compounds, e.g. chimney-piece, chimney-corner. It now means 'flue' or passage for smoke; as such passages did not exist in Roman houses, the Lat. caminus (from which chimney is derived) meant a furnace, brazier, or fireplace.

...

112. Basks strength. To bask' is to 'lie exposed to a pleasant warmth.' The word is here used transitively, its object being 'strength,' and its meaning 'to expose to warmth.'

hairy an epithet transferred from the person to an attendant circumstance; comp. 6 dimpled mirth,' ' wrinkled care,' 'pale fear,' gaunt hunger.' Ben Jonson speaks of Puck as being hairy, and strength is often associated with abundant growth of hair: see Samson Agonistes, passim.

113. crop-full, with well-filled stomach. The 'crop' is the first stomach of fowls.

flings, i.e. flings himself, darts. This verb is one of a number that may be used reflectively without having the reflective pronoun expressed: comp. he pushed into the room,' 'he has changed very much,' etc.

114. first cock; because one cock sets the others a-crowing.

matin, morning call (Fr. matin, morning); comp. Par. Lost, v. 7, "The shrill matin-song of birds on every bough. In Par. Lost, vi. 526, it occurs as an adjective, and in Hamlet Shakespeare uses it as a noun=morning: "The glow-worm shows the matin to be near." The word matins is now used for morning prayers.

115. Thus done the tales. Absolute construction (as in 1. 62) The tales (being) thus done, they (i.e. the villagers) creep to bed.

116. lulled being lulled, attributive to 'they.'

117. Towered cities... then. 'Then' does not here denote 'afterwards' as it does in line 100; it marks a transition from mirth in the country to mirth in the city, and the poet now recounts the entertainments of city life, as L'Allegro might read of them in romances and tales of chivalry. This explains the allusions to throngs of knights,' contests of 'wit or arms,' 'antique pageantry,' etc. These are not the events of one day except in the sense that L'Allegro might, on his return from the village rejoicings, retire to his own room to read about them.

"Towered,' having towers (Lat. turrita, an epithet which Milton himself applied to London in one of his Latin Elegies). Comp. Arc. 21. There is no doubt that the poet, during his stay at Horton, paid occasional visits to London, and Warton infers from expressions in the first Elegy that he had in his youth enjoyed the theatre.

118. hum, nominative, along with 'cities,' to 'please.'

119. knights and barons: it is interesting to note the original meaning of these and other words that are now titles of rank. 'Knight'=A.S. cniht, a youth; 'baron' meant at first no more than 'man or 'husband'; 'duke' Lat. dux, a leader'; 'count' is really Lat. comes, a companion; and 'earl' is Old Saxon erl, a man.

120. weeds, garments. Comp. the use of the word by Shakespeare"I have a woman's longing

To see great Hector in his weeds of peace.'

Tr. and Cres. iii. 3.

'Weeds of peace' denotes the ordinary dress as opposed to 'weeds of war,' i.e. armour, etc. The use of the word is now generally confined to the phrase 'a widow's weeds,' i.e. a widow's mourning dress. Comp. Comus, 16, 189, 390.

high triumphs, grand public entertainments, such as masques, pageants, processions, tournaments, etc. Comp. Sams. Agon. 1312 and Bacon's Essay Of Masques and Triumphs. Such exhibitions were extremely popular from the time of Henry VIII. to Charles I. See Arcades, introductory note.

121. store of ladies, many ladies. The word 'store' is found in this sense in Sidney, Spenser, and others. It is now applied only to inanimate objects to denote abundance.

122. Rain, pour forth. 'To rain' in the sense of 'to pour forth in abundance' is a common expression: comp. ' to stream,' 'to shower,' 'to overflow.'

influence. This word is now chiefly used in the sense of 'power' or 'authority,' but a trace of its original meaning still remains in such phrases as 'magnetic influence,'' the influence (i.e. inspiration) of the Spirit.' Its literal meaning is a flowing in (Lat. in, and fluere, to flow), and in this sense it was used in astrology to denote "a flowing in, an influent course of the planets, their virtue being infused into, or their course working on, inferior creatures." This was originally the only meaning of the word, and in this sense Milton and Shakespeare employ it: in this passage it implies that the bright eyes of the ladies were like the stars in working on' those upon whom their glances fell.

