Why shouldst thou, but for some felonious end, To the misled and lonely traveller ? Of calling shapes, and beck’ning shadows dire, Oh, welcome, pure-eyed Faith, white-handed Hope, I see ye visibly, and now believe That He, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud I cannot halloo to my brothers, but SONG Sweet Echo, sweetest Nymph, that liv'st unseen By slow Meander's margent green, And in the violet-embroidered vale, Where the love-lorn nightingale Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well ; Oh, if thou have Hid them in some flow'ry cave, Tell me but where, Sweet Queen of parley, Daughter of the Sphere ! And give resounding grace to all Heav'n's harmonies! Comus enters Comus. Can any mortal mixture of Earth's mould And with these raptures moves the vocal air How sweetly did they float upon the wings Culling their potent herbs and baleful drugs; 1 And chid her barking waves 1 into attention, And fell Charybdis murmured soft applause : Virgil's "Multis circum latrantibus undis," "Æneid," vii. 588. Yet they in pleasing slumber lulled the sense, I never heard till now.—I'll speak to her, And she shall be my queen.-Hail, Foreign Wonder! Dwell'st here with Pan, or Sylvan, by blest song To touch the prosp'rous growth of this tall wood. That is addressed to unattending ears; Not any boast of skill but extreme shift, Comus. What chance, good Lady, hath bereft you thus? Lady. Dim darkness, and this leafy labyrinth. Comus. Could that divide you from near-ush'ring guides ? Lady. They left me weary on a grassy turf. Lady. To seek i' the valley some cool, friendly spring. Comus. And left your fair side all unguarded, Lady? Lady. They were but twain, and ourposed quick return. Comus. Perhaps forestalling Night prevented them. Lady. How easy my misfortune is to hit! Comus. Imports their loss, besides the present need? Lady. No less than if I should my brothers lose. Comus. Were they of manly prime, or youthful bloom? Lady. As smooth as Hebè's their unrazored lips. Comus. Two such I saw, what time the laboured ox In his loose traces from the furrow came, And the swinked 1 hedger at his supper sat; I saw them under a green mantling vine, That crawls along the side of yon small hill, Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots; Their port was more than human as they stood ; I took it for a faëry vision Of some gay creatures of the element, That in the colours of the rainbow live, And play i' the plighted clouds: I was awestruck, To help you find them. Lady. Gentle Villager, What readiest way would bring me to that place? 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, Without the sure guess of well-practised feet. Comus. I know each lane, and ev'ry alley green, Dingle, or bushy dell of this wild wood, 1 Tired out with labour. But loyal cottage, where you may be safe Till further quest. Lady. Shepherd, I take thy word, And trust thy honest offered courtesy, I cannot be, that I should fear to change it.— The two Brothers enter Elder B. Unmuffle, ye faint Stars; and thou, fair Moon, That wont'st to love the traveller's benison, Stoop thy pale visage through an amber cloud, And disinherit Chaos, that reigns here In double night of darkness and of shades ; With thy long-levelled rule of streaming light ; Or Tyrian Cynosure.1 Sec. B. Or, if our eyes Be barred that happiness, might we but hear Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock The constellation of the Lesser Bear ("Dog's Tail"), by which the Tyrian, or Phœnician, sailors steered their course. |