Over some wide-water'd shore,

Swinging slow with sullen roar;

Or if the air will not permit,

Some still removed place will fit,

Where glowing embers through the room
Teach light to counterfeit a gloom,
Far from all resort of mirth,
Save the cricket on the hearth,

75

80

again, Meas. for Meas. "How
"have I ever loved the life
"remov'd, &c." and in other
places of Shakespeare, as well as
T. Warton.
of Jonson.

80. Teach light to counterfeit a gloom,] Statius, Theb. iv. 424. pallet mala lucis imago. Compare Shakespeare, Mids. N. Dr. a. v.

s. 2.

Through this house give glimmering
light

By the dead and drowsy fire.
And Spenser, F. Q. i. i. 14.
A little glooming light much like a
shade.
T. Warton.

82. Save the cricket on the hearth.] Shakespeare, the universal and accurate observer of

real nature, was the first who introduced the crying of the cricket, and with the finest effect, into our poetry.

Or the bell

man's drowsy charm, &c. Compare
man's drowsy charm, &c. Compare
Chaucer, Cant. T. v. 3479. ed.
Tyrwh. See also Cartwright's
Ordinary, a. iii. s. 1. Works, p.
36, 1651. And Shakespeare, Cym-
beline, a. ii. s. 2. and Merr. W.
a. v. s. 5, In Robert Herrick's
little
Hesperides, is a
called
poem
the Bellman, which contains this
charm, p. 139. ed. 1647. It
begins thus,

Or the bellman's drowsy charm,

To bless the doors from nightly harm:
Or let my lamp at midnight hour,
Be seen in some high lonely tow'r,
Where I may oft out-watch the Bear,
With thrice great Hermes, or unsphere
The spirit of Plato to unfold

What worlds, or what vast regions hold
The immortal mind that hath forsook
Her mansion in this fleshly nook:

tow'r.]

The extraneous circumstance be seen gives poetry to the passage; and thus a picture is created which fills the imagination. T. Warton.

87. Where I may oft outwatch the Bear,] The constellation so called, that never sets. Virg. Georg. i. 246.

Arctos oceani metuentes æquore tingi.

88. With thrice great Hermes,] Hermes Trismegistus, the Egyptian philosopher, flourished a little after Moses. He maintained the truth of one God against the idolatry and polytheism of his countrymen. Peck.

88. or unsphere

The spirit of Platoto unfold &c.]

85

90

The spirit of Plato is rightly summoned to unfold these particular notions, for he has treated more largely than any of the philosophers, concerning the separate state of the soul after death, and concerning demons residing in the elements, and influencing the planets, and directing the course of nature. The English reader may see a summary of his doctrines at the end of Stanley's Life of that philosopher. And as Mr. Thyer observes, the word unsphere alludes to the Platonic notion of different spheres or regions being assigned to spirits of different degrees of perfection or impurity. The same term is used in the Mask, ver. 2.

-where those immortal shapes Of bright aerial spirits live inspher'd In regions mild of calm and serene air.

89. This shews what sort of contemplation he was fond of. Milton's imagination made him as much a mystic as his good sense would give leave. Hurd.

91. The immortal mind that hath forsook] Compare P. R. iv. 598. and see the note on the

And of those Demons that are found
In fire, air, flood, or under ground,
Whose power hath a true consent
With planet, or with element.
Sometime let gorgeous tragedy
In sceptred pall come sweeping by,
Presenting Thebes, or Pelops' line,

Or the tale of Troy divine,

Demons of the Elements, P. R. These four Latin verses form

Or what (though rare) of later age
Ennobled hath the buskin'd stage.
But, O sad Virgin, that thy power
Might raise Musæus from his bower,
Or bid the soul of Orpheus sing
Such notes as warbled to the string.
Drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek,
And made Hell grant what love did seek.