Burton, in Anat. of Mel., says: 'Primary causes are the heavens, planets, stars, etc., by their influence (as our astrologers hold) producing this and such like effects.' It is well to remember how strong a hold the belief in astrology had (and still has) on the human mind; up to the end of the eighteenth century the almanacs in common use in England were full of astrological rules and theories, and even an astronomer like

Kepler was not entirely free from belief in such matters. It is not surprising, therefore, that the science of astrology has left its traces on the language in such words as 'influence,' 'disastrous,' 'ill-starred,' 'ascendency,' etc. Comp. notes on Arc. 52, Il Pens. 24,

Judge the prize, adjudge or award the prize. We may take 'eyes' as nominative to both of the verbs 'rain' and 'judge,' the ladies showing by their eyes whom they regard as the victor. But Milton occasionally connects two verbs rather loosely with one noun, just as he, on the other hand, makes one verb refer by zeugma to two nouns in different senses. We may therefore read, who judge,' the relative being implied in 'whose,' 1. 121. Comp. Il Pens. 155, Lyc. 89.

6

123. of wit or arms: comp. gowns, not arms,' Son. xvii. The contests of wit in which ladies were the judges may be those 'Courts of Love' which were so popular in France until the end of the fourteenth century and had so great an influence on the poetical literature both of France and England. The contests of arms may refer to those tournaments in which mounted knights fought to show their skill in arms, the victor generally receiving his prize at the hands of some fair lady. Comp. Il Pens. 118.

124. her grace whom, i.e. the grace of her whom. The relative pronoun here relates, not to the noun preceding it, but to the substantive implied in the possessive pronoun. His, her, etc. being genitives of him, of her, etc., they have here their full force as pronouns, and are not pronominal adjectives (as they are sometimes called). The same idiom is found in Latin, e.g. mea scripta timentis, my writings who (I) fear' the writings of me who am in fear. Comp. Arc. 75, Son. xviii. 6. Grace=

favour.

125. Hymen... in saffron robe. Hymen, being the god of marriage, Milton here refers to elaborate marriage festivities which often included masques and other spectacles: comp. Ben Jonson's Hymenae, where Hymen enters upon the stage in a safron-coloured robe, his under vestures white, his socks yellow, a yellow veil of silk on his left arm, his head crowned with roses and marjoram, in his right hand a torch of pine-tree.' Comp. Milton's fifth Elegy, 105:

Exulting youths the Hymeneal sing,

With Hymen's name, roofs, rocks, and valleys ring;
He, new attired, and by the season drest

Proceeds, all fragrant, in his saffron vest.

(Cowper's translation).

In works of art, Hymen is represented as a youth bearing a Milton uses taper,' now restricted to a small wax

torch.

candle; from this use we get the adjectives 'taper'-taper-like, long and slender, and tapering.' The radical sense of 'taper' is 'that which glows or shines.'

125. appear after the verb let the simple infinitive without to is used: let Hymen (to) appear.'

127. pomp and feast and revelry: these words depend upon the verb 'let.' Milton here used the word 'pomp' in its classical sense (Greek pompé) = an imposing procession. Comp. Sams. Agon. 1312, and note on 1. 120.

128. mask: see introduction to Comus in this series.

antique pageantry, representations or emblematic spectacles in which mythological characters were largely introduced. ‘Pageantry' is an interesting word. The suffix -ry has a collective or comprehensive force (which has gained in some cases an abstract sense) as in cavalry, infantry, poetry, etc. Pageant meant (1) a moveable platform; then (2) a platform on which plays were exhibited; hence (3) the play itself; and (as the plays first exhibited in this way made large use of spectacular effect) (4) a spectacle or show.

