Lies through the perplex'd paths of this drear wood, The nodding horror of whose shady brows Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger; And here their tender age might suffer peril, But that by quick command from sovereign Jove I was despatch'd for their defence and guard; And listen why; for I will tell you now What never yet was heard in tale or song, From old or modern bard, in hall or bower. Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape Crush'd the sweet poison of misused wine, After the Tuscan mariners transform'd, Coasting the Tyrrhene shore, as the winds listed, On Circe's island fell. (Who knows not Circe, The daughter of the Sun? whose charmed cup Whoever tasted, lost his upright shape And downward fell into a groveling swine.) This nymph, that gazed upon his clust'ring locks With ivy-berries wreath'd, and his blythe youth, Had by him, ere he parted thence, a son Much like his father, but his mother more,
Whom therefore she brought up, and Comus named; Who ripe and frolic of his full-grown age,
Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields,
At last betakes him to this ominous wood, And in thick shelter of black shades imbower'd, Excels his mother at her mighty art,
Offering to every weary traveller
His orient liquor in a crystal glass,
To quench the drought of Phoebus; which as they taste, (For most do taste, through fond intemp'rate thirst), Soon as the potion works, their human count'nance, Th' express resemblance of the gods, is changed Into some brutish form of wolf or bear, Or ounce or tiger, hog or bearded goat, All other parts remaining as they were; And they, so perfect is their misery, Not once perceive their foul disfigurement, But boast themselves more comely than before, And all their friends and native home forget, To roll with pleasure in a sensual sty. Therefore, when any favour'd of high Jove Chances to pass through this advent'rous glade, Swift as the sparkle of a glancing star
I shoot from heaven to give him safe convoy, As now I do: but first I must put off
These my sky-robes, spun out of Iris' woof, And take the weeds and likeness of a swain That to the service of this house belongs, Who with his soft pipe and smooth-dittied song Well knows to still the wild winds when they roar, And hush the waving woods; nor of less faith, And in this office of his mountain-watch Likeliest, and nearest to the present aid Of this occasion. But I hear tread
Of hateful steps. I must be viewless now.
Lady. This way the noise was, if mine ear be true, My best guide now; methought it was the sound Of riot and ill-managed merriment,
Such as the jocund flute, or gamesome pipe, Stirs up among the loose unletter'd hinds, When for their teeming flocks and granges full In wanton dance they praise the bounteous Pan, And thank the gods amiss. I should be loth To meet the rudeness and swill'd insolence Of such late wassailers; yet, 0, where else Shall I inform my unacquainted feet In the blind mazes of this tangled wood? My brothers, when they saw me wearied out With this long way, resolving here to lodge Under the spreading favour of these pines, Stept, as they said, to the next thicket side, To bring me berries, or such cooling fruit As the kind hospitable woods provide. They left me then, when the gray-hooded even, Like a sad votarist in palmer's weed,
Rose from the hindmost wheels of Phoebus' wain. But where they are, and why they came not back, Is now the labour of my thoughts; 'tis likeliest They had engaged their wand'ring steps too far, And envious darkness, ere they could return, Had stole them from me; else, O thievish Night, Why wouldst thou, but for some felonious end, In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars That Nature hung in Heaven, and fill'd their lainps With everlasting oil, to give due light
To the misled and lonely traveller?
This is the place, as well as I may guess, Whence even now the tumult of loud mirth
Was rife and perfect in my list'ning ear; Yet naught but single darkness do I find. What might this be? A thousand fantasies Begin to throng into my memory,
Of calling shapes, and beck'ning shadows dire, And airy tongues that syllable men's names On sands, and shores, and desert wildernesses. These thoughts may startle well, but not astound The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended By a strong-siding champion, Conscience.
