had added in the Manuscript be made, but afterwards blotted it out,

Till further quest be made.

321. See note on Arcades, 34. T. Warton.

With smoky, rafters, than in tap'stry halls

325

And courts of princes, where it first was nam'd,
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. 330
THE TWO BROTHERS.

Unmuffle ye

ELDER BROTHER.

faint stars, and thou fair moon,

324. With smoky rafters,] It was at first And smoky rafters. The sentiment here is the same as in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, cant. 14. st. 62. of the original, and 52 of Harrington's translation,

As courtesy ofttimes in simple bow'rs Is found as great as in the stately tow'rs.

324.in tap'stry halls] The mode of furnishing halls or stateapartments with tapestry, had not ceased in Milton's time. Palaces, as adorned with tapestry, are here contrasted with lowly sheds, and smoky rafters. A modern poet would have written stuccoed halls. Shakespeare says of Lord Salisbury, Second P. K. Henry VI. act v. s. 3.

And like rich hangings in a homely house,

So was his will in his old feeble body. Compare Browne Brit. Past, b. i. s. ii. p. 60.

Their homely cotes deck'd trim in low degree,

As now the court with richest tapestry.

Hence Cowley may be illustrated, Ode to Liberty, st. iii.

To the false forest of a well-hung room For honour and preferment come. That is, 66 a room in the houses "of the great, hung with tape"stry, the subject of which is some romantic story, and the scene a forest." And Shakespeare in Cymbel. act iii. s. 4.

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-I am richer than to hang by the walls.

And B. and Fletcher, Sea-voyage, act i. s. 1.

You must not look for down beds here, nor hangings.

T. Warton. 325. And courts of princes, where it first was nam'd,] This is plainly taken from Spenser, Faery Queen, b. vi. cant. 1. st. 1.

Of court, it seems, men courtesy do call,

For that it there most useth to abound.

The Manuscript had at first 329. and square my trial]

--and square this trial:

and at the end of the speech is Exeunt, and at the begining of the next scene, The two brothers enter: and in the Manuscript the two brothers are all along distinguished by 1 Bro. and 2 Bro. 331. Unmuffle ye faint stars,]

That wont'st to love the traveller's benizon,
Stoop thy pale visage through an amber cloud,
And disinherit Chaos, that reigns here

In double night of darkness and of shades;
Or if your influence be quite damm'd up
With black usurping mists, some gentle taper,
Though a rush-candle from the wicker hole

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thin and light,

Breaks forth her silver beams, and

her bright head
Discovers to the world discomfited;
Of the poor traveller that went astray,
With thousand blessings she is heried.

333. Stoop thy pale visage through an amber cloud,] Popular or philosophical opinions have their use indifferently in poetry. And which soever it be, that affords the most beautiful image, whether that founded in the truth of things, or in the deceptions of sense, that is always to be preferred. But poets have neglected this obvious rule, and have run into two extremes. Those who affect to imitate the ancients only use the first, and those who affect to shew their superior knowledge, only the second. Warbur

ton.

Compare B. and Fletcher's

335

Maid's Tragedy, in the Masque, act i. s. 1.

Bright Cinthia, hear my voice! Appear, no longer thy pale visage shroud,

But strike thy silver horns quite through a cloud.

Bowle. 334.-disinherit Chaos.] This expression should be animadverted upon, as hyperbolical and bombast. Dr. J. Warton.

335. In double night, of darkness and of shades ;] See v. 580. and compare P. R. i. 500.

-now began Night with her sullen wings to double shade

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