'Antique,' belonging to earlier times (Lat. antiquus, also spelt anticus). This word has gone through changes of meaning similar to those of the word 'uncouth' (see 1. 5), viz. (1) old, (2) old-fashioned or out of date, and hence (3) fantastic: there is, however, this difference-that while uncouth' has had all three senses, antique' has had only the two first, the third being taken by the form 'antic.'

6

129. Such sights, etc. These words stand in apposition to 'pomp,' 'feast,' etc. Some suppose that Milton here refers to the early works of Ben Jonson, who was a prolific writer of masques. But surely they have a deeper significance; they imply that the imagery of the poem is not that of mere recollection, but the product of a youthful nature, full of joyous emotion, and affected by circumstances of time and place. A youthful poet, a haunted stream, and a summer evening form a combination that does not lead to mere description.

:

131. Then to the well-trod stage, sc. 'let me go' this means that L'Allegro turns from the stories of chivalry to the comedies of Shakespeare and Jonson: comp. note 1. 117. By calling the stage 'well-trod' Milton may hint at the abundance of dramatic literature.

anon, soon after (A.S. on án, in one moment): an adverb modifying the verb of motion understood.

132. Jonson's learned sock. Ben Jonson (1574-1637) was alive when Milton paid him this compliment. There is no doubt that Milton must have admired Jonson for his classical learning and for his lofty sense of the poet's task. He calls him 'learned' on

66

account of the profuse display of classical knowledge and dramatic art in his comedies and masques. On this point he is often contrasted with Shakespeare. Hazlitt says: Shakespeare gives fair play to nature and his own genius, while the other trusts almost entirely to imitation and custom. Shakespeare takes his groundwork in individual character and the manners of his age, and raises from them a fantastical and delightful superstructure of his own; the other takes the same groundwork in matter-offact, but hardly ever rises above it." Fuller compares Jonson to a Spanish galleon and Shakespeare to an English man-of-war: "Master Jonson, like the former, was built far higher in learning; solid but slow in his performances. Shakespeare, like the latter, lesser in bulk, but lighter in sailing, could turn with all tides, and take advantage of all winds, by the quickness of his wit and invention."

sock here used as emblematic of comedy in general. as 'buskin' is used of tragedy (comp. Il Pens. 102). The sock (Lat. soccus) was a kind of low slipper worn by actors in the comedies of ancient Rome. 'Sock' here cleverly refers to Jonson's liking for the classical drama: it was, less fittingly, used by Jonson himself of Shakespeare.

Milton

133. Or (if) sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child, etc. speaks of Shakespeare with reference only to his comedies and to that aspect of them that would appeal most readily to the cheerful man. A comedy like Measure for Measure could hardly be adequately characterised as 'native wood-notes wild,' but such a comedy would no more accord with the mood of L'Allegro than the tragedy of Hamlet. Milton's language here is sufficiently accounted for by the fact that he is contrasting Shakespeare as master of the romantic drama with Jonson as master of the classical drama, that he is paying a tribute to his striking natural genius ('native wood-notes '), and that he regards him as indeed a poet, being of imagination all compact' ('Fancy's child'). L'Allegro cannot be expected to use the language of the lines On Shakespeare: he represents a special mood of the human spirit, a mood with which Milton is not so fully in sympathy as that of Il Penseroso. 'Fancy' (Phantasy) is here used in a less restricted sense than now: we would now use Imagination.' The student should note the pleasing rhythm and alliteration of lines 133, 134.

135. against eating cares, to ward off gnawing anxiety. It is a common figure to speak of care or sorrow eating into the heart as rust corrodes iron. Comp. Lat. curas edaces, Horace, Odes, ii. 11; mordaces sollicitudines, Odes, i. 18. The preposition 'against, from the notion of counteraction implied in it, has a variety of uses: comp. he fought against (in opposition to) the enemy'; 'he toiled against (in provision for) my return,'