But far above in spangled sheen Celestial Cupid, her fam'd fon, advanc'd, Holds his dear Psyche sweet intranc'd, Till free confent the Gods among I can fly, or I can run 1005 ΠΟΙΟ Queen, because she was firft worshipped by the Affyrians. See Paufanias, Attic. lib. i. cap. xiv. NEWTON. Tickell and Fenton read "the Cyprian Queen." EDITOR. v. 1003. in Spangled Sheen.] MIDS. N. DREAM, A. ii. S. i, By fountain clear, or Spangled ftar-light heen. EDITOR. v. 1010. Undoubtedly Milton's allufion at large, is here to Spenfer's allegorical garden of Adonis, F. Q. iii. vi. 46. feq. But at the fame time, his mythology has a reference to Spenser's HYMNE OF LOVE, where Love is feigned to dwell" in a para"dife of all delight," with Hebe, or Youth, and the rest of the darlings of Venus, who fport with his daughter Pleasure. For the fable and allegory of Cupid and Pfyche, fee Fulgentius, iii. 6, And Apuleius for Pfyche's wandering labours long. WARTON. v. 1012. But now my task is fmoothly done, &c.] So Shakspeare's Profpero, in the Epilogue to the TEMPEST. Now my charmes are all o'erthrown, &c. And thus the Satyre, in Fletcher's FAITHFUL SHEPHERDESS, who bears the character of our Attendant Spirit, when his office or commiffion is finished, difplays his power and activity, promifing any further services, S. ult. p. 195. The reader fhall compare Milton's chafte dignity on this occafion, with Fletcher's licentious indulgence of a warmer fancy. What new service now is meetest In the middle air, and stay The failing rack, or nimbly take Hold by the moon, and gently make For a beam to give thee light? And bring thee coral, making way Quickly to the green earth's end, Where the bow'd welkin flow doth bend; I catch thee wanton fauns, or flyes To do her service all these woods adore. Sat. Holy Virgin, I will dance Round about these woods, as quick As the breaking light, and prick Down the lawns, and down the vales, Fafter than the windmill failes, So I take my leave, &c. 1015 And, at his affumption of this office, he had before said, A. i. S. i. I must go, and I must run, Swifter than the fiery fun. WARTON. v. 1014. The green earth's end.] Cape de Verd Ifles. SYMPSON. v. 1015. Where the bow'd welkin flow doth bend.] A curve which bends, or defcends lowly, from its great fweep. Bending has the fame fenfe, of Dover cliff, in K. LEAR, A. iv. S.i. There is a cliff, whofe high and bending head And in the FAITHFUL SHEPHERDESS, "bending plain.” p. 105. v. 1016. And from thence can foar as foon To the corners of the moon.] Oberon fays of the swiftnefs of his Fairies, MIDS. N. DR. A. iv. S.i. And Puck's Fairy, ibid. A. ii. S. i. And Drayton, NYMPHID. vol. ii. p. 552. And thence the Faery can as as foon, &c. Compare MACBETH, A. iii. S. v. Upon the corner of the moon There hangs a vaporous drop profound. We plainly difcern Milton's track of reading. WARTON. Mortals, that would follow me, Heav'n itself would ftoop to her.* 1020 v.1020. The four laft verfes furnished Pope with the thought for the conclufion of his Ode on St. Cecilia's day. WARBURTON. A prior imitation may be traced in the clofe of Dryden's Ode. And Crafhaw, in his Hymn ON THE NATIVITY, fpeaking of CHRIST, fhould be noticed: SACRED POEMS, ut fupr. p. 15. whofe all-embracing birth V. 1021. Lifts earth to heav'n, stoopes heav'n to earth. EDITOR. the fphery chime.] Chime, Ital. Cima. Yet he uses chime in the common fenfe, ODE NATIV. V. 128. He may do fo here, but then the expreffion is licentious, I suppose for the fake of the rhyme. Hurd. The Sphery chime is the music of the Spheres. As in Machin's DUMBE KNIGHT, 1608. Reed's OLD PLAYs, vol. iv. 447.. It was as filver as the chime of Spheres. See PARAD. LOST, B. ix. 559. And PAR. REGAINED, B. ii. 363. In the fame fenfe, AT A SOLEMN MUSIC, v. 9. "Nature's 66 chime," Nature's mufic. And ODE NATIV. V. 128. Milton is fond of the word chime in this acceptation, and it has been hence adopted by Dryden. Sphery occurs in MIDS. N. DREAM, A. ii. S. vii. "Hermia's "Sphery eyne." WARTON. v. 1022. The MORAL of this poem is very finely fummed up in the fix concluding lines. The thought contained in the two laft, might probably be fuggefted to our author by a paffage in the TABLE OF CEBES, where Patience and Perfeverance are represented stooping and ftretching out their hands to help up thofe, who are endeavouring to climb the craggy hill of Virtue, and yet are too feeble to afcend of themselves. THYER. "The paffage which Mr. Thyer supposes might probably have "fuggefted to Milton the thought contained in the two laft "verfes of this poem, is to be found in the middle of the TABLE “ OF CEBES, beginning, Ποία εν αὕτη ἡ ὁδός έσιν, ἡ φέρεσα κ.τ.