O, welcome pure-eyed Faith, white-handed Hope, Thou hovering Angel, girt with golden wings, And thou, unblemish'd form of Chastity! I see ye visibly, and now believe
That He, the Supreme Good, t' whom all things ill Are but as slavish officers of vengeance, Would send a glist'ring guardian, if need were, To keep my life and honour unassail'd. Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud Turn forth her silver lining on the night? I did not err; there does a sable cloud Turn forth her silver lining on the night, And casts a gleam over this tufted grove. I cannot halloo to my brothers, but
Such a noise as I can make to be heard farthest I'll venture; for my new enliven'd spirits Prompt me; and they perhaps are not far off.
Sweet Echo, sweetest nymph, that livest unseen Within thy airy shell,
By slow Meander's margent green,
And in the violet-embroider'd vale,
Where the love-lorn nightingale
Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well; Canst thou not tell me of a gentle pair That likest thy Narcissus are? O, if thou have
Hid them in some flow'ry cave, Tell me but where,
Sweet queen of parly, daughter of the Sphere; So mayst thou be translated to the skies,
And give resounding grace to all Heaven's harmonies.
Comus. Can any mortal, mixture of earth's mould, Breathe such divine enchanting ravishment?
Sure something holy lodges in that breast, And with these raptures moves the vocal air To testify his hidden residence:
How sweetly did they float upon the wings Of silence, through the empty vaulted night, At every fall smoothing the raven down Of darkness till it smiled! I have oft heard My mother Circe, with the Sirens three, Amidst the flowery-kirtled Naiades, Culling their potent herbs and baleful drugs, Who as they sung would take the prison'd soul, And lap it in Elysium; Scylla wept,
And chid her barking waves into attention, And fell Charybdis murmur'd soft applause: Yet they in pleasing slumber lull'd the sense, And in sweet madness robb'd it of itself; But such a sacred and home-felt delight, Such sober certainty of waking bliss, I never heard till now.
My sister is not so defenceless left As you imagine; she has a hidden strength Which you remember not.
"Tis Chastity, my brother, Chastity:
She that has that is clad in cómplete steel, And like a quiver'd nymph, with arrows keen, May trace huge forests and unharbour'd heaths, Infamous hills and sandy perilous wilds, Where through the sacred rays of Chastity No savage fierce, bandit, or mountaineer, Will dare to soil her virgin purity: Yea there, where very desolation dwells, By grots and caverns shagg'd with horrid shades, She may pass on with unblench'd majesty, Be it not done in pride or in presumption. Some say no evil thing that walks by night, In fog or fire, by lake or moorish fen, Blue meagre hag or stubborn unlaid ghost, That breaks his magic chains at curfew time, No goblin or swart fairy of the mine, Hath hurtful power o'er true virginity.
Do ye believe me yet, or shall I call Antiquity from the old schools of Greece, To testify the arms of Chastity?
Hence had the huntress Dian her dread bow, Fair silver-shafted queen, for ever chaste, Wherewith she tamed the brinded lioness And spotted mountain pard, but set at naught The frivolous bolt of Cupid; gods and men
Fear'd her stern frown, and she was Queen o' th' Woods. What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shield, That wise Minerva wore, unconquer'd virgin, Wherewith she freezed her foes to cóngeal'd stone,
But rigid looks of chaste austerity,
And noble grace, that dash'd brute violence With sudden adoration and blank awe? So dear to Heaven is saintly Chastity, That when a soul is found sincerely so, A thousand liveried angels lacquey her, Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt, And in clear dream and solemn vision Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear, Till oft converse with heavenly habitants Begins to cast a beam on th' outward shape, The unpolluted temple of the mind,
And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence, Till all be made immortal.
Listen where thou art sitting Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave, In twisted braids of lilies knitting The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair; Listen, for dear Honour's sake, Goddess of the Silver lake,
Listen and save;
Listen and appear to us,
In name of great Oceanus;
By th' earth-shaking Neptune's mace, And Tethys' grave majestic pace; By hoary Nereus' wrinkled look, And the Carpathian wizard's hook; By scaly Triton's winding shell, And old soothsaying Glaucus' spell; By Leucothea's lovely hands, And her son that rules the strands;
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