The attendant SPIRIT, afterwards in the habit of THYRSIS. The LADY. First BROTHER. Second BROTHER. SABRINA the Nymph. The chief persons who presented were The Lord BRACKLEY. Mr. THOMAS EGERTON, his brother. COMUS, the son of Bacchus and Circe, was a sorcerer, and the patron of revelry. His delight was to allure heedless travellers by proffering all kinds of riotous pleasures. Those who fell into his snares lost their human countenances, and received instead the heads of unclean animals, such as swine, goats, and the like. A lady and her two brothers are represented as losing their way at nightfall in a wood haunted by Comus. The two brothers are compelled to leave their sister in order to try and recover the path. While the lady is left alone, Comus endeavours to induce her to become one of his followers, but she refuses to adopt his pleasures, refutes his reasonings, and the sorcerer is only able, by his spells, to rivet her to her seat. The two brothers, guided by an attendant Spirit, who has assumed the form of one of their father's shepherds, are enabled to discover their sister. But Comus escapes them, and the lady is only set free by the intervention of the Nymph Sabrina. The poem is intended to show the beauty and the strength of virtue. It was acted as a mask, or masquerade, in the gardens of Ludlow Castle for the entertainment of the family of the Earl of Bridgewater. THE FIRST SCENE DISCOVERS A WILD WOOD. The Attendant SPIRIT descends or enters. BEFORE the starry threshold of Jove's court In regions mild of calm and serene air, Which men call Earth, and with low-thoughted care To such my errand is; and but for such, But to my task. Neptune, besides the sway And gives them leave to wear their sapphire crowns, And all this tract that fronts the falling sun 30 Has in his charge, with temper'd awe to guide 35 Lies through the perplex'd paths of this drear wood, Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger; 40 But that by quick command from sovereign Jove 45 Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape Crush'd the sweet poison of misused wine, After the Tuscan mariners transform'd, Coasting the Tyrrhene shore, as the winds listed, 50 And downward fell into a grovelling swine? This Nymph that gaz'd upon his clust'ring locks, With ivy berries wreath'd, and his blithe youth, 55 Had by him, ere he parted thence, a son Much like his father, but his mother more, Whom therefore she brought up, and Comus nam'd : Who ripe, and frolic of his full grown age, Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields, 60 At last betakes him to this ominous wood, And in thick shelter of black shades imbower'd Offering to every weary traveller To quench the drouth of Phoebus, which as they taste, 65 Th' express resemblance of the Gods, is chang'd 70 Or ounce, or tiger, hog, or bearded goat, All other parts remaining as they were ; And they, so perfect is their misery, Not once perceive their foul disfigurement, But boast themselves more comely than before, 75 And all their friends and native home forget, To roll with pleasure in a sensual sty. Therefore, when any favour'd of high Jove Chances to pass through this adventurous glade, 80 I shoot from heav'n, to give him safe convoy, As now I do : But first I must put off That to the service of this house belongs, 85 Who with his soft pipe, and smooth-dittied song, Well knows to still the wild winds when they roar, And hush the waving woods, nor of less faith, 90 COMUS enters with a charming rod in one hand, his glass in the other; with him a rout of monsters, headed like sundry sorts of wild beasts, but otherwise like men and women, their apparel glistering; they come in making a riotous and unruly noise, with torches in their hands. COMUS. The star that bids the shepherd fold, Now the top of heaven doth hold; And the gilded car of day His glowing axle doth allay In the steep Atlantic stream ; And the slope sun his upward beam 95 100 |