Wind me into the easy hearted man... .
And hug him into snares. When once her eye."
Hath met the virtue of this magic dust,
I shall appear some harmless villager,
Whom thrift keeps up about this country gear.
But here she comes, I fairly step aside,
And hearken, if may, her business here.

THE LADY ENTERS.

we

This way the noise was, if mine ear be true, 170
My best guide now; methought it was the sound
Of riot and ill-manag'd 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 loath
To meet the rudeness, and swill'd insolence
Of such late wassailers; yet ( where else
Shall I inform my unacquainted feet 180
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 favor of these pines -
Stept, as they said, to the next thickest side
To bring me berries, or such cooling fruit
As the kind hospitable woods provide.
They left me then, when the grey hooded Even
Like a sad votarist in palmer's weed,

MILTON VOL. 111. N

fuit

189

Rose from the hindmost wheels of Phæbus 'wain. But where they are, and why they came not back, Is now the labor of my thought ; 'tis likeliest They had engag'd their wand'ring steps too far, And envious darkness, ere they could return, Had stole them from me ; else thievish Night Why wouldst thou, but for some felonious end, In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars, That Nature hung in Heav'n, and fill'd their lamps With everlasting oil, to give due light To the misled and lonely traveller? 200 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 sought 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 aery tongues, that syllable men's names On sands, and shores, and desert wildernesses. These thoughts may startle well, but not astound 210 The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended By a strong siding champion, conscience.--O welcome pure-ey'd 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, to whom all things Are but as slavish officers of vengeance, (ill Would send a glist'ring guardian if need were

To keep my life and honour unassail'd. 220
Was I deceiv'd, 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 cufted grove.
I cannot balloo to my brothers, but
Such noise at I can make to be heard farthest
I'll venture, for my new enlivend spirits
Prompt me ; and chey perhaps are not far off.

SONG.

WLET Echo, sweetest nymph, that liv'st unseen Within thy aery shell,

231 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,

240 Sweet queen of Parly, daughter of the Sphere,

So may'st thou be translated to the skies, And give resounding grace to all Heav'n's harmonies.

COM. Can any mortal mixture of Earth's mold 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 flote upon the wings
Of silence, through the empty vaulted Night, 250
At ev'ry fall smoothing the raven down
Of darkness till it smil'd! I have oft heard
My mother Circe with the Sirens three,
Amidst the flow'ry-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, 260
And in sweet madness robb'd it of itself;
But such a sacred and home-felt delight, i
Such sober certainty of wakiog bliss
I never heard till now. I'll speak to her,
And she shall be my queen. Hail foreign wonder,
Whom certain these rough shades did never breed,
Unless the goddess that in rural shrine
Dwell'st here with Pan or Silvan, by blest song
Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog
Totouch the prosp:rous growth of this tall wood. 270

LA. Nay gentle Shepherd, ill is lost that praise
That is address'd to unattending ears;.
Not any boast of skill, but extreme shift
•How to regain my sever'd company,
Compelld me to awake the courteous Echo

To give me answer from her mossy couch. [thus ?

çom. What chance, good Lady, hath bereft you LA. Dim darkness, and this leafy labyrinth. com. Could that divide you from near-ushering LA. They left me weary on a grassy turf. (guides com. By falsehood, or discourtesy, or why? 281 LA. To seek i'th' valley some cool friendly spring. COM. And left your tair side all unguarded, Lady? LA. They were but twain, and purpos'd quick re.

tua. com. Perhaps forestalling Night prevented them. LA. How easy my misfortune is to hit! com. Imports their loss, beside the present need? LA. No less than if I should my brothers lose. COM. Were they of manlyprime, or youthful bloom? LA. As smooth as Hebe's their unrazor'd lips. 290 com. Two such I saw, what time the labor'd ox In bis loose traces from the furrow came, And the swinkt 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, 300 And play i' th plighted clouds. I was awe-struck, And as I past, I worshipt ; if those you seek, It were a journey like the path to Heav'n, To help you find them.