λ. “ and ending, Εὐδαιμόνων οἰκητήριον, ἔφη. "Had this learned and ingenious Critic duly reflected on the "lofty mind of Milton 'fmit with the love of facred fong,' and fo " often and so sublimely employed on topicks of religion, he might "readily have found a fubject, to which the Poet obviously and "divinely alludes in these concluding lines, without fetching the "thought from the TABLE OF CEBES. "In the preceding remark, I am convinced Mr. Thyer had "no ill intention: but, by overlooking fo clear and pointed an "allufion to a fubject, calculated to kindle that lively glow in the "bofom of every Chriftian which the Poet intended to excite, "and by referring it to an image in a profane author, he may, "befide ftifling the fublime effect, fo happily produced, afford a "handle to fome, in these 'evil days,' who are willing to make "the religion of Socrates and Cebes (or that of Nature) fuper"fede the religion of Christ. "I wish to speak with much respect of Mr. Thyer, yet I trust "I may be allowed to obferve, that here, in my humble opinion, ❝he injudiciously went out of his way to difplay his erudition: "For it may be doubted whether Cebes the difciple of So"crates, and cotemporary with Plato, was the author of the "Table called by his name; and, upon a full investigation of the ❝evidences on both fides of the question, to me at least, it seems "most probable, that the Table was not written by Cebes, but "that it is of a more recent date than the time in which Cebes "lived. "Moreover, I conceive it may reasonably be fuppofed, and "it must be admitted to be poffible, that Socrates, and confe"quently Cebes, and more especially Plato, as well as the Theiftic "philofophers, had either by oral communication obtained a "knowledge of the principles of the Jewish religion, or had "otherwife become acquainted with fuch parts of the Old Testa"ment as were already written in their time; and that the moral "doctrines which they taught, (if any exist in their books beyond "the reach of human reason, and which tend to place Morality on "its only true foundation, the Will of God) were founded not 26 upon the Light of Nature alone, but upon the Revelation too "contained in the inspired writings of Mofes and the Prophets. "The Moral of this poem is, indeed, very finely fummed up in the fix "concluding lines; in which, to wind up one of the most elegant pro"ductions of his genius, 'the Poet's eye, in a fine phrenzy rolling,' "threw up its laft glance to Heaven, in rapt contemplation of "that ftupendous Mystery, whereby HE, the lofty theme of "PARADISE REGAINED, ftooping from above all height, 'bowed "the Heavens, and came down' on Earth, to atone as Man for "the Sins of Men, to strengthen feeble Virtue by the influence of "his Grace, and to teach Her to afcend upon his throne." For the preceding Note I am indebted to Mr. Egerton, whofe various and important communications I have acknowledged in the Preface. EDITOR. * In the peculiar difpofition of the Story, the sweetness of the Numbers, the juftness of the Expreffion, and the Moral it teaches, there is nothing extant in any language like the MASK OF COMUS. TOLAND. Milton's Juvenile Poems are fo no otherwife, than as they were written in his younger years; for their Dignity and Excellence they are fufficient to have fet him among the most celebrated of the Poets, even of the Ancients themfelves: his MASK and LYCIDAS are perhaps fuperior to all in their feveral kinds. RICHARDSON. COMUS is written very much in imitation of Shakspeare's TEMPEST, and the FAITHFUL SHEPHERDESS of Fletcher; and though one of the firft, is yet one of the most beautiful of Milton's compofitions. NEWTON. Milton feems in this poem to have imitated Shakspeare's manner more than in any other of his works; and it was very natural for a young author, preparing a piece for the stage, to propofe to himself for a pattern the most celebrated master of English dramatic poetry. THYER. Milton has here more profeffedly imitated the manner of ShakIpeare in his faery fcenes, than in any other of his works: and his poem is much the better for it, not only for the beauty, variety, and novelty of his images, but for a brighter vein of poetry, and an ease and delicacy of expreffion very fuperior to his natural manner. WARBURTON. If this MASK had been revised by Milton, when his ear and judgment were perfectly formed, it had been the most exquifite of all his poems. As it is, there are fome puerilities in it, and many inaccuracies of expreffion and verfification. The two editions of his Poems are of 1645 and 1673. In 1645, he was, as he would think, better employed. In 1673, he would condemn himself for having written fuch a thing as a Mafk, especially to a great lord, and a sort of vice-roy. HURD. The greatest of Milton's juvenile performances is the MASK OF COMUS, in which may very plainly be discovered the dawn or twilight of PARADISE LOST. Milton appears to have formed very early that system of diction, and mode of verse, which his maturer judgment approved, and from which he never endeavoured nor defired to deviate. Nor does Coмus afford only a fpecimen of his language; it exhibits likewise his power of defcription and his vigour of fentiment, employed in the praife and defence of virtue. A work more truly poetical is rarely found; allufions, images, and defcriptive epithets, embellish almost every period with lavish decoration. As a feries of lines, therefore, it may be confidered as worthy of all the admiration with which the votaries have received it. As a drama it is deficient. The action is not probable. A Mafque, in those parts where fupernatural intervention is admitted, must indeed be given up to all the freaks of imagination; U |