These were the principal subjects of the ancient tragedies; and he seems to allude particularly to the Septem contra Thebas of Eschylus, and the Phænissa of Euripides, and the Antigone of Sophocles, and the Thebais of Seneca, which present Thebes; and to the Thyestes of Seneca, and the Agamemnon of Eschylus, which present Pelops' line; and to the Troades of Euripides and of Seneca, and other tragedies which present the tale of Troy divine, therefore called divine because built by the gods; for I think with Mr. Thyer, that divine is not to be joined with tale, as many understand it: and as Mr. Jortin notes, it is called in Homer Ιλιος ίρη.

100.-though rare] Just glancing at Shakespeare. Hurd.

104. Might raise Musaus from his bower,] The poet Musaus makes the most distinguished figure in Virgil's Elysium. Æn. vi. 667.

Musæum ante omnes, medium nam plurima turba

Hunc habet, atque humeris extantem suspicit altis.

105. Or bid the soul of Orpheus sing &c.] It is a property of music, that the same strains have

105

a power to excite pain or pleasure, as the state is in which it finds the hearer. Hence Milton makes the self-same strains of Orpheus proper to excite both the affections of mirth and melancholy, just as the mind is then disposed. If to mirth, he calls for such music,

That Orpheus' self may heave his head &c.

If to melancholy—
Or bid the soul of Orpheus sing &c.

See Warburton's Shakespeare,
vol. iii. p. 118.

105. To Orpheus or his harp Milton has frequent allusions in other places. As in P. L. iii. 17. and in the Tractate on Education, "Melodious sounds on every side

that the harp of Orpheus was

"not

more charming." We have the same allusion in the Preface to Philips's Theatrum Poetarum, in which are more manifest marks of Milton's hand, than in the book itself. Education is that harp of Orpheus, &c. T. Warton.

P. 3.

107. Drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek,] Our author here very strongly expresses the sense of the following line of Seneca's upon the same occasion, which I

Or call up him that left half told

The story of Cambuscan bold,

110

Of Camball, and of Algarsife,

And who had Canace to wife,

That own'd the virtuous ring and glass,
And of the wondrous horse of brass,
On which the Tartar king did ride;
And if ought else great bards beside

suppose he had in view. Herc.
Fur. 578.

Deflent et lacrymis difficiles Dei.
Thyer.
109. Or call up him that left
half told
The story of Cambuscan bold,
&c.]

means Chaucer and his Squire's Tale, wherein Cambuscan is king of Sarra in Tartary, and has two sons Algarsife and Camball, and a daughter named Canace. This Tartar king receives a present from the king of Araby and Ind, of a wondrous horse of brass that could transport him through the air to any place, and a sword of rare qualities; and at the same time his daughter Canace is presented with a virtuous ring and glass, a glass by which she could discover secrets and future events, and a ring by which she could understand the language of birds. This tale was either never finished by Chaucer, or part of it is lost: but Spenser has endeavoured to supply the defect in his Faery Queen. See b. iv. cant. ii. s. 32.

&c.

109. Hence it appears that Milton, among Chaucer's pieces, was most struck with his Squier's

115

Tale. It best suited our author's predilection for romantic poetry. Chaucer is here ranked with the sublime poets: his comic vein Hist. Eng. Poetr. i. 398. The is forgotten and overlooked. See virtuous ring and glass. So Boiardo, Orl. Inam. 1. i. c. xiv. st. 49. Of Angelica's magic ring.

In bocca avea quell ancl virtuoso. And in the Faerie Queene, a sword tempered by Merlin is called "the vertuous steele." And the Palmer has " a vertuous staffe." T. Warton.

116. And if ought else great bards beside &c.] Ariosto, and Spenser more particularly, of whose allegorical poetry it may be said with great truth and propriety, that more is meant than meets the ear. And thus in these two little poems Milton makes his compliments to our greatest English poets, Jonson and Shakespeare, Chaucer and Spen

ser.

116. Tasso also pretends to an allegorical and mysterious meaning. And his inchanted forest, the most conspicuous fiction of the kind, might have been here intended. Berni allows, that his incantations, giants, magic gardens, &c. may amuse the igno