Amongst the enthron'd Gods on fainted feats.
Yet fome there be that by due fteps afpire
To lay their just hands on that golden key,
That opes the palace of eternity:

To fuch my errand is; and but for fuch,

I would not foil thefe pure

I am ftill inclin'd to think that this line is better omitted. For though it may not be a fault in itself to

Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being,

yet it certainly is fo to ftrive to keep it up

Unmindful of the crown that virtue gives:

and he could not have added

the crown that virtue gives

After this mortal change

if he had faid just before

ambrofial weeds

11. Among ft the enthron'd Gods on

fainted feats. So this verfe ftands in Milton's Manufcript as well as in all his editions: and yet I cannot but prefer the reading of Mr. Fenton's edition,

Amongst th' enthroned Gods on fainted feats.

feems to be faid in allufion to Pe13. that golden key, &c] This ter's golden key, mention'd likewise in Lycidas 110.

Two maffy keys he bore of metals twain,

(The golden opes, the iron fhuts amain)

And this verfe, which was first written That bows &c, afterwards alter'd,

That opes the palace of eternity, Mr. Pope has transferr'd with a little alteration into one of his Sa

Beyond the written date of mor- tirs, speaking of Virtue,

tal change:

and therefore I cannot but think that he blotted out this line not without reafon.

Her prieftefs Mufe forbids the good to die,

And opes the temple of eternity.

18. But

With the rank vapors of this fin-worn mold.

But to my task. Neptune befides the sway
Of every falt flood, and each ebbing ftream,
Took in by lot 'twixt high and nether Jove
Imperial rule of all the fea-girt iles,
That like to rich and various gems inlay
The unadorned bofom of the deep,
Which he to grace his tributary Gods

By course commits to several government,

And gives them leave to wear their faphir crowns,
And wield their little tridents: but this Ile,
The greatest and the best of all the main,
He quarters to his blue-hair'd deities;
And all this tract that fronts the falling fun

20

25

30

A

A noble Peer of mickle trust and

power

Has in his charge, with temper'd awe to guide
An old, and haughty nation proud in arms:
Where his fair ofspring nurs'd in princely lore
Are coming to attend their father's state,

And new-intrusted scepter; but their

way

35

40

Lies through the perplex'd paths of this drear wood,
The nodding horror of whose fhady brows
Threats the forlorn and wand'ring paffenger;
And here their tender age might suffer peril,
But that by quick command from fovran Jove
I was dispatch'd for their defense and guard;
And liften 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.

4

50

Bacchus, that firft from out the purple grape Crush'd the sweet poison of mif-ufed wine, After the Tuscan mariners transform'd, Coasting the Tyrrhene fhore, as the winds lifted, On Circe's iland fell: (Who knows not Circe The daughter of the fun? whose charmed cup Whoever tafted, loft his upright shape, And downward fell into a groveling fwine). This Nymph that gaz'd upon his cluftring locks, With ivy berries wreath'd, and his blithe youth, 55 Had by him, ere he parted thence, a fon Much like his father, but his mother more,

Whom therefore the brought up, and Comus nam'd,
Who ripe, and frolic of his full grown age,
Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields,

At laft betakes him to this ominous wood,

And in thick shelter of black fhades imbowr'd

Excels his mother at her mighty art,

Offering to every weary traveller

60

His orient liquor in a crystal glass,

65

To quench the drouth of Phoebus, which as they taste, (For most do tafte through fond intemp'rate thirst) Soon as the potion works, their human count'nance, Th' express resemblance of the Gods, is chang'd Into fome brutifh form of wolf, or bear,

caufe Milton's Comus like Homer's Circe reprefents all fenfual pleafures, and Bacchus in the Heathen mythology only prefides over that of drinking. Thyer.

58. Whom therefore he brought up, and Comus nam'd, ] This line was at firft in the Manufcript,

Which therefore fhe brought up,

and nam'd him Comus. 60.-the Celtic and Iberian fields,] France and Spain. Thyer.

62. And in thick shelter of black hades In Milton's Ma

70

Or