And the mute Silence hist along, Smoothing the rugged brow of night, 55 60 Sweet bird, that shunn'st the noise of folly, Most musical, most melancholy! Thee chauntress oft the woods among I woo to hear thy even-song ; And, missing thee, I walk unseen On the dry smooth-shaven green, 65 56. I apprehend Philomel, or the nightingale, (here) to allude to the same prototype as that of the lark in l'Allegro, mentioned in the note on line 45 there, as being composed of Hudibras's hand. Vide that note. 59. Cynthia, or the moon, alludes I imagine to the crescent-shape of the bird on Ralph's person (fig. 12) which is situate directly fronting the view of II Penseroso. 65. Walk, as of the planetary wandering of To behold the wand'ring moon, Riding near her highest noon, Like one that had been led astray Through the Heav'n's wide pathless way, Some still removed place will fit, 70 75 the moon; unseen, as of that part of the moon, where I Penseroso is situate, being obscured. 67. The moon here mentioned I conceive to allude to what was just now noticed as the explosion of light; in the center of which is a round spot of strong light which may be fancied to be the mocn itself, and around it, numerous streaks and spaces of somewhat paler light, which may be the fleecy cloud of line 72. 74. The Curfew is referable to the shape of a Bell on the person of Talgol (fig. 17). 78. It is not difficult to conceive II Penseroso Where glowing embers through the room Far from all resort of mirth, Save the cricket on the hearth, Or the bellman's drowsy charm, To bless the doors from nightly harm; Be seen in some high lonely tow'r, 80 85 Where I may oft out-watch the Bear, in a sitting posture with embers of a fire at his feet, formed out of the resemblance of a "smoking faggot" which is mentioned in Hudibras's Epistle to the Widow, as the device of his seal. The cricket (82) may be referable to the shadow which formed Shylock's shoe: and the bellman (83) tó the prototype of Polonius in Hamlet (fig. 56). with the bell (visible on Talgol's person) in his hand. 85. The Lamp is to be considered as formed out of the streaks of light on Talgol's person just now referred to: and the Bear (87) is the Bear of Hudibras, fig. 13. 27. Tragedy. This is no unfit occasion to The spirit of Plato to unfold What worlds, or what vast regions hold 90 offer a few short remarks on the ancient tragedy and comedy. The latter, as devoted to mirth and gaiety, seems to have had for a sort of presiding deity the prototype of Ralph or l'Allegro in the moon, and its name with relation to that prototype is derivable from Mediaw, to smile, (there being more of light on that side of the moon than on the other) and it has a further reference perhaps to the conical shape of the prototype; while the distinctive symbol of comedy, the sock, is clearly referable to the plain resemblance of a slipper or sock (namely, the shadow that formed the foot of Edipus and the shoe of Shylock) situate on that side of the moon. Tragedy, on the other hand, is ascribable in the same way to the prototype of Hudibras or Il Penseroso, whose figure is made up entirely of dark shadows, and who has a goat's head (Tayos, tragedy; vide fig. 103,) immediately behind his back; while the distinctive symbol of tragedy, the buskin, is made up, as I apprehend, of the whole of the shadows that constitute the person of Il Penseroso or Hudibras; the leg or ankle-part being at the top of his head, and the shoe, extending from the goat's head as its heel, to the The immortal mind that hath forsook Her mansion in this fleshly nook: Or what (though rare) of later age 95 100 belly of Hudibras as its toe; the cross-lacings of the buskin being formed of the streaks of light that cross Hudibras's breast. Under this view of those subjects, we may understand the contrast which Horace seems to raise between the largeness of the buskin when compared with the size of the sock, Hunc socci cepere pedem, grandesque cothurni. |